Summary
A recipe for Chicken Birria Tacos in the slow cooker - a true dump and go. Make the sauce, pour it over frozen chicken, set it, and walk out the door.
What's on Your Plate
Chicken Birria Tacos start with dried New Mexico, negro, and chipotle chiles simmered into a deep, smoky adobo with chicken until it shreds easily. Since it is made in the slow cooker, and you can use frozen chicken, it's a very easy dinner.
Step by Step Photos
Chicken Birria Tacos Recipe
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Chicken Birria Tacos for the Slow Cooker
Equipment
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Ingredients
~~ For the sauce: ~~
- 2 dried chile negro
- 2 dried New Mexico chiles
- 1 dried chipotle chiles
- 3 cups Hot water
- 14 ounces diced tomatoes, or medium fresh tomato quartered
- ½ red onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 teaspoon *chicken base
- 1 teaspoon Ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon Dried oregano
- 1 bay leaf
~~ For the tacos: ~~
- 2 pounds Boneless chicken breasts
- 8 Corn tortillas
Instructions
- Gather ingredients
- 2 dried chile negro, 2 dried New Mexico chiles, 1 dried chipotle chiles, 3 cups Hot waterPut the dried chile negro, chipotle, and New Mexico chiles in a bowl. Cover completely with hot water and let them soak until fully softened.
- Transfer the softened chiles to a blender with 2 cups of the soaking liquid.
- 14 ounces diced tomatoes, 1/2 red onion, 1 clove garlic, 1 teaspoon chicken base, 1 teaspoon Ground cumin, 1 teaspoon Dried oreganoAdd the diced tomato, onion, garlic, chicken base, cumin, and oregano. Blend until smooth.
- 1 bay leafPour the sauce into a saucepan, add the bay leaf, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes, until it reduces and thickens.
- 2 pounds Boneless chicken breastsPlace the chicken breasts in the slow cooker. Pour the sauce over the chicken so the pieces are well covered.
- Cover and cook on low for about 5 hours, plus roughly 30 extra minutes if the chicken starts frozen.
- Once the chicken shreds easily, remove it and shred it. A stand mixer with the paddle attachment on low speed shreds a full batch in under a minute.
- 8 Corn tortillasWarm the corn tortillas; microwave for soft, or fry and dip ahead of time if you prefer them crisp.
- Set out the chicken and sauce along with tortillas, cheese, cabbage, salsa, and guacamole, so everyone can build their own taco and dip the tortilla in the sauce at the table.
Video
Nutrition
Birria started as a Jalisco specialty made with goat, slow-cooked in a red adobo until falling-apart tender. Chicken birria takes the same chile-forward technique -- dried chiles rehydrated and blended into a deep, tangy sauce -- and applies it to chicken, which shreds just as beautifully and cook in a fraction of the time.
About Birria de Pollo
Traditional birria is a special-occasion dish in Jalisco, Mexico -- usually goat or beef, simmered for hours in a sauce built from dried chiles, tomatoes, and warm spices like cumin, oregano, and bay leaf. Street vendors made it famous as "quesabirria": tortillas dipped in the rendered fat from the pot, griddled until crisp, filled with the shredded meat and melted cheese, and served alongside a cup of the cooking broth (the consomé) for dipping. We serve these tacos with cheese on the side and that way, you can add as much or as little as you want. We also serve ours with tortillas warmed in the microwave. If you like crispy, traditional tortilla, more power to you.
Why Chicken Birria Tacos Work
Dried chiles carry flavor compounds that only fully unlock once they're rehydrated in hot liquid and blended -- soaking the New Mexico, negro, and chipotle chiles here builds a sauce with real depth instead of just heat. Slow-cooking the chicken in that sauce does double duty: the meat turns fall-apart tender as connective tissue breaks down, and it simultaneously flavors and thickens the braising liquid into the sauce you'll spoon over the finished tacos. Dipping the tortilla in that sauce seasons the tortilla from the outside in and gives you that deep red edge instead of a plain, floppy shell.
Note this recipe uses the slow cooker. That makes it a real dump and go. You can make the sauce the night before and refrigerate it for even more flavor. You can put frozen chicken in, pour the sauce on it, set it, and walk out the door.
Common Mistakes and Gotchas
A list of common mistakes and Gotchas
- Using canned enchilada sauce. Yes, we are using the same red sauce for this that we use for our Stacked Enchiladas, but there are no extra ingredients, modifiers, or sugars.
- Not soaking the chilis long enough. If they are not completely soft, they are not ready and will not cook correctly.
- Not cooking the sauce long enough. The sauce needs to cook down to thicken and for the flavors to marry.
Serving and Storage
Serving
Shred the chicken in a stand mixer, it takes only a minute or so. Put the sauce in a bowl that is wide enough for people to completely cover their tortilla. We like cabbage because it stays crunchy, and of course, even though the traditional does not have cheese, we always serve a bowl of cheese.
Use our fresh salsa recipe and you won't be missing out on cilantro. Guacamole is almost required, so learn how to make the best *guacamole. We like to have Refried Beans in the Instant Pot with our tacos.
