Using an Instant Pot lets you take a traditional birria recipe and shave hours from the usually all-day cooking project.The cooking process is straightforward: Toasting chiles and blending an adobo sauce are the main jobs, the pressure cooker does the rest by tenderizing the beef.Three chiles — guajillo, ancho, and cascabel — infuse the dish with its signature smoky flavor, gentle heat, and sweet and fruity complexity.
Birria is a traditional dish from Jalisco, Mexico, originally created as a way to transform tough cuts of meat — often goat or beef — into something tender and flavorful. Chef Claudette Zepeda’s version of Birria Tacos is deeply delicious — and was Food & Wine’s most popular recipe in 2020. This adaptation for the Instant Pot turns an all-day cooking project into a quick meal achievable even on a weeknight.
Using the pressure cook setting, the Instant Pot yields meat so tender it falls apart in a richly seasoned broth. Flavor builds with an adobo sauce made from toasted dried chiles, which bring smokiness, gentle heat, and sweet complexity. Once cooked, the beef is shredded and tucked into tortillas dipped in the braising liquid, then griddled until crisp.
The result is smoky, juicy tacos with golden edges and plenty of broth for dipping. This recipe makes enough to feed a crowd, but the meat and broth also freeze well — perfect for more tacos later or for creative twists like birria quesadillas, ramen, or even mac and cheese.
Know your chiles
Guajillos add bright fruitiness and gentle heat, anchos bring raisiny sweetness and depth, and cascabels (if used) contribute earthy smokiness. Toasting the chiles first releases their oils and deepens their flavor. If you can’t find these exact chiles, try New Mexico chiles for guajillos, pasillas for anchos, and chipotles for cascabels. Swap one if you must, but avoid replacing all three to maintain balance.
More ways with birria
Birria is perfect for leftovers. Both the meat and the broth freeze well and can be repurposed in countless ways. Making more tacos or adding cheese for quesadillas is a given, but think cross-culturally as well: Use the meat and broth in ramen for a comforting soup, stir the shredded beef into mac and cheese or buttered noodles, or use the broth to flavor simmered greens with a hint of smoky heat.
Notes from the Food & Wine Test Kitchen
While the Instant Pot saves hours of cooking time, don’t rush the marinade. Let the beef rest in the adobo for at least four hours to ensure the birria develops deep, complex flavor.Skim but don’t strip away all the fat. Leaving some behind not only helps tortillas brown and crisp on the griddle after being dipped in the braising liquid, it also adds a rich, savory depth to the broth.
This recipe was developed by Jasmine Smith and Claudette Zepeda; the text was written by Cheryl Slocum.
Dining and Cooking