The Mexican specialty named Quesabirria has become a viral sensation thanks to social media recently, but just because the secret is out now doesn’t mean that this flavorful delicacy is new to Mexican cuisine.
What is a Quesabirria?
A quesabirria is a hybrid of a taco and a quesadilla, with the Mexican staple birria inside. The quesabirria is a tortilla dipped in consommé, the broth made after you slow-roast the meat for over 6 hours. This broth is reddish in color, thanks to the delicious seasonings that flavor the shredded beef, and it gives the tortillas a vibrant color. These tortillas are then placed on the flattop, or plancha, as we like to call it in Spanish, and fried, while a generous amount of shredded cheese is placed on the dipped tortilla to melt. Once satisfied with the melty cheese-to-crispy tortilla ratio, we take a hefty amount of shredded birria meat, put it on one side, top it with freshly diced cilantro and onion, fold the quesabirria closed, and serve it with a cup of consommé on the side.
The History of Birria Meat
Before we discuss the origin of the quesabirria, we should first talk about the history of birria, which dates back to the 16th century. Birria meat originally started as goat meat because the people of Jalisco, Mexico, wanted to make it more flavorful and less tough.
The Indigenous people of Jalisco had no initial desire to consume goat, an animal that was also not native to their land. Spaniards introduced goats during their invasion of Mexican lands, and as the animals thrived in Mexico, they also began eating the crops the Indigenous people relied on to survive.
In response to the animal eating all their crops, the Indigenous people began hunting and cooking the goat meat. Although goat meat was considered tough and had a strong, bitter flavor that was not appetizing to people in Jalisco, they sought another way to cook it. They began slowly roasting the meat in their kilns, with a variety of spices and chilies to make it more flavorful and tender.
Now much more flavorful, the goat birria meat began to gain popularity in Mexico, and other regions began making this specialty as well. Once the recipe for birria reached Tijuana, Northern Mexico, the people of Tijuana swapped out the goat meat for beef, enhancing it to make even more tender, flavorful shredded meat, and served it with tortillas in tacos and burritos for all to enjoy.
The Origin of the Quesabirria
While we think that we have perfected the quesabirria, we unfortunately did not create it. Birria tacos have been a staple of Mexican cuisine for hundreds of years, but it wasn’t until just over a decade ago that quesabirria was born.
In fact, the street and taco truck vendors in the densely populated city of Los Angeles, California, are credited with creating the quesabirria taco. By simply taking the taco, putting it on the flat top with cheese, and serving it with the broth it was cooked in, a viral sensation was created that is now requested and replicated across the country, if not the world.
Depending on where you go, the quesabirria will vary in size and in tortilla choice, whether it be corn or flour, but one thing is for sure: it will be flavorful, cheesy, and full of birria meat.
How Backyard Taco Does Birria
As you all know, at Backyard Taco, we pride ourselves on Mexcellence, and though our birria is not an al carbon or mesquite-grilled meat, we still take it very seriously! So serious that we start by cutting the chunks of birria meat in our very own butcher room. Our carneceria room is located at our Mesa South location, where our butchers cut all our beef and pork and then transport them daily to all our Backyard Taco locations in the Phoenix Valley.
After the meat has been cut, the process begins with our prep team, who season the meat with a variety of seasonings and then add it to a large pot with Guajillo and Ancho chilies. This process cannot be rushed, as the meat is cooked on low for at least six hours, with the lid on the pot, opened occasionally only to stir the meat a bit more.
Once the six hours have passed, the meat is ready to be shredded and used on any of our Mexcellent Mexican Backyard Taco menu items. From our tacos to burritos, to our freshly made gorditas and vampiros – or even our famous Papa Loca, our birria meat goes perfectly on every single one of our menu items. Always topped with freshly diced cilantro and onion, unless otherwise requested, of course, there is not a single person we’ve met nor a bad review we have ever seen about our birria – it is just THAT good, as Marisela and Ruben Alvarez would not have it any other way.
