Lamb Barbacoa
Published June 9, 2025
- Total Time
- 5 hours 20 minutes, plus at least 12 hours’ marinating
- Prep Time
- 20 minutes
- Cook Time
- 5 hours, plus at least 12 hours’ marinating
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 3pasilla chiles
- 3guajillo chiles
- Neutral oil, for the pan
- 1medium yellow onion, peeled and quartered
- 1Roma tomato, halved
- 1head garlic, cloves separated and peeled
- ¼cup apple cider vinegar
- 2tablespoons kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- 2teaspoons oregano (preferably Mexican)
- 2teaspoons ground cumin
- 2teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- ½teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼teaspoon ground allspice
- One (4- to 5-pound) bone-in lamb shoulder roast
- 3 to 5frozen whole banana leaves (optional)
- ½cup dried avocado leaves (optional; see Tip)
- 12ounces lager
- Corn tortillas, chopped cilantro leaves and tender stems and lime wedges
- Finely minced yellow onion, rinsed in cold water
For the Lamb
For Serving
Preparation
- Step 1
Prepare the lamb marinade: Bring a pot of water to a boil. Using scissors, snip the tops off all the dried chiles and then cut along the length of one side. Open the flaps like a book, shake out the seeds and pick out any veins stuck to the pepper.
- Step 2
Heat a skillet over medium until hot, then lay the flattened chiles down and toast until fragrant, about 15 seconds per side. Transfer to a bowl, cover with boiling water and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Let soak for 30 minutes.
- Step 3
Heat the broiler. Lightly oil the bottom of a foil-lined sheet pan and add the onion, tomato and garlic, cut sides down. Broil until charred in spots and the tomato softens, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a blender.
- Step 4
Drain the chiles, reserving 1 cup soaking liquid, and add them to the blender. Add the vinegar, salt, oregano, cumin, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves and allspice; blend until smooth. If it is too thick, add splashes of chile soaking liquid if needed.
- Step 5
Marinate the lamb: Line a large roasting pan with the banana leaves (if using), completely covering the bottom and leaving a few inches of overhang on all sides. Pat the lamb dry and place in the roasting dish. Using the tip of a sharp knife, deeply score the meat all over with a crosshatch pattern. Slather the marinade over the lamb, massaging it into the crevices from scoring the meat. Fold the banana leaves over the lamb. If not using banana leaves, wrap the meat with plastic wrap. Transfer to the refrigerator to marinate for at least 12 hours and up to 24.
- Step 6
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Uncover the lamb, add the avocado leaves on top of the lamb (if using), and pour the beer into the pan. Rewrap the meat with the banana leaves, cover it tightly with foil, and place it on a large sheet tray. Roast until the lamb easily pulls apart when poked with a fork, 4 to 4 ½ hours.
- Step 7
Let lamb rest for at least 30 minutes before picking off the bone into bite-size pieces, tossing in some of the broth at the bottom of the pan to moisten as desired.
- Step 8
Serve with tortillas, onions, cilantro and lime wedges. Serve any remaining broth at the bottom of the pan alongside for dipping. Barbacoa should be stored in the cooking liquid and can be refrigerated for up to 4 days or kept in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Private Notes
Comments
Absolutely delicious and perfectly seasoned made as written for ingredients but w/out optional banana leaves and avocado leaves. Perhaps the best and easiest of all barbacoa recipes I've used. Modified technique in Step 6 to use Dutch oven to roast it so topped lamb with wet crumbled parchment for cover (since not using banana leaves wrap) and covered pan with foil and lid to seal well. 30 min @ 375 / 3 hrs @325 / uncovered then another 30 min. Perfectly done. And the "ahh.."roma!
Made this with goat leg instead of lamb. Marinated the full 24 hours. Wrapped in banana leaves, put it in the oven and forgot about it until party time. An absolute winner. Will keep on rotation for easy summer party times. The sauce was delicious, the goat was tender, tacos were personalized to each guest's taste with homemade salsa, limes, cilantro, avocados and onions. Awesome.
I have never seen a Mexican recipie call for a broiler to char. This can easily be done with a comal or frying pan preferably iron abd never non-stick, for the onion and tomato. I've even seen it done with a rack or laid directly on the stove burner grate for peppers which make the pepper more pliable to de-seed and imparts extra flavor. Stovetop gives more control over roasting.
If you want actual Mexican Hidalgo barbacoa flavor. Buy the maguey leaves of Amazon and roast them before to make them pliable enough to wrap the lamb. Drippings are also typically used to make a consomé to dip barbacoa tacos into. Most of Mexico’s prefers this over beef birria. At least in central mexico.
Trigger warning- deviation from recipe!!! I had purchased a # of good quality ground lamb on sale (cooking for one on a budget) I wanted to make cucumber and yoghurt salad and I was casting about for something to go with that was new and I could do in my toaster oven. Bear with me, if you’re still here I had the spices, omitting the hottest pepper. I reduced amounts to scale, adding some good apple cider vinegar- cutting the fat- I reasoned, and adding some very fine bread crumbs for added absorbing power. I rolled into 12 balls, placing into a glass container, separating with wax paper. I left it, chilling overnight. I then packed and froze several- this isn’t something I’d eat night after night-3 at a time is my speed in the heat wave late June in my coastal area. I had also made a cold carrot salad. 350 F for 14 minutes at 155 F internal temperature in a small casserole dish left the kitchen cool and clean up a breeze. The flavors were good- and I decided it needed a garlic/ yogurt dipping sauce. I prefer a certain full fat Icelandic yogurt with probiotics but whatever your preference. My takeaway? A great looking lamb dish gave me inspiration for my budget meatballs. Would I love to try the REAL recipe? Certainly. Until then? I appreciate the ideas, comments and feedback from NYTimes and readers.
Absolutely delicious and perfectly seasoned made as written for ingredients but w/out optional banana leaves and avocado leaves. Perhaps the best and easiest of all barbacoa recipes I've used. Modified technique in Step 6 to use Dutch oven to roast it so topped lamb with wet crumbled parchment for cover (since not using banana leaves wrap) and covered pan with foil and lid to seal well. 30 min @ 375 / 3 hrs @325 / uncovered then another 30 min. Perfectly done. And the "ahh.."roma!