Let’s take a trip to El Paso and San Antonio with this delicious recipe! If you love al pastor birria tacos, this is an innovative meal that will thrill your taste buds. These grilled cheese birria sandwiches put regular grilled cheese and tomato soup to shame. So let’s jump in!
Why You’ll Love Birria Grilled Cheese
Move over Grilled Cheese and Tomato soup! You have a new competitor in town. This Birria Grilled Cheese was out of this world! The beef itself is insane, but that consommé is so delicious I could almost drink it on its own.
Make sure to leave plenty of time to braise the beef, and make some extra since it can keep for a little while and is very versatile! You can turn it into a variety of different meals.
For a few ideas, check out my Birria Baked Potato, Campfire Quesabirria Tacos and Smoked Birria Burgers.
Ingredients
To make these Mexican grilled cheeses, you’ll make your own birria meat out of Beef Short Ribs seasoned with kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and canola oil.
Then, you’ll mix stemmed & seeded ancho chiles, stemmed & seeded guajillo chiles, chipotle in adobo, white onion, garlic cloves, and water.
You’ll prepare your braising and seasonings with beef broth, Mexican oregano, black pepper, sea salt, cinnamon sticks, and bay leaves.
You’ll finish off each grilled cheese sandwich with shredded Jack cheese, chopped red onions, chopped cilantro, and thick cut slices of bread.
Keep in mind, this recipe is a bit of a time commitment. You’ll need 1 hour of prep and 4.5 hours of cook time to serve 4. Most of the time is spent braising the beef, so it’s not necessarily labor intensive. You know what they say, “Good things take time.” And these are grilled cheeses worthy of that time! Let’s dive in.
How to Make a Beef Birria Cheese Sandwich
Preheat your fire to medium high temperature (around 375F). Add a dutch oven over the fire to preheat for 3-4 minutes.
Add your ancho chile, guajillo chile and garlic cloves to your dutch oven and let char for 30-45 seconds per side. Once charred, add your water to the skillet and let simmer over the fire for 7-8 minutes.
Once simmered, pull the dutch oven off of the heat. Toss those charred chiles and garlic plus the water into a food processor along with your chopped onion and chipotle in adobo. Blend until completely smooth and then pour that paste into a bowl.
Add your short ribs to a large bowl with some oil and liberally season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Place your cleaned dutch oven over the fire and sear off each side of the beef until browned. Do this in batches if needed.
Next, add all your short ribs to the dutch oven along with the chile paste, beef broth and all of the braising seasonings. Cover the dutch oven and let simmer over medium heat until the beef is fork tender (about 3.5-4.5 hours). Make sure to skim the top of the sauce to remove excess fat as needed.
Once the beef is tender, pull it off, dispose of the bones, bay leaves and cinnamon sticks. Then strain your braising sauce from the meat until it is a clean consomme. Add the consomme to a new bowl and then begin to shred your beef.
Assemble the Birria Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Preheat a cast iron skillet over a medium high heat fire (about 350F) for direct cooking. Add a thin layer of oil and clarified butter to the skillet 2-3 minutes before cooking, so that we can create somewhat of a non-stick surface.
On a separate plate, lay out a piece of Texas toast bread and cover with a handful of shredded cheese. Top it with a handful of shredded beef then add some more shredded cheese and another slice of bread on top of the cheese.
Add the assembled grilled cheese to the skillet and toast the bread for 45-60 seconds on both sides of the sandwich until golden brown. Then pull off and repeat for the rest of the grilled cheese sandwiches.
Lastly, add your consomme to a bowl and top with chopped red onions and cilantro. Slice your Birria Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and serve with the consomme.
Enjoy!
For more delicious recipes, check out my second cookbook Flavor X Fire or my first cookbook Food X Fire!
Needing more spice in your life? My spice line can help with that. Check them out here.
