Here's What's In El Pollo Loco's New Shredded Beef Birria
Correction 3/21/22: An earlier version of this story stated that the birria items would be available at El Pollo Loco starting June 1; they will be available until June 1.
Fans of authentic Mexican cuisine have no doubt long been familiar with birria, a slow-cooked beef stew made delicious with the help of chile peppers and various spices. This soupy concoction is hitting the restaurants of the world in a slightly different way these days, however. In fact, you're most likely to notice it on menus as a taco filling.
The restaurant chain El Pollo Loco is happily jumping right on the bandwagon with the addition of several new Mexican Shredded Beef Birria entrees, all of which are a twist on the original, says Chew Boom. Although fairly new to the public consciousness, birria has a long and storied history in Mexican cuisine. According to La Autentica, it's believed that centuries ago Spaniards gave goat meat to native Mexicans to eat, believing that it is tougher meat. However, the Mexican natives learned to properly cook the meat to tender perfection. Although the stew is traditionally made with goat or lamb meat, it's more commonly cooked today with beef.
Is your mouth watering yet? El Pollo Loco is cooking up something to satisfy your birria cravings.
Birria menu items are now available at El Pollo Loco
El Pollo Loco's new menu items are a twist on the birria items that have started to pop up all over the place. All three are served with traditional birria consomé to serve as a dipping sauce, of sorts. This sauce is flavored with lime, chili, and garlic, per Chew Boom.
Taco enthusiasts can choose to chow down on Shredded Beef Birria Crunchy Tacos, which are stuffed with shredded beef birria, not to mention chopped onion, cheese, and cilantro. Then, there's the Shredded Beef Birria Burrito, which is fully filled with shredded birria, cheese, rice, cabbage, beans, chopped onions, sour cream, and cilantro. Lastly, El Pollo Loco's Shredded Beef Birria Stuffed Quesadilla is just that: a tortilla packed with shredded birria, fresh avocado, melted cheese, cilantro, and chopped onions.
El Pollo Loco's birria items will be on menus until June 1.