Chuck Roast Tacos

When your next taco night rolls around, skip the ground beef and give chuck roast tacos a try. Using your slow cooker to make chuck roast for tacos is genius: the long, slow cooking time leaves the beef infused with flavor and lushly tender.

Best of all, using the slow cooker means your hands-on prep time is minimal. It takes a few minutes to brown the roast and fill the slow cooker, and a few more minutes to shred the finished meat. Other than that, this recipe looks after itself and leaves your time free for the rest of the day.

Ingredients for Chuck Roast Tacos

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• Beef chuck roast: Starting your tacos with a whole cut of braising beef, like this chuck, gives the finished meal a beefier flavor and more authentic texture.
• Beer or beef broth: One of the virtues of slow-braising a tough cut is that the liquids you use for braising can add flavor to the beef. That’s what the beer or broth does here.
• Pickled jalapenos: The pickled jalapenos bring a moderate degree of heat, some color and a mild tang to the beef.
• Onion: Onion is a fundamental flavoring in most dishes, adding a pungent note with a hint of sweetness.
• Garlic powder: The shredded beef benefits from a hint of garlic flavor, and garlic powder is a convenient way to provide that.
• Chili powder: Each brand of chili powder contains a slightly different mix of spices, but any of them will give you the flavors you’re looking for.
• Corn tortillas and toppings: The optional corn tortillas, toppings and garnishes are for assembling tacos once the beef is ready.

Directions

Step 1: Cook the chuck roast

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Sprinkle the chuck roast with salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, then add the oil. Brown the roast on all sides, searing it to a dark brown. Transfer the roast to your slow cooker. Pour the beer or broth into the skillet and stir vigorously to loosen the browned-on bits from the pan. Pour this mixture over the meat. In a mixing bowl, combine the jalapenos, onion, garlic powder and chili powder. Pour these flavorings over the roast. Cook, covered, for 6 to 8 hours on low or until the beef is completely fork-tender.

Editor’s Tip: “Fork-tender” means that if you stick a fork into the chuck roast and give it a twist, the meat will easily separate and come away on your fork without being forced.

Step 2: Finish the taco meat

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Remove the roast from your slow cooker to a bowl or shallow pan, and shred it with 2 forks. Strain the cooking juices. Reserve the vegetables and 2 cups of the juices, and discard the rest or use it in another recipe. Skim any fat from your reserved juices. Return the shredded beef, reserved vegetables and skimmed juices to the slow cooker, and heat it through. At this point it can be refrigerated for storage, or serve tacos immediately with the optional tortillas and fillings.

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Chuck Roast Taco Variations

• Switch up the beef: This recipe calls for chuck roast because it’s a near-ideal option for slow cooking. It has a good balance of fat and lean, and its tough muscles and cartilage melt during the long, slow cooking to give the finished beef a lush and silky mouthfeel. That being said, most other braising cuts of beef work equally well. Shank, brisket, plate, oxtail and even tongue can be used in the same way, and most are perfectly traditional and authentic options.
• Add more vegetables: The jalapenos and onions in this recipe are a good starting point, but you could certainly add more. Sweet bell peppers, strips of seeded and peeled tomato (Italian-style “paste” tomatoes are best) and other mild chiles are all good options. They can be added for the last couple of hours’ cooking time, so they don’t fall apart, and then either incorporated with the taco meat or discarded after lending their flavors to the beef.
• Use other chili peppers: A can of pickled jalapenos is a conveniently quick way to add chili flavor to the beef as it cooks, but adding more peppers can rapidly elevate the basic taco meat. There are plenty of kinds of peppers to draw on, from mild and sweet to fruity and potent, and in both fresh and dried forms. Consider some combination of Anaheims and poblanos, Hatch chilies, anchos, serranos and habaneros, to find the level of heat and flavor that works for your personal palate.

How to Store Chuck Roast for Tacos

Any leftover beef tacos chuck roast should be transferred from the slow cooker to storage containers as soon as possible after the meal (because slow cookers are made to retain heat, which is the opposite of what you want for food safety). Use one or more food safe containers with tight-fitting lids. The meat will cool more quickly in multiple small containers than in one large one.

Can I make the beef tacos chuck roast ahead of time?

Absolutely. The long, slow cooking time makes it an easy option, whether you start it in the morning and finish at night, or cook overnight and deal with it the next day. Skip the final reheating and transfer the mixed beef, vegetables and juices to a storage container in the refrigerator. It will taste even better after an overnight rest, and you’ll have the opportunity to remove any residual beef fat after it cools and hardens.

How long will the chuck roast for tacos keep?

Like most leftovers, the chuck roast taco meat will keep for up to 4 or 5 days in your refrigerator, as long as it gets to the fridge soon after it’s cooked. If you prepare the beef a day or two ahead of time, remember to deduct those days from its total refrigerator life.

Can I freeze the beef tacos chuck roast?

Absolutely. The meat for these chuck roast tacos is basically just pot roast with different flavorings. Like pot roast, it freezes and thaws perfectly. You can freeze the entire batch for a future gathering or divide it into smaller portions suitable for small meals. Packed into freezer containers, heavy-duty freezer bags or vacuum-sealed bags, it will last between 1 and 3 months. Vacuum-sealed bags keep the food fresh the longest.

Chuck Roast Tacos Tips

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Can I skip the browning step?

Searing the beef isn’t a mandatory step, so if you don’t want smoke and grease spatters in your kitchen you can skip it. That being said, it does add a lot of flavor which is why it’s considered a key part of braising most meats. The browning process creates lots of additional flavor in the beef itself, and the browned-on juices left in your pan (the fond) are packed with flavor as well. So all told, it’s usually worth the extra few minutes of prep and cleaning time.

What’s the best way to skim the fat from the juices?

The traditional way is to use a spoon or a small ladle to skim just fat from the top of the juices, but you’ll waste a lot of the broth that way. If you’re cooking ahead of time, you can just decant the juices into a container, refrigerate them and scoop the hardened fat from the top afterwards. Alternatively, you can put them into a Mason jar or other jar with a tight-fitting lid, and turn the jar upside down. It will harden with the fat on the bottom and you can just pour off the juices.

You can buy a gravy separator that pours from the bottom rather than the top. For a solution that works quickly, fill a metal ladle with ice and slide the bottom of the ladle around the top of the juices. Any beef fat will congeal on the underside of the ladle, where it can be wiped away (note: we have lots of other fat removal tips to draw on).

Can I chop the beef instead of shredding it?

Sure, if you have a sharp knife to slice it with. Alternatively, you could cut the chuck roast into thick slabs before cooking. This gives you the option of either breaking it up into chunkier pieces once it’s cooked, or still shredding it with your fork but getting shorter shreds that are easier to chew. If you opt to slice the roast before cooking you’ll be able to sear the flat sides of the slices, creating additional flavor, but your cooking time will shorten. Expect the beef to be ready in 4 to 6 hours, instead of 6 to 8.