The Best Venison Birria Quesatacos
Venison Birria Quesatacos (also known as Quesabirria) are a cross between a taco and a quesadilla, filled with melted cheese and delicious shredded meat.
Servings: 10 servings
Ingredients
Birria Ingredients
- 3 pounds boneless venison roast (deer, elk, antelope, or moose)
- 3 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 4 cups beef broth
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 packets Sazon Goya seasoning
- 2 cups stewed or diced tomatoes
- 6 guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
- 1 large yellow onion, quartered
- ¼ cup minced garlic
- ⅔ cup freshly squeezed orange juice (from 2 oranges)
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (from 1 lime)
- 1 tablespoon achiote paste
- 2 tablespoons La Botanera hot sauce or similar
Taco and Garnish Ingredients
- 12 corn tortillas
- 3 cups queso quesadilla cheese or similar
- 1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- 2 fresh limes, cut into wedges
- La Botanera hot sauce or similar
Instructions
- On a cutting board, cut up the venison roast into about 10 pieces then season all over with 2 teaspoons of the kosher salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper.
- Add 2 tablespoons of canola oil to the pressure cooker and heat on the highest Brown setting for 5 minutes. Add the venison and sear until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes.
- Now add all of the remaining birria ingredients into the pressure cooker and use a large spoon to stir and blend well.
- Switch pressure cooker setting to "Pressure Cook" for 60 minutes. Place lid on the pot and turn to locked position. Make sure the vent is set to the sealed position.
- When the cooking time is up, do a natural release for 15 minutes (don’t touch anything on the pot, just let it de-pressurize on its own for 15 minutes). After 15 minutes, turn vent to the venting release position and allow all of the steam to vent and the float valve to drop down before removing the lid. This extra time is important because it allows the pressure cooker to continue to work its magic on the birria sauce before you open it up to shred the meat.
- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
- Now you can shred the venison using two forks. Taste and season the venison and cooking liquid (consommé) with the remaining 1 teaspoon of kosher salt if needed.
- Heat a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Working with two tortillas at a time, dip the tortillas one at a time in the consommé. Place both of them in the frying pan in a single layer.
- If making quesa birria tacos (cheese birria tacos), sprinkle about ¼ cup of the cheese onto each tortilla first. Top one half of each tortilla with about ¼ cup shredded venison. Drizzle the meat with a little consommé. When the cheese is melted, fold each tortilla in half and cook 2 minutes per side until nice and crispy.
- Transfer the tacos to a rimmed baking sheet and keep warm in the preheated oven. Repeat and continue to cook the remaining tacos.
- Serve the tacos garnished with cilantro, chopped onion, lime wedges, and a little extra hot sauce along with small bowls of the birria consommé for dipping.
