Spicy Crockpot Barbacoa
by Sommer Collier — last updated on Aug 9, 2024 
Best Crockpot Barbacoa Recipe – This traditional Beef Barbacoa is easy to make in the slow cooker with spicy chiles and a vibrant seasoning blend! It’s perfect to serve as tacos with warm tortillas and your favorite fresh toppings.
Why We Love This Authentic Barbacoa Beef Recipe
There are dishes we make that come and go with very little impact. Then there are dishes we eat that strike us so intensely we think about them for days following. Some are so dynamic, we think about a single meal with reverence, for years.
Beef Barbacoa is one of those life-altering dishes for me. This fabulous shredded beef recipe is earthy, ultra spicy, dripping with saucy goodness, and as decadent as a meaty dish gets. Here we are slow cooking the meat in the crockpot… This makes the recipe easy to put together, and allows the flavors to get super concentrated as everything slow cooks together.
The dish starts with a spicy “chile water” made by soaking Anaheim chiles in hot water. This is pureed with a handful barbacoa seasoning ingredients to make a smooth sauce, which is then added to the slow cooker along with chuck roast. Let the beef cook hands-off for several hours before loading the meat into tortillas to make fabulous tacos loaded with your favorite toppings!
Spice Warning
Before getting started, here is a quick Public Service Announcement… Slow Cooker Barbacoa is spicy.
The tortillas and toppings help neutralize the flavor a bit, but if you are sensitive to spicy heat, try making it with only 1-2 chipotle peppers.
Ingredients You Need
- Beef Chuck Roast – The star of the recipe. Yet it needs a lot of flavorings and seasonings before it becomes crock pot barbacoa.
Chile “Water” –
- Dried “New Mexico” Chiles – Or slightly less spicy anaheim pepper.
- Chipotle Chiles – Canned in adobo sauce. This makes for a smoky, tangy, slightly sweet, but intensely spicy experience.
- Onion – For depth of flavor.
- Garlic – Garlic to compliment the other flavors.
- Apple Cider Vinegar – This offers a tangy note for balance.
- Brown Sugar – To balance out the heat.
Barbacoa Seasonings –
- Bay Leaves – A deep herbal flavor.
- Ground Cumin – Earthy, nutty, and smoky.
- Dried Oregano – Slightly bitter to compliment the spice.
- Ground Allspice – Strong and spicy. This is an iconic Caribbean flavor.
- Cinnamon – Usually used in baking, but in this case, it helps balance the whole meaty dish.
- Salt and Ground Black Pepper – Perfectly enhances all other flavors.
How To Make Beef Barbacoa
- Place the dried chiles in a large bowl with 2 cups of boiling water. Place a small dish over the top to help keep the chiles submerged. Soak for 10 minutes, until tender. Carefully remove the stems and seeds and reserve the chile water.
- Place the softened chiles, chipotle chiles, onion, garlic, vinegar, and brown sugar in the blender. Pour the chile water over the top and puree until smooth.
- Place the chuck roast in a large slow cooker. Top with the spices and pour the chile puree over the top.
- Cover and slow cook on high for 4-6 hours, or on low for 8-12 hours.
- Once the roast is fork-tender, use tongs or two forks to shred the beef into the chile sauce.
Get the Complete (Printable!) Crockpot Barbacoa Recipe Below. Enjoy!
Serving Suggestions
The saucy shredded beef is perfect to use for making regular or smaller street tacos and taco salads. Or you can even just serve it over white rice with your favorite Mexican-inspired sides for a hearty main dish!
To make barbacoa tacos, I suggest adding a spoonful onto two-layered warm corn tortillas. Then top with diced onions and cilantro, or pico de gallo, and serve with a lime wedge.
Use the meat to make other Latin American-inspired recipes like enchiladas, burritos, burrito bowls, quesadillas
For side dishes, you can’t go wrong with simple black beans or refried beans, Mexican potatoes (papas bravas), and zesty rice recipes like Spanish rice or yellow rice (arroz amarillo).
Recipe Variations and Tips
- As noted above, this authentic recipe is very spicy. To cut back on the heat a bit consider reducing the number of chipotle chiles from 3-5 to 1 or 2. The dish will still have some spic, but not nearly as much.
- We make this recipe with traditional chuck roast. However, other cuts of tough meat like brisket, rump roast or beef cheeks also work well! You can also make this traditional recipe with goat or lamb.
- This crockpot Barbacoa Recipe is one of those that gets better with time. With so many chiles and spices, the flavor improves and deepens over time. My Slow Cooker Barbacoa Recipe tastes amazing on day one, but is nearly a religious experience on day 3 or 4.
- Start it in the morning and let it simmer all day long. Better yet, start it two or three days before you plan to serve it. Complete the recipe, and chill the shredded barbacoa until you are ready to serve it. Then rewarm the barbacoa in the slow cooker and serve.
