Smoked Shredded Beef Tacos are a mouthful, all by themselves, but throw in a braising liquid spiked with tequila and the whole thing goes in a freshly fried puffy taco shell? Forget about it.

Smoked Shredded Beef Puffy Tacos

I am, like many of you, obsessed with tacos. Back when traveling was a thing, I ate tacos almost as much as I ate ramen. That’s to say – EVERY CHANCE I GOT.

While I’m at home, tacos can kind of get a bad rap. Not that I don’t LOVE a good ground beef taco, but just that it is a thing I default to when I “don’t feel like cooking”. The same with a good spaghetti and meat sauce.

When it is time to change things up and make something a little different, these smoked beef puffy tacos are easy AND delicious.

Why You’ll Love This Dish

Bold flavor. Smoked beef, tequila, lime, and jalapeño sauce bring the heat and tang.
Crispy puffy shells. Fresh-fried shells are worth every second.
Hands-on cooking fun. Great weekend project with rewarding results.
Perfect for gatherings. Feeds a crowd and makes an impression.
Customizable. Load it up with your favorite taco fixings.

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Puffy Tacos Shopping List

If you don’t have something that this calls for, the recipe itself is pretty forgiving. Find your closest dupe and go to town.

Beef chuck roast. A well-marbled cut that shreds beautifully after slow cooking.
Chile margarita rub. A zesty seasoning with lime and chili; store-bought or homemade.
Salt, pepper, garlic blend. Simple base seasoning to enhance the meat’s flavor.
Beef broth. Keeps the meat juicy and adds savory depth to the braising liquid.
Silver tequila. Adds bright, bold flavor to the cooking liquid.
Limes. Fresh juice helps cut through the richness and boosts the marinade.
El Pato jalapeño sauce. Spicy, tangy tomato-based sauce that gives the dish its signature kick.
Masa harina. The base for your puffy taco shells; traditional corn flour.
Salt (for masa). Essential for flavor in your taco dough.
Warm water. Helps bring the masa dough together smoothly.
Frying oil. High-heat oil like canola or peanut for puffing up the shells.

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How To Make This Recipe

This is just the overview so you can see what you’re actually getting into here. When you are cooking, you’ll want to use the full recipe at the bottom of the page.

Smoke the beef. Season roast with chile lime and SPG rub. Smoke at 200–225°F for 3 hours, flipping halfway through.
Braise until tender. Add to Instant Pot with broth, tequila, lime juice, and El Pato sauce. Cook for 60 minutes on high pressure, then natural release for 15 minutes. Or braise in oven or grill at 325°F for 3–4 hours.
Shred the meat. Remove fat and gristle, shred beef, and keep in the braising liquid for max flavor.
Make the puffy shells. Mix masa, salt, and warm water. Form 12 balls, press into tortillas, and fry in 375°F oil until puffed and golden.

TIP: A good tortilla press is also a great investment, even if you’ll only make tortillas a couple of times a year. It makes the job SO MUCH easier!

Assemble the tacos. Fill each shell with hot shredded beef and load up with your favorite toppings.

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FAQ

How to make puffy taco shells

Puffy taco shells are delicious, they take about 5 minutes to mix up, and 2-3 minutes a shell to fry. If you’re making these for a big crowd you might want to throw things at the end, but for 3-5 people at 2-3 tacos each, it is a manageable amount. Find a friend and fire up two pots of oil if you need some extra hands.

The frying big is the trickiest to get the hang of. You NEED at least 3 inches of oil in your pan. Don’t try and skimp and think it’ll be okay – it won’t.
You also need an accurate oil temp. Between 350-375° is ideal.

Then you press it and lightly drop it into the oil and let it cook until it puffs up. Once that happens, you flip over the tortilla in the oil, fold it in half and submerge it, and use the second set of tongs to hold the top of the taco shell open while it finishes cooking so you have some room for stuffing.
Remove to paper towels, and repeat until all 12 of your shells are cooked. 30 minutes well-spent!

Do you have to use an Instant Pot?

Nope! An Instant pot will definitely speed up the process significantly, but it isn’t necessary. You can crank the heat up a little to 300-325° and cook it in any vessel that’ll maintain that temp for the next 3-6 hours for you.

That could be your oven, a slow cooker, or even back out on your grill.

Just make sure you tightly cover your braising container because you want all of that moisture and liquid staying WITH the roast and not evaporating out of it.

Can you omit the tequila from this recipe?

Yup! It adds a nice mellow flavor to the dish, but if you don’t have any tequila or don’t cook with alcohol for whatever reason, you can still make this and it’ll still be delicious.

