Originating in the state of Jalisco, Birria has spread like wildfire to the U.S. and beyond. Often confused with other similar Mexican braised meat dishes such as Barbacoa, Birria is actually a flavorful stew made of its own braising liquids. More recently, it has been converted to the more familiar taco form causing its popularity to explode. The best part of the dish is that no matter how you cook it, you can serve it both in the original stew form or as tacos. Today's recipe, Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Birria, takes the long and slow cooking process off the table and replaces it with the same results, if not better, in just over one hour! Few people nowadays simply have the time to tend to braised meat dishes for hours on end, but thankfully pressure cookers are more popular than ever so anyone can bring the flavors of Mexico into their very own kitchen with just a few key ingredients found at most local grocery stores. If you're a fan turning cheaper cuts of meat into a tender, shredded beef stew with fresh herbs and chilies that can also be served up in cheesy taco form, stick around and learn about this quick yet equally delicious Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Birria....Let's Get Cooking!
While we may be skipping out on a low and slow cooking process, we still need to keep the roots of this recipe intact and focus on the key flavors that make Birria so amazing in itself! We are going to be using a combination of four different dried chilies and a few other specific ingredients to achieve the classic stew/sauce flavor. For my version, I used 3 dried ancho, 3 guajillo, 1 pasilla, and 1 chile de arbol. The ancho chilies bring a mild, smokey flavor similar to the sweet and smokey notes from the guajillos. The pasilla chile is also mild and sweet, so adding 1 or 2 spicy chile de arbols balances out all those flavors, depending on your personal spice preference. These dry chilies can be seen below as chronologically mentioned from left to right.
Prep work for these dry chilies is extremely easy, but you may want to wear gloves if you are sensitive to peppers. Remove the stems from each chili and use a knife or scissors to cut them open from top to bottom. Most of the seeds should fall right out, but you may have to use your fingers or a knife to scrape out any remaining bits. Once destemmed and deseeded, roughly chop them into smaller pieces and place them in your Instant Pot set to Sauté Mode. Keep everything dry and only add the chilies themselves without any sort of oil or cooking spray. Let the chilies toast for about 5 minutes until they become fragrant and truly aromatic. Once toasted, simply remove the chilies and set aside for now as we move on to the next step of searing our chuck roast. These toasted chilies will be submersed in liquids during the cooking process so there is no need to soak them for 20 minutes in hot water, like you may have seen or heard from other recipes.
Birria is traditionally made from goat meat, but beef has become the standard meat outside of Mexico most people expect. Similar to barbacoa, chuck roast is a perfect cheap cut for this recipe as it will break down and shred quite well once cooked. Cut your chuck roast down into 3 or 4 smaller chunks so it will better fit inside your pressure cooker and heavily season with salt and pepper. Since the Instant Pot should still be hot from toasting the chilies, add some cooking oil and after a minute or so place the roast chunks in to sear on both main sides. Keeping the pressure cooker set to Sauté Mode, sear each side for 5 minutes before flipping to sear the opposite side. You may have to accomplish this step in a couple batches depending on the size of your pressure cooker, but most standard roasts are 3 to 4 pounds so it should fit in fine once broken down into a few smaller chunks. After 10 minutes, remove the seared roast pieces and set aside for now.
Since the next few steps go pretty quick, I highly suggest measuring out and prepping the remaining ingredients while the chilies toast or the beef sears. Everything will eventually be pureed so you don't have to worry about any knife skills, but having the onion sliced and other seasonings ready will make your life less stressful and this recipe much easier! Anyway, once the beef has been removed, keep your Instant Pot on Sauté Mode and add the sliced onions. There should still be enough oil leftover from searing the beef, but if not go ahead and add another tablespoon or so while the onions cook for 3 minutes. Once they have been sautéed, add the garlic, bay leaves, Mexican oregano, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, and tomato paste and cook for 1 additional minute. One note here, Mexican oregano is much different from the standard Italian stuff you probably have in your pantry. It brings much stronger, bright citrus notes so spend the extra couple dollars to purchase it rather than using your standard oregano. You may just find yourself using it in other recipes as well once you experience that flavor difference!
Once those remaining spices have sautéed for a minute or so, deglaze the bottom of the pressure cooker insert with a cup of beef stock. Be sure to scrape up all those bits and pieces of fond as they add a ton of flavor to this stew sauce. Once you have all the fond off the bottom of the pot, add the apple cider vinegar and another cup of beef stock. Stir well before adding back the toasted chilies and submerging them beneath the seared chuck roast pieces. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and turn the Venting Knob to the Sealing position. Cancel Sauté Mode and set to Pressure Cook Mode for 40 minutes. After the pressure cooker builds enough pressure and cooks the beef for 40 minutes, leave it be and allow the pressure to naturally release, which should take about 25 minutes. I have found this slow pressure release helps finish cooking the beef and makes it much easier to shred rather than doing an instant pressure release, which we all know scares the living daylights out of us anyway.
After all the pressure releases and you can open the lid, carefully use a pair of tongs and transfer the beef to a separate container. Using the tongs and a fork, shred the beef as fine as possible. It should just about fall apart on its own, but a few of the tougher portions may require that extra effort with the fork.
Now we spent all that effort on the sauce we cooked the beef in so we are not going to forget about it at this point. Try to look through the sauce and remove those 2 bay leaves we added earlier. No one wants to bite into that, so be sure to find and remove them. If you have an immersion blender, stick it in the pot and let it rip until the sauce is fully pureed and no chili or onion pieces remain. Otherwise, carefully pour the remaining cooking liquids and pieces into a blender and puree them that way. Be mindful of what happens to hot liquids and fully sealed blenders, though, so try and leave a little vent open to prevent a sauce explosion kitchen disaster!
Like I previously mentioned, Birria was originally served as a stew. If this is your plan, simply add some shredded beef to a bowl of the pureed cooking sauce and serve with some fresh cilantro and diced onion. Keep it simple and please the masses!
Now if you want to make tacos out this tasty beef, ladle a few scoops of the pureed sauce onto the shredded beef and mix well. This will help keep the beef moist until ready to consume. Reserve the remaining sauce and dip corn tortillas in it before sauteing in a skillet for 45 seconds to a minute over medium heat. Add some shredded Oaxaca or Mozarella cheese to the top and allow it to begin melting before topping with the hot shredded beef. Fold the tortilla in half and serve immediately with extra sauce for dipping and a few lime wedges for a bit of acid. A little bit more work to go the taco route, but they are amazing from the first bite to the last!
Overall, this Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Birria does require a little bit of effort, but the final product will have everyone screaming "muy delicioso, uno mas por favor!" Whether you serve up this meal as a stew or tacos, it will instantly become a friend and family favorite and result in you being asked to make it again and again. This Birria keeps well in the fridge and can be reheated in the microwave to enjoy the next day at work. I tend to sauce the meat a bit, but keep it separate from the remaining sauce so I can enjoy it both ways. If you put all the meat back in all the sauce you are pretty much confined to the stew version so keep them separate so you can have the best of both stew and taco worlds! Be sure to give this one a try and let me know what you think. Don't be afraid of the dry chilies and other seasonings and steps because if I can do it, so can you as long as you get in the kitchen and try...Just Keep Cooking!
INSTANT POT PRESSURE COOKER BIRRIA
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