Instant Pot or Slow Cooker Korean Beef Tacos—tender shredded seasoned beef is rolled up in a warm tortilla with crunchy cabbage, diced avocado, chopped cilantro, sriracha sour cream and a splash of rice vinegar. When you bite into this taco it’s like a party in your mouth. All the flavors and textures come together in a perfect union.
Instant Pot or Slow Cooker Korean Beef Tacos
This is one of those recipes that everyone in my house went gaga over. It is the perfect combination of flavors and textures and I think you need to add it to your menu this week stat!
Let’s start with the meat: the beef is cooked in your electric pressure cooker or your slow cooker until fall apart tender. I used a cross rib roast, but you can also use a chuck roast. The sauce that it is cooked in has a base of tamari, sesame oil, minced garlic, ginger and rice vinegar. When I opened my pressure cooker I let out a little yelp because I was so excited on how tender the beef came out. It was so easy to shred. Once shredded keep it in with the juices that it was cooked in for maximum flavor. Toss a little extra rice vinegar in with the meat for a burst of flavor. Then use a slotted spoon or tongs to dish the meat up into your tortilla.
The tortillas: usually when I read a recipe for Korean tacos they are rolled up in a corn tortilla. I am not really a fan of corn tortillas but I do like the size of them. I bought uncooked fajita-size flour tortillas in the refrigerated section of my grocery store. To cook just place them on a hot pan for about 30 seconds on each side. They are a hundred times better than already cooked tortillas. I promise.
The slaw: I don’t really like the word “slaw.” I guess it reminds me of the cole slaw that was served in our elementary school cafeteria made with green cabbage and mayo(?). Not appetizing. This slaw, however, is the bomb. Purple cabbage is chopped with carrots and green onions and then tossed with a dressing of lime juice, sesame oil and sesame seeds. Very simple to make but adds so much to the taco.
Instant Pot or Slow Cooker Korean Beef Tacos
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes (plus time to release pressure)
- Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Yield: 6 tacos 1x
Description
Tender shredded seasoned beef is rolled up in a warm tortilla with crunchy cabbage, diced avocado, chopped cilantro, sriracha sour cream and a splash of rice vinegar. When you bite into this taco it’s like a party in your mouth. All the flavors and textures come together in a perfect union.
Ingredients
For the beef:
- 1 1/2 pounds cross rib roast or chuck roast
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup tamari or low sodium soy sauce
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger root
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 1/2 tsp sesame oil
For the cabbage slaw:
- 1 small head of purple cabbage, shredded
- 1 carrot, grated
- 2 green onions, diced
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp canola or vegetable oil
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 1/2 tsp sesame seeds
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
Other ingredients:
- 6 (fajita size) uncooked flour or corn tortillas
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1 Tbsp sriracha
- Cilantro
- Diced avocado
- Rice vinegar, for serving
Instructions
- Cut the beef in half. Place in the pressure cooker or slow cooker.
- In a small bowl whisk together the brown sugar, tamari, garlic, beef broth, ginger, rice vinegar and sesame oil. Pour the mixture over the beef.
- If using a slow cooker, cover and cook on low for 8-12 hours, until tender. If using an electric pressure cooker. Cover and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Press the manual button or pressure cook button (high pressure) and adjust the timer to 60 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally for at least 15 minutes. If you can do a full natural pressure release that is best. Mine took almost 25 minutes to completely release on its own.
- Remove the lid and shred the beef. Return beef to juices.
- In a bowl, toss all the ingredients together for the cabbage slaw.
- Prepare sriracha sour cream by stirring together the 1/3 cup sour cream with the tablespoon of sriracha.
- Prepare the uncooked tortillas as described on its packaging. Mine literally took one minute to cook. Scoop some of the meat onto the tortilla. Top with some cabbage slaw, sriracha sour cream, cilantro and diced avocado. Splash a bit of rice vinegar over the top. Fold up the taco and enjoy!
