Mexican Smoked Chuck Roast (Chile Colorado-Style)
If you love Mexican food, then you'll love this homemade Chile Colorado made with smoked chuck roast. By smoking the beef on the grill first, and then braising it in a mix of stock, Mexican spices, and dried chiles, you get the most amazing and complex, flavorful Mexican stewed beef on this side of the border!
Servings: 5 people
Ingredients
- 4-5 lb chuck roast
- 2 tablespoons Tajin hot sauce *Optional - used as a binder.
- 2 tablespoons Texas Rub recipe
- 2 teaspoons cumin seed
- corn tortillas, Mexican rice, sour cream, avocado slices, etc for serving
For the Braising Liquid:
- ½ tablespoon cooking oil
- 1 medium onion quartered
- 1 jalapeno halved, stem and seeds removed
- 4 dried guajillo peppers stems and seeds removed
- 6 dried ancho peppers stems and seeds removed
- 32 oz beef stock
- juice of 1 lime
- 1½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1½ teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1-2 cups water
Instructions
- Preheat pellet grill or smoker to 250℉ with your choice of pellets or wood.
- Season the chuck roast. Rub about 2 tablespoons of hot sauce on all sides of the chuck roast as a binder (optional). Season all sides of the chuck roast with the Texas rub. Then sprinkle on cumin seed.
- Smoke the chuck roast. Place the beef roast directly on the grill grates, and close the grill lid. Smoke at 250℉ for 3 hours.
- Rest and cube the smoked chuck roast. After 3 hours, transfer the roast to a cutting board to rest for about 10 minutes. Then cut into cubes that are about 1" in size.
- Char the vegetables. While the roast is resting, add about ½ tablespoon of oil to a heated griddle or skillet, and brown the quartered onion and halved jalapeno pepper until they have a nice char on all sides. When onion and jalapeno are almost done, add the dried peppers to the griddle or skillet to toast for about 1 minute on each side. *While the vegetables are charring, preheat the oven to 300℉.
- Make the braising liquid. Add the charred veggies, peppers, and cubed beef to a dutch oven or other large pot. Pour in beef stock and just enough water to almost cover the beef – for us that was about 1½ cups of water. Add the remaining braising ingredients to the pot including lime juice, ground cumin, paprika, oregano, garlic powder, and chili powder.
- Braise the smoked beef. Cover the pot with aluminum foil, and place in a 300°F oven to braise for about 3 hours, or until the meat is fall apart tender. *Note – We uncovered the pot for the last 1 hour of cooking time, but use your best judgement based on the tenderness of your roast after about 2 hours of braising.
- Transfer beef chunks to a separate bowl. When the Chile Colorado beef nuggets are done braising, use a slotted spoon or spider strainer to remove the chunks of beef from the braising liquid and transfer to a separate bowl.
- Blend the Chile Colorado sauce. As you’re removing the beef chunks, separate the pieces of onion, jalapeno, and peppers and add to a large blender cup. When the beef has been separated out, use a spoon to skim off a good amount of the fat that has risen to the top of the pot. Then, add about 2 cups of the braising liquid to the blender cup with the veggies. Blend well until you have a smooth, thick sauce. *TIP – For a thinner sauce, you can add more of the braising liquid. See notes.
- Add the beef to the blended sauce. Add the blended Chile Colorado sauce to the tender beef chunks. Stir to coat. *See notes for tip.
- Serve the Chile Colorado. Serve like a beef stew with warm corn tortillas for dipping and/or with Mexican rice. You can also serve with sour cream, avocado slices, Cotija cheese, etc. Enjoy!
Notes
- Leftover Chile Colorado sauce - This recipe will probably yield more of the Chile Colorado sauce than what you need to serve with the beef chunks (depending on how much of the braising liquid you add to the blender cup). You can reserve some of the blended sauce, let it cool down, and then add it to freezer-safe Ziploc bags. Freeze to use as a fantastic base for chili, or add a bit more braising liquid to thin it out for a homemade enchilada sauce.
- Blending warm liquids - Use caution when blending the warm liquid as the heat will cause pressure to build in your blender. You should allow the braising liquid to cool some before blending with the charred peppers and onion.
- For the blended sauce - You have a few choices when blending the sauce: 1) You can add about 2 cups of the braising liquid with the charred vegetables and blend, and add more liquid as needed to desired consistency. 2) You can add the full amount of braising liquid to the blender cup, and then pour the blended sauce into a skillet. Cook over medium heat until the sauce has reduced to your desired consistency. 3) Add the full amount of braising liquid to the blender cup with the veggies, and then pour into a skillet. Add a cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce.