Elevate plain flank steak with this flavorful sauce that will delight your taste buds

Cooktop Cove: Elevate plain flank steak with this flavorful sauce that will delight your taste buds

By Kate Elliott

Beef barbacoa is one of those dishes that's just perfect for the slow cooker. It takes a tough piece of beef, lets it simmer away for hours on end, and delivers to your plate one of the most tender dishes you've ever eaten. You can use any type of beef you want in the recipe that follows, as long as it has a lot of muscle fibers that require a long time to break down. Flank steak is a go-to because it's affordable, and just a little bit goes a long way.

Once that steak comes out of the slow cooker, it gets shredded into bits along with the peppers it cooked with. That spicy goodness is perfect for piling into soft taco shells or simply just eating on its own. You could even add it to salad to give it a new spin, and a little bit of a kick. However you choose to eat it, you'll be glad you did!

Easy Slow Cooker Beef Barbacoa

10 minutes

8 hours

8 hours, 10 minutes

1 flank steak, about 3 pounds

2 chipotle peppers, in adobo sauce

1 1/4 cups beef broth

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Juice of 1 lime

3 green onions sliced

Place the flank steak into a 6-quart slow cooker.

Place the chipotle peppers into a large bowl and mash them a little bit with a fork.

Add the rest of the ingredients, except the green onions, to the bowl and stir to incorporate everything together.

Pour the mixture from the bowl over the flank steak in the slow cooker.

Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.

Remove the flank steak from the slow cooker onto a cutting board. Using two forks, shred the steak and then place it back into the slow cooker to absorb some of the juices.

Spoon the shredded steak onto a platter and top with sliced green onions.