Easy Beef Birria Soup with fresh vegetables and noodles takes the classic consommé from quesabirria tacos and turns it into a soup base! This versatile recipe is easy to customize and makes a filling meal.
If you’ve tried Birria Tacos, you’re already familiar with the famous dipping sauce. We’re taking classic birria sauce and using it as a soup base for delicious shredded beef, noodles, and fresh veggies.
We’re skipping the corn tortillas and cheese, but are gaining a big bowl of comfort with some fresh ingredients, slow-cooked meat, and braising liquid for the coziest cold weather meal.
Birria ramen is common at Mexican restaurants that serve birria tacos, and we’re making it at home for those rainy days we’re craving a homecooked meal.
Let’s discuss the simple ingredients for birria soup!
Birria Soup Ingredients:
Dried Chiles: Ancho chilis, arbol chilis, and guajillo chiles make the delicious consomé broth. These dried chilis get reconstituted in hot water and blended into the rich broth. These chilis add smoky flavor, which is the signature backbone of birria.
Seasonings: Ground cumin, ground coriander, dried Mexican oregano, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, and black pepper are our seasonings with produce a warmly spiced broth.
Beef Broth: The base of the soup is beef broth or beef stock. I like using beef bone broth.
Cider Vinegar: A splash of vinegar adds tangy flavor to the soup to round out the flavor profile. Fresh lemon juice works too.
Beef Chuck Roast or Goat Meat: Pick up 2 to 3 pounds of boneless chuck roast or a goat roast to use in our beef birria soup. You can also use many other cuts of meat short ribs, although this is much more expensive, as you will need at least 3.5 pounds to account for the bones.
Tomato Paste: A little tomato paste helps to thicken the broth and add a slight acidity.
Roman Noodles or Pasta Noodles: Pick your favorite pasta noodles, including roman noodles, spaghetti noodles, or rice noodles. I use gluten-free spaghetti noodles which are made out of chickpeas, which also add protein and fiber to the meal.
Optional Vegetables: Toss in some of your favorite fresh vegetables! I go with carrots, zucchini, baby spinach, and a fresh tomato. The veggies add freshness, fiber, and vitamins to the soup, but they are completely optional.
Avocado Oil or Olive Oil: For searing the meat and sautéing the onion.
Now that we’ve covered the ingredients, let’s make this easy birria soup recipe! The full list of ingredients can be found at your local grocery store.
How to Make Birria Soup:
Transfer the dried chilis to a medium saucepan full of water and heat on the stove top to a full boil. Reduce the heat slightly and cook at a gentle boil for 15 minutes, or until the chilis have softened. Remove the chilis from the heat and set the pot aside.
Cut the chuck roast into large chunks on a cutting board using a sharp knife. Sprinkle liberally with sea salt and pepper.
Heat the oil in a large thick-bottomed pot such as a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Allow the oil to heat up for a few minutes until it is sizzling hot.
Use tongs to carefully transfer the chunks of beef to the pot in a single layer, brown for 3-4 minutes, until a golden brown crust forms. Flip to the other side and brown for another 3-4 minutes. Transfer the meat to a plate using tongs and set it aside.
Keeping the pot on the stove top over medium high heat or medium heat, add the chopped onion. Use a wooden spoon to sauté the onion until softened, scraping the browned bits from the meat off the bottom of the pan.
Remove the stems from the reconstituted chilis and place them in a high powered blender with one cup of the chili water and two cups of beef broth.
Blend on a high speed for 1 minute, or until the mixture looks deep red.
Pour the rest of the broth into the pot with the sautéed onion and stir well to deglaze. Transfer the seared beef back into the pot using your tongs. Holding a fine mesh sieve with one hand, pour the chili broth mixture through the strainer into the soup pot to strain out the chili pulp. Discard the pulp.
Transfer the black pepper, coriander, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, ground cumin, and dried oregano to the large pot and stir well. Cover the pot and bring it to a full boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue cooking at a very gentle boil for 1-2 hours, or until the beef is fork tender.
Use a slotted spoon or tongs to move the beef to a cutting board. Use two forks to shred the beef to your desired consistency. Transfer the shredded meat back into the soup pot and stir well.
Stir in the noodles and any vegetables you like and return the soup to a gentle boil. Cook until the noodles and vegetables have softened but are still somewhat al dente, about 15 minutes.
Serve Birria soup in large bowls, and enjoy!
