This is a recipe for Mexican Shredded Beef for tacos or burritos. Beef Machaca is a Mexican Slow Simmered pulled beef from a Pot Roast. This tender Mexican shredded Beef Machaca is full flavored and can be used to make burritos, tacos, breakfast burritos and huevos.
Beef Machaca Huevos. Simply a warm flour tortilla topped with a helping of Beef Machaca and a fried egg.
I’ve only recently been introduced to Beef Machaca, thanks to Young Guns Chile out of New Mexico and one of their Facebook postings featuring Machaca.
Beef Machaca is that flavorful authentic shredded beef that you find in burritos and tacos. You know the ones…you can’t quite figure out why the meat is so good. The recipe originally comes from Sonora and used to make burritas, an everyday type of taco there.
Machaca in its traditional form is the Mexican equivalent of beef jerkey. Beef that has been marinated, cooked, shredded and dried. The drying process preserved the beef, made it easy to pack on the trail.
The Tex-Mex version is a braised beef dish that can be served alone with tortillas for tacos and burritos. And that’s just a beginning on how to use this tender Mexican meat.
Many people still call it Machaca, although it’s often referred to on menus simply as shredded beef. There are many subtle differences in how it is prepared from recipe to recipe. I didn’t find any two recipes exactly the same. Some were complicated with flavor, some added wine and some were quite simple, adding just onion, cumin and green chile and boiled in water stove-top.
The recipe I found over at Texas Cooking sounded perfect to me and made some of the best pulled beef tacos I’ve ever had..
With just the two of us in our house, this wonderful Mexican beef lasted a few days. We enjoyed breakfast burritos filled with Beef Machaca, fresh chopped tomatoes and scrambled eggs.
With some melted cheese on top and rings of fresh sliced sweet onion, a side of hash browns and oranges, it was a wonderful south of the border breakfast.
Beef Machaca alone is divine, so just a flour tortilla filled with the hot meat is an easy little street style snack.
And if you can believe it, I did make my own flour tortillas using this recipe. I was pretty pleased for my first try.
Machaca is a great example of cooking with one of my favorite techniques, braising. I look forward to making this again to use in chiles rellenos and enchiladas. It’s so easy to make I’m starting to wonder if I’ll ever use ground beef again for Mexican. A Mexican version of tender pot roast, it’s simply simmered stove top with some spices…let the fiesta begin!
Recipe for Mexican Shredded Beef Machaca
I hope you give this Mexican beef taco recipe a try. And if you do, please come back and let me know how you liked it and give the recipe a star rating.
Your feedback is valuable to me for developing future recipes. And if you have a favorite pulled beef taco recipe, let me know, I’d love to give it a try.
And if you’re looking for more South of The Border Mexican Roast Beef ideas, you won’t want to miss my recipe for Mexican Pot Roast. Just right spicy.
- For the marinade:
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
- Juice of two limes
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon New Mexico chili powder or Ancho Chile Powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup vegetable oil or olive oil
- To cook the beef:
- 2-3 pounds Chuck Roast or Skirt Steak trimmed and cut into portions.
- 1 large sweet onion diced
- ½ green bell pepper diced
- 4 cloves of garlic minced or pressed
- 1 jalapeno pepper minced
- 1-14 ounce can diced tomatoes or tomatoes with green chilies
- ¼ cup beef broth
- 1 tablespoon dried Mexican oregano
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce such as Tabasco
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
- Vegetable oil for searing the beef
- For the marinade, combine all the ingredients in a bowl then whisk them to form an emulsion. Add the beef making sure every piece is evenly coated. Cover and refrigerate.
- Marinate the beef overnight in a bowl in the refrigerator. Before preparing, drain thoroughly and allow meat to come up to room temperature for about 30 minutes.
- In a Dutch oven, heat a few tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat until very hot. Sear the beef a few pieces at a time to develop a rich brown color on all sides as well as on the bottom of the pan. Do this in several batches if the pot is too crowded.
- When all the beef is browned nicely and removed from the pan, add the onions, peppers, and garlic to the hot pan. Saute for a few minutes then add the remaining ingredients to the pan along with the beef. Bring to a boil, scraping the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer slowly for about 2 hours. The meat should be very tender and should easily fall apart when pricked with a fork.
- Remove from heat, remove meat to a cutting board and shred with a pair of forks. Return to the pot and bring to a simmer, uncovered. Reduce the liquid until very thick, almost dry. At this point, adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper, and whatever additional heat you want to add if any.
Finish by stirring in the vinegar.