- Category: Beef
- Method: Slow Cooker/Pressure Cooker
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I made this for my son, who cooks and manages restaurants, and he said this this was definitely restaurant quality food.I didn’t have purple cabbage, but I had a green one and followed your guidance for all else. I had an almost 2lb. chuck roast so I cut into 3 pieces. Natural release made this beef SO easy to shred with 2 forks. Flavors were spot on and I got props as always when I listen to you, Karen. Thanks for allowing me to show off for my family,
This was so fun to read Nick! I love that he said it was restaurant quality 🙂
Holy cow, this was SOOOO delicious and easy! I doubled the meat (chuck roast chopped into pieces, pressure on hi for 75 min) and cooking mixture to use with your Korean burritos in a few days, and I’m so glad I did. I will happily eat this multiple days in a row. I only used half the sugar with the meat and slaw only because the husband prefers Korean dishes less sweet, otherwise I followed the recipe and served with homemade GF tortillas. After dinner, the husband asked me to make him up a Banh Mi sandwich for later with the meat, slaw, cucumber, cilantro, jalapeno, and the sauce. I have to admit, it looks yummy too. I might try it on a baked sweet potato and in a burrito bowl with more veggies, too. I would totally make messy beef sandwiches out of this stuff, it is that good.
Anyone questioning the sugar – it isn’t ON the meat, just IN the sauce, exactly like it is in teriyaki or BBQ sauce. Any coleslaw typically has sugar, too. Yes, you can always leave it out, but if you wouldn’t leave it out of one of those, then don’t leave it out of this. It enhances the flavor! If it wasn’t for the husband I would have left it as written.
Thanks for the helpful review and 5 stars Kati! So glad you loved this one! It is so good!
If I increase the amount of meat, do I need to increase the other ingredients as well? And do I adjust cooking time? 8 – 12 hrs on low is a big window – do you check at 8 hours and see if it’s ready to shred? Thanks!
I would increase the other ingredients as well so that the meat is seasoned correctly. You can leave the broth amount the same. I would check at 8 hours ish and see how it’s going.
This is perfect every time. In addition to using the meat for tacos or tostadas, this goes great on a baked potato.
Just enjoyed this recipe for tonight’s dinner. Thank you so much. It was delicious. Loved the beef and the slaw’s dressing. It was easy to prepare and will use the leftover beef to make Korean rice bowls. for dinner tomorrow.
Thanks so glad you tried it and loved it!
Love this recipe.
Will say I used this slaw with a bag of already shredded coleslaw mix. (I’ve used this recipe for other Asian inspired tacos)
Great idea! Thanks for the 5 stars!
I got a sirloin roast, about 2 lbs, because that’s all my local store had when I went shopping, will this work and do you have any idea what the cooking time should be if I use this?
(I’ve made this recipe before and it’s AMAZING, this is the first time my local store didn’t have the right cut of meat so I don’t know what to do)
I haven’t tried sirloin roast but I’m thinking it will need about half the time 30 minutes should be good with a natural pressure release…this is just from a couple minutes looking at google so I can’t say for sure but if you do try it let me know how it goes.
Have you ever substituted pork should for the beef? Thoughts?
I haven’t but you totally could! It would taste great!
So good! I used the crock pot recipe because my local store was having a sale on chuck shoulder and I didn’t know if it would be tender using the pressure cooker method. The slaw in particular is amazing, so good I would eat it by itself! I left the green onions out, due to allergies, but it was still fantastic! Thanks for the recipe. I will try the pressure cooker version next time.
WOO HOO! So glad you liked it!
I made these tonight and loved them! Very easy and a nice Asian – Birria type taco!
So simple to make!
I would also love a good IP recipe for regular Birria tacos!
I’ll have to see what I can do!!
Could I use lean ground beef or venison instead of the roast?
Plan to make it tonight – looks amazing.
