Red Chile Beef & Cheese Tamales

These red chile beef and cheese tamales are SO good you won’t be able to stop at one (or two… or seven, according to Blake 😂).

Seasoned masa with beef tallow, super flavorful and tender braised beef and melty cheese make these my ideal tamale. Perfect to share with friends and family for the holidays! These can be split up into a multiple day process to make it a little easier because tamales can be labor intensive — make your beef on day one, red sauce day one or two, then make your masa and assemble when you’re ready to go!

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Red Chile Beef & Cheese Tamales

Yield: 30-35

Author: Erika Turk

Prep time: 1 H & 30 MCook time: 6 HourTotal time: 7 H & 30 M

Seasoned masa with beef tallow, super flavorful and tender braised beef and melty cheese make these my ideal tamale. Perfect to share with friends and family for the holidays!

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Ingredients

For the beef

• 3-4 lb beef chuck roast
• 1 white or yellow onion, quartered
• 1 garlic head cut in half
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp peppercorns
• 1 tbsp salt
• 4-6 cups of beef stock (enough to cover roast while braising)
• beef tallow or neutral oil for browning
• one package corn husks

For the red sauce

• 10 dried guajillo chiles
• 2 dried ancho chiles
• 5 tomatillos
• 2 roma tomatoes
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp Mexican oregano
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp bouillon
• 1 cup broth reserved from the braised beef

For the masa

• 4 cups masa
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp of chicken bouillon
• 1 cup of beef tallow
• 4 cups beef broth (the broth from the braised beef)
• 1 cup reserved red sauce

To assemble

• 1 package soaked corn husks
• Prepared beef in red sauce
• Prepared masa
• Oaxaca cheese, grated or pulled

Instructions

For the beef

1. In a large pan or dutch oven, heat tallow or neutral oil over medium high heat.
2. Add chuck roast and season liberally with salt.
3. Sear until well browned, then flip and season again. Sear until browned on the second side.
4. Turn heat down to medium low, then add onion, garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns and enough beef stock to cover the roast.
5. Cover and allow to braise for 3-4 hours, or until it easily pulls apart with a fork.
6. Strain and reserve one cup of the braising liquid for the red sauce and an additional 4 cups of beef broth for the masa.
7. Shred beef and set aside.
8. At this time, begin soaking your corn husks in hot water if you're assembling the tamales same day. Otherwise soak husks at least 1 hour before assembly.

For the red sauce

1. Stem and seed your dried chiles.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine husked tomatillos, tomatoes, stemmed and seeded chiles and enough water to cover completely. Bring to a boil.
3. Boil for five minutes.
4. Drain water then add to a blender or food processor with the spices, garlic, bouillon and reserved cup of beef braising liquid.
5. Blend until smooth, then strain to catch any seeds.
6. Reserve one cup of the red sauce for the masa.
7. In a pan over medium heat, combine the shredded beef and red sauce.
8. Taste for seasoning and add salt if necessary.
9. Cook until warmed through and set aside.

For the masa

1. In a kitchenaid mixer, combine masa, baking powder, salt, bouillon, beef tallow, 4 cups beef broth and 1 cup reserved red sauce.
2. Mix gently with a spatula to hydrate most of the masa (otherwise it will go all over your kitchen when you start the mixer!)
3. Mix on medium for 25 minutes, scraping down the bowl occasionally if necessary.

To assemble

1. Spread a thin layer of masa on the corn husks, top with beef mixture and cheese and fold.
2. Steam, covered, for 1.5 hours.
3. Eaten fresh these tamales will be very delicate and you may not be able to unwrap them with the masa in one piece. After being refrigerated overnight, they will come together and should come out easily in one piece!

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