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Menu ·serves 6 ·Cinco de Mayo · 2026

Shredded beef tacos

I wanted to go all out for Cinco de Mayo this year because it happened to land on Taco Tuesday! I opted to make several things from scratch instead of store bought: the salsa, avocado crema, and shredded beef - finished it off with a lovely spicy watermelon mocktail! Everything went very well together and the BF has already requested I make this again.

The menu

What's on the plate

  1. 01 Shredded beef recipe
  2. 02 Avocado crema recipe
  3. 03 Orange salsa recipe
  4. 04 Spicy watermelon mocktail recipe
  5. 05 Sautéed sweet onion + poblanos recipe
  6. 06 Flour tortillas, cotija cheese, cilantro + extra
Bring home

Grocery list

Meat

  • 3 lb beef rump roast

Produce

  • 2 large sweet onions (1 for beef, 1 for sauté)
  • 2 shallots — 1 small for salsa, 1 for any backup uses (skip if comfortable)
  • 1 head garlic (5 cloves beef + 3 salsa)
  • 4 jalapeños (2 for salsa)
  • 2 poblanos
  • 2 navel oranges (1 beef, 1 salsa)
  • 5-6 limes (2-3 sliced for beef braise, 1 salsa, 1 crema, 2 mocktail garnish)
  • Small watermelon — about 3 cups cubed (mocktail)
  • 1 avocado
  • 1 large bunch cilantro (a few stems for salsa, the rest for taco topping)

Dairy

  • Small carton sour cream (1/4 cup for crema)
  • Small wedge cotija cheese (for topping)
  • 1 stick butter (sauté)

Pantry

  • Small tube or can tomato paste (2 tbsp for beef)
  • Small can chipotle peppers in adobo (1 pepper needed; rest freezes)
  • Paprika, dried oregano, ground allspice, ground coriander
  • Tequila (3 tbsp for deglazing — or sub stock if skipping)
  • Carton beef or chicken stock (4 cups)
  • 2 (12 oz) cans fire-roasted tomatoes
  • Honey (small jar)
  • Pickled jalapeños (small jar)
  • Tajín (for mocktail rims)
  • 3 (12 oz) bottles sparkling mineral water
  • Olive oil, salt & pepper (on hand)

Bakery

  • Flour tortillas (1-2 packs)