Whether you’re enjoying this flavorful Mexican staple in a cheesy quesadilla or what we like to call our “flavor” Bueno Bowl, subbing refried beans for whole beans and adding cheese, you just cannot go wrong.
How Do We Do The Quesabirria The Mexcellent Backyard Taco Way?
We’ve been asked for years and years to add quesabirria to the menu, and we only officially added it in November 2025. Many wondered why it took so long. It is clear that we have always had all the ingredients available to us and the means to make it – in fact, lots of our employees make this for themselves even before we decided to conceptualize the quesabirria the Backyard Taco way… so what exactly took us so long? Well, Marisela wanted to make sure it was absolutely delicious, held up well whether for dine-in or to-go orders, and offered the best value to all of our amazing BYT family.
In fact, she spent weeks in the kitchens, perfecting the assembly of this Mexcellent quesabirria, and then more time after making sure every location made it the most sabroso, or flavorful, way.
The prep for the quesabirria actually starts before we even open, as our team prepares two different consommés for this excellent entrée – one for dunking the tortilla in and one for serving to the customers to dip their quesabirria in. The difference between the two, you might ask? One needs a bit more fat than the other to stick to the tortilla before placing it on the flat top to crisp up.
If you know us here at Backyard Taco, we do not skimp on quality or serving size, we actually take two larger corn tortillas, the ones we use to make our grilled tostadas, and dunk them into the consumme, we then place them on the flat top to fry up. Next, we grab a portion of our Monterey Jack cheese and put it on one side of the dipped tortillas. After a few minutes, when we can tell the tortilla is crisp and the cheese has melted, we take a hefty portion of our shredded beef birria and top it with the melted cheese on the same side. Adding in diced cilantro and onion, we then fold this stuffed quesabirria closed and serve on a plate with more than enough consomme for dipping as well.
Being that our quesabirrias are made with the same tortillas and amount of meat as one of our vampiros or grilled tostadas, they are incredibly filling, and you’d have to be a very hungry person to need more than one or two when dining with us – but we won’t judge if you can devour three or more of these cheesy, beefy delicacies.
Whether you have our quesabirria as a combo, with Mexican rice and refried beans on the side, or as an accompaniment to one of our other authentic staples like our gorditas, you won’t be disappointed, or leave hungry!
How To Order A Quesabirria?
Once upon a time, the quesabirria was only a secret menu item at Backyard Taco. But we couldn’t keep it a secret much longer, even though it was requested. After receiving all the fantastic feedback from our customers, we had to add our Mexcellent quesabirria to our menu! Consumme included, too. Just be sure to give us a few extra minutes to cook these, as you do when ordering one of our gorditas or vampiros. Cooking them takes just a bit longer, but they are all most definitely worth the wait.
Come in today to try our newest Mexcellent specialty! We promise you BYT familia – our quesabirria is so good, it’s worth a try!
Dr. Tyler loves tacos! He is one of the owners of Backyard Taco, and can sometimes be found moonlighting there at night or on the weekends.
Dr. Tyler Robison is an alum of Mesa’s Mountain View High School. He graduted from Brigham Young University before being accepted to the “Top Ten-nationally ranked” University of Louisville in Kentucky, where he earned his Doctorate in Dental Medicine and a Master’s Degree in Oral Biology. He graduated with honors in the top ten percent of his class. Dr. Robison continued at the University of the Pacific in San Francisco, where he received a second master’s degree in dental science and his orthodontic certification.
Dr. Tyler enjoys serving in his community. He is a provider for the Smile Back Foundation, which offers scholarships for free dental treatment to underprivileged East Valley students. He is also a Major in the U.S. Army Reserve and served during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2008.
Dr. Tyler Robison’s favorite pastimes include spending time with his family on the lake, at the beach, or on the slopes. He is an avid and crazy snowboarder! He has three incredible sons and one sweet daughter: Caden, Jace, Crew, and Bliss.
