These Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Nachos are topped with juicy shredded beef and loaded with bold flavors and a delicious avocado salsa.
If you’ve ever had Slow Cooker Sweet Pulled Pork Tacos, you know that slow cooked meat is delicious in any form, but especially in nachos. You’ll never want to go back to grilling after this!
I’ve taken the delicious flavors of a simple carne asada, but turned it into a succulent, slow cooked shredded beef.
It’s fantastic on top of nachos, wrapped up in a burrito with Cilantro Lime Rice and Black Beans, or served enchilada style with some red or green sauce.
Shredded Beef Nachos Recipe
This is the EASIEST shredded beef recipe out there. Making it in the crock pot takes time but it comes out perfectly tender and juicy.
For toppings, rather mashing up avocados I simply tossed them with some diced tomato, onion, jalapeño, lime and cilantro. It made the perfect pico de Gallo topping to the tender shredded beef!
Ingredients Needed
Here’s the basic list of ingredients you’ll need in order to whip up these carne asada inspired nachos and the pico de Gallo for the top. As always, you can find the full list of ingredients located in the printable recipe card below.
- Steak – chuck roast works best for this recipe
- Onion – sweet variety like yellow or white.
- Bell Pepper – red and green
- Jalapeño – fresh
- Chili Powder
- Cumin
- Garlic & Onion Powder
- Salt & Pepper
Ingredients for the Pico de Gallo
Here’s what you’ll need for this super simple pico.
- Avocados
- Tomatos – roma
- Purple Onion – you can also use white or yellow.
- Cilantro – fresh
- Lime Juice – fresh is best
- Salt
How To Make Slow Cooker Shredded Beef
Don’t feel limited by the thought of making Mexican shredded beef, it really is so simple to put together. I’ll walk you through the process step by step!
Prepare Meat
Combine the spice rub ingredients in a small bowl. Generously rub all over the chuck roast steak.
Place the beef in the bottom of a slow cooker, and top with the diced bell peppers and onions. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.
PRO TIP: No need to add any extra liquid to the slow cooker, the meat will release PLENTY of juices along with the bell peppers and onion.
Make the Pico De Gallo
Combine the avocados, tomatoes, purple onion, jalapeño, cilantro, lime juice and salt in a bowl. Gently stir together, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until ready to use.
Shred Beef
Once the meat is cooked until very tender, shred with 2 forks into pieces.
Assemble Nachos
Place a pile of tortilla chips on a plate, and cover with hot shredded beef and cheese. Spoon pico de Gallo on top, and sour cream as another delicious topping option. Enjoy!
Recipe Tips and Substitutions
- Serve the juicy shredded beef in a taco shell with the avocado pico on top! Or wrap it in a soft tortilla with some refried beans for a lovely shredded beef burrito.
- For more toppings, use sour cream, classic Pico de Gallo, black olives, or more fresh jalapeños.
- You can leave out the jalapenos if you don’t want them spicy!
Make Ahead and Storage
Refrigerate: Cool any leftovers, and transfer to an airtight container. Refrigerate for up to 5 days.
Freeze: Cool completely, then place the shredded beef in a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw completely and heat before using.
Common Questions
The best cut of beef for making a juicy and tender shredded beef is going to be a chuck roast (also labeled sometimes as: shoulder roast or chuck eye roast).
No need to cut before cooking. Shredding afterwards is much less work.
This recipe calls for LOW and SLOW heat for maximum tenderness and juiciness. I recommend cooking it on the low setting rather than less time at the high setting.
This recipe is delicious with the pico and sour cream topping, but you could also serve it with black beans and rice on top!
More Slow Cooker Beef Recipes
These are a few of our favorite beef recipes to make in the slow cooker. Make sure to try at least one!
- Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
- Slow Cooker Barbacoa Beef
- Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes
- Slow Cooker Beef Stew Recipe
I hope you enjoy this SUPER easy slow cooker shredded beef nachos recipe as much as we do!
Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Nachos
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. chuck roast, trimmed
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and diced
Spice Rub:
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
For the Avocado Pico de Gallo
- 3 large Avocados, pitted and diced
- 3 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
- 1/3 cup diced purple onion
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and diced
- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
- 1 tbsp lime juice, about 1/2 of a lime
- 1/4 tsp salt
For the Nachos:
- Tortilla chips
- sour cream
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
Instructions
For The Shredded Beef
- Combine all the spice rub ingredients in a small bowl. Generously rub all over the chuck roast steak. Place in the bottom of a slow cooker, top with the diced peppers and onions. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.
For The Pico de Gallo
- Combine the Avocado Pico de Gallo ingredients in a bowl, and gently stir to combine. Cover and place in fridge until ready to use.
- Once beef is tender, use two forks to shred the steak (should fall apart very easily).
Assemble Nachos:
- Place a pile of tortilla chips on a plate, cover with the hot carne asada, some shredded cheese, a nice helping of avocado pico, and some sour cream.If desired, you can pop the nachos under the broiler in your oven to melt the cheese more.
These look amazing how would you cook them in a Dutch oven how long and what temp for the oven?
THis was fantastic, Shawn! I didn’t do the avacado, and used my own pico recipe, but this was a sure winner at our house.
Where was I when you made this! Looks awesome!
Those look wonderful, I am going to make them one of those days for my son, only one comment about the name of it, carne azada is a very thin steak that you can either grill or cook on stove on a very hot skillet, you don’t slow cook carne azada.
I can’t really comment on the Pico because, since we can’t have avocados right now, I didn’t make it, but I did make the meat and it smelled *so* good all day. Basically ruined my diet for today. I’m not really a huge fan of nachos so I served up the meat as taco filling for my family. My fiance and our guests were impressed and enjoyed it greatly, as did I. I’m probably going to keep this recipe and make it again at least once. And by that i mean probably a thousand times. 😉
Holy cow, Shawn…those are some good-looking nachos! There is not a single part of this that I would change. Everything from the carne asada to the creamy avocados looks fantastic.
Thanks Dara! 🙂
My boyfriend claimed to hate Mexican food until I made my him carne asada nachos. As a red blooded American I was determined to make him like Mexican food. As an Aussie, he has pretty much only had subpar Mexican food his entire life. I am now free to make Mexican food whenever I would like! Beautiful recipe and beautiful photos!
This is definitely being added to my “must try” list of recipes. It looks amazing! I love all of the veggies it has going on! 🙂
This dish is very nourishing I guess. I like combination of avocado and meat. The taste is really amazing. I will definitely cook it for supper this weekend.
Are you kidding me?!! I’m drooling right now! This might be the perfect Friday night food.
I *love* Mexican food. All that colour & flavour – mmmmm.
Oh man.
This looks so ridiculously good. I wish I had a very large plate right in front of me.
Thanks Amanda! 🙂 You’re the best!
So as Avocado Ambassador, can you tell me how to select a ripe avocado. Also, how to store & how long they last etc.
Definitely! To test for ripeness you’ll want to hold the avocado in the palm of your hand and wrap your fingers around it like you’re holding a ball. GENTLY give it a little squeeze and if it gives slightly you’ll know it’s ripe. Don’t poke it because this will bruise the fruit.
Once the avocados have been cut you’ll want to store them sealed up with as little oxygen in the container as possible (with the pit if possible), in the fridge. Uncut avocados can be left on the counter until ripe, and once ripe, place them in the fridge to slow down the ripening process. You can even follow this handy tutorial (http://iwashyoudry.com/2013/04/29/how-to-freeze-an-avocado/) on how to freeze your avocados to make them last up to 5 months!
Hope that answers your questions! 🙂
Holy Guacamole’ That is what nachos are suppose to look like. This is a triple star recipe and dinner guest special. All that would be left to do would be to mix up a batch of margaritas!
Thanks Carol! 🙂
I tried to attempt this and I “let it go” alright. I came home to the house stinking and everything scorched. Are you positive to just put the meat and veggies in? No water or gravy or anything? I just lost out on two pounds of flank steak.