Pulled Duck Tostada

If you don’t feel like making a fancy dish with a duck leg, try this pulled duck tostada. Slow cooked duck legs shred easily in this recipe and make a flavorful and unique dish. Similar to pulled pork, pulled duck relies on very little skill or effort, yet the result is a delicious and fun meal.

Like many tostada recipes, feel free to get creative and customize it to your preferences. Think of this pulled duck recipe more of a basic guide just to help you with the protein, and you can zhuzh it up however you see fit. I do recommend using duck legs for this recipe as they have a lot of meat but are not nearly as elegant (or rich) as a breast. They’re also much cheaper in my experience which is good for a simple meal like this.

Related: 12 Delicious Duck Breast Recipes

I find that these pulled or shredded duck tostadas are a great recipe to make with kids as it is quite a fun little event. Shredding meat is always a fun thing to do (let it cool a bit if you shred by hand) and getting to customize your final tostada is something kids and adults love to do. See down below for other substitution options. The best part is you don’t have to use a duck breast which is a lot more expensive and meant for fancier dishes like duck au poivre or duck tartare.

What Is A Tostada?

A tostada is basically a fried tortilla which is topped with various things. The toppings are similar to what you would get in a taco although there are some things that neither recipe shares. You can read more about the differences here.

For most tostada recipes I recommend using corn tortillas. The flour variety, while great for Baja California style tacos, tends to puff up and create an uneven and flaky surface.

How To Make An Easy Pulled Duck

The most time consuming part of this recipe is the actual duck. However that does not at all mean it is difficult. This is a set it and forget it type of recipe, at least for the first few hours. The best part is, because we are shredding the duck legs, you don’t need to buy the prettiest or highest quality ones you can find.

Ingredients

• 4 Duck Legs – I used duck legs with the skin on, but you can use them without skin if that is all you can find. The fat under the skin provides a lot of flavor to the braising liquid, and the skin basically dissolves as it is cooked so long.
• 1-2 liters Stock – You can use any stock you like for this recipe. I used one liter of beef stock and one liter of chicken stock plus a tablespoon of Vegeta seasoning. There are so many different stocks, whether store-bought or homemade you can use here so just use what is convenient. If your stock does not have salt then you will have to add about two teaspoons to the liquid for braising.
• 1 Yellow Onion – halved
• 1 tsp Mexican Oregano – You can buy it here or if you must you can substitute with marjoram. I do not personally feel Mexican oregano and real oregano are interchangeable but using anything is better than leaving it out of this recipe.
• 1 tsp Coriander – AKA dried cilantro.
• 3 Bay Leaves
• 1 Chili Pepper – You can use whatever chili you like, or leave it out completely. If you are a spice fan feel free to use something really hot. Although I do recommend serving these tostadas with hot sauce at the end regardless.
• 1 tsp Black Peppercorns
• 200 ml Ancho Chili Paste

Instructions

Place all your ingredients in a large bowl. You will only remove the meat when it is time to shred so don’t worry about making everything look pretty and trimmed. Add the liquid, bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook for two to three hours.

Use tongs to pull the duck legs out of the pot. You might notice that the meat falls off the bone immediately, even as you pull it out, so take care to notice that. I recommend trying to avoid pulling out the other things in the pot like the bay leaves and peppercorns, as they should not belong in the pulled duck. You can shred the duck further with your hands or some forks, but due to the long cooking time the meat will continue to fall apart as you cook it in the chili paste.

Set a pan on medium heat and add a little fat. I used duck fat but you can use butter or oil if it is what you have. Then add in about 200 ml of the ancho chili paste and stir. Let the paste bubble and fry. If you cannot find ancho chili paste at your local Mexican grocery store (or any other grocery store) you will have to buy it online.

Add your pulled duck to the paste and give everything a good mix.

You want to fry the shredded duck similar to carnitas. Let them absorb all that sauce and get that rich and flavorful chili flavor. There you have it. The easiest way to make pulled duck for tostadas, tacos, enchiladas, and more.

Making The Beans

Most tostadas have a layer of refried beans as the layer that helps ‘glue’ the fried tortilla to the meat. This is my super simple three ingredient refried beans recipe that you can use for these shredded duck tostadas (or any other tostada recipe you feel like making).

Set a pan on medium high heat and add a heaping two tablespoons of duck fat. You can use other fat like tallow or lard if you prefer, but since we are doing pulled duck legs duck fat makes a lot of sense.

When the fat is hot and melted add your beans (300 grams) and seasoning (1 tsp). In this case I am just using some powdered cumin for that typical Mexican flavor profile. Red beans are not as common as black or pinto beans for a tostada, but they happened to be what I had on hand and they worked just fine. Now, I didn’t add any salt to these since my duck fat is quite salty from the rendering process, but if you are using a non-salty fat then go ahead and add a half teaspoon of salt to these.

Use the back of a spatula or a potato masher to smash the beans into a refried beans consistency.

Frying Tortillas

To fry the tostada tortillas set a pan on high heat and add enough oil to coat the bottom, and then some. When the oil reaches about 175c gently place a corn tortilla in the center. Let it fry for about 10 seconds, flip, and give it another 10 seconds.

After frying the tortillas place them on a plate to drip off that extra oil.

Layering The Pulled Duck Tostada

Compiling a tostada is the most fun part of this recipe. And getting to customize it to suit any preference is great if you have picky family members or kids.

Take a fried tortilla and schmear on a layer of the refried beans. Then use some tongs to place the ancho pulled duck leg meat right on top of there. The rest of the toppings are entirely up to you. I added some pico de gallo, avocado, sour cream, and a bit of my own homemade hot sauce. Here are some other things you might like to top your tostada with:

• Guacamole
• Red onions, finely chopped
• Lettuce or shredded cabbage
• Jalapeños, sliced
• Mexican crema
• Fresh lime wedges
• Corn kernels
• Black Bean Salsa – or other salsa of your choice
• Cilantro, chopped