Every country has their version of spiced ground beef, and this Puerto Rican Style Picadillo is nothing less than amazing. It’s cooked in a tomato base, with delicious homemade sofrito, ground cumin, sazon, oregano and for the traditionalist – olives. This recipe is extremely easy and versatile.
Ground Beef Picadillo
The best type of meat for Puerto Rican Style Picadillo is lean ground beef. While any ground beef works, lean ground beef has less fat content which makes the picadillo easier to work with in other recipes. Less fat, means less excess liquid; less wet of a consistency and overall it’s healthier too!
Seasonings and Ingredients
Now let’s talk flavor! The first and most important condiment needed for the Puerto Rican Style Picadillo is homemade sofrito. I’ve mentioned this before and I’ll mention it forever, homemade sofrito is KING! It has such a bright and bold flavor profile filled with fresh herbs and aromatics.
In addition to the sofrito, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Tomato sauce or paste
- Ground cumin
- Sazon with achiote
- Adobo all purpose seasoning
- Garlic powder
- Dried oregano
- Salt
- Stuffed olives (optional)
- Cubed potatoes (for empanadas)
Cooking the Picadillo
The easiest part of this Puerto Rican Style Picadillo recipe is the execution. Start by cooking the homemade sofrito in a pan with a tiny bit of olive oil. The point of this step is just to warm the sofrito until the herbs become fragrant and aromatic.
Next, add your tomato sauce. If you enjoy a stronger tomato flavor, I recommend substituting the tomato sauce for tomato paste. Just make sure to cook the tomato paste thoroughly to remove the raw acidic taste. After about 5 minutes, go ahead and add the lean ground beef.
Tips and Tricks
Season the ground beef HEAVILY with your preferred spices. I’m a bold flavorful girl, so I enjoy the works! While the ground beef is simmering, you may also add in the olives and cubed potatoes. I recommend the potatoes for making empanadillas. Since I truly dislike olives, I don’t add them into my Puerto Rican Style Picadillo.
But let the record show that…OLIVES ARE TRADITIONAL IN MOST PUERTO RICAN RECIPES! I had to put that disclaimer out there, just in case. If you enjoy the flavor and texture of the olives, add them in.
Once the picadillo is to your desired doneness, whether it’s wet, dry or somewhere in the middle, there is nothing left but to enjoy it! Serve with rice or include it as a filling in other Puerto Rican recipes.
Puerto Rican Recipes with Picadillo
Explore more recipes with Puerto Rican Style Picadillo. Click one of my recipe cards below.
Puerto Rican Style Picadillo
Ingredients
- 1 pound of lean ground beef
- 1/3 cup of homemade sofrito
- 1/3 cup of tomato sauce
- 5 stuffed olives (optional)
- 2 medium potatoes, small cubes (optional)
- 1 packet of sazon with achiote
- 1 tablespoon of adobo all purpose seasoning
- 1 teaspoon of cumin
- 1 teaspoon of oregano
- 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Add sofrito to a medium-high heat pan with some olive oil.
- Cook sofrito until aromatic and then tomato sauce. Use tomato paste for a stronger tomato flavor.
- Add seasoning, stuffed olives and potatoes (optional) and cook until brown.
- Reduce heat and simmer until all extra liquid evaporates.
- Drain any excess oil and enjoy.
- Serve with white rice, or use as the main protein for another dish.
Minerva Feliciano says
Terrific recipe!