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Glite Dictionary
🥩 A Mexican dish 🔥 Slow-roasting meat 🪵 Cooking framework
barbacoa

barbacoa

1 6.7
Meat slow-cooked until tender and served shredded with tortillas
  • noun
  • /ˌbɑːrbəˈkoʊə/
translation icon : barbacoa
  • Every Saturday, my family enjoys homemade barbacoa cooked slowly in the backyard pit.

Examples

  • Juicy, spicy, shredded beef barbacoa is great here, and the beef head and beef tongue are meltingly soft with strong, straightforward flavor.

    Blog text (5)

  • I was in the mood for some tacos, so I went with two chicken and one barbacoa, for some variety, of course!

    Blog text (31)

  • The barbacoa de res was my favorite, made with tender chunks of beef cheeks.

    Blog text (12)

  • Chicken and barbacoa tacos with lettuce, onion, cilantro, and tomato.

    Blog text (31)

  • The barbacoa was incredibly tender and full of flavor, making the tacos unforgettable.

  • At the restaurant, I ordered a plate of barbacoa served with fresh tortillas and salsa.

Synonyms

carnitas
vsbarbacoa
1 4.9

A Mexican pork dish slowly cooked then shredded and served in tacos or burritos

refers to slow-cooked meat over an open fire or pit, not only pork

How Slow-Cooked

barbacoa
1 6.7
roasting
21 1.4
barbecuing
3 2.0
grilling
21 1.9

Surface Forms

barbacoa singular
barbacoas plural

Etymology

Barbacoa comes from a Taíno word barbakoa meaning 'a wooden frame' used to smoke or cook meat, and Spanish later used the word for meat cooked in a pit; it is related to the English word barbecue. So today barbacoa commonly means the traditional Mexican dish of shredded, slow-cooked meat.