Make Instagram’s wildly popular new dish for Cinco de Mayo

For the past couple of months, Birria Tacos have been flooding my social media feeds.

If you are unfamiliar with these tacos, they consist of Mexican beef stew that is slow cooked until tender and fall-apart, and filled with sweet and spicy flavor.

This beef stew was never served inside of a taco til recently, and once people got their hands on them they blew up.

The tacos can be eaten traditionally, or dipped into stew and then eaten.

As Cinco de Mayo is coming up, you may have begun to think about how you are going to celebrate. Why not take a stab at these tacos? They’re easy to make and awfully delicious.

Here’s what you’ll need.

• For the meat, you will need 1.5 lb beef shank, as well as a pound of any other kind of steak such as a sirloin.
• For the marinade, you will need 3 dried guajillo peppers (or any dried pepper), 1 can chipotle peppers in adobo, 1/4 cup vinegar, 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes, 5 cloves garlic, 1 tsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika and 1 tsp cumin.
• For the stew, you will need 1 medium onion, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 bay leaves, 6 whole cloves and 1 qt chicken stock
• And for the taco shells, you will need, Corn or flour tortillas, 1 medium onion, 1 bunch cilantro, 1 cup Mexican cheese blend.

Now it’s time to cook!

The first thing you’ll want to do is soak your guajillo peppers in boiling water for 15 minutes. While that’s soaking, dice your meat, and season it. When the peppers are done soaking, add your marinade ingredients to a blender till you are left with a pasty consistency.

Set the marinade aside and begin cooking your onions until translucent. You can use a slow cooker or a skillet, but a slow cooker is preferred. Next you want to add your meat, marinade, chicken broth, bay leaves, cinnamon and cloves to your pot. Set your pot to low heat for 4-6 hours.

When the pot is finished cooking, save the liquid and remove the meat. Place into a bowl for use. Now all that’s left to do is build your tacos! Grab your tortilla and dip it in the stew, then add your meat, cheese, and any other toppings and fry it up!

Dip your tacos into the stew for extra flavor and enjoy alongside a refreshing margarita!

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco. Any opinions expressed are Judi's own.