Here’s another reason I love my electric pressure cooker. On a busy weeknight, with the kids pulling me in different directions4, I can make an elaborate dinner - shredded beef tacos with dried chile pepper sauce. All I need is ten minutes to prep the onion and peppers; after everything is in the pot, with the lid locked, I can spend the next hour doing kid taxi service around the greater Akron area. When I get home I have tender, easily shreddable meat; I whizz the contents of the pot in the blender, and I have a thick, rich, authentic Mexican pepper sauce.5 Boring taco night? Not if I can help it.
Now, there are two ingredients that will make you say “Mexican? Really?”. Soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce add umami, and that adds body to the sauce. You won’t notice them with all the peppers; they blend in to the background, acting as supporting players to the strong Mexican flavors in the lead roles.6
No pressure cooker? No worries. See the Notes section for stovetop instructions.
I like to serve beans as a side with these tacos, either pinto beans in broth or refried beans.
Recipe: Pressure Cooker Boneless Beef Short Rib Tacos with Dried Chile Pepper Sauce
Inspired by: Braised Short Ribs by Rick Bayless
Equipment
- 6 quart or larger pressure cooker (I use an Instant Pot electric PC)
- Blender
- Fat separator (optional, but helps degrease the sauce)
Pressure Cooker Boneless Beef Short Rib Tacos with Dried Chile Pepper Sauce
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
Description
Pressure Cooker Boneless Beef Short Rib Tacos recipe - tender, shredded beef in a spicy chile sauce.
Ingredients
- 3 pound boneless beef short ribs or beef chuck roast cut into 1 inch strips
- 1 ½ teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 2 dried ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded, and rinsed
- 3 dried guajillo chiles, stemmed, seeded, and rinsed (or 2 more ancho chiles)
- 1 dried chipotle chile, stemmed, seeded, and rinsed or 1 canned chipotle en adobo
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ cup beer (preferably Negra Modelo) or water
- Salt
Instructions
- Stem and seed the peppers: Use kitchen scissors to cut the stems off of the dried peppers, then cut along one side of the pepper to open it up, and shake out the seeds. Rinse the peppers.
- Fill the pressure cooker: Sprinkle the short ribs with the kosher salt, then stack them loosely in the pressure cooker. Top with the onions, garlic, and peppers, then pour in the soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and the beer.
- Pressure cook the short ribs: Lock the lid on the pressure cooker. Cook on high pressure for 40 minutes in an electric pressure cooker, or 35 minutes in a stovetop PC. Let the pressure to come down naturally for 15 minutes, then quick release any pressure left in the pot.
- Make the sauce and shred the beef: Remove the beef from the pressure cooker with tongs and a slotted spoon, and set aside. Pour the liquid through a strainer into a fat separator. Put the solids in the strainer - the peppers, onions, and garlic - in the blender. While the liquid in the fat separator settles, shred the beef. Pour the defatted liquid into the blender, start the blender on low, slowly turn it up to highest speed, and blend for 1 minute, or until the sauce is completely smooth. Toss the sauce with the shredded beef, taste, and add salt if needed. (I usually add another teaspoon of salt to the beef and sauce while I’m tossing it and tasting.)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: Mexican
Notes
- No pressure cooker? No worries. Put the everything in a dutch oven with a heavy lid, use the entire bottle of beer, and bring to a simmer on the stove top. Cover with the lid, move to a 350°F oven, and bake for 4 hours, or until the short ribs are is falling apart tender. Continue with "make the sauce and shred the beef.
- No dried peppers? Sprinkle the beef with ¼ cup of chili powder, and skip the blending step at the end. It won’t taste as good, but it will be ready a lot quicker.
- Serve with tortillas, cheese, salsa, hot sauce, shredded lettuce…whatever your favorite taco night toppings are.
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts
Pressure Cooker Refried Pinto Beans
Pressure Cooker Tortilla Soup
Pressure Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork Tacos
My other Pressure Cooker Recipes
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David says
We did this in the Instantpot last night. We loved it! I actually happened to have the dried chilis on hand because we have been testing new Carne Asada recipes. They add so much depth and richness to the dish. It reminded me so much of Mole'. In fact next time I am adding some cocoa powder and calling it that. Thanks for the recipe.
Mike V says
You're welcome!
Jane Wright says
I'm just now starting to use my new Fagor Lux multicolor I got for Christmas. Just tried your chicken stock made with the frozen carcass, skin, juices from a Costco rotisserie chicken. It turned out perfectly! Now I'm ready to try more. Is there a way to make this recipe a little less spicy by leaving out a little of the dried pepper? Not sure which or how much to leave out. I've cooked before with the dried guarillo pepper and it wasn't too spicy. Any hints on reducing the spice?
Mike V says
The Chipotle pepper has most of the heat; Ancho and Guajillo peppers are on the mild side, heat wise. If you want to cut back on the heat, leave out the Chipotle and substitute another Ancho or Guajillo. If you need to cut all the heat, you can leave all the peppers out - the sauce will be a bit thin, but you'll still get good shredded beef for tacos.
★★★★★
Dan says
I made these this weekend - really good! This is the first time I have used dried chiles. I ended up eating the leftovers over rice, which was also delicious. This has given me some ideas in terms of cooking chile (i.e., using the dried peppers instead of chile powder) - what's the best way to do that? Grind the peppers ahead of time?
Mike V says
I use the chiles to make a spice paste - here's an example:
https://www.dadcooksdinner.com/2011/02/frito-pie-with-buffalo-chili.html/
Terry says
Thanks Mike. Just wondered how the spices would do on the smoker. I make Carnitas on the stove a lot. I tried using those same spices on a smoked pork butt and the spices went away, except for the Cumin, which was amplified. Made it almost inedible...
Mike V says
The peppers are already smoked - just soak them in warm water for 30 minutes, then purée in a blender until smooth with some water to thin them out.
Terry says
Looks delicious. Has my mind wondering if there is a way to convert your recipe over to the smoker (or grill in a pinch). Maybe similar to how I do Pepper Stout Beef:
http://wolfepit.blogspot.com/2009/10/pepper-stout-beef.html
Mike V says
If you cook the short ribs until they are shreddable, and make the sauce separately, then you could do this in almost any cooking environment.