Crockpot Chipotle-esque Barbacoa Burritos

I love Chipotle's barbacoa burritos and now that I have somewhat picky children, I rarely make an appearance there.  So I googled and found a few different copycat recipes.  I settled on one and made a few modifications, including changing it to a crockpot recipe.  The end result was reasonably similar, but not exact.  It is good though and I'll make it again.  It is pretty spicy hot, and I think the heat level is pretty close to the original.  But if that's not your thing, you may want to reduce to 2 chipotle peppers and leave out the jalepeno.  The jalepeno and onions were not called for in the recipe I used, so it may taste more like the real thing without it. 

Barbacoa Beef
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
juice of 1 lime
3 canned chipotle peppers (don't use the sauce, just the peppers)
4 garlic cloves
1 jalepeno, seeds removed
4 t cumin
2 t oregano
1 1/2 t ground black pepper
1 1/2 t salt
1/2 t ground clove

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 pound chuck roast
1 onion, sliced
3/4 cup chicken broth

3 bay leaves

Combine vinegar, lime juice, peppers, garlic, cumin, oregano, black pepper, salt and clove in a blender or food processor and puree on high speed until smooth.

Slice the roast into 6 smaller pieces. Sear all sides of the chunks of meat in 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat until browned.  Remove the meat from the pan and place in the crockpot.  Add the onions to the pan and brown slightly.  Add the chicken broth to the pan and stir to deglaze (incorporate the brown bits at the bottom of the pan into the broth).

Pour the adobo sauce over the meat.  Then pour in the chicken broth and onions.  Add the bay leaves.  Cook for 5 hours on low, then 3 hours on high.  I think you could probably get away with 8 to 10 hours on low.  I just came home at the 5 hour point and turned it up to high.

Shred the beef in the crockpot, allowing it to absorb the liquid.  Serve rolled up in tortillas (warmed in the microwave in a damp kitchen or paper towel) with sour cream, lime cilantro rice (recipe follows), and your choice of cheese(I used white cheddar because that's what I had) and salsa (I made some fresh salsa, but that's not necessary).  I don't get the beans or the guacamole when I order the barbacoa at Chipotle, so I didn't make beans or guacamole, but you can add whatever you like.

Lime Cilantro Rice
2 c cooked white rice

1 lime, juiced (or more to taste)
1/4 c fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
salt to taste

Cook rice according to package directions. Mix in the lime juice, cilantro and salt to taste.

This rice was good, but I used jasmine rice (all I had on hand) so it was not quite like Chipotle's.  Regular white rice might make it more similar.

These burritos were reasonably close to the real thing and very tasty.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts