Birria-Style Shredded Beef Chimichangas Recipe

If there's one dish that perfectly represents the glorious mashup that is Tex-Mex cuisine, it's these birria-style shredded beef chimichangas. Filled with flavorful slow-cooked beef and melted cheese and fried to crispy perfection, these rolled-up beauties are exactly what you want alongside a cold beer.

According to Ksenia Prints of At the Immigrant's Table, these chimichangas take their main flavor notes from traditional birria tacos, which are corn tortillas stuffed with beef that's been cooked low and slow and then pulled to a stringy perfection. But what sets these tacos apart is the consommé that is served alongside them, for a diner's dipping pleasure. These chimichangas take the traditional birria filling and accompanying sauce, but wrap it up in a large flour tortilla, which then, to differ from a burrito, gets fried to perfection.

The result of this crossover is crispy rolled-up packages that explode with flavor as you bite into them, revealing a soft, fragrant, and deeply seasoned shredded beef filling. The wrapping crackles, the meat melts in your mouth, and the cheese punctuates everything with a creamy finish. If that's not the perfect Tex-Mex dish, we truly don't know what is.

For the birria filling that makes these chimichangas so juicy, we are going to combine three traditional dried Mexican peppers and achiote seeds. The peppers we will be using are dried guajillo chiles, ancho chiles, and chipotle chiles. All the peppers should be stemmed and seeded before use to avoid making your sauce overly spicy. The guajillo chiles provide a mild, fruity heat with deep red color, while the ancho chiles, which are actually dried poblano peppers, offer sweet, smoky notes. Chipotle chiles are smoke-dried jalapeños, and they add intense smokiness and moderate heat to the sauce. 

Achiote seeds, our other specialty ingredient, are also called annatto seeds. We're using them because they contribute a distinctive earthy flavor and a vibrant reddish-orange color that's unique to Mexican cuisine. 

To make the rest of the birria filling, you'll also need white onion, garlic cloves, chuck roast, standard spices like bay leaf, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper, plus beef broth. For the chimichangas themselves, you'll want large flour tortillas, shredded cheese, and a neutral oil like Canola or vegetable oil for frying.

Preheat the oven to 325 F.

Toast the chiles in a dry pan for 2 minutes.

Soak the chiles in hot water for 15 minutes.

Blend the soaked chiles with the achiote seeds, onion, garlic, and 1 cup soaking liquid until smooth.

Season the beef with salt and pepper.

Add a touch of oil to a Dutch oven or a heavy-bottomed pot.

Add the beef, and sear it in the Dutch oven until browned.

Add the chile mixture, bay leaf, cumin, oregano, and beef broth. Bring it to a boil.

Cover, place in the oven, and braise for 3 hours until the beef shreds easily.

Remove the beef and shred it.

Strain the consommé and keep it warm.

Fill the tortillas with beef and cheese, and roll them tightly, tucking in the ends.

Heat the oil to 350 F.

Fry the chimichangas in batches until golden, about 3 minutes per side.

Serve immediately with warm consommé for dipping.

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Chuck roast is ideal for this slow-cooking recipe because it has enough marbling and connective tissue to become incredibly tender during the long braising process, but several other cuts work equally well. Though they're more expensive, beef short ribs provide exceptional flavor and become fall-apart tender. Brisket is another great option for beef that shreds beautifully after slow cooking. Bottom round roast or eye of round can work, but may be slightly less flavorful due to their leaner nature.

For the cheese, we went with a Tex-Mex blend, which is a mix of Monterey Jack, cheddar, and mozzarella, because it gives our chimichangas the perfect melting consistency. But if you want to go with a more traditional Mexican option, Oaxaca cheese melts exceptionally well and has a mild flavor that's perfect for this recipe. Meanwhile, if you want to go Tex-Mex, then using plain Monterey Jack would work wonderfully for its melting qualities and creamy texture.

Deep-frying chimichangas is certainly the traditional way to prepare this typical Tex-Mex recipe because it gives the most crackling shell. But if you prefer another option, we've got you covered.

Baking is a great and lighter alternative to deep frying. To bake the chimichangas, preheat your oven to 425 F, brush or spray the assembled chimichangas with oil, arrange them seam-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and bake them for 15-20 minutes until golden brown, flipping halfway through. Alternatively, you can also air-fry the chimichangas at 400 F for 8 minutes on one side, and 5 minutes on the other.

For the birria filling, making it in a slow cooker is a good hands-off option. After searing the beef and preparing the chile mixture on the stovetop, transfer everything to your slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 3-4 hours, until the meat shreds easily. And if you're short on time, the Instant Pot or a pressure cooker would greatly reduce the cooking time. You'll need to sear it in the pot and then pressure cook it on high for 90 minutes, using natural release to let the steam out.

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