Barbacoa is a Mexican meat preparation in which beef, lamb or goat is cooked slowly until tender. Traditional versions may cook in a covered earth oven with maguey leaves; home versions often use a covered pot or slow cooker. The word describes a cooking tradition and the resulting dish, rather than one particular cut of meat.
Updated September 13, 2026
If you’ve seen barbacoa on a taco menu, the first thing to ask is which meat the kitchen uses. Beef barbacoa and lamb barbacoa share a name, but they can taste quite different.
Jump to the beef barbacoa recipe · Compare barbacoa, birria and carnitas
What meat is barbacoa?
Barbacoa can be made with several meats. The restaurant, region and recipe determine what goes into the pot.
For the home recipe below, use boneless beef chuck roast. Specifying one cut makes the cooking instructions more useful than treating cheek, brisket and bone-in lamb shanks as interchangeable. Those cuts can require different preparation, cooking times and serving calculations.
How traditional barbacoa is made
In central Mexico, barbacoa is closely associated with sheep or goat wrapped in maguey leaves and cooked in an earth oven. Hidalgo is especially well known for this tradition. A vessel beneath the meat can collect drippings for consomé, the broth served alongside the meal. Mexico also has regional versions with different meats, leaves and seasonings. Larousse Cocina’s barbacoa entry documents these variations.
The word’s history and the dish’s history are related but distinct. The Spanish dictionary gives a possible Taíno origin for “barbacoa.” Mexico’s earth-oven cooking traditions predate European arrival, while sheep and goats were introduced later. RAE and Larousse Cocina provide useful context.
A slow cooker makes a practical home adaptation. It produces tender meat in a moist, enclosed environment, but it does not reproduce every aroma or texture of a maguey-lined earth oven.
What does barbacoa taste like?
Barbacoa is savory and rich, with meat tender enough to pull apart. Its seasoning can be restrained or built around a chile marinade, depending on the preparation.
It isn’t necessarily very spicy or strongly smoky. A chile-seasoned beef version tastes different from a simply seasoned lamb version. The meat, cooking method and salsa served alongside it all affect the final flavor.
The recipe below uses dried guajillo chiles, garlic, oregano and a little vinegar. It is a red, chile-seasoned home version. For help choosing peppers, see our guide to Mexican chiles.
Barbacoa vs. birria and carnitas
These dishes can all appear in tacos, but the names don’t describe the same preparation.
Birria and barbacoa overlap historically. Larousse describes birria as a barbacoa preparation associated with Jalisco. A rigid rule such as “birria is stew and barbacoa is dry meat” misses that relationship and the range of ways both are served. Larousse Cocina: Birria.
Read our guides to birria and carnitas for more about each dish.
Shop ingredients and equipment
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- Shop dried guajillo chiles on Amazon for the recipe’s red chile sauce.
- Shop dried Mexican oregano on Amazon. Check the package label for Mexican oregano when choosing your seasoning.
- Compare 6-quart slow cookers on Amazon. Choose a model with a low setting and follow its recommended fill limits.
Slow-cooker beef barbacoa recipe
This chile-seasoned beef barbacoa is designed for a home slow cooker. Serve it in tacos and spoon a little of the cooking liquid over the shredded meat to keep it moist.
Slow-Cooker Beef Barbacoa
This chile-seasoned beef barbacoa uses boneless chuck roast, guajillo chiles, garlic and Mexican oregano. Cook it gently in a slow cooker, then serve the shredded beef in tacos with onion, cilantro and lime. Cooking times and yield are approximate.
Ingredients
- 3 pounds boneless beef chuck roast, cut into roughly 3-inch pieces
- 3 dried guajillo chiles, stems and seeds removed
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 small white onion, roughly chopped
- 1 cup low-sodium beef broth
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1½ teaspoons fine salt, plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 whole dried bay leaves
For serving
- Warm corn tortillas
- Chopped white onion
- Fresh cilantro
- Lime wedges
- Salsa
Instructions
- Soften the chiles. Place the cleaned chiles in a heatproof bowl, cover with hot water and soak for 15–20 minutes, until pliable. Drain. Wash your hands after handling the chiles.
- Blend the sauce. Blend the softened chiles, garlic, onion, broth, vinegar, cumin, oregano, cloves, salt and pepper until smooth. Keep the bay leaves whole and separate.
- Fill the slow cooker. Put the beef in a 6-quart slow cooker, pour the sauce over it and turn the pieces to coat. Add the bay leaves. Follow the appliance’s recommended fill limits.
- Cook until tender. Cover and cook on low for approximately 8–10 hours. Start checking at 8 hours. The beef should pull apart easily with two forks; if it resists, cover and continue cooking, checking periodically.