If you’d like, serve the soup with any of your favorite toppings, such as grated cheese or oaxaca cheese, sour cream, fresh cilantro, tortilla chips, lime wedges, sliced avocado, etc. or serve with warm tortillas.
Store leftover soup in your soup pot or in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Slow Cooker Instructions:
Follow the first four steps using a large skillet, then transfer all of the ingredients except for the noodles to a slow cooker. Slow cook on low heat for 6 to 8 hours, or high heat for 5 to 6 hours. 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving, stir in any fresh veggies and the noodles.
Instant Pot Instructions:
Follow the first four steps using your instant pot instead of a large pot. Follow the remainder of the recipe, instead cooking on high pressure for 20 minutes, and allowing the pressure cooker to naturally release for 40 to 50 minutes.
After shredding the beef, add it back into the pot with the fresh veggies and noodles and press the Sauté function. Bring the mixture to a full boil and boil the veggies and the noodles for 10-20 minutes, or until soft.
Recipe Tips:
- For a less noodly soup, halve the amount of noodles.
- Skip the veggies if you aren’t into it.
- For very meaty soup, use 3 to 4 pounds of beef chuck roast.
The next time you’re craving birria tacos, but are trying to keep dinner a little more mindful, whip up this amazing soup recipe!
This is a great make-ahead meal for the cold months of the year! Because it becomes even more flavorful the next day, I find this to be the perfect meal prep soup recipe.
You can double or triple the recipe and use a giant pot when serving many guests. The only hard part is waiting for the rich stew to finish cooking!
If you love making homemade soups, also try out these reader favorites.
More Soup Recipes:
- Easy Lasagna Soup
- Coconut Lime Fish Soup
- Tomato Bisque Soup
- Leftover Turkey Soup
- Potato Leek Soup
- Crock Pot Chicken and Cauliflower Rice Soup
Enjoy the soup form of your favorite tacos!
Birria Soup Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 dried ancho chilis
- 3 dried arbol chilis
- 2 dried guajillo chilis
- 2 Tbsp avocado oil
- 2 to 3 lbs chuck roast
- 1 large yellow onion
- 8 cloves garlic minced
- 6 cups beef broth
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp sea salt to taste
- 8 ounces pasta noodles or ramen noodles of choice
Optional Vegetables
- 1 large hot house tomato
- 1 zucchini squash diced
- 2 large carrots diced
- 5 ounces baby spinach
Instructions
- Transfer the dried chilis to a medium saucepan full of water and heat on the stove top to a full boil. Reduce the heat slightly and cook at a gentle boil for 15 minutes, or until the chilis have softened. Remove the chilis from the heat and set the pot aside.
- Cut the chuck roast into large chunks on a cutting board using a sharp knife. Sprinkle liberally with sea salt and pepper.
- Heat the oil in a large thick-bottomed pot such as a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Allow the oil to heat up for a few minutes until it is sizzling hot.
- Use tongs to carefully transfer the chunks of beef to the pot in a single layer, brown for 3-4 minutes, until a golden brown crust forms. Flip to the other side and brown for another 3-4 minutes. Transfer the meat to a plate using tongs and set it aside.
- Keeping the pot on the stove top over medium high heat or medium heat, add the chopped onion. Use a wooden spoon to sauté the onion until softened, scraping the browned bits from the meat off the bottom of the pan.
- Remove the stems from the reconstituted chilis and place them in a high powered blender with one cup of the chili water and two cups of beef broth.
- Blend on a high speed for 1 minute, or until the mixture looks deep red.
- Pour the rest of the broth into the pot with the sautéed onion and stir well to deglaze. Transfer the seared beef back into the pot using your tongs. Holding a fine mesh sieve with one hand, pour the chili broth mixture through the strainer into the soup pot to strain out the chili pulp. Discard the pulp.
- Transfer the black pepper, coriander, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, ground cumin, and dried oregano to the large pot and stir well. Cover the pot and bring it to a full boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue cooking at a very gentle boil for 1-2 hours, or until the beef is fork tender.
- Use a slotted spoon or tongs to move the beef to a cutting board. Use two forks to shred the beef to your desired consistency. Transfer the shredded meat back into the soup pot and stir well.
- Stir in the noodles and any vegetables you like and return the soup to a gentle boil. Cook until the noodles and vegetables have softened but are still somewhat al dente, about 15 minutes.
- Serve Birria soup in large bowls, and enjoy!
- If you’d like, serve the soup with any of your favorite toppings, such as grated cheese, sour cream, fresh cilantro, tortilla chips, sliced avocado, etc.
