Whether you use this Slow Cooker Barbacoa for tacos, stuff it in a sweet potato or just eat it as-is, you’re going to love this easy recipe for tender, melt-in-your-mouth, super flavorful beef! Plus it’s a great meal prep option!
Slow Cooker Barbacoa is hands down my husbands favorite recipe. Especially when we make it into tacos. Barbacoa is a way to cook meat that started in the Caribbean, with barbecue type flavors. Generally, it refers to meats that are cooked long and slow to yield fall-apart tender meat. The flavor I infuse into this barbacoa is totally brag worthy, and your kitchen will smell incredible as it cooks. This recipe is paleo, gluten-free, dairy-free, and 100% freakin delicious!
(Looking for more barbacoa recipes? Try out my Easy Instant Pot Beef Barbacoa or my Chipotle Beef Barbacoa Stuffed Sweet Potatoes.)
Why We Love Making Barbacoa in the Crockpot
Cooking short ribs low and slow in a fragrant blend of smoky spices and tangy balsamic vinegar builds the most amazing, complex flavor in this slow cooker barbacoa recipe. I know you’re going to love it as much as my family does!
- Hands-off cooking. After a quick sear to add depth to the flavor, just add everything to your slow cooker and let it do the rest of the work!
- Incredibly tender meat. Short ribs are rich and marbled, and they become irresistibly tender after a long simmer in the slow cooker.
- A multi-tasking protein. I’ll show you how to make this barbacoa into tacos, but you can also use it in meal bowls, add it to salads, spoon it into baked sweet potatoes—so many options!
- Great for meal prep. Barbacoa is awesome for storing and reheating, so I love to make a big batch on the weekend and use it in different meals all week long!
What You’ll Need
This recipe is ALL about the herbs and spices! Make sure yours aren’t expired for the best flavor. Scroll down to the recipe card to find the ingredient quantities and recipe instructions.
- Spice blend – Sea salt, dried rosemary, dried sage, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, black pepper, and ancho chili powder.
- Beef short ribs – Use boneless short ribs for easy shredding.
- Avocado oil – Or another oil you like to use in your cooking.
- Tomato sauce – This adds moisture and a subtle sweetness.
- Balsamic vinegar – I love the tanginess and complexity this adds to the slow cooker barbacoa!
- Dried apricots – For a sweet, subtle fruitiness.
- Garlic and red onion – Aromatics that infuse the short ribs with flavor as they simmer in the crockpot.
- Jicama tacos – A low-carb alternative to tortillas.
- Toppings – Avocado, red onion, fresh cilantro, and lime.
How to Make Slow Cooker Barbacoa
Here’s what you’ll need to do to cook the most delicious barbacoa in your crockpot!
- Mix the spice blend. Combine all of the seasonings in a small bowl.
- Season and sear the beef. Pat the short ribs dry, rub generously with the spice mix, and sear in hot oil for 2–3 minutes per side.
- Assemble. Add the seared short ribs to the slow cooker along with the tomato sauce, balsamic vinegar, dried apricots, garlic, and red onion.
- Slow cook until tender. Cover and cook on HIGH for 4–5 hours or LOW for 6–8 hours.
- Shred and return to sauce. Remove the ribs, shred with two forks, and stir the meat back into the sauce.
- Assemble the tacos. Spoon the barbacoa onto jicama tacos and top with avocado, cilantro, red onion, and a squeeze of lime.
More Ways to Serve Barbacoa
You’re not limited to tacos! Here are some more ideas for using your slow cooker barbacoa.
- Add it to meal bowls and salads. Make burrito bowls with Cilantro Lime Rice, Instant Pot Black Beans, salsa, and queso fresco.
- Use it for nachos. Make barbacoa nachos with tortilla chips, vegan queso, avocado, and Pickled Onions.
- Make barbacoa potatoes. We LOVE this barbacoa stuffed into sweet potatoes with pickled onions, queso fresco, crema, and cilantro.
- Add it to all the Tex-Mex things. Enchiladas, burritos, quesadillas, taquitos—whatever!
Storage and Reheating
- Refrigerate: Store this slow cooker barbacoa in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Freeze: Freeze the shredded barbacoa in the sauce for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
- To reheat: Warm gently on the stovetop or in the microwave.
More Slow Cooker Recipes You’ll Love
Slow Cooker Barbacoa Tacos
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 hours 10 minutes
- Total Time: 5 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 20 tacos 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Crockpot/Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: Mexican
Description
This easy Slow Cooker Barbacoa recipe gives you tender, melt-in-your-mouth, super flavorful beef! Use it for tacos, meal bowls, and more!
Ingredients
Spice Blend:
- 2 tablespoon of course sea salt
- 1 tablespoon of dried rosemary
- 1 tablespoon of dried sage
- 1 tablespoon of garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon of onion powder
- 1 tablespoon of smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon of black pepper
- 1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
Short Rib Tacos:
- 2–3 lbs. of beef short ribs, boneless
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 15 oz. can of tomato sauce
- ½ cup of balsamic vinegar
- 5 whole dried apricots
- 2 garlic cloves, smashed
- 1 red onion, roughly chopped
- 20 jicama tacos
- 2 avocado, sliced
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
- 1/2 cup diced fresh cilantro
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
Instructions
- In a small bowl, add course sea salt, dried rosemary, dried sage, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, black pepper, and ancho chili powder. Stir to mix.