Yes I think you could although you wouldn’t need to hardly cook it so long. Maybe only pressure cook for 5 minutes for ground meat.
These were fantastic. I used the shoulder roast because I didn’t want too beefy of a flavor that I was worried the chuck roast might bring. I used soy sauce instead of tamari and coconut brown sugar instead of regular brown because that is what I had. I also used garlic chili sauce instead of Sriracha because that is what I had. Everything was sooo good and the flavors seemed to balance each other very well. It was super easy. I think the hardest/time consuming part was shredding and rinsing the cabbage (which wasn’t very hard at all). I also used an instant pot and waited the 25-30 mins for it to release naturally. My husband said that this needs to be added to our recipe rotation. Yummy!
It really is a great dinner! I’m glad you all liked it too!
This was so good! Made it on a Tuesday for dinner. My 3 year old loved the slaw! It was so crunchy and sweet. All the flavors and textures worked so well together. I doubled the recipe for leftovers and cannot wait to eat more! Loved that I could make it in my Instant Pot too. Will make this again.
Thank you so much Jessica!!
Made this last night for our dinner and it was fantastic! So easy to do, ingredients are always on hand, and the combination of flavors in the meat, the “slaw”, and the sriracha sour cream were amazing. I did use some nice crispy romaine rather than cabbage since my husband doesn’t care for raw cabbage and I think that actually complimented the tacos even better. The dressing would be really good on a regular salad too! A great recipe!
I love the idea of romaine! Will try it next time! Thanks Norma.
I made this recipe this fall for my family and everyone took seconds, there were no leftovers for lunch the next day 🙂 I am serving this next week to my parents and my dad always loves a side dish with his main entree. I am a happy camper with these tacos on their own but I want to make sure my guests (especially my dad) walk away completely satisfied. Any suggestions on what to pair with these mouth-watering tacos?
stir fried zucchini, quinoa salad, pineapple or fruit salad,
This recipe is Absolutely amazing! Honestly each item, the slaw and shredded beef both stand alone. I could just eat them separately without anything else. But the combination of everything together and the nice little kick of Sriracha sour cream ties together PERFECTLY! Highly recommended to anyone, it is actually a fairly simple recipe. Just have to use your culinary skills to garnish like the picture 🙂 Thank You!
So happy you enjoyed it. I do love all the flavors together! So yummy!
These were, hands down, amazing! My family of four loved them, demolished them and want me to up the recipe next time! I used my slow cooker for the meat. My daughter has Celiac Disease so I used white corn tortillas, slightly warmed on the stovetop and they were perfect! The Sirracha added a nice kick and the “slaw” was so delicious. Can’t wait to make it again.
So glad you liked it Gayle!!! I love this one too!
Yum. Did it with Chuck roast for about 10 hrs. Delicious!
Glad you liked it!
If i use 3 lbs of meat should i change the cooking time?
Same cooking time!
I’ve traveled the world, total foodie here. My boyfriend and I hands down think these tacos are the best thing we’ve ever had.
WOW!!! What a compliment. Thank you. I’m so glad you and your boyfriend enjoyed these tacos ❤️️❤️️❤️️
SO SO SO DELISH, thank you for an easy, yummo sup which will be a regular in this house❣️❣️❣️
YESSS
My kids said this is one of the best things I’ve ever made! Will be a regular thing at our house…. thanks!
You’re welcome! Glad you all liked it 😊
fresh, simple, oh sooo good!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
Help!! My shredder shredded my cabbage so finely it doesn’t look anything like your picture. I now have over 6 cups of cabbage alone. Can you please give me an idea of about how many cups of cabbage I should have ?
I would say 6-7 would be perfect!
