Birria Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Rich Chile Consommé
Okay, seriously, I have easily become a master birria maker. I used to make it and my family would say it was “kinda good”, but now every time I make birria tacos they genuinely come out close to perfect, so let me give you the sauce on how to transfer this recipe over to a grilled cheese!
Most birria grilled cheese sandwiches go wrong in one of two places. Either the beef comes out dry and stringy, or the bread turns to mush the second it meets the consommé. Both problems come from rushing.
These birria grilled cheese sandwiches fix that with a long, lazy simmer in a sauce built on toasted guajillo and ancho chiles, then a quick drain of the beef before it ever touches the bread. You get juicy meat, a crisp buttery crust, stretchy Oaxaca, and a bowl of rich broth for dunking. It’s a weekend project, not a Tuesday sprint. But as comfort food dinners go, very few give you this much payoff for mostly hands-off time.
Birria Grilled Cheese, One Calm Stage at a Time
There are three stages here: build the chile sauce, braise the beef, grill the sandwiches. Only the last one needs your full attention.
Toast and Soak the Chiles
Pull the stems off the dried guajillo and ancho chiles (plus the chipotles, if you want heat), shake out the seeds, and lay them flat in a dry skillet over medium heat. About 30 seconds per side is plenty. You want them fragrant and a little more bendy, not blackened. Burnt chiles make the whole pot bitter, and there’s no rescuing it later.
Cover them with hot water and let them soak 15 to 20 minutes, until they’re soft and floppy.
Blend and Braise
While they soak, broil the tomatoes for 8 to 10 minutes until the skins blister and char in spots. Then blend the drained chiles with the onion, garlic, tomatoes, 2 cups of beef broth, the vinegar, oregano, cumin, thyme, salt, and pepper until it’s completely smooth. I reach for a high-speed blender here because chile skins are stubborn, and a weaker motor leaves gritty flecks.
Cut the chuck roast into 3 or 4 big chunks, salt them, and settle them into a 6-quart enameled Dutch oven. Pour the sauce over, add the bay leaf, and top up with broth or water so the beef is mostly submerged. Bring it to a boil, drop it to a low simmer, cover, and walk away for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. It’s ready when a fork twists through a chunk with zero resistance. Whole cuts of beef are safe at 145°F (63°C) with a 3-minute rest, but chuck won’t shred until it’s well past that, so tenderness is the cue that matters.
Shred, Drain, Grill
Shred the beef with two forks and stir it back into the pot for a few minutes so it drinks up the sauce. Now the step most people skip: lift it out with a slotted spoon and let it drain in a colander. Wet beef is exactly what turns good bread soggy. Strain what’s left in the pot, fish out the bay leaf, taste, and salt it. That’s your consommé.
Butter one side of each sourdough slice and lay half of them buttered side down. Layer Oaxaca, beef, a little sharp cheddar if you like, then more Oaxaca, and close with a second slice, buttered side up. Cheese on both sides of the beef glues everything together. Cook in a 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat, 3 to 4 minutes per side, until deep golden. If the bread is browning faster than the cheese is melting, nudge the heat down and cover the pan for a minute.
A Comfort Food Dinner That Earns Its Three-Hour Simmer
Three hours sounds like a commitment. Here’s why it pays off.
- Two chiles, two jobs. Guajillo brings bright, slightly fruity heat and that brick-red color. Ancho adds a darker, raisin-like depth, so the sauce tastes layered instead of just spicy.
- A splash of vinegar. Two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar doesn’t sound like much, but it cuts through the beef fat and all that cheese so the sandwich doesn’t sit like a brick.
- The right cut. Chuck has enough fat and connective tissue to turn silky after a long braise. Leaner roasts just dry out.
- Zero waste. The braising liquid becomes the dip, so all that flavor ends up in your bowl instead of down the drain.
It isn’t a weeknight recipe unless you braise the beef ahead. The sandwiches take ten minutes; the birria takes an afternoon.
Don’t Touch the Oaxaca, Swap Almost Anything Else
Oaxaca melts into long, stretchy strands and stays mild and milky, which lets the chiles do the talking. If you can’t find it, low-moisture mozzarella is the closest stand-in. When you shop for dried chiles, give one a gentle bend. It should flex like leather. If it cracks, it’s old and the flavor will be flat.
Bread matters more than you’d think. Sourdough or a sturdy crusty loaf, sliced about 1/2 inch thick, holds up to a dunk. Soft sandwich bread collapses.
- Short ribs instead of chuck: richer and fattier, same simmer time. Skim the fat off the consommé before serving.
