Everyone loves Chipotle, meaning the eatery and the smoked jalapeño peppers. After my last trip to the eatery I found myself thinking, “why don’t I just whip up 10x more of this meat for the same price at home?” So then I went and did just that. This is an easy recipe to make, and I provide my own chipotle adobo sauce recipe to use with it, or you could just buy that not-perfectly-clean can of chipotles in adobo if you’re willing to go that route and nobody else is looking. If you follow me on FaceBook, you already know I’m a big fan of slow cooker meat dishes. I love to serve them with eggs for breakfast, top salads with them for simple meals, and having them in the fridge eases my food anxieties. You know, when you think to yourself “do I have anything in the fridge to eat?” You then get to take a deep breath when you realize that you still have a big container of pulled beef in your fridge. You can then go back to worrying about more important things, such as how many cans of coconut milk you have left.

What you need:

• 1 (2.5 to 4 pound) beef brisket
• 1/2  to 1 cup of my Chipotle Adobo Sauce or 3 chipotles from a can plus 3 tbsp of sauce*
• 2 cups of beef stock
• 1 small white onion, diced
• 3 large cloves of garlic
• 2 tsp of oregano
• 1/2 tsp of ground cloves
• 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
• 2 bay leaves

How you make it:

1. Make a liquid puree with all of your ingredients except the beef (of course) or the bay leaves. User a blender or food processor, I use an immersion blender in a large mason jar.
2. Pour about a quarter of your liquid puree into the bottom of your slow cooker.
3. Trim any excessive fat from your brisket and place it in your slow cooker fat cap side down. You don’t need a lot of fat on your brisket at all.
4. Pour the rest of your liquid puree over your brisket ensuring that you coat the top and sides.
5. Cook on low for 8 hours.
6. Remove your brisket to a large bowl or container to pull/shred with 2 forks. The brisket should pull easily and you can leave it in chunks or fully shred.
7. Add some of the cooking liquid from the crock pot to your pulled brisket. You want to add some moisture and flavor goodness back to the meat, and the amount is personal preference.
8. Enjoy eating in lettuce wrap tacos, with your eggs, over salads, or just by pulling strips off and feeding your face!