Birria Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Ingredients
Beef:
- 5-6 Beef Short Ribs
- 1.5 tbsp Kosher Salt
- 1.5 tbsp Black Pepper
- 1.5 tbsp Garlic Powder
- Canola Oil as needed
Chiles:
- 3 ancho chiles stemmed & seeded
- 3 guajillo chiles stemmed & seeded
- ¼ cup of Chipotle in Adobo
- 1/2 white onion sliced
- 8-10 garlic cloves
- 2 cups of Water
Braising + Seasonings:
- 2-3 cups beef broth
- 1.5 tablespoons mexican oregano
- 2 tablespoons black pepper
- 1 tablespoons sea salt
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 2 bay leaves
Grilled Cheese:
- 3 cups Shredded Jack Cheese
- ½ cup red onions chopped
- ½ cup cilantro chopped
- Thick Cut Sliced Bread
Instructions
- Preheat your fire to medium high temperature (around 375F). Add a dutch oven over the fire to preheat for 3-4 minutes.
- Add your ancho chile, guajillo chile and garlic cloves to your dutch oven and let char for 30-45 seconds per side. Once charred, add your water to the skillet and let simmer over the fire for 7-8 minutes. Once simmered, pull the dutch oven off of the heat. Add your chiles & garlic in the water plus your chopped onion and chipotle in adobo to a food processor. Blend until completely smooth. Pour your paste into a bowl.
- Add your short ribs to a bowl with some oil and liberally season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Place your cleaned dutch oven over the fire and sear off each side of the beef until browned. Do this in batches if needed. Finally, add all your short ribs to the dutch oven along with the chile paste, beef broth and all of the braising seasonings. Cover the dutch oven and let simmer over medium low heat until the beef is fork tender (about 3.5-4.5 hours). Make sure to skim the top of the sauce of fat as needed.
- Once the beef is tender, pull it off, dispose of the bones, bay leaves and cinnamon sticks. Strain your braising sauce from the meat until it is a clean consomme. Add the consomme to a new bowl. Begin to shred your beef.
- Preheat a cast iron skillet over a medium high heat fire (about 350F) for direct cooking. Add some oil and clarified butter to the skillet 2 minutes before cooking.
- Lay out a piece of bread and cover with a handful of shredded cheese, top with a handful of shredded beef then add some more shredded cheese and another slice of bread. Add the grilled cheese to the skillet and toast the bread for 45-60 seconds a side until golden brown. Flip and toast the other side, then pull off and repeat for the rest of the grilled cheese sandwiches.
- Add your consomme to a bowl and top with chopped red onions and cilantro. Slice your Birria Grilled Cheese and serve with the consomme. Enjoy!
What weight and cut on the ribs?
English cut short ribs and about 4-5 lbs.
What bread did you use?
Brioche sliced bread
Where did you find the dried ancho Chiles and dried guajilio Chiles? I can’t find them around here? Thanks!
Most Hispanic food markets should have them!
Amizon has them
I ordered off Amazon
This is fire……. Literally the sauce was so spicy I had to tame it with lime and honey. We like spicy but this was hot.
Otherwise it was so good! I made it on my black stone griddle and it turned out amazing!
Highly recommend
Maybe my dried peppers were just a little extra lol
You probably did not thoroughly de-stem and de-seed the dried peppers. I made sure to get every single seed out and it was not spicy whatsoever.
For your recipe for birria grilled cheese how many servings does this make??
About 4-6 servings.
Could you use a different bigger piece of beef like maybe roast? If so what do recommend?
Sure use some chuck roast if you like!
I am stuck in an assisted living and trying to find an apt. in St. Louis. When I do, I will be grilling up these and other great sandwiches. Virgil and Keith I hope to hear that. Because, we are gonna eat and drink.
Bone in or boneless short ribs?
I prefer bone in but it doesnt really make too much of a difference.
Hi Derek, I love the recipe! I’d like to try this in a Dutch oven in my kitchen oven, what would you recommend for a time/temp? Thanks so much for the great content!
Should be able to follow the same instructions for time and temperature. The only difference is it wont be smoky from the grill!
All your recipes are amazing!! Love them all..thank you for sharing your recipes