Slow-Cooker Adobo-Braised Beef
By Matthew FairmanPublished on April 21, 2020
Time
6 to 8 hours on low, or 4 to 5 hours on high
Yield
Serves 4 to 6
Ingredients
Before You Begin
Salsa verde is a green salsa made from tomatillos and green chiles. We developed this recipe using Frontera Tomatillo Salsa. When buying the dried chiles, 1½ ounces of ancho chiles will be two to three chiles, and 1 ounce of pasilla chiles will be about four chiles. Both light and dark brown sugars work for this recipe. We like flour tortillas here, but corn tortillas work well, too. If queso fresco is unavailable, you can substitute farmer's cheese or a mild feta. This dish is also great served over rice.
Instructions
- Using kitchen shears, cut anchos and pasillas in half lengthwise and discard seeds, then cut into 1-inch pieces. Place anchos and pasillas in 12-inch skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Immediately transfer anchos and pasillas to bowl and cover with hot water. Let stand until soft and pliable, about 5 minutes. Drain.
- Process salsa verde, orange juice, lime juice, sugar, cumin, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, oregano, ½ teaspoon pepper, and anchos and pasillas in blender until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour adobo sauce into slow cooker. Sprinkle beef with remaining 1 teaspoon salt and remaining ½ teaspoon pepper, transfer to slow cooker, and stir to combine with sauce.
- Cover slow cooker and cook until beef is tender, 4 to 5 hours on high or 6 to 8 hours on low. Serve with tortillas, sprinkled with queso fresco and cilantro.
Time
6 to 8 hours on low, or 4 to 5 hours on highYield
Serves 4 to 6Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
Adobo-braised beef—with its intensely flavored, glossy, mahogany sauce and its hunks of tender, juicy meat—might be the pinnacle of Tex-Mex cooking. We wanted a slow-cooker version that was almost as easy as it was flavorful. For the backbone of the sauce, we began by toasting fruity anchos and earthy, pleasantly bitter pasillas and then soaked them in hot water to soften them before we processed them in a blender with jarred salsa verde, citrus juice, brown sugar, cumin, garlic, and oregano. To streamline the traditional cooking method, instead of browning the beef and sautéing the aromatics in the rendered fat before transferring everything to the slow cooker, we simply stirred the beef together with our ultraflavorful sauce and hit the “start” button.
Before You Begin
Salsa verde is a green salsa made from tomatillos and green chiles. We developed this recipe using Frontera Tomatillo Salsa. When buying the dried chiles, 1½ ounces of ancho chiles will be two to three chiles, and 1 ounce of pasilla chiles will be about four chiles. Both light and dark brown sugars work for this recipe. We like flour tortillas here, but corn tortillas work well, too. If queso fresco is unavailable, you can substitute farmer's cheese or a mild feta. This dish is also great served over rice.
Instructions
- Using kitchen shears, cut anchos and pasillas in half lengthwise and discard seeds, then cut into 1-inch pieces. Place anchos and pasillas in 12-inch skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Immediately transfer anchos and pasillas to bowl and cover with hot water. Let stand until soft and pliable, about 5 minutes. Drain.
- Process salsa verde, orange juice, lime juice, sugar, cumin, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, oregano, ½ teaspoon pepper, and anchos and pasillas in blender until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour adobo sauce into slow cooker. Sprinkle beef with remaining 1 teaspoon salt and remaining ½ teaspoon pepper, transfer to slow cooker, and stir to combine with sauce.
- Cover slow cooker and cook until beef is tender, 4 to 5 hours on high or 6 to 8 hours on low. Serve with tortillas, sprinkled with queso fresco and cilantro.
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