Slow Cooker Mexican Beef {Instant Pot Directions Included}
This slow cooker shredded Mexican beef is incredible! Flavorful and tender, the beef is perfect for enchiladas, burritos, salads, and more.
This easy Mexican shredded beef recipe is straight up one of the most delicious recipes on the planet.
Not only is it simple to make (slow cooker or Instant Pot!), but it freezes well, and can be used a million different ways. Our favorite: ENCHILADAS.
Instant Pot Directions
The pressure cooker directions for this beef are super simple:
- Combine beef and sauce mixture in an Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker.
- Cook on high pressure for 60 minutes. Let the pressure naturally release.
- Shred the beef into bite-size pieces.
- Simmer the remaining liquid from the Instant Pot and whisk in a cornstarch or flour slurry to thicken.
- Pour some of the thickened sauce over the beef.
Slow Cooker Directions
This shredded Mexican beef is just as easy to make in the slow cooker.
Same story as above: beef and sauce in the slow cooker. Cook on low or high until tender.
And then simmer the remaining liquid on the stovetop and thicken with the cornstarch or flour slurry.
The shredded beef is insanely delicious. I mean, the flavor, is just absolutely through the roof.
The beef is perfect in enchiladas, burritos, quesadillas, chimichangas, salads and more.
Or it can serve as a simple meal served over rice with toppings and some black beans on the side. So, so good.
Enchilada How-To
Most often, I use the slow cooker Mexican beef in enchiladas. It’s my family’s favorite application of the beef (and it makes a really fantastic take-in meal).
To assemble enchiladas:
- Spread some of the leftover sauce on the bottom of a baking pan.
- Roll some of the saucy beef and a sprinkle of cheese in corn or flour tortillas (I usually do some of both since my family is divided when it comes to Team Flour or Team Corn tortillas).
- Place the enchiladas seam-side down in the baking pan.
- Smother with sauce and cheese and bake until hot and bubbly.
These saucy, cheesy, flavorful enchiladas are next-level delicious.
A Very Popular Recipe
This shredded Mexican beef recipe, thanks to it’s simplicity and deliciousness, has garnered thousands of fans over the years.
Christie says: Made these last night. Loved them for dinner, and they were amazing for lunch today! They really are better than the restaurant ones. Thanks Mel for another great recipe!!
Ann B. writes: Rave reviews from the family. Absolutely wonderful! Love the seasoning and the sauce is crazy good. Thank you for another winning recipe!
Lauren says: 100x better than a Mexican restaurant. Best Recipe EVER!
Alanna writes: Amazing! made exactly as stated, but I did strain the sauce before pouring into the skillet, because my salsa was on the chunky side. Made for a family gathering and they disappeared fast!!!
If you have yet to make this recipe, what are you waiting for?? I hope you love it!
What to Serve With This
- The Best Cornbread
- Fresh Fruit
- Roasted Broccoli or Skillet Green Beans
- Black Beans and Rice
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Slow Cooker Mexican Beef
Ingredients
Shredded Beef:
- 2-3 pound boneless chuck or sirloin beef roast
- 2 cups low-sodium beef broth
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup salsa (green or red salsa)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch or flour
Enchiladas:
- 10 6 or 7-inch flour or corn tortillas
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 ½ cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- Fresh cilantro, optional
Instructions
- For the slow cooker: in a 4- or 5-quart slow cooker, add the beef roast. Whisk together the broth, vinegar, salsa, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Pour over the roast, cover the slow cooker, and cook on low for 8-10 hours until the beef is tender and shreds easily.
- For the Instant Pot/Electric Pressure Cooker: in a 6-quart electric pressure cooker, add the beef roast. Whisk together the broth, vinegar, salsa, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Pour over the roast, secure the lid on the pressure cooker and close the valve. Cook on high pressure for 60 minutes. Let the pressure naturally release for 15 minutes (or all the way). Release the remaining pressure.
- Remove the roast and place in a large bowl or shallow pan (like a 9X13-inch pan). Shred into bite-size pieces with two forks.
- Turn the Instant Pot to sauté and bring the liquid to a simmer (for a slow cooker, pour the liquid into a saucepan and bring to a simmer).