Storing
Store the shredded chicken and the sauce separately in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Keep tortillas, salsa, cabbage, and guacamole separate until you're ready to reassemble and griddle, since they don't hold well pre-assembled. Both the meat and the sauce freeze well for up to 3 months -- thaw in the refrigerator overnight before reheating.
FAQ
Can I make this with a different cut of chicken or another meat entirely?
You can make this with almost any kind of meat, chicken, beef, goat. It's one of those dishes that was made for long, slow cooking. We used chicken breasts here because that was what we had on hand. Have a whole, chicken or bone-in chicken thighs? Feel free to use them.
Is chicken birria very spicy?
It's warm and smoky more than sharply hot. New Mexico and negro chiles are mild to medium, and the chipotle adds smokiness along with a moderate kick -- easy to dial back by using fewer chipotles if you're sensitive to heat.
Can I make the chicken and sauce ahead of time?
Yes, and it actually improves overnight in the refrigerator as the flavors settle. Reheat the shredded chicken in its sauce on the stovetop before assembling and griddling the tacos.
Do I need a slow cooker to make this?
No -- a slow cooker is convenient for a hands-off simmer, but a Dutch oven on the stovetop or in the oven works just as well, just keep an eye on the liquid level and adjust cook time accordingly. You could make this is your Instant Pot, too.
Transcript of Chicken Birria Tacos
Transcript
Good afternoon and welcome to the Good Plate's Kitchen.
Today we are making Chicken Birria in this slow cooker.
Okay, this is great.
This is something that you can start before you go to work and use your slow cooker.
It'll be great.
Okay, so let's see what we're doing.
We're using chicken breasts.
And I want you to see that these chicken breasts are actually frozen.
And we can do that because modern slow cookers come up to temperature,
which allows them to cook frozen foods.
It'll add a little bit more time about half an hour, but that's okay.
So we're going to be doing that.
But before we do that, I want you to introduce you to
our show, which should be Chili Negro, New Mexico Chili.
And we want some smoky flavor.
We're going to put some chipotle chilies in there as well.
And oregano, garlic clove,
bay leaf, of course, cumin, onion.
And we're going to use diced tomatoes.
These are organic diced tomatoes.
They're very good.
You can find them at Imperfect Foods.
Okay, and we're going to be using corn tortillas for our tacos.
So let's get started.
The first thing we have to do is make the sauce.
So the first thing we're going to do… this is the Chile Negro.
Notice they're the sign inside.
So what I'm going to do, and I'm done with this, I'm going to reseal this using my
vacuum sealer, but I'm keeping that label inside.
So I know what it is.
Let's see what it's put.
Two.
Now we're going to put the chipotle.
Same thing.
There we go.
This is the chipotle pepper.
Chipotle. Some Negroes.
And the last one we're going to put in there is New Mexico Chilly.
We're going to put two
in this you can see.
I have this label also.
Okay.
Now, you can see, they're very nice.
So we're going to add hot water.
This is boiling hot water.
We're going to completely cover these chilies.
And let them rehydrate.
Once they are rehydrated, we will stick them in a blender.
And we'll make the sauce out of them.
The peppers have softened.
You can see they look completely different.
This is Chipotle.
Wait, that's the Negro.
I'm not sure.
I think we can find the chipotle.
I don't know.
Anyway, they're all nice and soft now.
Okay.
What we're going to do with these is we're going to put them in a blender.
And I have a measuring cup because we're going to use some of the liquid.
At first, we're going to put these in here.
There's the chipotle.
And I'm going to take two cups of this.
Just enough.
Add it to this.
I'm going to add the canned tomatoes.
Fresh tomatoes are fine in this.
I usually use fresh.
We were kind of running a little bit. low.
And this is a half of a red onion.
We're going to make a salsa with the rest.
I'm also going to add a clove of garlic.
Now, this is something kind of interesting.
This is chicken base from Better Than Bullion.
I really like that brand.
But this is chicken base.
And what this is going to do is it's going to give it.
rounding flavor so that it won't be all chili.
I'll have some umami flavor in it.
And it's also got salt.
So there will be salt.
And I'm going to put the top on.
The sauce is done.
Take a look at it.
I wish you could be here to smell this.
The smell is absolutely… Okay.
Now, it's not done yet.
Of course, it's not done yet.
We're going to… we have to cook it.
Okay. So the flavor is going to really marry.
And we're going to put it in this pan like this.
And we're going to put a bay leaf in there.
And I'm going to cook that until it reduces down for about 20 minutes.
Okay.
We have the chicken in the slow cooker.
We're going to add - the sauce is ready.
So we're going to add the sauce.
Look at that.
Isn't it beautiful?
Wish you could smell it.
It smells amazing.
Okay. We'll add that.
Put that on there.
And you can just put the whole thing on there.
Make sure all the covered pieces of chicken are covered.
If you want to, you could move around in the sauce.
Okay.
I'm going to put the top on.
And I'm going to set it on low.
And I'll come back in about five hours.
And we'll have a wonderful, wonderful dinner.
And we'll see you then.
Welcome to our table.
As you can see, we have the chicken, the sauce.
We have cheese, cabbage, salsa, homemade, and of course, homemade guacamole.
I can't wait to eat this.
And thank you for watching.
We'll see you next time on the Good Plate.
And remember, ever forward, ever flavorful, yum, yum!