Wow! One of the best beef flavors I’ve ever had or made. No need to make tacos, you’ll just inhale the meat! Lol. I did mine with “street taco” corn shells (browned up just a bit in the frying pan), broccoli slaw marinated in 2:1 ratio Rice wine vinegar:Soy sauce, a bag of mixed Mexican cheese (Chihuahua, Oaxaca & Cotija), fresh avocado and a side of jasmine rice (which we drowned in the cooking “sauce.”) They were AMAZING just like that, but my friend added a sploosh of spicy Thai peanut sauce and said it was a game changer. Anyway, one of the best recipes I stumbled upon in a long time. I had a chuck roast on hand, but didn’t want a typical pot roast. 2lb roast, 8 hours on low in crock pot, you could shred it with a toothpick!
Yay!!! I love hearing this Dana 🙂
I’m confused. The recipe says to cook for 60 min but later on in the comments you said it needed 80 min. So, please, which is it? Am very anxious to try based on all the great comments!!!
60 minutes 🙂
You need time for the pressure to release, maybe that was the extra time
I don’t usually post a review but these were “so frickin’ good” according to my 11 year old son (who actually wasn’t thrilled about eating tacos again. I’ve never had these but had a roast and wanted to do something different than making it into a pot roast or stew and Google provided me some options. I read yours first, had all ingredients (minus ginger which we don’t care for anyway) on hand and decided to make it. I’m so glad I did. It was absolutely delicious! I did change the slaw just a bit as we like a mayo based slaw so, I used your recipe and added mayo. Again amazing! I’m looking forward to making this again soon. Thank you for the great recipe.
Haha Sarah that is a great review from an 11 year old boy! I love it 🙂
I was thinking the same thing and came into this. I’m using my old slow cooker for it, as I use to do for Mexican shredded tacos.
Daughter picked this one out. I doubled the roast size and the cooking liquid, quartered the roast and cooked for 90 minutes. The cabbage and the beef were so irresistible that I totally forgot to chop up the avocado until the second round. Thanks for a real treat!
Yum sounds like a great dinner!
I tried this recipe because of the great reviews and it did not disappoint. My family absolutely loved these tacos. Not one complaint! And they were so easy to make. It was almost too good to be true. The only thing I did differently was reduce the sugar to 2 tbsp. and I omitted it completely from the slaw. For the sauce I mixed sour cream with Mayo, sriracha and lime. They were sooo good and even better the next day. Thanks!
So glad to hear it Sarah!!
Seriously good.
Followed everything to the letter aside from using a bagged shredded slaw mix. All the flavors compliment each other.
Will be making again.
Thanks Mandy! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
we try not to wat a lot of beef, can we sub chicken breast?
Yes but you would need to change the cooking time for chicken. Check this time chart depending on your cut: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/instant-pot-cooking-times/
I have an 8 qt instant pot. It says to always use 1.5 cups of liquid when cooking. should I increase the amount of broth? Just worried about getting the burn notice.
Yes you should probably do that or you could use pot in pot method!
I have smaller pieces of beef (cut up for a stew, approx 2×2 inches). About 1.5 lb. How long do you think I should cook the smaller pieces in an instant pot? Thanks – looking forward to trying this one!
I would cook them for 20 minutes with a natural pressure release.
I tried this at a friends last week and would love to make at home. Would it work on the high setting in a slow cooker?
Yes about 4 hours on high!
I could only find a bottom round roast. Will it shred the same or do I need to cook it longer?
LOVE your recipes! They’ve made it so much easier to learn how to use my instant pot! We’ve loved every one of them so far!
I would cook for 90 minutes!
THANK YOU!
Made this and it was so good. I’d like to make it again for a dinner party but would like to serve it with a side dish or appetizer of some sort. Any ideas?
You could do some fresh fruit or a corn side dish
This was sublime. I used stew (chuck) meat, 2 packages and browned it in olive oil then took out some of the fat ( not the brown bits!) and mixed the liquids etc right In the skillet. Only used less than two tablespoons brown sugar. It didn’t take 8 hrs on low prob due to the smallish meat chunks. It is so good but I’d recommend doubling the recipe (except for the sugar). Yummy and so easy!! I was surprised because I rarely like anything from the crock pot. 👍💖
So glad you enjoyed it!
