These slow cooker shredded beef tacos is summer slow cooking at its best! Pair it with your favorite toppings for a hands-free, fun, family and friends meal!
How about some summer slow cooking? We want something easy and hassle-free but good enough to feed a crowd or a family for a couple of days. So today we’re gonna be doing some slow cooker shredded beef tacos with some chuck roast seared lovingly before it’s slow-cooked for hours in a spiced tomato sauce.
The toppings are entirely up to you. Lettuce, cheese, beans, rice, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, lime, guacamole, pico de gallo, sour cream, or hot sauce. And don’t be limited by the title of the recipe. You can use this beef for burritos or enchiladas too.
There’s some cayenne and jalapeno in here, but when all was said and done, I didn’t find it spicy at all so don’t be turned off by those two ingredients. And if you want it super spicy, just add in more peppers, cayenne, or some hot sauce. We always have a bottle of Cholula handy at home for this. Alright, let’s cook!
How To Make Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Tacos (1 Min Video)
SLOW COOKER SHREDDED BEEF TACOS RECIPE TIPS
Use a cheap cut of beef for this, something perfect for slow cooking like a chuck roast. I seasoned it with salt and pepper and seared it for a while cause searing before braising is good. You can skip this step if you don’t want an extra pan to wash but read this before you do so you can make an informed decision!
Then in the slow cooker it goes and you top it with the diced onions and sauce mixture, which is beef broth spiced with cayenne, ground cumin, smoked paprika, garlic, tomato paste, lime juice and diced jalapenos.
If you want less heat, remove the seeds from the jalapenos. I did this, so my beef wasn’t too spicy. If you want more heat, leave the seeds in. And if that still isn’t enough, add more peppers or more cayenne.
It’ll look like a slab of beef with very little juices to go around before you start cooking. Don’t worry about this because after 8 hours of braising, the beef will break down you’ll end up with more than enough juices to coat your shredded beef. Slow cook for 6-8 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high and that’s it! I did mine on low for 8 hours. Then serve with your favorite toppings and enjoy!
MORE TACO AND MEXICAN RECIPES TO TRY
- Slow Cooker Mexican Shredded Beef
- Chicken Enchilada Casserole
- Mexican Ground Beef Casserole
- Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken Tacos
- Instant Pot Chipotle Chicken Tacos
- Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
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Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Tacos
- Total Time: 8 hours 10 mins
- Yield: 22–25 tacos 1x
Description
These slow cooker shredded beef tacos are summer slow cooking at its best! Pair it with your favorite toppings.
Ingredients
- 2–3 lb. chuck roast
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon cayenne
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup beef broth
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 jalapeno pepper, diced
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
Instructions
- Season the chuck roast with salt and pepper to taste.
- In a skillet over medium-high heat, sear the chuck roast on all sides in some oil until browned, about 2 minutes per side. Remove and set aside.
- Combine cayenne, cumin, smoked paprika and garlic with the beef broth.
- Add tomato paste, jalapeno and lime juice and stir to mix.
- Transfer the roast to a 6 qt. slow cooker and top with diced onions.
- Pour the beef broth mixture over the roast and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours.
- Shred the beef with two forks and toss to coat with the juices.
- Dish and serve hot with tortillas and your favorite toppings.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Toppings: Lettuce, cheese, beans, rice, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, lime, guacamole, salsa, sour cream, or hot sauce.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 8 hours
Comments & Reviews
approximately how many people can this recipe feed?
I would say maybe 6-8, depending how many tacos/burritos each person eats and how much they stuff with other fillings. Lots of variables, so don’t take my word for it though!
We’ve made this twice now – one of the best taco filling recipes that I’ve found. My boys couldn’t get enough. Perfect for a baseball night – set it up the night before and let it cook during the day. YUM!
Happy to have helped 🙂 I’m not much of a sports fan but I know they can get hungry!
Thanks for getting back to me! And btw, I am now a gramma ??❤️ I did some research, as it looks so much like something my son and daughter in law would love. It sounds like it will be fine as one. I made it up, and I’m going to try it on the weekend, before I give it to them. I am sure it will be awesome! Thanks again!
Congratulations! You must be so proud 🙂 Fingers crossed it works out!
