The Birria Burrito at Little Miner Taco in North Bethesda, Maryland is surrounded by Birria Tacos, Birria Macchi Burritos, Birria Fries and Birria Consommé.
Laura Chase de Fomini | Laura Chase de Fomini The Washington Post | Getty Images
Once known as a local Mexican food, Birria has now taken on a life of its own in the United States, becoming a social media star and fast-food darling.
Traditionally, Birria is a stew of beef or goat meat that is slow-cooked with spices and chilies to give the meat a rich flavor. Birria tacos use slow-cooked meat as a filling and often add consommé on the side to dip the tacos.
Over the past four years, birria's presence on restaurant menus has grown 412%, largely due to midscale and casual dining chains, according to market research firm Datassential. It has made the leap from primarily Mexican restaurants to restaurants with broader menus, such as Sugar Factory's American restaurant and Bolerobowling alley.
Mexican-style fast food brands, such as Qdoba, Crazy chickendeltaco and even Taco Bell released their own version of birria, turning it into a new menu staple. And the dish is still growing. Datassential predicts that Birria’s menu penetration will more than double over the next four years.
From Jalisco to TikTok
Birria Tacos at Mariscos 1133 in Washington, DC
Scott Suchman | The Washington Post | Getty Images
While birria may be relatively new to American diners, it has been around for centuries in the Mexican state of Jalisco, which borders the Pacific Ocean.
Steven Alvarez, a professor at St. John's University who teaches taco literacy classes, said goats, originally brought by the Spanish, have become an invasive species and eating them is a solution to the problem. A simple method. But to make goat delicious, you need spices and chilies. Slow cook the meat to tenderize it.
“The goats are from Europe and the peppers — guajillos, ancho peppers — are native to the Americas, and they come together to create this completely new thing,” Alvarez said.
The dish migrated to Tijuana, Mexico. In the 1950s, a taco vendor named Don Guadalupe Zárate switched goat meat to beef because it was cheaper, Alvarez said. Adding water to the stew will prevent the meat from burning.
Over the past decade, birria has moved north to Los Angeles, where Mexican immigrants distribute tacos and consommé through food trucks like Birrieria Gonzalez.
“The beauty of (Southern California) is that Mexican food is always evolving with what’s happening in Mexico, based on immigration patterns,” Alvarez said.
Birria has recently been popping up in New York City, with restaurants and food trucks serving tacos and consommé throughout the five boroughs.
But the real turning point for Birria came with Instagram. Alvarez said food influencers' photos of birria tacos, in which beef is poured into a cup of consommé, are mouth-watering and introduced the food to new audiences. Once TikTok took off, so did birria's videos, whether they were reviews of restaurants and food trucks that offer the service or videos of making recipes at home.
looking for opportunities
Qdoba's brisket Birria, which can be found in the chain's quesadillas.
Source: Qdoba
Social media is part of the reason birria has become a staple on Qdoba's menu.
Katy Velazquez, director of culinary innovation at Qdoba, first encountered birria while working in Mexico. Later, when she returned to the United States, she began to see the food's popularity online, thanks to “sexy cheese-pull shots” on social media, she said.
Cut to the Covid-19 pandemic, when brisket prices soared and Qdoba had to remove its Tex-Mex-inspired version of brisket from its menu.
“We're losing money on every entree we sell,” Velázquez said.
But the failure gave her team the chance to create their own version of birria, based on brisket. The fast-casual chain's final product is prepared differently than traditional birria, but Velazquez and her team aim to emulate the same flavor and tenderness.
“We have the benefit of a seasoning that contains hours of tomatoes that have been concentrated and slow-cooked and then dehydrated and put in, so we don't have to put in hours of work to get the same effect and flavor,” she said.
Qdoba launched the birria two years ago, permanently replacing its previous brisket entree and charging customers extra for the new protein option. Since the chain is privately held by Butterfly Equity, it did not disclose its financial results, including further details about the launch success.
Velazquez said the chain will re-promote its birria products this fall and believes the flavors will appeal to customers looking for a comfort lunch or dinner.
“We're really proud of this and we're proud to be able to bring regional Mexican cuisine to a large audience through a brand like ours,” she added.
Villa everything
In Oakland, California, lamb is seasoned for lamb birria.
Liz Hafalia | San Francisco Chronicle | Hearst Newspapers | Getty Images
Birria's fan base isn't growing just because Qdoba and other big chain restaurants are adding it to their menus. Christine Couvelier, a culinary trend watcher and founder of Culinary Concierge, told CNBC that this is also because of its inherent versatility.
“This dish is not about the heat, it’s about the flavor,” Couvillier said. “So when consumers try it on the menu, they won't be intimidated or surprised. It's a low-and-slow-cooked flavor.”
Couvelier envisions many different possible versions of birria: on top of poutine, in soup, even stuffed into ravioli. She's also starting to see some packaged food companies experiment with sauces that include birria flavors.
“It's moved from specific dishes to proteins and can be found across menus,” said Claire Conaghan, trend scientist and associate director at Datassential.
Nowadays, birria is often made with beef, Conahan adds, and it goes with just about anything.
According to Datassential, tacos are the most popular birria dish on menus, but the company's menu trends platform also found birria quesadillas, grilled cheese, breakfast dishes and even ramen.
According to Alvarez, Birria Ramen first appeared in Tijuana, Mexico. But it has become popular stateside and is even on the menu at Del Taco.
Jeremias Aguayo, Del Taco's senior director of culinary research and development, rejoined the chain's culinary team in 2022, shortly after jack in the box Bought a Del Taco. He took it upon himself to create Del Taco's birria.
Aguayo said the consommé recipe alone took four months and 17 attempts to get just right. Meanwhile, Del Taco has launched a Beef Biria recipe. Last November, the chain simultaneously launched quesabirria taco, birria quesadilla and birria ramen.
According to Aguayo, it was Del Taco's largest promotion in years, resulting in a “huge jump” in sales, traffic and average check size. Del Taco sold more than 1 million servings of birria ramen at more than 600 restaurants through two promotional windows.