Birria Quesatacos Recipe: Crispy Tacos with Consommé Dipping Sauce

Quick Summary: Crispy corn tortillas dipped in rich chile-spiced broth, filled with fall-apart tender shredded beef, melted cheese, and pickled onions. Served with a bowl of the birria broth (consommé) for dipping. Pair with the birria de res stew recipe for the complete from-scratch experience.”Prep: 30 min | Cook: 3.5 hours (mostly hands-off) | Serves: 8 tacos (with leftover meat)

Jump to: Recipe | What are Birria Tacos? | The Birria Consommé | Making the Tacos | Equipment | Pro Tips | What to Serve with the Tacos | More Taco Fillings | FAQ

What Makes Birria Quesatacos Different

Three things set birria quesatacos apart from every other taco:

The meat. Fall-apart tender beef braised for hours in a chile-spiced broth. Shredded, not ground or sliced. The long, slow cooking develops deep flavor and a texture you can’t rush. This recipe is made with beef, but the traditional birria from Jalisco, Mexico is made with goat or lamb.

The tortilla treatment. Corn tortillas are dipped in the birria consommé before frying. The fat in the broth helps them crisp while infusing them with chile flavor. This is the technique that made these tacos famous.

The dipping sauce. The broth, called consommé, is not only used for coating the tortillas before frying, but it also is served alongside the tacos as a dipping sauce.

Fair warning: these are messy. Have paper towels ready. Don’t wear white.

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Start with Making a Birria Consommé (Birria de res)

The rich, chile-spiced beef broth are the foundation of these tacos. You can make the birria consommé ahead. it takes about 3.5 hours, mostly hands-off, and improves if made a day ahead. Once you have shredded meat and warm consommé, the tacos come together in about 15 minutes.

Making the Birria Consommé (Overview)

Here are the basic steps for the birria consommé or dipping sauce, with the detailed instructions found in the full birria de res recipe.

1. Season and sear the meat. Coat chuck and short ribs with a spice blend (oregano, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, chile powder, salt). Sear in batches until browned.
2. Build the sauce base. Sauté onion, garlic, and ginger. Add tomatoes and simmer until soft. Blend until smooth.
3. Braise. Combine meat, sauce, broth, vinegar, honey, and bay leaves. Simmer covered for 3-3.5 hours until the meat is falling apart.
4. Rest and skim. Let cool slightly. Skim some fat from the surface (save it for frying tortillas). Shred the meat.

You now have birria: shredded meat and consommé ready for tacos.

Making the Quesatacos

Once you have birria consommé, the tacos come together in about 15 minutes.

Here are the steps lined out with photos. For the details of the recipe itself, see the recipe card below.

Step 5: Crisp both sides. Flip and press, frying the other side until the tortilla is deeply golden and crispy. This takes another 1-2 minutes total.

Serve immediately. Transfer to a plate. Serve with a small bowl of warm consommé for dipping.

Repeat with remaining tortillas. Keep finished tacos warm in a 200°F oven if making a large batch.

Equipment: Comal vs Cast Iron vs Griddle

In the video you will see that I used a comal to fry the tacos. A comal is basically a round, flat, cast iron griddle. A cast iron skillet can also be used but it has sides to give it depth which is less efficient for flipping the tortillas.

A griddle is often long and rectangular and works just like a comal if you can direct the heat source appropriately.

The griddle shown above fits over two of our gas burners, but you can get a stand-alone griddle if you don’t have a stove that fits the griddle

The benefit of cast iron over other types of frying pans is that cast iron retains the heat once heated up. This makes it easier to fry more than one or two tacos because the skillet will remain hot.

Some of the pros and cons of each:

• The smaller comal is easier to handle (cast iron is heavy), and the lack of sides make it easy to slide off the tortillas without breaking them
• Cast iron skillets however come in larger sizes, allowing you to fry more tacos at a time
• A long cast iron griddle is great as it has no sides and has a lot of surface area, but you need to have a heat source underneath it that will cover the length of it. Many stoves just have the smaller round burners.

Whether comal, skillet or griddle, just aim for cast iron so that you can retain the heat while making a batch of tacos.

Tips for Better Birria Tacos

• Make the birria ahead. It improves overnight. The fat solidifies on top for easy skimming, and the flavors deepen. Refrigerate up to 4 days or freeze up to 3 months.
• Keep the consommé warm and fatty. You want some fat floating on top for dipping the tortillas. If you’ve refrigerated the birria, warm it and stir some fat back in before dipping tortillas.
• Don’t crowd the pan. Two tacos at a time on a standard comal. The tortillas need consistent contact with the hot surface to crisp properly.
• Use enough cheese. The cheese helps bind everything together and provides the gooey contrast to the crispy tortilla. Don’t skimp.
• Serve the consommé hot. Warm consommé is for dipping. Cold or room temperature consommé is sad consommé.
• The pickled onions matter. Their acidity cuts through the richness of the meat and consommé. Without them, the tacos can feel heavy. Recipe linked in the notes.

What to Serve with Birria Tacos

These birria tacos are good enough to eat dozens on their own. If you wanted to add a side however, you could serve them with homemade tortilla chips or Mexican rice.

I typically serve tacos with fresh lime wedges, a bottle of hot sauce for those who want more heat, a side of pickled onions, and a side of chopped cilantro. That typically covers the bases.

More Mexican Taco Fillings

There are several Mexican dishes that have a similar flavor profile to birria, but without the consommé element.. Here are a few:

• Baja Style Fish Tacos
• Instant Pot Tacos al Pastor
• Low Carb Cochinita Pibil

FAQ