Instant Pot Mexican shredded beef is a goof-proof approach to the best taco meat! This easy recipe makes restaurant-style shredded beef and takes just over an hour to prepare.
Alternatively titled: How to make 4 pounds of beef disappear in less than an hour.
Lately, my family has collectively turned over a new leaf. We have been meeting one night a week for family dinner for the last couple of months. You see, we have all lived in the same 40-mile radius for YEARS (there are LOTS of us) but it is rare that all of us get together for the same events.
Several weeks ago, I hosted my family for family dinner.
I made this Instant Pot Mexican Shredded Beef, which we used in tacos, burritos or bowls (it was a build-your-own-adventure sort of dinner), as well as teriyaki chicken, roasted vegetables, homemade rice pilaf, and caesar salad.
I thought for sure there would be leftovers to send home with my mom and siblings, but alas, there was not a morsel of food left.
7 pounds of animal protein GONE!
…4 of which was this shredded beef.
While it ended up being the perfect amount of food to fill everyone up, I was rather bummed that I couldn’t send my family away with containers of beef.
They all went absolutely bonkers over it! This to say, if you have a large family, consider using 5 to 6 pounds. AND if you have a small family, stick with the 3 to 4 pounds, because I guarantee they will love it so much you’ll be psyched there are leftovers!
The best part about this family meal is it required hardly any effort to make. I prepared both this shredded beef and the teriyaki chicken in my Instant Pot (separately obviously), which made prep and cleanup super quick and easy.
If you don’t own an Instant Pot, no sweat! I have included slow cooker instructions below as well.
So let’s hop to this!
How To Make Instant Pot Mexican Shredded Beef:
Procure a large beef chuck roast. Chop it into 4 to 6 smaller chunks (the chunks should still be large!).
In a small bowl, stir together the chili powder, sea salt and thyme. Sprinkle the mixture over the chunks of beef, then use your hands to gently press the rub into the beef. Note: you can absolutely use more seasoning, so go liberal with it!
Plug in your Instant Pot and press the Sauté button. Add the avocado oil and allow the Instant Pot to heat up.
Place several of the large chunks of beef in the Instant Pot and sear for 3 minutes on two sides.
Transfer to a plate and repeat for remaining chunks (I was able to do 3 chunks at a time and had 6 chunks total, so this took me two rounds).
Set the plate of seared beef aside for a moment while you sauté the onion and garlic.
Keeping the Instant Pot on the Sauté setting, add the onion and sauté, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and continue sautéing one minute longer.
Add the beef broth, orange juice, coconut sugar, and lime juice to the Instant Pot. Transfer the beef back into the Instant Pot and do your best to submerge it in liquid. It’s okay if it isn’t all submerged!
Secure the lid and Press Manual or Pressure Cook. Set the timer for 50 minutes, and set the pressure release valve to Sealing.
Once the time is up, allow the pressure cooker to go into its Keep Warm mode for at least 10 minutes (you can stretch this longer if you aren’t around to release the pressure). Release the pressure.
Use tongs to transfer the beef to a cutting board.
Use two forks to shred the beef. Transfer the shredded beef back to the Instant Pot and allow it to soak up the juices.
From here, you can either serve the shredded beef, or you can reduce the sauce by setting your Instant Pot to the Sauté function and allowing it to boil for 10 to 20 minutes.
Serve as tacos, burritos, enchiladas, or bowls with your favorite toppings.
How to Make Shredded Beef in the Slow Cooker:
You’ll follow all of the same instructions for the Instant Pot above except for two changes: 1.) you’ll need to sear the beef and sauté the onion and garlic in a skillet (rather than using the Instant Pot for searing), and 2.) The cook time is going to be longer with the slow cooker.
Chop beef chuck roast into 4 to 6 smaller chunks (the chunks should still be large!).
In a small bowl, stir together the chili powder, sea salt and thyme. Sprinkle the mixture over the chunks of beef, then use your hands to gently press the rub into the beef. Note: you can absolutely use more seasoning, so go liberal with it!
Add avocado oil to a large cast iron skillet and heat to medium-high on the stove top. Sear the chunks of beef on two sides for 3 minutes per side, or until beef is golden-brown and crispy. Transfer beef to a plate and add the onions to the skillet. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about another 2 minutes.
Transfer the onions and garlic and beef to your slow cooker. Pour in the rest of the ingredients and stir everything around so that the beef is submerged in liquid as much as possible (it’s fine if it isn’t completely covered in liquid).
Secure the lid on your slow cooker. Cook on low heat for 10 to 12 hours or high heat for 6 to 8 hours. Note: I think the meat turns out better when you cook on the lowest heat for a long period of time (10 to 12 hours).