- Pat the short ribs dry with a paper towel.
- Generously rub the spice mixture onto both sides of the short ribs.
- Heat a large skillet to medium high heat.
- Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan. Add the short ribs to the pan, sear each side for 2-3 minutes until they have slight browning.
- Add the seared short ribs directly to the Crock Pot.
- Next add tomato sauce, balsamic vinegar, dried apricots, garlic cloves, and red onion to the Crock Pot.
- Cover and let cook on HIGH for 4-5 hours. (or on low for 6-8 hours)
- Remove short ribs from the crock pot and shred the ribs using two forks. Place the meat back into the Crock Pot with the sauce. Stir the meat around.
- Serve short ribs on a jicama taco and top with fresh avocado, cilantro, red onion slices, and a wedge of lime.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3/4 cup of meat
- Calories: 168
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 52 mg
- Fat: 12 g
- Saturated Fat: 49 g
- Carbohydrates: 4 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 10 g
- Cholesterol: 43 mg
34 comments on “Slow Cooker Barbacoa”
Delicious and easy recipe. I didn’t have apricots on hand, substituted with dried mangoes…delicious!
Yes I’ve used apricots, mangos, dates all of them work. 🙂 It’s just to add a little sweetness.
This was INCREDIBLE! I grilled pineapple in the skillet that still had the juices from the sauce and added them to the tacos. The fresh sweetness from them was everything. I also had various other latin inspired season alls that i added to the sauce for extra flavor. Sooooo incredobly good and easy.
oh my gosh that pineapple addition is making me drool! Sounds awesome!
Is this recipe written for bone-in short ribs or boneless short ribs?
Need to know because 2lbs of bone-in
Is sure different than 2lbs of boneless.
It is written for boneless, and yes it’s a big difference. Just made that update in the recipe card so people aren’t confused.
Would if I use bone in ribs? How does that change the recipe?
You could. You’ll just have to buy more meat because you have to take into account the weight of the bones. It may add more “fat” to the recipe but other than that the flavor will be the same.
I’m seriously about to dive head first into this slow cooker. And I mean that in the least harmful, most delicious way possible. I can’t WAIT to try this out!
I so wanted to love these because i love the barbacoa from Cafe Rio but this was horribly greasy! I think the flavor would have been good but it was so overpowered by grease that it was really disgusting!
OH bummer I am so sorry. That’s strange because I only use oil when seared the ribs in the pan. This is one of our favorite recipes! Did get boneless or bone-in short ribs?
Can these be cooked in a Dutch oven? If so same cooking time?
hmmmm… yes I believe so.
Thanks, Krista! I have not tried the Jamaica shells- such a fun idea! Will definitely be trying that! Love pork taco’s! And, yes, I agree about raising our kids in our generation! Good reminder to pray and trust God with our kids! 🙂
Jicama shells are awesome and a great healthy substitute for tortillas! 🙂 Hope you and the kiddos like this!
How did you make make the Jamaica taco shells? Every looks so delicious.
hey Diana, they are jicama taco shells. I purchased them precut at the grocery store in the chopped vegetable aisle. However, you could purchase Jicama, which is a root vegetable, and then thinly slice them at home using a mandolin.
What a great low carb meal, they look amazing. I definitely need to make them soon.
Thanks Joanie! The flavor of these short ribs is seriously incredible! I hope you get a chance to make them!
I love finding new paleo recipes like this! Gotta make these this weekend!
Hope you enjoy Angie! It’s amazing!
My parents used to kick us outside all of the time. It seems like now, there is just too much homework. At least that is what seems to keep my kids in these days.
I guess I find out next year … gasp. Interested to see what the days of homework look like! 🙂
Gosh Krista! I hear ya about worrying about our kids. We decided on a private school to help shield them from the ‘real world’ things until they are a bit older… Love these jicama shells and awesome crock pot ribs!
I go back and forth daily Laura, but have to decide because he goes into school next year!
Hi Krista, love this. Would you like to share this with the other participants in Food on Friday over at Carole’s Chatter? I have a weekly link up party – each week there is a different ingredient or theme. The current theme is Mexican Food. You can see upcoming themes in one of the pages at the top of my home page. If you would like to join in the fun please schedule a reminder for each week. The collection starts at 7am Friday New Zealand time – which is about mid afternoon Thursday your time, I hope – I do find time zones quite confusing. Hope to see you soon. Cheers, Carole
Those look amazing, I’m totally craving them right now!
Thanks Kimberly!
I love slow cooker short ribs! These tacos look incredible!
Thanks Anna!
Oh my heavens! These tacos look amazing! I am loving the addition of the balsamic
They ARE amazing! Hope you get a chance to try them!
these pictures have me craving tacos for breakfast
haha… right! I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Just add eggs. 🙂