Shredded Chicken Birria Tacos Recipe

Shredded chicken birria tacos recipe is here! How to make homemade birria taco sauce spicy or mild, tossed with meat wrapped in a tortilla. Add more cheese and make them into quesadillas too if you like.

What is birria?

It is a traditional Mexican dish that is typically made with meat, most commonly goat or beef, lamb or pork. The meat is marinated and slow cooked until tender and flavorful. The defining characteristic is its rich, aromatic, and has a spicy broth.

How to Make Birria Tacos

The meat is typically cooked with a combination of various spices and seasonings, including dried chili peppers (such as guajillo, ancho, or pasilla), garlic, onion, cumin, oregano, and bay leaves. The marinade or cooking liquid often includes vinegar or lime juice, which helps to tenderize the meat and adds a tangy element.

Traditionally served as a stew, with the tender meat and flavorful broth ladled into bowls, it is now made into chicken fajita tacos, quesadillas, burritos, or even birria ramen!

What are Chicken Birria Tacos Made of?

You would want small street size or taco size store bought or air fryer tortillas for homemade and soft.. We prefer flour but corn works if you would prefer.

• This is a great chicken thighs recipe but you could use medium breasts, boneless skinless
• 1 onion
• 2 tomatoes
• Tomato sauce
• Chicken broth or beef broth works
• 2-3 dried chiles or fresh ancho chiles and/or guajillo chiles
• Minced garlic
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp oregano, thyme and basil
• 3 bay leaves
• Salt and pepper
• You can put some of our roasted chili corn salsa on when done too

As for machinery goes we are explaining how to make chicken birria on the stove this go around, in a Dutch Oven. I explain how to transition this to a pressure cooker below. If you wanted to make slow cooker chicken birria style I would follow this link but the sauce ingredients in this post. Cook low and slow for 8 hours, remove meat, prepare sauce as directed below and you’re good to go.

Chicken Birria Quesadillas

If you wanted to make regular birria quesadillas this it would be an easy transition. You would use the same ingredients, just cheddar cheese would be half and half with the meat. Melting in a pan, some may prefer this “way” over the other even though you are essentially eating the same thing (just with a bit more cheese).

I would opt for the authentic method with these with dipping the flour or corn tortillas in the sauce before adding the ingredients. Yes it is messy to eat but so WOW. If making air fryer quesadillas you should skip that step as it would make a huge mess. Just add meat and shredded Monterey jack cheese to melt.

• Brush chicken thighs with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, and pepper on both sides. In a hot pan, fry the chicken thighs for 2-3 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Transfer to a saucepan.
• Fry the diced onion (reserve 3 tablespoons for serving tacos) and garlic for 5 minutes on low heat, stirring, then also transfer to the pan. Next, add tomato puree, chopped tomatoes, all your spices, salt, bay leaf, pour in broth and add guajillo peppers to the pot.
• Mix everything thoroughly. Cover the pot with a lid and cook on medium heat for an hour. After an hour, remove the chicken thighs, bay leaf from the broth, and tear off the tails from the peppers.
• Place the remaining ingredients in a blender and blend until a smooth. If the sauce seems too thick for you, add a little broth or water to bring it to the desired consistency.
• Chop your cooked chicken and put into a bowl. Add approximately 4 tablespoons of the sauce into the bowl with the chopped chicken meat, stir. Serve inside tortillas this way if you’d like.

Chicken Birria Tacos without Dried Peppers

Instead of adding whole peppers you can instead opt for a dash of jalapeno powder, simmer and then taste again. That is the easiest way to adjust the heat while still giving it the Mexican flavors you crave.

How to Shred Birria Meat

When you make this recipe with boneless meat there really isn’t any effort necessary at all, if there is it isn’t done yet. That is the defining factor really. If you have a piece on the cutting board with 2 forks and you have to yank at all to separate the shreds then it needs more time. That won’t be the case if you follow my directions, unless your pieces are huge.

To make authentic: Pour the remaining sauce into a wide bottom bowl. Roll the tortilla on both sides in it so it’s coated. Put the tortilla in the hot pan. Add chopped chicken meat on one half of it, sprinkle with cheese on top…..and any other fillings you wan to add at this time.

Cover with the other half of the tortilla with another that has been generously coated/dipped in the sauce and fry for about 3 minutes until the tortilla becomes crispy around the edges. Serve ready made birria tacos with chopped onion, cilantro, remaining sauce, and salsa inside or on top. Guacamole is a must for me on top too. 😉

Chicken Birria Nachos

Ok so yes this is yet a third way you could serve the same meat, sauce, but bake the tortillas smaller so you can scoop up all the toppings!! This is how to make tortilla chips in air fryer, top with cheese and melt. Then add the meat, I like more cheese and melt again!

For heat you can add a few slices of roasted jalapenos if you like or crushed red peppers works as well. When you make it yourself it is great because you can really tweak how much heat is added, if at all. Typically it is rather spicy but if you have milder tastebuds in your house toning it down is simple.

Chicken Breast Birria Tacos

Timing really doesn’t change whether you choose to use boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs. I would go with the weight overall since there is a huge variation in sizing when it comes to meat in general. General rule is you cook until each piece is so tender it falls apart when shredded with 2 forks.

Instant Pot Chicken Birria Tacos

If you wanted the meat done quicker it is totally possible to do just that. Follow our Instant Pot birria tacos timing here. Just use the saute feature to saute the white onions etc, add the sauce and cook the meat to tender (for just 20 minutes for chicken) all together in the birria sauce. With the time to pressurize you would be looking at close to 30 minutes total which would save quite a bit of time overall.

If using goat meat that would take longer, we are sticking with birria de pollo, meaning poultry boneless skinless pieces with these instructions. Enjoy right out of the pot once you blend together the sauce ingredients.

How do you store leftover birria?

If you have leftovers the sauce saves quite well once cooled in a sealed container for up to a week! Meat should be cooled and stored in freezer bags in the fridge for up to 3 days. I would spoon a bit of liquid in with the protein to keep moist but add more when reheating so it doesn’t dry out.

Birria Recipes

Like I said you could use this sauced meat in all sorts of things. With our leftovers I will make nachos or quesadillas the next day. Sometimes served over a bed of rice is a nice fusion too.

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