- Monterey Jack, provolone, or a Mexican cheese blend: all melt well. Jack is the softest; provolone is a touch tangier and less stretchy.
- More heat: add both chipotles to the blender, or a dash of hot sauce to the consommé.
- Tortillas instead of bread: fold the beef and cheese into tortillas and crisp them in the skillet, quesadilla-style. Corn tortillas also take the wheat out of the bread, though you’ll still want to check your broth label.
- Extras: sautéed onions, sliced jalapeños, or a thin smear of crema inside.
Put the Consommé Front and Center, Please
Slice each sandwich on the diagonal so you get a pointy end for dipping, scatter on some cilantro, and set a small bowl of hot consommé next to each plate with a lime wedge. Squeeze the lime in right before you dunk. It wakes the broth right up.
On the side, Mexican street corn is a natural match, and a crisp green salad with a lime dressing balances all that richness. For drinks, an ice-cold beer or a pitcher of hibiscus or lime agua fresca.
This is also a great end-of-summer cookout move, Labor Day especially. Braise the beef the day before, then grill sandwiches in batches on a griddle while everyone hovers.
Leftover Birria Might Be the Best Part
Store the shredded beef and the consommé in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 4 days, or freeze them for up to 3 months. Reheat both on the stovetop until steaming and 165°F (74°C), then build and grill your sandwiches fresh. Don’t refrigerate assembled sandwiches; the bread goes limp and never really recovers.
Once chilled, a layer of red fat settles on top of the consommé. Lift it off and brush a little on the bread instead of butter for an extra-deep crust.
Make the birria on a slow Sunday and the rest of the week basically cooks itself. Just keep extra bread on hand, because the consommé disappears faster than you’d expect.
Birria Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Chile Consommé
Ingredients
Birria Beef
- 3 lb beef chuck roast (1.4 kg) or bone-in short ribs
- 4 dried guajillo chiles stems and seeds removed
- 2 dried ancho chiles stems and seeds removed
- 2 dried chipotle chiles optional, for extra heat
- 4 cups hot water (950 ml) for soaking the chiles
- 1 medium onion quartered
- 6 cloves garlic peeled
- 2 tomatoes broiled until blistered
- 2 cups beef broth (475 ml) plus more as needed
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (30 ml)
- 1 tbsp dried oregano Mexican oregano if you have it
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- salt and black pepper to taste
Sandwiches
- 12 slices sourdough or crusty bread about 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) thick
- 12 oz Oaxaca cheese (340 g) shredded, or low-moisture mozzarella
- 4 oz sharp cheddar (115 g) shredded, optional
- 6 tbsp butter (85 g) softened
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped, optional
Consommé
- strained cooking liquid reserved from the birria
- salt to taste
- 1 lime cut into wedges, optional
Instructions
- Place the stemmed and seeded guajillo, ancho, and chipotle chiles flat in a dry skillet over medium heat and toast for about 30 seconds per side, until fragrant and pliable but not blackened.
- Transfer the chiles to a bowl, cover with 4 cups (950 ml) hot water, and soak for 15 to 20 minutes until soft, then drain.
- Place the tomatoes on a sheet pan and broil for 8 to 10 minutes, turning once, until the skins blister and char in spots.
- Add the drained chiles, onion, garlic, broiled tomatoes, 2 cups (475 ml) beef broth, vinegar, oregano, cumin, thyme, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper to a blender and blend until completely smooth.
- Cut the chuck roast into 3 or 4 large chunks, season all over with salt, and place in a large pot or Dutch oven. Pour the sauce over the beef, add the bay leaf, and add extra broth or water until the beef is mostly submerged.
- Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to low, cover, and simmer for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until a fork twists through the beef with no resistance. The beef will be far past the safe 145°F (63°C) for whole beef cuts by this point.
- Remove the beef to a cutting board, shred it with two forks, and return it to the pot for 5 minutes to soak up the sauce.
- Lift the shredded beef out with a slotted spoon and let it drain in a colander. Strain the remaining liquid into a saucepan, discard the bay leaf, season with salt, and keep warm over low heat as the consommé.
- Spread butter on one side of each bread slice and lay 6 slices buttered side down.
- Top each of the 6 slices with a layer of Oaxaca, a portion of drained beef, a little cheddar if using, and more Oaxaca, then close with the remaining slices, buttered side up.
- Cook the sandwiches in batches in a skillet over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes per side, until the bread is deep golden and the cheese is fully melted. Lower the heat and cover the pan for 1 minute if the bread browns before the cheese melts.
- Slice the sandwiches diagonally, sprinkle with cilantro, and serve hot with bowls of warm consommé and lime wedges for dipping.