Mexican food is one of my go to quick and easy meals, especially when it come to using my crock pot. There are so many options for meat and bean fillings that work perfectly cooked in the crock pot.
This filling works well served on tostada shells, but we also like it for a taco or burrito filling. This makes quite a bit so it is a great cook once, eat twice type meal. And it also freezes really well.
Yield: 10 servings
Crock Pot Shredded Chipotle Beef
A slightly spicy shredded crock pot beef. Great for tacos and other Mexican foods.
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
8 hours
Total Time
8 hours 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 4 lb beef chuck roast
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 chipotle chilies, this is 2 peppers not 2 cans
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2-8 ounce cans tomato sauce
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
Instructions
- Place roast and onions in slow cooker.
- In a blender or food processor pureed the remaining ingredients.
- Pour sauce over the roast/onions.
- Cook on low for 8 hours or until beef is done and roast can be shredded.
- Shred meat and serve as a filling for tacos, burritos, enchiladas, or on tostada shells.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 464Total Fat: 28gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 2gUnsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 151mgSodium: 396mgCarbohydrates: 8gFiber: 2gSugar: 4gProtein: 46g
Nutritional values are approximate and aren't always accurate.
This looks great, Lynn, and I especially like “this is 2 peppers not 2 cans.” LOL
I just drooled on my keyboard.
🙂 Thanks!
I just drooled on my keyboard!
This looks yummy. Beef tends to be so expensive lately for my budget. How would this cooking sauce be for a pork roast like Boston butt (shoulder)? Or would too much of the sauce end up being discarded with the cooked-down fat do you think?
I think if you trimmed some of the fat off of the pork roast it would work fine. In fact, I think it would go really well with pork. You could also use a different cut of beef. When you cook meat in the crock pot this long it gets really tender, so I think other cuts would work well the texture might just be a bit different.
Another good thing about this kind of recipe is when you build your taco’s or tostados, or fill your burritos, or make your pizza (and I’m thinking this could be the start of an awesome home made taco pizza!) is you can shift the meat/beans/veggies/cheese balance depending on your budget, tastes, and what’s in your cupboard/fridge/on sale that week!
I tried this over the weekend and was very disappointed – after cooking this thing for 8 hours on low I couldn’t shred it to save my life. The sauce was super-easy and smelled and tasted great, but I couldn’t do anything with the meat, it was so tough I could barely cut it. Any ideas what the problem might have been? I purchased a 3 pound beef chuck roast, and put it on low in the slow cooker….after hours and trying to cut it I tried 2 more hours and that still didn’t help any, I just gave up. I’d like to try again, but maybe with a diffent type or cut of meat….
I am sorry that you were disappointed. Do you normally cook roast in your crock pot? I have never had trouble shredding meat after it cooked 8 or more hours unless there was something wrong with the crock pot. I wonder if you temperature could be off or I guess maybe you got a bad cut of meat, because after 8 hrs most meat should just fall apart.
I can’t wait to try this! My family loves the Chipolte Beef Tacos (if the name is correct) so this would be a great addition to our menu.
this was very good! i used a 3.86 lb. chuck roast. i did notice that my roast needed to cook approx. 10 hours before it became really tender and shred-dable…is that a word??!! very wonderful authentic mexican flavor..those two peppers really add flavor..i did not whirl all of the ‘sauce’ ingredients up in a blender..just hand stirred..added extra garlic clove as well. made the house smell incredible!
Thanks for letting me know how much you enjoyed it. The hardest part for me about cooking a roast in the crock pot is smelling it all day. 🙂 It always smells so good and makes me so hungry by the end of the day.
Hi Lynn,
Thanks for this recipe! Could I use some canned chipotle chili’s? Would the flavor be considerably better with fresh ones? I’m not too familiar with chipotle chilis, I have to admit…
Thanks!
Yes, I use the canned ones. I talked a little bit about them in this post. And just be sure to use 1 or 2 peppers not the whole can. 🙂 https://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/2009/10/chipotle-peppers-in-adobo-sauce.html
Thanks so much! 🙂
Lynn, Our family loves this recipe! Thank you. We buy 1/2 cow every year and I’ve used many different cuts of roast beef and they’ve all turned out great.
Thanks for letting me know how much you all enjoy this. I have not made it in awhile and I need to put it back on the plan soon, because my family loves it also.
Thank you for the wonderful recipe, Lynn. I’ve made it several times now and my husband always loves it. One tweak I make, though. We both enjoy hotter flavors so instead of using traditional tomato sauce I use Mexican tomato sauce. It’s availabile in our market (a plain old Kroger) and adds just the right amount of heat to the meat and sauce as everything simmers and cooks down during the day. And seeing how today is miserable courtesy of Isaac, I think these will be just the ticket. Thank you again!
I have never tried the mexican tomato sauce, but my husband loves really spicy food, so I am sure he would like it that way. Thanks for the idea.
When you say tomato sauce do u mean ketchup? Or tomato paste? Or like a spaghetti sauce base.
We call ketchup tomato sauce in Australia. Just checking : )
Maybe this will help, it is a link to what we call tomato sauce? What do you all call it or do you have anything like it? https://www.hunts.com/products/tomatoes/tomato-sauce
I made this today and am very satisfied with the way it turned out. However it needs a lot more spice. I wound up adding 2 more tsp of cumin and 1 tbsp chili powder. I also added some taco seasoning to it as well. I think I am going to take someone’s hint that adds Mexican sauce next time. Definitely a keeper! Thanks Lynn!
Glad you liked it!
i thought this recipe was great! you definitely need to make sure you shred the meat into the sauce, or you lose a lot of the deep flavor. like another reviewer, i also had to cook my roast for about nine hours, but it was definitely worth it. the only thing i’d change next time is to salt the roast before covering it with everything else–i missed that extra flavor enhancement, especially when i wrapped the meat up in burritos. this beef is also great on a nice soft bun with a melty slice of cheddar; it’s like mexican BBQ. <=)