When adding the canned tomatoes with peppers, I like to add plain canned tomatoes and chop 3 Hatch chile peppers that have been roasted and seeded.
Can’t get enough taco recipes? How about crisping up your next Taco Night. Take a look at this fried version:
Fried Beef Tacos
Liz says
April 24, 2016 at 5:39 pmSounds really nice. Thank you and have a good week.
Lea Ann Brown says
April 26, 2016 at 4:51 pmThanks Liz
Mark Lewis says
April 24, 2016 at 7:04 pmThat sounds good! I need to try it By the way my wife s name is Leann also!
Lea Ann Brown says
April 26, 2016 at 4:51 pmThank you Mark! And yay for another Leaann! There’s not that many of us. Thanks for the visit and taking the time to comment.
Sam @ My Carolina Kitchen says
April 25, 2016 at 5:18 amThis definitely would take care of my Mexican food cravings. A must try.
Sam
Lea Ann Brown says
April 26, 2016 at 4:49 pmMe too Sam. Thanks
Ben Prucey says
April 25, 2016 at 9:54 amLee Ann,
It seems that ground cumin is listed twice in this recipe. Which is correct?
Lea Ann Brown says
April 26, 2016 at 4:49 pmIt’s listed twice because one is in the marinade and one is in the main dish. I’ll call you.
Karen (Back Road Journal) says
April 25, 2016 at 12:18 pmI’m impressed that you made you own flour tortillas. I’d definitely enjoy starting my day with the beef machaca with a fried egg.
Lea Ann Brown says
April 26, 2016 at 4:49 pmI’m impressed that I made my own flour tortillas. 🙂
Susan says
April 26, 2016 at 4:02 pmI’ve made and eaten my share of shredded pork in Mexican food but not beef that I can recall. I can’t wait to try this! The beef machaca so tender and deliciously flavored.
Lea Ann Brown says
April 26, 2016 at 4:47 pmThank you Susan. I can’t wait to make it again. Once the marinade is done, the rest is a piece of cake.
John/Kitchen Riffs says
April 27, 2016 at 8:56 amWe love this stuff! You can make it with pork, too. Great recipe. Love the highlights on the table in the pictures — really nice.
Lea Ann Brown says
April 30, 2016 at 11:46 amThat table has ended up to be so photogenic. Always different light reflections depending upon the time of day.
Larry says
April 27, 2016 at 3:02 pmThis sounds great Lea Ann and similar to the Italian Beef we recently made but with different flavors. And of course my favorite is the one with the egg on it.
Lea Ann Brown says
April 30, 2016 at 11:45 amI thought of you when I posted those photos. 🙂
Abbe@This is How I Cook says
April 27, 2016 at 6:24 pmWhat a great recipe Lea Ann! I would not turn this down!
Lea Ann Brown says
April 30, 2016 at 11:45 amI most certainly didn’t turn it down, and ended up eating too much. 🙂
Jean | DelightfulRepast.com says
April 28, 2016 at 8:36 amYou’re making me hungry! This looks perfect. I make my own flour tortillas, too, but I use butter and mix by hand. Oil would be fine, too. I just don’t want any tortillas made with shortening. Mmm … machaca!
Lea Ann Brown says
April 30, 2016 at 11:44 amI’d like to try with butter one of these days. Thanks Jean.
Bam's Kitchen says
April 30, 2016 at 6:53 pmMy boys would love this recipe. You made your own flour tortillas…good on you. Impressive. That drippy egg is making this whole dish come together beautifully.
Lea Ann Brown says
May 8, 2016 at 6:10 amI’m big on those drippy eggs. 🙂
Jill says
August 31, 2016 at 10:04 amThank you, Lea Ann, for such a beautiful looking recipe. I have my beef marinating right now…. and plan to sear the meat in a couple of hours. I do not see where you cook with the marinade in the cooking process, right?
Lea Ann Brown says
September 5, 2016 at 2:29 pmThat is correct Jill. How did you like it? We just returned from Tucson where I ordered Beef Macahaca at a Mexican Tacqueria. Man was it good. Now I have to make it again this week so I can compare, before I forget how the other tasted.
Will says
September 2, 2017 at 12:11 pmSitting at home with a cold, watching man v food, looked at something delicious I wanted to find the recipe for, so I have followed yours and the beef is marinading in the fridge now! It looks fab and I can wait for dinner tomorrow!
Candice says
June 27, 2018 at 4:29 pmI was too excited to try this recipe so I didn’t marinate overnight. I marinated the beef for about 30 minutes and wow it was so good. I will definitely be making his again. Thanks for sharing!