- In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch (or flour) with about 2-3 tablespoons water (use a bit more water if using flour). Add the slurry to the simmering liquid, whisking constantly, and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened slightly, 4-5 minutes. Add additional salt and pepper to taste, if needed.
- Pour about 1/2 cup sauce in with the beef and toss. Use as desired (instructions for enchiladas below).
- To make enchiladas: Spread about 1/2 cup sauce on the bottom of a 9X13-inch pan.
- Toss the cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses together.
- Spread shredded beef in the center of each tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese. Roll up and place in the pan, seam-side down.
- Spread 1-2 cups of sauce over the top of the enchiladas. Sprinkle with cheese.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes until bubbly and hot. Let the enchiladas rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
- Sprinkle with fresh cilantro, if desired, and serve.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted slightly from Jamie G (a super sweet blog reader who sent it to me; it’s her favorite meal!)
Recipe originally posted January 2015; updated September 2022 with new photos, recipe notes, etc.
Hi Mel! When you say green or red salsa for this recipe, do you mean green or red enchilada sauce? Or just regular salsa?
Just green or red salsa (chunky or thin, storebought or homemade, it’s your choice – but it’s different than enchilada sauce).
Would pace be a good salsa for this recipe?
If you enjoy the flavor, it would be a great salsa!
Hi!
Really want to try this recipe, but I have a question…
My current favorite enchiladas have me frying then dipping the corn tortillas
in hot enchilada sauce before filling and rolling.
I’d love to skip this time consuming and messy step but still want enchiladas that hold their shape and don’t get soggy.
Thoughts?
Thank you..
Hi Luey, if using corn tortillas, it definitely helps to soften them the way you describe. As a shortcut, I’ll sometime spritz them with water and then microwave with a moist paper towel for a few seconds until warm and pliable – but sometimes they still crack a bit. (Although they don’t get overly soggy).
I made this meat to put inside chimichangas. It was very flavorful and fall apart tender. My husband who isn’t a huge Mexican food fan asked me to give this recipe (along with the Mexican rice recipe) a permanent spot in our rotation! A definite win in our book!
Crowd favorite! Easily doubled! Perfect every time! Thanks for another awesome one, Mel!
I wanted to do this with pulled pork. I have the Costco Kirkland pulled pork (pre cooked) Could I just put this all in my crock pot and then drain and reserve the liquid so I can thicken it. Thanks!
Hi Paula, I’m honestly not sure – my biggest concern is that the already cooked pork will dry out with extended cooking time. But you could definitely experiment!
Mel – the sauce was super flavorful but my meat was soo tough and hard to shred. It wasn’t falling apart like I anticipated. I actually moved it out of the IP and threw it in the crockpot for several hours on low which helped and then I poured the sauce into a saucepan and reduced it on medium. But – I followed your directions with a 2 1/2 lb roast in the IP. I hit the meat button and did 60 min… then I let it sit in there all morning and checked it in the afternoon and that’s when I found that it was too tough… where did I go wrong?
I used flour tortillas and made more like 16 enchiladas split bw pans. If I had filled with less meat then I could definitely have made more so it’s a flexible recipe in the amount it feeds.
Hi Laura, what cut of beef did you use? It’s likely that it needed more time in the Instant Pot if it wasn’t tender enough (especially if more time in the slow cooker helped)
I think it was a rump roast – I just bought what was on sale.
I think 12-15 more minutes in the pressure cooker will help for next time.
These are very good! I followed your recipe exactly and they came out great! Thank you, for all you delicious recipes
We LOVE this recipe, my one year old and 4 year old approve!!! We have always followed the recipe exactly, but I’m curious, do you think we could try a pork butt instead of the beef roast?
Sure, I think that would be tasty, too!
I made this last night in the instant pot and got the dreaded “BURN” notice. I am not sure if it was the recipe or something going on with my instant pot, but when I opened the instant pot, things were indeed burnt on the bottom. Very disappointing! I was able to salvage the meal by finishing the roast in the oven but was not as tender as it would have been in the IP. 🙁
We love this recipe and want to double it for a bigger group. Do I double the ingredients & use same cooking time or do I need to increase cooking time? Using the instant pot. Thank you!
P.S. I have a 6 qt. pot.
The cooking time will be the same for a double batch.