I swear there was a different Korean beef taco recipe on this site before Jan 2018.
maybe this recipe? https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/slow-cooker-korean-bbq-pork/
This recipe is so delicious! I used burrito size flour tortillas and omitted the sesame seeds and cilantro, also subbed coconut sugar for the brown sugar. They turned out amazing! My 5 year old son gobbled his up! 😀
So glad you liked it!
Looking forward to trying with my Bunco group of 12!!!!
I think they’ll really like it!
This recipe was only the second thing I made in our new Instant Pot and it was delicious. My wife no longer thinks the Instant Pot was just another extravagant purchase by her gadget-loving husband, so that’s a big win.
I found that adding all the juices back into the meat made it a little too moist, next time I’ll be a bit more cautious to get the right consistency. I presume this is dependent on the particular chuck roast.
Good job Michael! The IP is definitely not an extravagant purchase…it’s totally necessary 🙂
My family decided this was the perfect Valentines Day dinner while watching the Olympics! Soooo good, and my daughter is glad there is lots of left over slaw for her to eat tomorrow – she said that was the best part! And I did halve the sugar.
So happy that you loved this recipe. We loved it so much! the slaw is the best!
this was one of the best things i have ever made! per advice of a friend, i used flank steak, which was nice and lean. i was afraid of the ‘8-12 hours on low’ (because dinner might not have been ready until 9 pm) so after an hour, i put the crock pot on high for 4 hours, then back on low 4 hours. i also cut the brown sugar in half, for both the meat and the slaw, which were both still so delicious that i could have left the sugar out completely. i believe truvia makes a brown sugar substitute now too. low net carb wraps and i can keto- on! thank you so much for this recipe!
YES! So glad you liked it 🙂
This looks amazing. But like a previous comment, is there something we could substitute for the brown sugar?..
Looking forward to hopefully making this.
The company just served this for lunch to all of us. Yummy, to die for! Had to look up the recipe so I can try it at home.
I can’t wait to try this recipe. I love tacos all kinds. Spicy is the best. Thanks for the post. All the ingredients look agreeable to me.
I think you’ll really like it Susie!
Quick and easy with wonderful flavors. I could eat these tacos for days. I also made the slaw to go with it and it was delicious too. I love the garlic rice vinegar so much I added it to the slaw. Great dinner and thanks for the recipe.
Nice Elaine! I’m so glad you liked them. I want to make them again this week.
Just made this for dinner and everyone gave it 2 thumbs up!!! So flavorful and delicious. I can see making a large amount for a great party food also. After we scarfed them down I remembered I’d forgotten the avocado! I’m sure it would’ve made them even more amazing!
Yes! Totally a good idea on the party food. Did you make the slaw too? That was my favorite part 🙂
This looks delicious! I just wanted to double check the pressure cooking timing. It’s 80 minutes? I’m new to the instant pot world but have only been cooking things in there for less than 30 minutes so I wanted to make sure it’s not a typo. Thanks!
Yes, for this particular cut of meat the 80 minutes makes it so delicious and tender. I also did the full natural pressure release which took an additional 20 minutes! I hope you like it 🙂
You had me until sugar. 2 tsp of sugar per serving! I wonder if people would find food so appetizing if they pictured filling up a beautiful, healthy, colorful taco, then sprinkled 2 tsp of sugar on top of each one. It sure looks pretty, though! I really wanted to try it!
You can leave the sugar out.
If you don’t like an ingredient or allergic to something, either leave the ingredient out or ask for suggestions for a substitute or read reviews of how others have tried. And no it’s not the same as sprinkling sugar on top of the taco, I’m just not sure how that comment even adds to the discussion. Thank you, Karen, for sharing your recipe.