There’s nothing boring about these Pulled Beef Tacos. For this episode of Cooking With Friends, I teamed up with Bobby T to take a big chuck roast, cook it hot and fast over live fire, braise it until it pulls apart, and pile it into warm tortillas with homemade fire-roasted salsa and plenty of fresh toppings.

We started with a roughly 3½-pound chuck roast and layered on Heath Riles BBQ SPG Seasoning & Rub and Bobby T’s 7 Bones Beef Rub. From there, we hung the roast over the fire on the Gateway Drum to build a dark bark before braising it with beef broth until tender.

While the beef cooked, we fired up the Weber Kettle and made a homemade salsa with charred tomatoes, onions, jalapeños, garlic, citrus, and cilantro. Put it all together with crunchy cabbage, pickled red onions, cilantro-lime crema, fresh cilantro, and lime, and you’ve got one seriously loaded taco.

Pulled Beef Tacos with Fire-Roasted Salsa | Heath Riles BBQ

Chuck roast is one of my favorite cuts when you want big beef flavor without making an all-day cook out of it. For these tacos, we treated the roast a little differently than traditional smoked pulled beef.

After a light coat of Graza Cooking Oil Spray as a binder, we seasoned the roast generously with Heath Riles BBQ SPG Seasoning & Rub and Bobby T’s 7 Bones Beef Rub. A big cut of beef like this can handle plenty of seasoning, especially since all that meat will eventually be shredded together.

Instead of laying the chuck roast on a traditional smoker grate, we hung it from Meat Hooks in a Gateway Drum Smoker running around 300°F with Royal Oak Lump Charcoal. Cooking directly over the fire lets the fat drip onto the hot coals below, giving the beef a grilled, live-fire flavor while it builds its bark.

Once we had the color we wanted, the chuck roast went into an Aluminum Pan with beef broth to braise until tender. The result is beef that has the bark and char of a live-fire cook with the tenderness you want for a pulled beef taco.

Why This Recipe Works

These tacos are all about building different layers of flavor and texture.

The first layer comes from the beef. SPG gives us that classic salt, pepper, and garlic foundation, while Bobby T’s 7 Bones Beef Rub adds another layer of seasoning to the chuck roast. Hanging the meat directly over the fire adds something you just don’t get from a traditional indirect cook. As the fat renders and hits the fire, it gives the chuck roast a grilled-steak flavor even though we finish it with a braise.

Then there’s the salsa. Instead of throwing raw vegetables straight into a blender, we char the tomatoes, onions, jalapeños, garlic, lemons, and limes over hot charcoal. That little bit of char brings another layer of flavor while grilling the citrus helps bring out the sweetness in the juice.

The toppings bring everything together. You’ve got rich pulled beef, smoky salsa, crunchy red cabbage, acidic pickled onions, creamy cilantro-lime crema, fresh cilantro, and lime juice. There’s a lot going on, but every ingredient has a purpose.

Best of all, most of this recipe can be made ahead. The beef can be cooked and held until you’re ready to shred it, or reheated in a skillet when it’s time to build the tacos. That makes these a great option for game day, a family dinner, or anytime you’re feeding a crowd.

The Ingredients

For the Pulled Beef

• Chuck Roast. We used a large chuck roast weighing about 3½ pounds. Chuck has plenty of beef flavor and becomes tender enough to shred once it has been braised.
• Cooking Oil. A light coating of Graza Cooking Oil Spray helps the seasonings stick to the outside of the beef.
• Heath Riles BBQ SPG Seasoning & Rub. This goes down first to give the chuck roast a base layer of salt, pepper, and garlic flavor.
• Bobby T’s 7 Bones Beef Rub. We layer this over the SPG for even more flavor on the outside of the roast.
• Beef Broth. A little beef broth in the pan creates the liquid we need to braise the chuck roast until tender.

For the Fire-Roasted Salsa

• Tomatoes. The base of our salsa. We left plenty of the charred exterior on them because that char means flavor.
• Onion. Grilling the onion softens it and adds another layer of fire-roasted flavor.
• Jalapeños. These give the salsa its heat. Remove the seeds for less heat or leave them in if you like your salsa hotter.
• Garlic. Roasting the garlic over the fire softens it and mellows the flavor before it goes into the blender.
• Lemons and Limes. We grill the citrus before squeezing the juice into the salsa.
• Fresh Cilantro. Adds freshness that balances all those roasted flavors.
• Salt. Add it to taste and adjust after blending.

