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Smoked goat or lamb barbacoa tacos recipe
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Pulled Smoked Goat Barbacoa

Tender, spicy shredded goat or lamb barbacoa simmered with dried chilis-perfect for making tacos and burritos. Serves 8
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time4 hours
Total Time4 hours 30 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Mexican
Keyword: Barbacoa, Goat, Lamb, Leg of lamb
Servings: 8 People
Calories: 242kcal
Cost: 20

Equipment

  • 1 Smoker
  • 1 Slow Cooker

Ingredients

  • 1 whole goat or lamb leg about 3-4 pounds
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • Chili sauce
  • 5 dried guajillo chilies
  • 1 dried chipotle chili optional
  • 1 medium yellow onion 6 oz
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 1 qt warm lamb, chicken or goat stock
  • 2 dried bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano

Instructions

Season the leg

  • Preferably the night before, season the goat leg all over with the salt and pepper and refrigerate overnight. If you don’t have time to let it sit overnight, a few hours will do.

Smoking the Goat

  • Prepare a wood fire (alternately, you can smoke the lamb at 250 F for an hour or two, or just skip it. Cook the lamb over the wood, making sure the heat doesn’t get too hot, and allow it to smoke for at least 1 hour.

Cooking the vegetables

  • Meanwhile, in a dry skillet, or over the grill grates, toast the chilies until crisp. Cut the onion into ¼’s and cook until slightly charred on one side. Cook the garlic cloves whole, in their skin, until lightly colored. Allow the onion and garlic to cool.

Assembling the sauce and cooking

  • Break open the chilies, remove the seeds and discard. Peel the onion and garlic.
  • Put the lamb stock in the bowl of a blender with the onions, garlic, oregano, and chilis, then puree until smooth-ish.
  • Put the leg of goat in a slow cooker, along with the chili sauce and the bay leaves, cover, and cook on low heat for 6 hours or until very tender.

Season the lamb

  • Remove the goat from the slow cooker to a cutting board, mopping up any juice with towels to keep your work surface clean and dry. Discard the bay leaves. Using two forks, shred the meat coarsely, then transfer to a bowl.
  • With a spoon, skim as much fat from the goat stock as you can, and add it all to the meat, along with about 1-1.5 cups of the juice. Mix the meat, season with salt until it tastes good to you, and serve, or allow to cool, then refrigerate or freeze for future meals.

Serving

  • Serve the warm goat barbacoa with fresh warmed tortillas heated up directly on a grill or a burner, along with all of your favorite taco accompaniments.

Notes

A whole leg can be used here, but shoulders or just large pieces of stew meat or neck are good too. 

Nutrition

Serving: 6oz | Calories: 242kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 37g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 114mg | Sodium: 985mg | Potassium: 553mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 8IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 23mg | Iron: 4mg