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Birria Grilled Cheese with Consommé

Name: Birria Grilled Cheese with Consommé
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 240 min
Total time: 270 min
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 4 Dried guajillo chilli; 2 Dried ancho chilli; 60 g Butter; 4 cloves Garlic; 1 White onion; 1 cdita Ground cumin; 0.5 bunch Fresh coriander for serving; 2 cditas Salt; 300 g Oaxacan cheese or mozzarella; 800 g Beef for birria (shin or short rib); 8 slices Thick-sliced bread; 0.5 Cinnamon stick; 0.5 Red onion for serving; 2 Tomato

270 min (30 prep + 240 cook) Medium 4 servings Fusión

Edmond Bojalil

Recetas Mexas

Published: 29 Mar 2026 · Updated: 29 Mar 2026

Grilled cheese sandwich filled with birria and served with consommé dipping sauce.

About this recipe

Birria grilled cheese is the viral fusion that conquered Mexican-American social media: a grilled cheese sandwich filled with juicy, shredded beef birria, with Oaxacan cheese or mozzarella that stretches as you pull it apart, served with birria consommé as a dipping sauce. The combination of the crunch of the buttered, griddled bread with the consommé creates an addictive gastronomic experience that fuses the best of Jalisco birria with American comfort food.

History & Origin

Birria is a stew originating in Jalisco in the sixteenth century, initially made with goat to use up an animal brought from Spain that was considered undesirable in those lands (the word 'birria' is a pejorative Spanish term for something worthless or of poor quality, an insult transformed into a dish name). The birria grilled cheese version emerged around 2018–2019 in the food trucks of Los Angeles, especially in East LA, where the Mexican-American community began experimenting with birria in different formats: crispy birria tacos (with cheese), quesabirria, and eventually grilled cheese. The viral phenomenon on TikTok and Instagram in 2020 catapulted quesabirria and birria grilled cheese to worldwide fame, generating queues of hours at several California food trucks.

Estimated cost

£11.00

Total cost

£2.75

Per serving

* Approximate prices based on UK supermarkets

Nutritional information per serving

520

Calories

38g

Protein

35g

Carbohydrates

26g

Fat

Fibre

680mg

Sodium

* Approximate values. May vary depending on ingredients used.

Method

1
Toast and soak the guajillo and ancho chillies (30 sec on griddle, 20 min in hot water). Roast the tomato, onion and garlic. Blend the chillies with the roasted tomato, onion, garlic, cumin, cinnamon and salt until smooth.
2
Season the meat with salt. In a pressure cooker, place the meat with the adobo and water to cover. Cook for 90 minutes under pressure (or 3 hours in a regular pot) until the meat is very tender and falling apart.
💡 Keep all the consommé: it is the key to the dish.
3
Remove the meat and shred with two forks. Keep the consommé hot separately as the dipping sauce.
4
Assemble the sandwiches: place shredded Oaxacan cheese on the base of each bread slice, add generous birria and more cheese. Close.
💡 Cheese in both layers (base and over the meat) helps the sandwich seal as it melts.
5
Spread generous butter on the outside of each sandwich. Heat a frying pan or griddle over medium heat. Briefly dip the outer sides of the sandwich in the consommé before placing on the griddle.
💡 Dipping in consommé is the secret: it creates a brilliant red, crispy crust.
6
Cook for 3–4 minutes per side until golden and the cheese is completely melted. Serve immediately with a bowl of hot consommé for dipping, chopped red onion and coriander.