I am preparing some freezer meals right now for my very pregnant daughter in law 🙂 Do you think it is possible to make this recipe up as one? Putting all the ingreds., minus the beef broth, in a freezer bag, then taking it out the night before, add the broth, and cook it the same way? It sounds like an awesome recipe.
Oh I wish I could give you an absolute but I’m not very experienced with freezer meals and I wouldn’t want to harm your daughter-in-law and future grandbaby’s health! Logically, I wouldn’t see an issue adding seasoning and spices and freezing those but don’t take my word for it! If you have some experience in them, I would suggest using your good judgement 🙂
Made this several times and hubby loves it, cannot have enough. Thx for sharing!!
Thanks for trying it out, Susan! Happy eats 🙂
I made this tonite. My family loved the flavors. My daughter who doesn’t like Mexican foods even said that it was great! Did not change a thing. It was not overly spicy and very delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
Happy to have helped, Changde!
Gosh I wish I’d seen this recipe before i cooked my roast!! It came out perfectly with just salt and pepper, but I’d like to add all the seasonings you used. I’ve already ditched the broth and shredded the meat. Do you think I could add the spices now by mixing them all together and adding a little broth, massaging it in??? Thanks in advance for your advice!! I’m going to make tacos or enchiladas, not sure yet.
It’s probably a little late getting to you, but for future reference you can always just simmer the spices in the shredded meat with a little broth over the stovetop for about 30 minutes to get them to marry!
This recipe seems amazing but i don’t have a slow-cooker, can i cook the meat in a pot on the stove-top?
You should be able to, although I would recommend doing it over medium low heat after the initial searing. Also cutting up the meat into chunks would make it cook faster and I think you should check in every hour and stir to make sure the bottom doesn’t stick and burn.
Can I use beef t-bone steak in this recipe?
You can, but it’s an expensive cut of meat for slow cooking! Usually cheaper cuts of meat are used in slow cooking because the long cooking time manages to make them fork-tender. Good luck!
Stumbled upon this recipe recently and made it last night for dinner….DELICIOUS! Excellent flavor, tender and everyone loved it. Will definitely be putting into the dinner rotation. Thanks for a great recipe!
You’re very welcome and thanks for letting me know! I’m glad to have helped you and your family find a dinner staple 🙂
Would ground beef work with this as well? I have some nice ground chuck I would like to try.
It should. The flavor profile will be the same. Although I would advise to brown the ground chuck beforehand on the stove top to melt all the fat away and then drain it before putting it in the slow cooker for hours. Otherwise the fat will melt and pool in the slow cooker and dilute the sauce a lot! I’ve lost enough recipes that way to know better now!
This looks yummy, as do all your recipes! Curious can you use this same recipe w/chicken or is there’s different recipe for chicken?
Well let me look at the ingredients. Yes, it should work with chicken. Just sub the beef broth for chicken broth and cook it with boneless, skinless chicken so the fat from chicken skin doesn’t melt in the slow cooker and dilute the sauce. It can get super diluted! I should probably make a separate recipe for chicken similar to this so folks can find it easier!
i make tacos and fajitas a lot at home but with shredded chicken or pork, but from now on this will be the tacos for us the whole family loved this. i took some left overs to work and alot of people asked what resturant i got it from. i told them it was homemade but dont think they belived me.
next i try the slow cooker french dip
That’s a great story! So good, people thought it was the stuff of restaurants. I’m really glad to hear that. I’ve always been envious of the flavor from a good carne asada or beef fajitas but never thought I could replicate them perfectly at home. So it’s good to know something else of mine comes close to restaurant quality!
Hope you enjoy the french dip.
I couldn’t find my recipe I’ve used for shredded tacos so gave this one a try and loved it. It will be the one I use from now on and I’m sharing it on our family recipe blog. Thanks, it was perfect.
Thank you for trying it out and sharing it, Grandma Lucy!
Update: Just wanted you to know this is in my standard dinner rotation =) My family loves this dish so much – I follow your recipe exactly, with no deviations, and it’s so perfect! So glad you shared your wonderful creation with us folks! =)
Hey, I’m always happy to help feed a family and give them happy bellies! So glad you guys found a staple, Anna. 🙂 And thanks for coming back with the update, it’s always welcome!