Grilled Barbacoa Tacos With Chimichurri Sauce
Barbacoa Tacos aren’t my usual pick for taco nights. A lot of the time when I’m craving a taco I will opt for Carne Asada. But it’s been so nice outside, I wanted to take out the grill and try a low and slow barbacoa recipe for tacos. I hate to toot my own horn, but I’ve been missing out on something really amazing!
I picked up a 2 lb chuck roast and didn’t really feel like getting the kitchen hot this weekend. So taking advantage of the barbecue I recently picked up, I decided to go low and slow and cook some barbacoa on the grill.
I even added a little smokiness with some applewood smoking chips towards the end to really get that smoky flavor set into the meat for some amazing tacos!
To begin, I put a can of diced tomatoes in a skillet while the grill was preheating, leaving the middle of the grill for indirect heat. I grilled an onion, garlic, and serrano pepper to really get a nice smoky flavor incorporated into the barbacoa mix I was putting together.
Using spices like cumin, smoked paprika, and a little agave to add a little sweetness. I couldn’t wait to get things going!
This is definitely one of those Sunday cookout meals. Get the grill going earlier in the day. Crack open a beer, and just enjoy the day outside with the family while the barbacoa slow cooks on the barbecue. 
When the barbacoa is ready after a few hours of cooking, it will just pull apart. Which is how I like it, pulled. Not shredded. I’m not into that stringy texture, but I can do pulled all day every day.
Before serving your barbacoa tacos, I like to serve it up with some chimichurri sauce, and nothing else. Let the flavor combine and speak for themselves. Opposite of barbacoa, the Chimichurri sauce comes together in about 2 minutes. just combine your cilantro, parsley, pepper and let it blend. Done and done!
Also, make extra, because you’re going to want to see what I come up with later this week with the extra barbacoa!
Grilled Barbacoa Tacos With Chimichurri Sauce
Ingredients
Barbacoa
- 2 lbs chuck roast
- 16 oz canned diced tomatoes
- 1/2 small red onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 large serrano pepper
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground ancho pepper chili powder will work too
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1 tbsp agave nectar
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Chimichurri
- 1/2 cup cilantro
- 1/4 cup fresh oregano
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 small red fresno pepper
Instructions
For The Barbacoa
- preheat oven to 200-225F, with indirect heat in the center. While the grill is preheating, char onion, garlic, and serrano; about 5 minutes
- Place a skillet over direct heat and add diced tomatoes. let simmer with the charred onion, garlic and pepper; about 2 minutes.
- Pour tomato mixture into blender and add cumin, smoked paprika, salt, ground ancho pepper, oregano, agave nectar, and apple cider vinegar. Pulse until smooth; Set aside.
- Lightly salt and pepper both sides of your chuck roast. sear over direct heat on the grill; about 1-2 minutes per side.
- Place chuck in a disposable roasting pan over indirect heat. And pour over tomato mixture. keep temperature around 200-225F and cook for 3-4 hours until meat easily pulls apart with a fork.
- Optionally, you can add some wood chips in the last hour, to add some extra smokey flavor to your barbacoa. When the barbacoa is done. let it rest for about 5 minutes, then pull apart.
For the Chimichurry
- Add cilantro, parsley, oregano, salt, vinegar, cumin, fresno pepper, olive oil and garlic to a food processor; pulse until smooth. Now you're ready for the tacos!
- Add the barbacoa to the taco and pour over a healthy serving of the chimichurri. Enjoy!
12 Comments
Your photos are stunning ! So bright and beautiful, make me want to take a bite of that taco!
Man! I haven’t had good barbacoa since I left California! This sounds incredible!
That looks pretty darn amazing. I bet that pesto would work great on a lot of other things as well. Fresh pesto is the best!
I love tacos! Always looking for new taco recipes! This one looks great!
Long and slow and lots of flavor… oh, so good!
This is such a fantastic looking taco and, while its not your usual taco, I think you need to be including it in your taco rounds on the regular. And I’m with you . . .pulled meat is the only way to go.
Love the agave touch in there! It’s a simple looking recipe with a delightful look! Pretty sure my belly would ask for more and more and … more! Yum!
These look like wonderful tacos, I love the vibrantly colored sauce!
Low and slow on the grill is PERFECT for awesome tasting meat. These look and sound delicious. Perfect to feed a crowd, or have fantastic leftover meat to pile on a bun, or use on pasta.
So before I became a pescetarian I spent time in Mexico and the barbacoa tacos were amazing! You make this look easy, and I just love summer grilling. 🙂
Love everything about this recipe! We love lots of spic in our house–will have to make this soon.
Oh my, what a great way to cook a chuck roast! I can’t think of a better way to spend a sunny Sunday with the family.