Is Birria Healthy? A nutrition breakdown of birria.
Written by Isabel Vasquez RD, LDN
Birria is a beef or goat stew from Jalisco, Mexico bursting with flavor. It’s often used to make tacos, but it can also be enjoyed as a stew with corn tortillas for dipping.
Especially if birria is one of your favorite cultural foods, you may wonder if this decadent dish is good for your health.
Good news: you can absolutely include birria in an overall healthy diet. It’s full of high-quality protein and iron!
However, it can be high in saturated fat and sodium, too, so if you’re concerned about heart health you may want to make some tweaks to make it a heart healthier dish.
Keep reading to learn more about the nutritional value, health benefits, and potential health drawbacks of birria. Plus, we share tips to enhance birria for more health benefits!
Birria Nutritional Value
For the sake of this article, we’re sharing the nutritional value of 1 cup of Trader Joe’s premade beef birria.
Keep in mind that the exact nutritional value of birria varies based on how it’s made.
These nutrition facts don’t include tortillas or cheese you may eat with birria; they only include the stew.
Protein: 32 grams (g)
Fat: 15 g
Saturated fat: 5 g, or 25% of the daily value (DV)
Carbohydrates: 3 g
Fiber: 0 g
Sodium: 1090 milligrams (mg), or 47% of the DV
Iron: 4.5 mg, or 25% of the DV
Potassium: 650 mg, or 15% of the DV
Since the main ingredient in birria is beef (or goat), it’ll give you plenty of high-quality protein. As you can see, just 1 cup of this beef birria has 32 grams of protein!
Besides protein, the beef also makes birria high in fat, iron, and potassium.
Note that goat meat is lower in fat than beef, so goat birria doesn’t have as much total fat or saturated fat as this beef birria example.
Health Benefits of Birria
Full of Protein for Muscle Health and Satiety
In just 1 cup of birria, you’ll get about 32 grams of protein—plenty of protein for a meal for most people.
Protein is essential for muscle health, per the USDA, especially if you’re very active, getting older, or taking a GLP-1—all of which can lower muscle mass or increase your protein needs.
Protein also helps you feel fuller longer than other macronutrients, per a 2017 study in Food Hydrocolloids. It gives you longer-lasting energy than carbs alone since it’s digested slower. This also makes it a valuable part of a diabetes-friendly meal that won’t spike blood sugars.
Helps Prevent or Manage Iron Deficiency Anemia
Birria is rich in iron thanks to the beef or goat meat. Iron is a mineral that helps make hemoglobin and myoglobin—proteins that provide oxygen to all different parts of your body, per the NIH.
Being deficient in iron can lead to unpleasant symptoms like fatigue and shortness of breath. As of 2023, about 13% of females and 5.5% of males in the US have iron-deficiency anemia, per the CDC. It’s one of the most common nutrient deficiencies in the country.
Eating birria can help you meet your iron needs to prevent or manage iron deficiency anemia.
Natural Source of Collagen
You don’t necessarily need a supplement to increase your collagen intake. Consommé—the broth birria meat is cooked in—can be a natural source of collagen.
Through the slow cooking process, collagen seeps out of the goat or beef’s bones and connective tissue into the broth.
Pro tip: if the consommé becomes gelatinous as it cools, it has collagen.
Studies show that collagen supplementation can improve skin elasticity and hydration, along with joint health. You likely won’t get quite as much collagen from food compared to supplements, but foods like consommé can help you consume more collagen overall.
Potential Health Drawbacks of Birria
Birria may be high in sodium—a nutrient that can raise blood pressure if you eat too much of it, per the CDC. Packaged birria is generally higher in sodium than homemade birria, since salt is often used as a flavor enhancer and preservative in packaged foods.
When making birria yourself, you can rely more on ingredients like chiles, tomatoes, onions, vinegar, garlic, cumin, and oregano for flavor to reduce the sodium content.
Furthermore, note that birria made with beef is high in saturated fat—a nutrient that can raise cholesterol when consumed in excess, per the American Heart Association.
Eating birria with cheese (like in a quesabirria) adds more sodium and saturated fat, so keep that in mind if you’re trying to manage high blood pressure or high cholesterol.
Incorporating Birria to Promote Your Health
Here are some tips for enhancing birria to promote your health, especially your heart health:
Opt for goat. If you’re trying to manage cholesterol, consider opting for goat over beef. 100 grams of goat meat has less than 1 gram of saturated fat, per the USDA. The same serving of beef has over 6 grams of saturated fat, per the USDA. So you’ll get way less saturated fat from goat than from beef.
Pair it with corn tortillas. Corn tortillas are a whole grain, so they add more protein, fiber, and minerals to your meal. They also provide energy-boosting carbs—the macronutrient missing from birria stew.
Add veggies. Birria does have some veggies like onions, garlic, and chiles, but you may want to add more veggies to make it a well-rounded meal. Some veggies that go well with birria are onions, salsa, tomatoes, avocado, and cilantro!
Final Thoughts
Birria has some (potentially) unexpected and underrated nutrients! It’s full of protein, iron, and potassium, and the consommé it’s served with is a natural source of collagen. These nutrients promote muscle, joint, and skin health.
If you want to limit your saturated fat intake—say, if you have high cholesterol—consider using goat instead of beef. It’s lower in saturated fat but it’s still full of protein.
To make a well-rounded meat, pair birria with corn tortillas, avocado, and veggies! This will add fiber, whole grains, and healthy fats to keep you satisfied longer and promote overall health.
For education on how to ADD nutrition to your favorite Latine cultural dishes, make peace with food, and focus on your health without dieting, join our nutrition library for just $27/month.
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