Beef Short Rib Tacos

Beef short ribs are absolutely delicious, like brisket on a stick, but they take a fraction of the time to cook. Shredded and eaten on tacos with an avocado cilantro crema and it’s a combo that’s hard to beat.

Beef ribs have become super popular over the past few years and are absolutely delicious when done right.

First, you need to decide how many short ribs you need. Depending on the size of the ribs you can find at your local store, you typically need about two per person, but scale up or down based on size of the ribs or your crowd’s appetite. This recipe is based on 8, which should feed about 4 people.

Fire up your smoker to 225 with your choice of wood. Yes, it’s beef, but I’d stay away from a strong wood like mesquite since they are ribs as opposed to a whole roast or brisket. I went with pecan and post oak. If you have a water pan, it also can’t hurt to use it to keep moisture in your smoker.

While it’s getting up to temp, lay your ribs on a sheet pan and rub with mustard. You can also use oil, but either way, it’s just to help the rub stick to the meat. Now, sprinkle with your favorite beef rub. Put your ribs into the smoker on indirect heat with enough room in between them to let the smoke reach plenty of surface area. Grab a cold one and settle in because these are going to take a while. Probably 5-7 hours.

After about an hour, you can start spritzing them with apple cider vinegar every 30 minutes or so. You can either let them go the whole time or you can use the Texas crutch once they get to about 165 internally. That’s what I did this time and it worked well. I put them in a foil pan with a layer of beef broth, covered it with foil, and let them go the rest of the way like that. You want to let them get up to 200-205 so they shred easily. If you can’t easily shred them, they’re not ready.

Just before they are done, go ahead and make your avocado cilantro crema. In a blender or food processor, mix one avocado, 1/4 cup Greek yogurt, 1/2 cup water, one cup fresh cilantro, one clove garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, one serrano pepper (or more for heat), and a squeeze of lime. Blend it all together really well until you get the consistency you want. Add more water if you want it more runny.

Warm up your corn tortillas and slice some radishes really thinly. Put some shredded short rib on a tortilla and top it with a few slices of radish, some crumbled queso fresco, a squeeze of lime juice, and some of your avocado cilantro crema. Add a side of rice and beans and you’ve got yourself a great little tex-mex dish for dinner.

Beef Short Rib Tacos

Short ribs are absolutely delicious, like brisket on a stick, but they take a fraction of the time to cook. Shredded and eaten on tacos with an avocado cilantro crema and it's a combo that's hard to beat.

8 Beef short ribs
Beef rub
2 cups Apple cider vinegar ((for spritzing))
1 cup Beef stock
6 limes
8 corn tortillas
2 radishes ((for garnish))
1 bag queso fresco

For the Avocado Cilantro Crema

1 avocado
¼ cup Greek yogurt
½ cup water
1 cup cilantro
1 tsp salt
1 clove garlic
1 serrano pepper
1 lime

Wood Type

Post oak & pecan

Smoker Temp

225-250°

Target Internal Meat Temp

203+

Smoke Your Short Ribs

Fire up your smoker to 225-250° over indirect heat using oak and/or pecan wood
Lay out your beef ribs on a sheet pan or foil pan and coat with yellow mustard or olive oil, then sprinkle with your choice of beef rub
Once your smoker is up to temp, place your ribs onto the grate with room in between each one. These are going to take about 5-6 hours.
After an hour, start spritzing with apple cider vinegar every 30-45 minutes
Once they get to 165 degrees internal, place in a foil pan with some beef stock and cover with foil and keep smoking until they get to around 203
The ribs will be ready when they are shreddable. If they can't be easily shredded, they're not ready yet.
Shred the meat off the bones. Serve on tortillas topped with some avocado cilantro crema, a few slices of radish, some queso fresco, and a squeeze of lime

For the Avocado Cilantro Crema

Mix an avocado, greek yogurt, water, and cilantro in a food processor along with garlic, salt, a serrano pepper, and a squeeze of lime. Blend together until creamy.