The vegetables cook for about 10 minutes over the hot fire, just long enough to soften and develop plenty of char. From there, everything goes into the Ninja Blender, where you can adjust the tomatoes, onions, cilantro, jalapeños, and salt until the salsa tastes exactly how you like it.

For the Tacos

• Tortillas
• Pulled Beef
• Fire-Roasted Salsa
• Cilantro-Lime Crema
• Red Cabbage
• Pickled Red Onions
• Fresh Cilantro
• Fresh Lime

The toppings give you the balance that makes these tacos work. The cabbage brings crunch, the pickled onions and lime bring acidity, the crema adds richness, and the salsa brings heat, freshness, and char.

Smoker Setup

For the chuck roast, we fired up the Gateway Drum Smoker with Royal Oak Lump Charcoal and let it settle in around 300°F. We hung the chuck roast directly over the fire using Meat Hooks.

We also fired up a Weber Kettle with lump charcoal for the fire-roasted salsa. For this part of the recipe, you want a good hot fire so you can quickly char the vegetables without completely cooking them down.

You don’t have to have a drum smoker to make this recipe. The important part is getting plenty of color and bark on the chuck roast before moving it into the braise. You can accomplish that with another grill or smoker using the equipment you already have.

The Process

Season the Chuck Roast

Start with a roughly 3½-pound chuck roast and give the outside a light coating of Graza Cooking Oil Spray to act as a binder. Apply Heath Riles BBQ SPG Seasoning & Rub first, followed by Bobby T’s 7 Bones Beef Rub. Be generous with the seasoning. This is a big piece of beef, and once it gets pulled, all that interior meat needs enough seasoning from the bark to carry flavor through every taco.

Hang the Beef Over the Fire

Insert a Meat Hook securely into the chuck roast and hang it in the Gateway Drum Smoker running at about 300°F. Let the beef cook directly over the fire, rotating it after about 20 minutes so it develops even color. We originally planned on 45 minutes to an hour, but ultimately let the roast hang for about 1 hour 15–20 minutes because we wanted a little more color before moving into the braise.

Fire-Roast the Salsa Vegetables

While the chuck roast is cooking, get the Weber Kettle fired up hot with Royal Oak Lump Charcoal. Place the tomatoes, onion, jalapeños, garlic, lemons, and limes directly over the heat and let them develop some good char, turning them with Tongs as needed. After about 10 minutes, the vegetables should be softened and nicely charred.

Blend the Fire-Roasted Salsa

Remove the vegetables from the grill. Take the skins off the tomatoes, trim everything as needed, and remove the jalapeño seeds if you want to control the heat. Add the roasted tomatoes, onions, jalapeños, grilled lemon and lime juice, cilantro, salt, and roasted garlic to the Ninja Blender. Leave some of that char on the vegetables because that’s where a lot of the fire-roasted flavor comes from. Blend everything together, taste, and adjust with additional tomato, onion, cilantro, or salt until it’s right where you want it.

Braise the Chuck Roast

Once the chuck roast has the dark color and bark you’re looking for, remove it from the drum and place it in an Aluminum Pan. Add a little beef broth and cover the pan. At this point, the goal shifts from building bark to getting that chuck roast tender enough to pull. Put the covered pan back onto the Gateway Drum and continue cooking at around 300°F until the beef is tender.

Cook Until Tender and Rest

Check the chuck roast with a Thermapen ONE. Ours was around 210°F when it felt tender. Temperature gives you a good reference point, but tenderness is what matters for pulled beef. Once it’s ready, remove the pan from the smoker and let the roast rest. Ours ended up resting for about 30–40 minutes, and the total cook took right around three hours.

Pull the Beef and Build the Tacos

After the rest, shred the chuck roast, removing any large pieces of fat as you go. Warm the tortillas and keep them soft in a Tortilla Warmer. Start each taco with a generous layer of pulled beef, then add cilantro-lime crema, red cabbage, pickled red onions, fire-roasted salsa, and fresh cilantro. Finish everything with a squeeze of fresh lime juice.

The Results

These Pulled Beef Tacos are packed with flavor from top to bottom. Hanging the chuck roast over the fire gives the outside a great bark while adding that live-fire, grilled beef flavor you just can’t get from braising alone. Once it finishes in the beef broth, the chuck roast is tender enough to pull apart while still holding onto all that flavor we built during the first part of the cook.

