These slow cooker street tacos are packed with flavor and are unbelievably delicious topped with fresh pico de gallo, avocado and sour cream. It’s like bringing the food truck to your doorstep!
Have you ever had street tacos from a food truck and thought; man, if only I could make these at home! Now you can. You can recreate that mmmmm, mmmm, mmmmm feeling at home.
What are Street Tacos?
I’m so glad you asked!
You’ll find this type of tacos most often in street carts or food trucks, hence the name for these tacos, Food Truck Tacos or Street Tacos. They are the closest thing to authentic Mexican tacos. Since they’re smaller in size, it makes inhaling 3 or 4 at a time perfectly acceptable -just sayn’.
After having tons of food truck tacos in Austin one weekend, I knew I’d have to create my own version for the Taco Tuesday Coobook!
Authentic Mexican Street Tacos Recipe
Unlike the standard American taco which comes in a crunchy shell with ground beef, street tacos are served in small corn tortillas filled with seasoned and grilled smoked chicken, pork, or carne asada; then they’re topped with lime and a sprinkle of cheese.
The meat is marinated and cooked on the grill or slow smoked until it falls of the bone and melts in your mouth.
Sometimes, these street tacos are served with a crunchy slaw or a drizzle of sauce; but for the most part, these tacos are kept simple so you can zone in on all the flavors!
It can be challenging to find these epic tacos from a food truck for a delicious midweek dinner; so I’m bringing these tacos to you thanks to the Taco Tuesday Cookbook and your favorite kitchen assistant: the slow cooker.
These street tacos are filled with flavor and are super easy to make so you can “set it and forget it” and enjoy street style tacos, any day, anytime.
How to Make Food Truck Tacos at Home
Since these are going down in the slow cooker, we need a sauce, and this recipe includes blended chipotle peppers, BBQ sauce, lime juice, apple cider vinegar, garlic, cumin, and salt.
Once you blend the sauce, the smell alone is enough to wake up your senses and anticipate how amazing these tacos are going to be.
Making them is easy because all you do is combine the pork and sauce inside the slow cooker, cook on low for 10 hours or high for 6.
You should know that the longer you cook the meat on low heat, the more tender the meat will be.
Once the meat shreds easily between two forks, just toss it around with the sauce inside the slow cooker and you’ll be ready to assemble.
Top these off with some homemade Pico de Gallo, and you’re set!
What kind of tortillas are used for Street Tacos?
That crispy taco shell and flour tortillas are an American thing; and while they are delicious, traditional street tacos are served on corn tortillas.
Street tacos corn tortillas are also smaller than standard American style tortillas, which means smaller portions and more servings…. more tacos = more happiness.
Moral of this story, you can’t go wrong with street tacos.
Street Tacos: Homemade Food Truck Tacos
This recipe is from Laura’s Cookbook, The Taco Tuesday Cookbook.
Slow cooker street tacos are packed with flavor and are unbelievably delicious topped with fresh pico de gallo, avocado and sour cream!
- Cook Time: 6 – 10 hours
- Total Time: 6 – 10 hours
- Yield: 4 to 6 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 pounds boneless (country-style) beef ribs, fat trimmed
- 1 can (4-ounce) chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup barbecue sauce
- 3 limes, 2 juiced and 1 cut into wedges
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 large white onion, finely chopped, divided
- 8 corn tortillas store-bought or homemade, warmed
- Pico de Gallo
- 2 avocados, pitted, peeled, and sliced
- Sour Cream for serving
- Chopped fresh cinaltro
Instructions
- In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Brown the ribs in batches, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer the browned ribs to the slow cooker.
- In a blender, blend the chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, water, barbecue sauce, lime juice, vinegar, garlic, cumin, and salt until smooth. Pour the thick sauce over the ribs. Reserve one-quarter of the chopped onion and put the rest in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 6 hours or on low for 10 hours, or until the meat easily separates between two forks.
- In the last couple of hours, use tongs to flip the ribs and distribute the sauce on top of the ribs. When the meat is done, break it up into smaller pieces with two forks.
- To assemble the tacos, start with a base of meat on each tortilla, top with some of the reserved chopped raw onion, pico de gallo, sliced avocados, sour cream, and cilantro. Serve with grated cheese and lime wedges on the side if you desire.
Notes
If you can’t find chipotle peppers in adobo sauce you can substitute 3/4 cup of enchilada sauce.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 tacos
- Calories: 663
- Sugar: 7.3g
- Sodium: 398.1mg
- Fat: 33.9g
- Saturated Fat: 12.1g
- Trans Fat: 1.6g
- Carbohydrates: 36.2g
- Fiber: 6.4g
- Protein: 51g
- Cholesterol: 188mg
Keywords: slow cooker tacos, street tacos, food truck tacos
Is it just me—I’m not seeing the link to the recipe anywhere.
Yvonne, you can find the recipe inside The Taco Tuesday Cookbook. While I have A LOT of recipes on this site, I’m not allowed to release all the recipes from the book just yet (due to my publishing agreement).