How do you store the leftovers?

Leftovers of your shredded beef tacos should be stored in an air-tight container in the fridge. You can keep them for 3-4 days after cooking safely, but if you plan on holding over any longer than that you should freeze instead.
Your leftovers will keep in the freezer best in a freezer bag with as much of the air removed as possible. If you have a vacuum sealer, even better.

What’s the best way to reheat leftovers?

These leftovers are simple to reheat. Just put into the microwave and cover with a damp paper towel, or reheat in a tightly-sealed baggie in a pot of hot water. Other options include pan-frying in a bit of oil or bacon grease for a “carnitas” style experience.

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Serve This With…

I like serving tacos with Bean Dip, Smoked Salsa Verde, and Mexican Rice.

I would never turn down a piece of Elote or a Mexican Shrimp Cocktail either.

For a little sweet heat, try these pickled sweet and spicy jalapenos from Forgone Itinerary.

Need a great vegetarian option? These Chickpea Tacos from Kelly Neil look fabulous!

What Else Can You Serve With Puffy Tacos?

If you get ambitious or your people aren’t that hungry and you end up with more leftovers than you can eat in a reasonable amount of time, you have options!

Blackstone Quesadillas are a perfect match for any kind of leftover meat you have hanging around, whether it is beef, pork, chicken, or shrimp.

Enchiladas are another good option. Use my Smoked Pork Enchiladas recipe and just sub in the already-cooked beef instead.

More Mexican-Inspired Recipes To Try

Yield: 12 servings

Smoked Shredded Beef Puffy Tacos

These shredded beef tacos are rubbed with Chile Lime rub, smoked on the pellet grill, braised in a tequila-lime cooking liquid, and then get shredded and stuffed into the best puffy taco shells, EVER.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 4 hours

Total Time 4 hours 20 minutes

Ingredients

Roast

4-pound beef chuck roast
3 tablespoons chile margarita blend
2 tablespoons salt, pepper, garlic blend

Braising Liquid

2 cups beef broth
4 ounces silver tequila
2 limes, juiced
2 cans El Pato Jalapeno tomato sauce

Puffy Taco Shells

2 1/2 cups masa harina
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 2/3 cups warm water
oil for frying

Instructions

Preheat your pellet grill to 200-225°.
Rub the meat with the rub ingredients, and put it into the smoker, directly on the grill grates.
Smoke for 3 hours, turning over once mid-smoke.
After three hours, place into your Instant pot. If you are NOT using an Instant Pot, a large baking dish suitable for braising will do. A Dutch oven, high-sided disposable foil pan, or a large rectangular piece of enameled stoneware would work also.
Pour over the braising liquid ingredients, place the cover on the pot, and set to 60 minutes, high pressure. If not using an Instant Pot, increase the heat on your grill, oven, or slow cooker to be around 325°. Tightly cover your baking dish to keep all the juices and moisture inside the baking dish.
Once the Instant Pot cycle is finished, let the pressure release naturally for at least 15 minutes before venting the excess and opening it up. The roast should be fork-tender. If it isn't, put it back in the pot and close it up for another 15-minute cycle.
If not using an Instant Pot, just cook the roast until it is fork-tender and shreddable. The amount of time it will take varies greatly depending on your particular piece of meat, the environment you are cooking in, etc. I'd personally start checking at about 2 1/2 - 3 hours and continue to check every 30-45 minutes until it was finished.
Shred the beef, removing any large chunks of fat or gristle. Keep the meat in the braising liquid to keep it moist.
Start the shells about 30 minutes before the beef is finished cooking by mixing together all of the Puffy Taco Shell ingredients until it is smooth and fully combined, and preheating 3 inches of oil in a medium-sized saucepan or fryer to 375°.
Roll the dough into 12 equally sized balls. Take a large ziplock and cut open along the two side seams. Leave the bottom seam intact. Place this into your tortilla press or onto your counter, and either press or roll the tortilla ball into a circle that's about 5-6" across and 1/8 inch in thickness.
Carefully drop the tortilla into the hot oil and let it puff up. It should take less than 30 seconds.
Using two sets of tongs, flip over the puffy tortilla and immediately press down in the center of the taco shell and submerge the shell under the oil. You're forming the taco shape here, but you don't want to un-puff the sides, if you can help it.
Using one tong, keep the taco pressed under the oil. Using the other, keep the top part of the taco at least two inches apart so you can stuff the shells without breaking them in half.
Remove when golden brown to a paper towel. Repeat with the other 11 shells.
Stuff with taco meat and all of your favorite fixings!

Smoked Shredded Beef Puffy Tacos