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This quick and easy Mexican Picadillo dinner recipe comes together with minimal ingredients and only 30 minutes. Ground beef and potatoes are simmered in a seasoned tomato sauce. Serve this dish up with some rice and fresh flour tortillas for a complete meal.
What is Mexican Picadillo?
A classic, nostalgia inducing meal with ground beef and potatoes. This is one of those dishes that is so easy to customize, and everyone has their own way of making it. It’s pure comfort food. This recipe is a basic version, with some ideas of ways you can easily customize it to make it just right for you and your family.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Tomato Sauce: Swap the canned tomato sauce for 4 Roma tomatoes blended or finely diced.
- Beef Broth: Use a low or no sodium version, you can also use bone broth. Substitute with beef bouillon if you prefer.
- Potatoes: If you want a twist, try our Sweet Potato Picadillo.
- Bell Pepper: For more heat swap this out for a jalapeño or other chili pepper of choice.
- Extra Veggies: Add in peas and carrots or other vegetable of choice to customize for your family.
Find the complete recipe card below with measurements and full instructions.
How to Make Mexican Picadillo
- First, heat a large skillet over medium heat, add ground beef. Cook over medium heat while breaking up the meat. Cook until mostly browned, drain grease and return to heat. The beef doesn’t need to be cooked completely through at this point.
- Add in diced onion, green bell pepper and potatoes. Continue to cook over medium heat until onion and peppers are softened. Add garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds.
- Next, pour in tomato sauce and beef broth. Add in seasonings: salt, pepper, cumin, and coriander. Stir to combine. Add the bay leaf.
- Bring this mixture to a simmer, cover and let cook for 10 minutes.
- Finally, remove the lid, stir, and continue cooking with the lid off for an additional 10 minutes or until potatoes are softened and most of the liquid is gone.
Serving
Serve this Mexican Picadillo on tortillas. I love loading this into fresh flour tortillas. But it’s also good in fried corn tortillas. Or served over some cilantro lime rice.
Storage
Store leftover picadillo in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Freeze for up to 3 months, thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
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Mexican Picadillo
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- ½ cup onion diced
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 2 cups potato peeled and diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 8 ounces tomato sauce*
- 1½ cup beef broth
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 bay leaf
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat, add ground beef. Cook over medium heat while breaking up the meat. Cook until mostly browned, drain grease and return to heat.
- Add in diced onion, green bell pepper and potatoes. Continue to cook over medium heat until onion and peppers are softened. Add garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds.
- Pour in tomato sauce and beef broth. Add in seasonings: salt, pepper, cumin, and coriander. Stir to combine. Add bay leaf.
- Bring mixture to a simmer, cover and let cook for 10 minutes.
- Remove lid, stir, and continue cooking with the lid off for an additional 10 minutes or until potatoes are softened and most of the liquid is gone.
- Serve warm with flour tortillas and rice.
Video
Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe first published April 10, 2020. Updated April 4, 2024.
Photography by @KJandCompany.co
This is now our family fave. I have expanded on it with a few variations depending what we have on hand, but ultimately the base is the same. Thank you!
Super easy base. It was a bit bland for me so I: doubled the cumin, added paprika, oregano, splash of balsamic, Worcestershire.
Terrific. One hint if folks are tight with time: microwave the cut up potatoes for 45-60 seconds (no more than that) before you add them. This is not to fully cook them but just to get the center good and hot. They’ll come to the softness level you want sooner.
Made this , this am , real good had to tweek it a little used green chillies instead of green peppers had no bay leaves used Mexican oringino. Thank you
What kind of tomato sauce ? Any?
Any brand will work.
I made this last night and it was AWESOME! I left out bell pepper and added carrots. We had it with flour tortillas and put cheese and sour cream on top!
This was delicious, my family loved it, including our two year old! I left out the onion and simmered about 25 minutes, so good!
I made this today exactly as recipe state’s only using fresh tomatoes, green bell peppers from my yard and it was delicious 😋. Fast, one pot, quick and easy. My kind of recipe!
I made this for dinner last night because I had some ground beef and potatoes I needed to use up. What a delicious flavor combination! I think the coriander is really what set this apart from other similar dishes like chili. My 16 month old loved picking out the soft potatoes, and my husband and I covered ours with hot sauce and loved every bite. Thanks for sharing!
Is the potatoe added in raw or somewhat cooked ? if that makes sense
The potato is raw when you first add it in, let them cook in the skillet with the broth.