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This Cuban Picadillo is a hearty, flavor-packed dish made with ground beef, tomatoes, olives, and a hint of sweetness from raisins. It’s the perfect blend of savory and sweet, bringing a taste of Cuban comfort straight to your dinner table.
Pure Cuban Comfort Food
Picadillo is taking over our kitchen lately, and I’m not mad about it. This Cuban classic is everything I crave in a weeknight dinner: bold, comforting, and bursting with flavor. It’s savory with just a hint of sweetness, a bit tangy, and absolutely irresistible.
Think ground beef (or turkey, if you’re feeling lighter), simmered with tomatoes, onions, and garlic, and then leveled up with briny olives, and sweet raisins. It’s got that perfect mix of savory and sweet, tangy and rich, and the way it all comes together in one big skillet? Well, let’s just say, we’re smitten.
And if you want to swap in ground chicken or load it with veggies with some hearty beans, zucchini, or sweet potatoes, go for it! Picadillo is all about making it your own, and no matter what, you’re in for a bowl of pure comfort.
Ingredients Needed
Find the complete recipe card below with measurements and full instructions.
Let’s Make Cuban Picadillo
- In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté the onion and bell pepper in extra virgin olive oil until softened.
- Add in the ground beef and continue to cook over medium heat while breaking up the meat. Cook until all the meat is browned and no longer pink. Drain excess grease.
- Stir in the garlic, let this cook for 30 seconds. Then add the tomato paste and stir to combine.
- Add in the crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, cumin and oregano. Stir to combine. Continue to cook on medium heat for 10-15 minutes to let the flavors develop.
- Finally, stir in the green olives and raisins.
Serving
Picadillo is traditionally served over white rice. But you could also serve it in a warm tortilla as a picadillo taco, or as a filling for picadillo empanadas. You can also toast some French bread and serve as a picadillo sandwich, similar to Sloppy Joes.
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Cuban Picadillo
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup onion diced
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 15 ounces crushed tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 cup green olives diced
- 1/3 cup raisins diced
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium heat, saute the onion and bell pepper in extra virgin olive oil until softened.
- Add in the ground beef. Cook while breaking up the meat. Cook until meat is browned and no longer pink. Drain excess grease.
- Stir in the garlic.
- Add the tomato paste and stir to combine.
- Add in the crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, cumin and oregano. Stir to combine. Let cook on medium heat for 10-15 minutes.
- Stir in the green olives and raisins. Serve warm over white rice.
Video
Equipment
Notes
- Tomatoes: I find it easy to grab a can of crushed tomatoes. Or you can use fresh tomatoes, peel, de-seed and chop them up and let them cook in the meat. They will soften and mash as they cook.
- Tomato Paste: A small amount mixed in will add a bit of thickness and a more pronounced tomato flavoring.
- Green olives– I use green olives with pimentos. Chopping them creates a more consistent texture that my kids will eat. But you can add these in whole or simply sliced if desired.
- Raisins– Chopping the raisins creates a consistent texture. But they can be added whole if desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
What is Picadillo?
Picadillo is a traditional dish of Latin America. Every region and area has their own way of making it. This particular recipe is geared towards Cuban Picadillo. I read a quote that compared Cuban Picadillo to be the equivalent of American Sloppy Joes. Not gourmet, but pure comfort food!
Typically it’s made of ground beef and tomatoes. The additions change according to the area, most often you will see green olives, raisins, capers or potatoes being added in. Some recipes I’ve seen call for the addition of cinnamon and cloves also.
More Bold Family Dinner Ideas
Recipe first published October 1, 2019. Updated August 27, 2024.
Photography by KJandCompany.co
Great stuff. I used sun dried tomatoes (no tomato paste on hand) and added dried cranberries. Ate too much!
I’ll be making this, often.👍
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe! I made it using a sun dried tomato paste the other day since that’s what I had on hand and it was delicious!
Cisco’s Bakery in Austin serves picadillo rolls on their breakfast menu. I haven’t been there in years, but back in the day, the restaurant was “hidden”… you had to go between the front counters, past the kitchen and then do a 180 to the right where you would end up in a windowless room with small tables. Standard fare was migas, beans&rice, sausage patties and picadillo rolls. Absolute YUM! It was a favorite place to such notables as President Johnson, Coach Royal and the infamous WN&F roadie, Poodie Locke. 😉
We loved this recipe. Super easy to make and delicious. I followed the recipe exactly and think it is great as is.
My husband loved it and he “doesn’t like things with olives and raisins “.
It is definitely a keeper. The only change I made was to use rotel for the crushed tomatoes.
Thanks for the good food!
Just made this and this was so delicious. My husband and kids couldn’t get enough of it! Definitely a keeper recipe! We paired this with basmati rice cooked with sazón and added some cilantro with it coz we just love cilantro. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe.
This was so easy to make and so delicious. I will make it again very soon. I didn’t change anything in the recipe, which is very unusual. I always end up adding something to every recipe, but this one didn’t need any adjustments. My husband ate his with a rice blend and I had mine over angel hair pasta. But I can’t wait to try it on Cuban bread. It was absolutely fabulous. I highly recommend it❣️
Very quick and easy dish, packed with flavor. I added lime juice to the mixture, and added the raisins and olives and let them cook with the meat mixture to let the flavors blend. I served with Vigo yellow rice, which is not the traditional black beans and white rice, but very tasty.
Made this with beyond meat for a vegan version it was amazing.
Followed the recipe exactly, it tasted great! Yummy and different, thanks for the idea!