A delicious, warm and hearty dish that goes by the name of Cuban Picadillo.  Generously seasoned ground beef hash that is stewed in tomato sauce, sofrito, olives and peppers. Freezer friendly and suitable for bulk batch cooking if required!

I remember the first time I tried this Cuban recipe, it was when I visited Cuba a few years ago.

They say the best food to eat is outside of the tourist area and this definitely rings true.

Latin American food is a new learning curve for me, but one that I enjoy immensely.

What is Cuban picadillo

A hash cuisine made from ground meat – pork, beef or turkey. The meat is generously seasoned and slow cooked in tomato sauce and wine with capers, olives and raisins.

The flavours are bold and unforgettable if I do say so myself, so stick around if you want to make the best version of this dish.

 Picadillo is actually a Spanish cuisine that was brought to the Spanish colonies including Puerto Rico.

 Similar to the other Caribbean islands, each island has their own version of how to make this wonderful dish.

This is a Cuban style picadillo which has its own adaptation to suit. Keep in mind these are modifications that don’t stray too far away from the traditional recipe and using ingredients that you will most likely have in your pantry/spice rack.

Sofrito is a must – As with many Latin American dishes, sofrito which is an aromatic sauce consisting of bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic and herbs form the base of almost any dish.

Haitians have their own rendition known as Epis and Trinidad and Tobago have their version called Green Seasoning.

The sofrito will need to be prepped before browning the ground beef.

Adobo seasoning

What really gives this Cuban style recipe a kick, along with the sofrito is adobo seasoning which I have included below.

Adobo seasoning is a combination of commonly used Latin American herbs/spices including, garlic, cumin and oregano and very much similar to Sazon.

Although most picadillo recipes tend to use individual herbs and spices as opposed to pre-blended seasoning I found a few tablespoons of the homemade adobo seasoning really helped to deepen the flavour.

Adobo seasoning mix

• 2 teaspoons himalayan pink salt,
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 1 ½ teaspoon onion powder
• 1 ½ teaspoon oregano
• 1 ½ teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon garlic
• ½ teaspoon chilli powder

Wine free version

Red or white wine is added near towards the final stage of cooking, I rarely cook food with alcohol, it’simply a personal decision.

More often than not I’ve found grape juice is a really good foolproof substitute and in this case I successfully used red grape juice.

I feel that by not using alcohol keeps the recipe in the constricts of what a healthy Cuban picadillo should be.

If alcohol isn’t an issue with you that’s perfectly okay, simply go ahead and use as per instructions.

Serving suggestions

How to make Cuban picadillo 

Season the minced beef with the adobe dry rub then heat coconut oil in a skillet along with the bay leaves, garlic and onion and sautee

Proceed to slowly incorporate all of the beef into the skillet and brown.

Once seared, add the green bell peppers, tomato and the rest of the herbs. This are the ingredients to form the sofrito.

Finally add the olives/capers, raisins and grape juice before leaving to simmer.

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