Frequently Asked Questions
Contrary to popular belief, barbacoa is not originally a Mexican dish. It originated in the Caribbean islands and became so popular it spread across the mainland. It still incorporates island spices; however, the way we see it on menus today – served with corn tortillas, onions, and cilantro – shows the progression of beef barbacoa from a roasted island recipe to a saucy Mexican taco filling.
Crockpot barbacoa can last in the fridge for 4 to 5 days if stored properly in an airtight container.
This recipe freezes exceptionally well. Once it is all the way cooked, cool the barbacoa down until you can safely handle it. Freeze in individual portions by using a muffin tin for up to 3 months. This way, you can thaw it quickly and in small portions.
Add some liquid overtop each muffin tin section to help it freeze into one solid piece. Once frozen, pop them out of the muffin tin and transfer them to a freezer bag.
Looking for More Marvelous Dinner Recipes? Be Sure to Also Try:
- Corned Beef Hash Recipe with Horseradish Sauce Recipe
- Habanero Peach Grilled Chicken Wings Recipe
- Garlic Lime Oven Baked Salmon Recipe
- Pork Sukiyaki Recipe
- Healthy Baked Turkey Meatballs Recipe
- Venison Bourguignon (Deer Stew) Recipe
- Jamaican Jerk Chicken Salad Recipe
Get the Complete (Printable!) Crockpot Barbacoa Recipe Below. Enjoy!
Spicy Crockpot Barbacoa Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 4 pound beef chuck roast
- 4 dried “New Mexico” chiles, Anaheim
- 3-5 chipotle chiles, canned in adobo sauce
- 1 large sweet onion, peeled and quartered
- 7 cloves garlic, peeled
- 5 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 4 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 48 corn tortillas
- Garnishes: lime wedges, chopped cilantro, diced red onion
Instructions
- In a large pot or bowl, soak the dried chiles in 2 cups of boiling water. Place a small dish over the top to help keep the chiles submerged. Soak for 10 minutes, until tender. Carefully remove the stems and seeds. Reserve the chile water.
- Place the softened chiles, chipotle chiles, onion, garlic, vinegar, and brown sugar in the blender. Pour the chile water over the top. Puree until smooth.
- Place the chuck roast in a large slow cooker. Add the bay leaves, cumin, salt, oregano, pepper, allspice, and cinnamon. Pour the chile puree over the top. Cover the slow cooker and turn on high for 4-6 hours, or on low for 8-12 hours.
- Once the roast is fork-tender. Shred the beef into the chile sauce. Cover and keep warm until ready to eat.
- To serve: Spoon beef barbacoa onto two layered corn tortillas. Top with diced onions and cilantro and serve with a lime wedge.
Our family loved it! We did do the less spicy version because of the younger kids but wow! It’s so good!
This looks absolutely delicious!
The flavors in here are incredible. Thank you for an easy, delicious recipe.
barbacoa beef is one of my favorite foods, to I’m excited to have a new recipe!
changes:
I cooked it all day (12hrs) with a bottom round roast, wanted a bit of complexity so also added (what had laying around) mexican oregano instead of regular oregano, 5 dried Szechuan chilies, a tsp of arbol chili powder and a 1/2 tsp of chinese 5 spice. also used budweiser instead of water. finally i threw it in the oven at 350 for an hour uncovered to set the sauce.
best thing i ever ate, hands down. your sauce recipe is super on point.
This was extremely spicy to the point of being almost inedible. I spent 15 dollars on a roast so Im gonna try to find ways to eat it still. Im shy of spice. I usually love spicy food but this is on a whole bother level. I know it said it was spicy but I didn’t think it would be this spicy. Beware when you make this.
Is it possible you used another pepper? Anaheim peppers have less heat than jalapeños.
Hi Debo,
You can use any pepper you like. :)
I used the correct peppers and this recipe is so hot! I normally love hot spicy food but like porsha stated it’s almost inedible! Going to try adding sour cream to the pot.
I think you might just not like spicy. I used extra peppers with all the seeds, like Chile de arbol, and actually threw in a ghost pepper because I love the flavor of them. The temperature of the dish was perfect. Just enough heat to make our lips tingle and im glad I added it as I don’t find chipotle or chili particularly spicy at all. I didn’t change one thing besides more peppers and extra salt as I actually grabbed a sirloin tip roast. Your palette is different but to say it’s inedible because you can’t handle chipotle peppers is rude. I wish people wouldn’t say, “I love spicy” then complain about weak spices. The fact is spicy for you is a bell pepper.
This dinner always makes the house smell amazing, and my family devours it!
I love making this in the slow cooker- makes the house small AMAZING!
I love slow cooker recipes! Can’t wait to make this!
Barbacoa is one of our family favorites! This tastes fantastic!
Oh man this looks so delicious. Definitely going to try.
Wondering if anyone has made this with pork?