Rancho Trabuco was a 22,184-acre (89.78 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Orange County, California. The five square league grant consisted of two square leagues given in 1841 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to Santiago Argüello plus three square leagues given in 1846 by Governor Pío Pico to John (Don Juan) Forster. The name "trabuco" means "blunderbuss" in Spanish. The grant extended along Trabuco Creek and Trabuco Canyon, and encompassed present-day Coto de Caza. The grant was bordered by Rancho Cañada de los Alisos on the west, and by Rancho Mission Viejo on the east.
Santiago Argüello was a soldier in the Mexican army, and was commandant at the Presidio of San Diego from 1830 to 1835. In 1841, Argüello was granted the two square league Rancho Trabuco for his services. In 1846 Argüello was granted Rancho Ex-Mission San Diego. John Forster, who was the grantee of the adjacent Rancho Mission Viejo in 1845, acquired Argüello's Rancho Trabuco and was granted an additional three square leagues in 1846.
With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Trabuco was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852, and the grant was patented to John Forster in 1866.