The fire-roasted salsa takes these tacos to another level. You get char and heat from the grilled vegetables, freshness from the cilantro, and brightness from the grilled lemon and lime. It’s got a little kick, but you can easily control the heat by removing the seeds from the jalapeños or leaving them in.

Once everything comes together, you’ve got rich pulled beef balanced by the crema and pickled onions, crunch from the cabbage, heat and char from the salsa, and a fresh finish from the cilantro and lime. Bobby and I agreed these were some of the most flavorful tacos we’ve made on the channel.

Perfect Pairings

These tacos can easily feed a crowd on their own, but a few good sides and appetizers can turn them into a full spread.

• Grilled Corn with Citrus Lime Butter – Charred corn finished with citrus lime butter fits right in with the fresh lime and fire-roasted flavors in these tacos.
• Heath’s Homemade Guacamole – Keep it simple with homemade guacamole for dipping or add a spoonful right on top of your tacos.
• Easy Smoked White Queso Dip – A creamy smoked queso makes an easy appetizer for game day or anytime you’re feeding a crowd.
• Loaded Beef and Bean Dip – Serve this loaded dip with tortilla chips for another hearty addition to the spread.
• Mississippi Sunrise – Finish the menu with a cold cocktail that goes great with a plate full of tacos.

Storing Leftovers

One of the best things about this recipe is that the pulled beef can easily be made ahead of time. Store leftover beef in an airtight container in the refrigerator along with some of the juices from the braising pan. Keeping a little liquid with the meat will help prevent it from drying out when you reheat it.

When you’re ready to eat, warm the beef in a skillet over medium-low heat until heated through. You can add a splash of beef broth if it needs a little extra moisture. Once it’s hot, warm up a few tortillas and build the tacos just like you did the first time.

Keep the fire-roasted salsa, crema, cabbage, pickled onions, and other toppings in separate containers so everything stays fresh. I’d also wait to warm the tortillas until you’re ready to serve.

Tips for the Best Pulled Beef Tacos

• Don’t be afraid to season the beef. A 3½-pound chuck roast is a big piece of meat, and all that interior beef is eventually going to get shredded together. A good coating of Heath Riles BBQ SPG Seasoning & Rub and Bobby T’s 7 Bones Beef Rub gives you plenty of flavor to mix throughout the finished beef.
• Cook for color before you braise. We originally thought the chuck roast might be ready to braise after about an hour, but we gave it another 15–20 minutes because we wanted more color. Don’t cook strictly by the clock. When that bark looks right, move on to the braise.
• Cook the chuck roast until it feels tender. Our beef was around 210°F when we checked it with the Thermapen ONE, but tenderness is more important than hitting an exact number. For pulled beef, you want the roast tender enough to shred without fighting it.
• Keep the char on your salsa vegetables. Don’t peel away all the dark, charred spots before adding the vegetables to the Ninja Blender. That char is a big part of what gives the salsa its fire-roasted flavor.
• Adjust the salsa to your taste. Homemade salsa doesn’t have to follow an exact formula. Add more tomato if you want to tame the heat, leave the jalapeño seeds in if you want it hotter, or add extra onion, cilantro, and salt until the flavor is where you want it.
• Use the grill you have. A Gateway Drum Smoker gives the chuck roast an awesome live-fire flavor, but you can still make this recipe without one. The goal is to get good color and bark on the beef before putting it into the pan to braise until tender.

Final Thoughts

These Pulled Beef Tacos with Fire-Roasted Salsa have a little bit of everything. You’ve got rich beef, live-fire flavor, a fresh salsa with plenty of char, creamy cilantro-lime crema, crunchy cabbage, tangy pickled onions, fresh cilantro, and lime all piled into a warm tortilla.

I really like the way we cooked the chuck roast for this recipe. Hanging it over Royal Oak Lump Charcoal on the Gateway Drum Smoker gives it a grilled flavor before the braise makes it tender enough to pull. Layering Heath Riles BBQ SPG Seasoning & Rub with Bobby T’s 7 Bones Beef Rub gives us plenty of seasoning to stand up to all those taco toppings.

This is also a great recipe when you’re cooking for a group. Make the beef ahead of time, prep your toppings, and let everybody build their own tacos. Whether it’s game day, a family dinner, or just an excuse to fire up the grill, this is one I’d definitely make again.

Equipment and Tools

Gateway Drum Smoker, Weber Kettle, Royal Oak Lump Charcoal, Aluminum Pan, Meat Hooks, Thermapen ONE, Ninja Blender, Tongs, Tortilla Warmer