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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 was absolutely delicious and a new staple for weekly dinners! I left out coriander bc I only have whole coriander, not crushed. Delicious nonetheless! Thank you so much! (I’m about to make it again for dinner.) 😉
I moved further away from home six months ago and I was so craving my Mom’s cooking, but especially her Picadillo. This recipe looked so similar to what hers would’ve been. I made it and OMG. My kids practically licked their plates clean! Amazing, perfect amount of seasoning. I left the bell pepper and coriander out (just didnt have any) but it was perfect!
This recipe is absolutely delicious. I made it for dinner with rice and my husband and daughter ate it up. I did not change anything in this recipe I made it as written and it is perfect!!!.
Delicious! Very authentic tasting and so easy to cook. We ate it with white rice, so good!
Fantastic!! I used ground turkey. My son (6 years, who loves gourmet food!) said this is his new favorite dinner. We served it with rice seasoned with turmeric and cumin, tortillas, and pickled jalapeños. The jalapeños definitely added the perfect finishing touch!
Perfection! Didn’t tweak it at all. It’s not often that I make a recipe and don’t feel the need to add anything at all to it. Served with corn tortillas, queso fresco and sour cream. Thank you!!
This recipe is spot on! I’m Hispanic but my cooking sure doesn’t seem like it, lol. But this recipe tasted just like something my grandmother and my mother would have made. It was even better the next day. I followed the recipe exactly. Thank you for helping me to embrace my inner hispanicness🙌🏼
Love this all-in-one meal. I can’t remember my mother’s picadillo recipe but this one is even better!
Coming from a totally beginner cook, this dish came out perfect! I didn’t have beef broth but I used a beef concentrate packet plus 8oz of water. Didn’t have bay leaf on hand but it was definitely a hit for the fam! They loved that I added half a can of green beans too. Would make again sooner than later!
Was easy to put together and was tasty. I added 2 packets of Sazon seasoning and used 1 can of Rotel tomatoes. I added diced carrots to the pan.