Crunchy taco shells filled with warm shredded beef, piled high with fresh salsa, cool and creamy non-dairy sour cream and avocado. . . . These tacos were even better than I expected.

Make sure you keep lots of napkins on hand, because they are as messy as they are delicious.


Good news! This is the same meat recipe I used for my pulled beef and coleslaw sandwiches a couple of weeks ago. You can make one batch of meat and use it for both meals. It also freezes well and defrosts quickly, so you can make a lot, divide it up, freeze it, and pull out a container or two as needed.

Once your meat is cooked (which you can do in advance), the rest is quick and easy to assemble, making this a convenient weeknight dinner.


Make sure you stick with fresh lime, not the bottled stuff. It makes all the difference.

Note: I’m generally not a fan of non-dairy cheeses and sour cream, and I try to stay away from them. But in this case I waived that. The tacos were just so much better with the sour cream. I definitely recommend it.


Pulled Beef Ingredients:

  • 2 onions, sliced in half rounds
  • ¼ cup oil
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • 2.5 lb. short ribs (bone in)
  • 1 cup BBQ sauce
  • ¼ cup soy sauce
  • ¼ cup rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
  • ¼ cup pure maple syrup
  • ½ cup water
  • 1½ tsp. garlic powder
  • 1½ tsp. ginger powder

Directions:

  1. In medium-sized pot, fry the onions with the oil and salt until golden. Remove the onions and set aside. Return pot to the heat.
  2. Cut the ribs between the bones (but do not remove the bones) and brown on each side, in the same pot. Brown the meat in small batches. If the pot is overcrowded, the meat will steam instead of browning.
  3. When all the meat has browned, add the onions back into the pot.
  4. Pour in all the sauce ingredients over the meat, and mix to combine. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook over a very low flame for 3 hours.
  5. Remove the meat from the sauce and shred. (If the meat does not fall apart easily, you need to cook it for longer.) Discard the bones and any lumps of fat.
  6. Return the meat to the sauce and keep warm until ready to assemble the tacos.
  7. Meat keeps well in either the refrigerator or freezer.

Pico de Gallo Ingredients:

  • 3 tomatoes, diced
  • 1 small purple onion, diced
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • Juice of ½ a lime
  • Salt to taste
  • Optional: 1 small green jalapeño pepper, sliced

Pico de Gallo Directions:

  1. Mix all the ingredients together.
  2. Best served immediately, but you can make and refrigerate a few hours ahead.

You will also need:

  • Taco shells
  • Avocado
  • Non-dairy sour cream
  • (Lots of napkins!)

To assemble:

  1. Spoon the pulled beef into the taco shells.
  2. Top with pico de gallo, avocado and non-dairy sour cream.
  3. Eat and enjoy.