Just wanted to share my experience for making a huge batch of this in the instant pot! We had a big group for Mother’s Day and the meat was a hit with our “Cafe Rio” fixings. I used 7.5 lbs of chuck roast in my 8 qt IP and cut each roast into big chunks so it would have more surface area for cooking since I was worried about cooking so much at once. I doubled the broth/salsa but tripled the spices to make sure it was seasoned enough. Cooked at high pressure for 65 mins and only let it natural release for like 5ish minutes (since guests were arriving and I didn’t have time to wait longer) but the meat was falling apart and was perfectly tender. After I took the meat out to shred, I also removed about 2 cups of the broth because it seemed like way too much for sauce, and looking back I think I could have removed another cup or so since it had plenty of sauce and didn’t thicken as much as I thought. I only used 3 tablespoons of corn starch because that was all I had left. It was a bit more soupy than I would have liked so guests had to strain it a bit before putting it on their burritos and things but it was still delicious and we all sang Mel’s praises all night! Our whole family knows it’s going to be good if we say, “It’s from Mel!” Thanks for all the great recipes!
BEST MEXICAN SHREDDED BEEF EVER. Have made several times now and used for enchiladas, burritos and even nachos. The flavor can’t be beat.
What kind of salsa did you use?
I alternate between using green salsa (salsa verde) or classic red salsa (this homemade version: https://www.melskitchencafe.com/best-homemade-salsa/).
I think I’ve made this about 5 times in the last 3 weeks. My husband says it’s the best meal I’ve ever made (only tied with your sweet and sour chicken- that one can never be defeated).. I don’t know why I waited so long to try this but wow. Just wow. And so easy and a working mom! You are always a lifesaver !!
I’m excited to try this! In the recipe when it says red or green salsa, is that enchilada sauce? ♀️
No, it’s referring to salsa (like salsa verde for green salsa) or classic red salsa.
The best! Loved by all ages and levels up my enchilada sauce (from canned) without a ton of extra work. LOVE!
Unbelievably good!
Amazing! Easy and delicious comfort food. I cooked the meat on high in the crockpot for 6 hours. The meat was flavorful and tender. Next time I will use more sauce.
Is it okay to use frozen beef?
I think it cooks more evenly if the beef is thawed first.
One of those meals you make and while you are eating it you’re already planning for when you can make it again. So good!
I made these and loved them. We were babysitting a few kids who are on the pickier side and 2 out of three of them had thirds!
We loved the sauce the most. Best enchilada sauce I’ve ever had (bought or homemade). Do you think it would work with chicken if I subbed chicken broth? I need to take a meal to that same family but the dad has a red meat sensitivity.
You could definitely try it with chicken – the overall flavor will be different. And the cooking time will be quite a bit less!
This was amazing! I can always count on Mel to deliver a 10/10 recipe. I always love a good crock pot meal and it was simple to make! The flavor was outstanding and I’m already looking forward to leftovers tomorrow!!! Thanks!
Which salsa do you recommend using? I’m conflicted whether I should use red or green! Thanks in advance! Can’t wait to try this.
I’ve honestly used both with great results. I’d say go with a salsa that has a flavor you love! you really can’t go wrong.
To be honest, I never really eat enchiladas (I’m not a fan of the red sauce ones and family not a fan of the versions made with a “cream of” soup) and I’ve certainly never made them before. But man oh man, did these look good and any recipe from Mel has never let me down before! So I thought I’d try it with one of the roasts we had in the freezer. I even used my Insta-Pot to cook the meat. These turned out WONDERFUL! I had some sauce left over that I didn’t put in the pan of enchiladas so I’ve now bagged it to freeze. Hopefully I can find something good to use it on (or the next few times I make this recipe will give me enough extra sauce to make another pan of enchiladas for the freezer). Thanks for another winner Mel!
These were delicious, just scrumptious! Next time I’ll serve them with lettuce and tomato on top.
This was so yummy! My whole family loved it. I have already bought another roast to make it again. Side note, I used a top round roast as it is more “macro friendly” and it still shredded beautifully!
5 stars because these were SO easy to make and SO delicious! I loved using the liquid from the roast for the enchilada sauce rather than creating a new sauce.
Hi Mel!
Thanks so much for this recipe. I’ve got quite a crowd coming over tomorrow and I think I’d like to try this! If I double the recipe is it still the same cooking time in the slow cooker for the meat?
Thanks!
Yes!