isithalal.food · Recipes

Halal beef birria tacos

Slow-cooked Mexican birria made with Halal braising beef and bone marrow in a smoky chilli broth, served in corn tortillas with the broth for dipping.

Mexican · Main · Moderate · Beef and broth for 6, or about 24 tacos · 235 min

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

Print Back to recipe

Why Halal checks matter here

Birria is braised meat, so it is only Halal with Halal-slaughtered meat and bone marrow; the recipe's splash of white wine vinegar is a scholarly difference, and the optional mozzarella depends on its rennet.

Halal-critical ingredients

• The beef and bone marrow: Both the braising steak and the bone marrow are only Halal from Halal-slaughtered animals. Taco fillings such as al pastor and carnitas are typically pork. Buy the steak and marrow bones from a Halal butcher. When eating birria or tacos out, ask which meat it is and whether it is Halal. See Tacos and Beef.
• White wine vinegar: Deliberately made wine vinegar is a scholarly difference: the Hanafi school, MUI and IslamQA permit it; the classical Shafi'i and Hanbali position does not. Use it if your school accepts it, or leave the teaspoon out. See Vinegar.
• Mozzarella (optional): Cheese is set with rennet, and scholars differ on rennet from animals not slaughtered the Halal way. Use a mozzarella with microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet, or skip the quesabirria. See Cheese.

Ingredients

Beef

• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1.5 kg Halal braising steak, in 1.5 cm cubes
• 2 Halal beef bone marrow discs (ask your Halal butcher)
• 15 g sea salt flakes
• 2 bay leaves

Chilli sauce

• 4 guajillo chillies, stems and seeds removed (or other dried chillies)
• 1 large ancho chilli, stem and seeds removed
• 4 arbol chillies (optional, for heat)
• 2 medium tomatoes, halved
• 1 medium onion, quartered
• 2 garlic cloves
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• 2 cloves
• 3 black peppercorns
• 1 tsp white wine vinegar (see the vinegar check below)

To serve

• 1 handful coriander, chopped
• 1 white onion, finely chopped
• to taste spicy salsa
• 2 limes, cut into wedges
• 24 corn tortillas, warmed (optional)
• to taste grated mozzarella with non-animal or Halal rennet (optional)

Method

1. Brown the beef. Heat the oil in a large, heavy ovenproof saucepan over a medium-high heat and brown the Halal beef all over, about 8 to 10 minutes. Set aside.
2. Toast and simmer the chillies. Toast the guajillo and ancho chillies in a dry frying pan over a medium heat for 2 minutes without burning them; add the arbol chillies too if you want it hot. Put them in a lidded saucepan with the tomatoes, onion and peeled garlic, add 500 ml water, cover, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave to cool.
3. Blend the sauce. Lift the tomatoes, onion and chillies into a blender, keeping the cooking liquid. Add the spices, vinegar and 2 tbsp of the liquid and blend until smooth. Heat the oven to 140C/120C fan/gas 1.
4. Braise. Put the beef back over a medium heat with the bone marrow, salt and bay leaves. Sieve the chilli sauce into the pan, then add 1 litre water and the rest of the cooking liquid. Cover and braise in the oven for 3 hours until the meat is tender and falling apart, seasoning to taste after 1 hour 30 minutes.
5. Shred and serve. Lift out the meat with a slotted spoon and shred it with two forks; the broth should have thickened. Serve the beef in bowls with the broth poured over and coriander, onion, salsa and lime, or in warm corn tortillas with the broth in a cup for dipping. For quesabirria, melt some mozzarella on a tortilla with the beef and spoon a little broth under and over it.

Allergens

milk (optional mozzarella)

How this recipe was researched

Method from BBC Good Food's 'Birria tacos' by Karla Zazueta (serves 6: 1.5 kg braising steak browned in sunflower oil; guajillo, ancho and optional arbol chillies toasted and simmered 5 minutes with tomatoes, onion and garlic in 500 ml water, then blended with oregano, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, peppercorns and 1 tsp white wine vinegar; sieved over the beef with 2 bone marrow discs, salt, bay and 1 litre water and braised at 140C/120C fan/gas 1 for 3 hours; shredded and served with the broth, coriander, onion, salsa, lime and corn tortillas, or as quesabirria with mozzarella). We specified Halal beef and bone marrow, flagged the vinegar per school and the mozzarella's rennet. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Photograph from our ingredient library: assorted tacos, not the finished dish from this recipe.