- Shred the beef. Transfer the meat to a dish. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Skim excess fat from the surface of the cooking liquid, then shred the beef and discard any tough pieces of connective tissue.
- Adjust and serve. Return enough cooking liquid to the meat to make it juicy without flooding the tortillas. Taste and adjust the salt. Serve with warm corn tortillas, chopped onion, cilantro, salsa and lime wedges.
Notes
Equipment: 6-quart slow cooker, blender, heatproof bowl and tongs.
Timing: Allow about 30 minutes for preparation, including chile soaking, and 8–10 hours for cooking. Total time is approximately 8 hours 30 minutes to 10 hours 30 minutes. The card displays the shorter estimate; tenderness determines when the beef is ready.
Optional preparation ahead: Coat the beef with the blended sauce in a covered food-safe container and refrigerate for 4–12 hours before cooking. Transfer to the slow cooker when ready. Add this optional marinating time to the total.
Yield: Approximately 8 servings; portions depend on how you serve the meat.
Other appliances: This recipe specifies a slow cooker. Do not transfer these liquid quantities and times directly to a pressure cooker or oven.
Cooking liquid: Reserve it to moisten the meat. For a sipping broth, thin some with broth or water and adjust the seasoning; reducing it makes it more concentrated.
Storage: Refrigerate in shallow containers within 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90°F. Store at 40°F or below for 3–4 days, or freeze for 3–4 months for best quality. Reheat leftovers to 165°F.
Ingredient and cooking notes
Guajillo chiles: These provide the recipe’s red chile base. Learn more about them in our guajillo chile guide. If substituting a different chile, expect the flavor and heat to change.
Bay leaves: Add them whole during cooking and remove them before shredding, rather than blending them into the sauce.
Other appliances: This recipe specifies a slow cooker. Pressure-cooker and oven adaptations need their own liquid quantities and timing; the instructions above should not be transferred directly to those appliances.
Troubleshooting your barbacoa
How to serve barbacoa
Start with warm corn tortillas, onion, cilantro, salsa and lime. Keep the toppings separate so everyone can build their own tacos.
For bowls, serve the beef over rice and beans. For leftovers, tuck it into quesadillas or use it as a filling for a torta.
Traditional barbacoa consomé and the concentrated sauce from this slow-cooker recipe are different. The sauce is useful for moistening the beef. If you want a sipping broth, thin some of it with broth or water and adjust the seasoning to taste; simply reducing it makes it more concentrated.
How to store and reheat barbacoa
Refrigerate leftovers in shallow containers within two hours of cooking, or within one hour if the temperature is above 90°F. Keep the refrigerator at 40°F or below and use the meat within 3–4 days. Freeze portions with some cooking liquid for up to 3–4 months for best quality. USDA leftover guidance.
Reheat with a little broth or cooking liquid, stirring so the meat warms evenly. Check that leftovers reach 165°F with a food thermometer. USDA reheating guidance.
Frequently asked questions
Is barbacoa beef or pork?
Beef is common, but barbacoa does not refer to one animal. Lamb and goat are also used. Ask the restaurant which meat it serves; for pork cooked in fat, look for carnitas.
Is barbacoa always cheek meat?
No. Beef cheek is one option. The recipe on this page uses boneless chuck roast, and other preparations use different cuts or animals.
Is barbacoa spicy?
It depends on the recipe and salsa. The name alone does not tell you the heat level. Serve hot salsa separately if diners have different preferences.
Can you make barbacoa without digging a pit?
Yes. A slow cooker is a practical way to make a home adaptation. Use a recipe written for that appliance rather than assuming that pit, oven and pressure-cooker instructions are interchangeable.
What is barbacoa at Chipotle?
Chipotle’s barbacoa is beef. That restaurant version is one example of barbacoa, rather than a definition of every regional preparation. Chipotle’s menu.
How do you pronounce barbacoa?
In Spanish, it is approximately bahr-bah-KOH-ah. SpanishDictionary pronunciation.
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Jorge Garcia is the founder of AmigoFoods, where he has spent over 20 years helping readers discover authentic Latin American and Spanish cuisine. Raised in a Cuban-American household, Jorge learned to cook at the hands of his mother and grandmother, carrying forward generations of family recipes. That heritage, backed by his family’s four-generation history in the Latin food industry, inspired him to launch AmigoFoods in 2003. With more than 1,000 published articles on recipes, ingredients, and food culture, Jorge’s mission is simple: make authentic Latin cooking approachable for home cooks everywhere while honoring the traditions behind every dish.