Use tongs to transfer the beef to a cutting board.
Use two forks to shred the beef. Transfer the shredded beef back to the Instant Pot and allow it to soak up the juices.
Serve as tacos, burritos, enchiladas, or bowls with your favorite toppings.
Serving Suggestions:
As I mentioned previously, I did a build-your-own-adventure situation with this recipe. I heated up corn and flour tortillas, made rice pilaf and roasted vegetables, caesar salad, and set out grated cheese, chopped red onion, cilantro, avocado, and a variety of hot sauces and salsas for everyone to choose from. Here are some of the iterations of what folks did:
- Burrito with shredded beef, rice, avocado, cheese, salsa and hot sauce
- Quesadillas with cheddar cheese and shredded beef
- Beef tacos straight up with onions, cilantso, and a hot sauce kicker
- Burrito bowl with shredded beef, rice, and roasted vegetables
- Plate o’ rice, beef, and caesar salad on top.
As you can see, there are plenty of ways you can use this mexican-style shredded beef. Consider also using it for enchiladas, papusas, and even pizza!
Cooking Tips:
- Go liberal on the spices! If you feel you need to use more, use more. Just be cognizant of the amount of spicy spices you add.
- Make this recipe up to 5 days ahead of time! Simply skim the fat and transfer to glass tupperware to save it as a meal prep adventure.
- If you don’t think you can get through all of the beef within a 5 to 7-day period, freeze it for later. I simply transfer it to a zip lock freezer bag and freeze it.
- If you don’t have orange juice on hand, you can use multiple different types of juice – pineapple, mango, or cherry also work great!
- Omit the onion and garlic if you follow a low-FODMAP diet
Whatcha gonna do with all that beef?!
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If you make this Shredded Beef recipe, please feel free to share a photo and tag @The.Roasted.Root on Instagram!
Instant Pot Mexican Shredded Beef
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp avocado oil
- 3 to 4 pounds beef chuck roast chopped into large chunks
- 1 Tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp ground paprika
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 red onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups beef bone broth
- 1 cup orange juice
- 2 Tbsp coconut sugar optional
- 2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
Instructions
- Place beef chuck roast on a cutting board and chop it into 4 to 6 smaller chunks (the chunks should still be large!).
- In a small bowl, stir together the chili powder, sea salt and thyme. Sprinkle the mixture over the chunks of beef, then use your hands to gently press the rub into the beef. Note: you can absolutely use more seasoning, so go liberal with it!
- Plug in your Instant Pot and press the Sauté button. Add the avocado oil and allow the Instant Pot to heat up.
- Transfer several of the large chunks of beef to the Instant Pot and sear for 3 minutes on two sides. Transfer to a plate and repeat for remaining chunks (I was able to do 3 chunks at a time and had 6 chunks total, so this took me two rounds). Set the plate of seared beef aside for a moment while you sauté the onion and garlic.
- Keeping the Instant Pot on the Sauté setting, add the onion and saute, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and continue sauteing one minute longer.
- Add the beef broth, orange juice, coconut sugar, and lime juice to the Instant Pot. Transfer the beef back into the Instant Pot and do your best to submerge it in liquid. It’s okay if it isn’t all submerged!
- Secure the lid and Press Manual or Pressure Cook. Set the timer for 50 minutes, and set the pressure release valve to Sealing.
- Once the time is up, allow the pressure cooker to go into its Keep Warm mode for at least 10 minutes (you can stretch this longer if you aren’t around to release the pressure). Release the pressure.
- Use tongs to transfer the beef to a cutting board. Use two forks to shred the beef. Transfer the shredded beef back to the Instant Pot and allow it to soak up the juices. From here, you can either serve the shredded beef, or you can reduce the sauce by setting your Instant Pot to the Sauté function and allowing it to boil for 10 to 20 minutes.
- Serve as tacos, burritos, enchiladas, or bowls with your favorite toppings.
Nutrition
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Can you do this in the crockpot and if so, how would you do it?
Hi Kristin! I actually have a crock pot version of this recipe that you can access here: https://www.theroastedroot.net/crock-pot-mexican-shredded-beef/ Hope you enjoy!
I made this recipe with pork shoulder since the little store in town didn’t have a beef roast. It turned out delicious!
great dish, love all of these flavors and a great protein for the instant pot, thank you
You’re very welcome! Thanks for the sweet note, Sabrina! 😀
We haven’t used the Instapot in a few weeks, and we were just saying that we need to start making recipes with it again., This is the perfect recipe to start with. Major yum!
YES! I hope you love it! ‘Tis the season for Instant Potting 😀