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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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Watch How To Make
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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
One of my favorite recipes to make! Very authentic and I love this so much that I’ve never commented on a recipe before and want to comment here because everyone needs to know my substitutions!
The biggest one is I use Trader Joe’s Bolognese sauce (yes, for pasta) instead of plain tomato sauce. It adds such a deep richness and flavor that makes it impossible to stop eating! The extra spices and beef in the sauce really complements this well. I have also tried the TJ’s creamy tomato basil sauce in the past with great success, it just gets weird if reheating for later because of the dairy.
I do chicken broth instead of beef broth because I never have beef broth on hand. Maybe it’s better with beef broth? I don’t know because it’s already so delicious!
I am heavy handed with the garlic (any Latino worth their weight would be).
I leave out the potatoes because I’m not a fan of it included, and it’s too many carbs anyway since you already have rice. I think not having potatoes really focuses the flavor and texture.
Lastly, I add a generous amount of Sazon Goya. Just adds that amazing finishing touch.
My boyfriend ate all of it in one night. I would have to say that is a solid 5 star rating
Was sooo good! My kids and wife all loved it. New family favorite. Served it with cilantro lime rice and fresh tortillas that I heated up on the stove. Killer. I also added one diced jalapeño and one diced Serrano to give it a little kick. Great recipe!
Just the taste I was looking for. It seems the trick is that much cumin. Thanks
This is a quick meal to use up my potatoes. The spices are good but I add a little red pepper for heat. I also like to add some frozen mixed vegetables. It makes for a very good meal! It’s a keeper.
I hated this stuff the first day I made it. I think it’s the bay leaf. But on the 2nd day when stuff blended it was amazing. Next time no bay leaf. Good recipe and will have often.
Hallo Serene, just made the dish it is delicious, I have tomorrow a Mexican night … and l was wondering if i can serve the dish asvan individule soup dish ? thank you.
It could be more like a stew if you added more broth to it and kept it covered the entire time it’s cooking.
Great idea for something different to do with ground beef.
Full disclosure I did not have coriander, nor tomato sauce. For the latter I used fire roasted petite Diced tomato and tomato paste.
For us, this recipe didn’t have much flavor as it is described here. I added 3x the cumin. And for future, I’d add the seasoning in the pan to toast it and bring up the flavor, then add onion, garlic then meat. For us adding onion and garlic in so late in the cooking process did not give us enough of that depth of flavor. I wondered about that but followed the recipe anyway.
The idea of this is a homey and comforting dish. We paired with toppings: lettuce, tomato, olives, avocado, jalapeno, red onion and garlic spinach quinoa.
This so, so good! Perfect for a weeknight meal when time is short.
I used two poblano peppers that I had roasted and peeled in place of the green pepper, and used spicy pato tomato sauce in place of the regular tomato sauce.
Delicious 😋 my kids are so picky & one of them does NOT like potatoes but, they sure did clean those plates!!
Hi. Can this dish be frozen please? Thanks in advance.
The whole family loved this dish