Classic Cuban one-pan dish that’s perfect for a quick, 30-minute weeknight no fuss dish. Full of savory and aromatic ingredients this dish also makes for great, easy leftover ideas.
This dish is a beautiful collision of briny olives, meaty ground beef, and an herbaceous tomato based sofrito. They were meant to be together.
What is picadillo?
Picadillo is a traditional dish in many Latin American countries as well as the Philippines. It’s basically a one-pan dish akin to a ground beef hash. Regardless of regional variations, it will feature a combination of ground beef, tomatoes (or tomato sauce), and olives. Other common ingredients include raisins, potatoes, capers, peppers, onions, and garlic.
Cuban Picadillo Ingredients
The beauty of this dish is you’re likely to have most of the ingredients on hand and can find worthy substitutes if not. You can also easily tweak it to fit your specific tastes. However this is a briny dish, so if that’s not your thing you might want to skip this one.
Ground beef is the star. But feel free to use ground turkey if you prefer to opt for a non-beef option. I had ground venison on hand and used it for this recipe. The briny olives and capers tame the gaminess very well.
How To Make This Picadillo Recipe
Step 1: Make the sofrito
Step 2: Saute the onions, peppers, and garlic
Step 3: Add ground meat and remaining ingredients
Serving Suggestions
In Cuba, picadillo is often served with rice with a fried egg on top. I like to use a coconut ginger rice or yuca fries. You can never go wrong with black beans
Can Picadillo Be Made Vegan?
Yes indeed. Just follow the same steps as the regular recipe with a few simple changes.
- Feel free to substitute any vegan ground meat or better yet, go with jackfruit in place of the ground beef.
- In my vegan version I added potatoes at the vegetable sauce step
- Add raisins just before the simmering step.
Leftover Ideas
The best thing about picadillo besides its simplicity is the fact that it’s so economical. Not only are most of the ingredients common and fairly cheap, but you can stretch the recipe pretty far and get so many different uses out of it. I intentionally make a bigger batch than needed just for leftovers. Picadillo is perfect in:
Key Cooking Tips
- Make a sofrito ahead of time and use as base flavor in this dish. You can certainly make good picadillo without it and most recipes don’t call for it, but I highly recommend it to take the dish to that other level of the game.
- Sofrito will keep refrigerated for 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
- I like briny food and with the gamey venison upped the brininess in the dish. For less of a briny taste eliminate the capers. But if you like brine like me, feel free to add some of that olive juice.
- The entire dish can be made ahead if you prefer. The flavors actually blend even more after sitting.
- For a more filling, heartier version dice some potatoes and add them at the sauce step
For other Cuban Inspired dishes try these:
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Ingredients
For The Sofrito
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium red onion diced
- 1 cubanelle pepper seeded, deveined and diced
- 4 garlic cloves peeled and chopped
- 12 oz can no-sodium diced tomatoes
- 1 cup fresh herbs medley basil, oregano, parsley, etc.
- Salt and black pepper to taste
For the picadillo
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion finely chopped
- 1 medium bell pepper cored and seeded, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 4 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp smoked sweet paprika
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tbsp Kosher salt
- 1/2 tbsp ground black pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 cup dry white cooking wine
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
- 1 cup diced canned tomatoes
- 1/2 cup pimento stuffed olives
- 2 tbsp olives brine from the jar
- 2 tbsp capers
Instructions
Make the sofrito
- Add all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until salsa like consistency.
Make the Picadillo
- Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, peppers, garlic, bay leaves, and 1/3 of spice mix and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add tomato paste and stir to mix well. Saute for about another 1-2 minutes. Add the cooking wine and deglaze the pan, scraping up any brown bits.
- Add ground beef plus another 1/3 of the spice mix and cook until browned. Stir as necessary so that all the meat is cooked through.
- Stir in sofrito, olives plus brine, capers, and remaining spices. Cover, reduce heat to a simmer and allow to cook for 15 minutes.
- Discard bay leaves, then add fresh parsley and serve with rice.
Notes
- For more depth of flavor in the sofrito saute the vegetables for 2-3 minutes before pureeing.
- Make a sofrito ahead of time and use as base flavor in this dish. You can certainly make good picadillo without it and most recipes don’t call for it, but I highly recommend it to take the dish to that other level of the game.
- Sofrito will keep refrigerated for 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
- I like briny food and with the gamey venison upped the brininess in the dish. For less of a briny taste eliminate the capers. But if you like brine like me, feel free to add some of that olive juice.
- The entire dish can be made ahead if you prefer. The flavors actually blend even more after sitting.
- For a more filling, heartier version dice potatoes and add them at the saute step
Nutrition
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