This Mexican picadillo recipe is an easy, warm and comforting Mexican dish made from ground beef and potatoes cooked in a flavorful tomato based sauce. Great in tacos, gorditas and tostadas!
On nights when I’m not quite sure what to make for dinner, this picadillo recipe comes to the rescue!
What is picadillo?
Picadillo is a Latin American dish made from ground beef, potatoes and some type of tomato sauce mixture. Every country and region has its own unique variation on the meal (for example, the very popular Cuban picadillo is made with olives and raisins), but today I’m going to share the way my family has always made it!
(Just for context, my family is from the central/northern part of Mexico in the state of Zacatecas.)
How to make Picadillo
1. Make the sauce: Add tomatoes, onions, garlic, a jalapeno pepper, oregano, cumin, salt and some water to a large blender, then puree until smooth and set aside.
2. Cook the meat and vegetables: Cook the ground beef in a large skillet with some diced onions until the meat is lightly browned. Add the potatoes, carrots, and peas and cook for 5 minutes, then add the pureed tomato sauce mixture, cover and cook for 10 minutes.
3. Reduce and thicken: Uncover and cook for another 10 minutes to help the sauce reduce a bit and get the flavors concentrated. When the potatoes and carrots and tender and soft, it’s ready!
Variations and substitutions
- Give it a healthy twist by substituting ground turkey for the ground beef.
- Use sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes to add a subtle sweetness.
- Try green beans in place of the peas to switch things up!
Tips for making the best picadillo
- Don’t be afraid of salt. The salt helps to bring out the flavors of the tomato sauce mixture and really makes the meat and potatoes one big happy family.
- Taste as you go. Add another jalapeno or more salt in the sauce if needed. The spice level of jalapenos can vary so much, from not spicy at all to insanely fiery, so take a little teeny bite and testing it out. Also make sure you don’t over-salt – your tastebuds will thank you for that.
- If the meat starts to get dry during the cooking process (when the lid is removed), add 1/4 cup of water to keep it moist and continue cooking.
Serving Suggestions
Recently I served this beef picadillo with some white rice that I had in the fridge, but there are plenty of other ways to eat it. Here are a few suggestions:
- with mexican rice
- in homemade beef empanadas or air fryer beef empanadas
- stuffed inside gorditas
- served on top of sopes
- with homemade flour tortillas, corn tortillas, or tortilla chips
Ingredients
For the sauce
- 4 plum tomatoes, quartered
- ½ medium onion (white or yellow)
- ½ cup water
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 jalapeno pepper, stem removed (seeds if you don't want it spicy)
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
For the meat
- 1 teaspoon oil
- ½ medium onion, diced (white or yellow)
- 1 pound ground beef
- salt, to taste
- 1 medium white potato, diced
- 1 large carrot, diced
- ¼ cup frozen peas
Instructions
For the sauce
- Add all sauce ingredients in a large blender and puree until smooth. Taste and season with more salt if necessary. Set aside.At this point, I also like to make sure the spice level is to my liking. If it's not spicy enough for me, I'll half a jalapeno, blend and adjust until it's perfect.
For the meat
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add the cooking oil, onion, ground beef and a generous pinch of salt. Use a wooden spoon to break up the meat into smaller chunks. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 6 to 8 minutes, until beef is lightly browned.
- Add the potatoes, carrots and peas. Mix together with the meat and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the pureed sauce to the skillet, mix together and cover with a lid. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Remove the lid and continue cooking for 10 more minutes, until the potatoes and carrots are soft and tender. If the meat starts to get dry, add in 1/4 cup of water and continue cooking.
- Remove from heat, taste and season with more salt if necessary. (I always tend to add another generous pinch or two of salt at this step.)
- Serve with mexican rice, in tacos, gorditas, sopes, on tostadas or on it's own in a bowl.
Video
Isabel’s Tips:
Nutrition Information
I literally have made this ten times now. It’s so good on tostadas! So easy and so 🤤 delicious
This was so delish! I was going to add olives but forgot! I used one jalapeño and the heat from it was perfect! I added a little bit more salt too! Thank you for sharing. It is a keeper!
easy, great flavor and plenty of room to sub anything else you want. Great way to use ground beef. show me more!
I haven’t commented often on your recipes, but I want to say to everyone reading this that my Mexican Recipe collection is now almost totally from “isabel eats”. Any time I decide to try a new Mexican dish, I immediately go to your website. I find the recipes simple to follow and universally delicious. Using easy to find ingredients and writing logical complete instructions along with complementary images makes the whole process a pleasante experience. I just want to say, “¡Muchas gracias!”
Hi Dean! Thank you so much for the compliment! We’re glad you enjoy our recipes.
Do you drain the juices from the ground beef?
Hi Mary! For this recipe you don’t. It helps cook the rest of the vegetables.
This is delicious!!! I had quite a few mini plum tomatoes and a jalepeno from my garden and was wondering what to make. I saw this in IG and knew I had to make it! I served it with corn tortillas as little tacos and they were just fantastic. So easy, too! I was out of frozen peas and carrots so I used a few canned peas (color is not vibrant but it’s what I had), some corn, and potatoes. I will definitely make this again!
Hi Angie! Thank you for sharing! This is my favorite meal to make when I feel like I have nothing in the pantry or am stuck in a rut.
This is my first time making picadillo. My husband loves the nachos at a local Mexican restaurant and they are not your usual Tex Mex style. I believe it is a picadillo, hence googling it and coming across your recipe. Giving it a go for a big platter of nachos. Thanks!
Love this recipe. If you are ambitious, make this recipe and stuff it into Isabel’s chili relleno recipe. Absolutely delicious!!
Made this tonight for dinner and loved it! The family was very impressed. It comes together quickly and is seasoned wonderfully to boot . Will definitely be making this again and I think I’ll use Serrano peppers next instead of Jalapeños for a bit more kick . I do like my peppers . Another excellent recipe Isabel and thank you so much for sharing it with us !
Hi Greg! That sounds like a great idea! I love picadillo when it’s spicy too. Thanks for sharing!
I forgot my manners the other night bragging about your wonderful recipe and went brain dead on saying your Daughter Olivia is beautiful and congratulations to Mommy and Daddy ! You really did well Isabel , I’m so happy for you . Time does fly so I would say cherish this because they grow so fast . My oldest is 38 and youngest is 30 . Wow !
Thanks Izzy,
I made half a recipe because my husband is a very picky eater and I didn’t want to make the whole batch because if he didn’t like it I would have to throw it all out. He LIKES IT…so THANK YOU. I am a vegetarian so I didn’t taste it, but it looks really good and he likes it and that’s what matters.
I have made this Mexican Picadillo several times and it is always a whole WIN! So filling, delicious, and very easy to make. Thanks for sharing this great recipe!
Will definitely be trying this recipe, want to taste it with the homemade sauce. Looking forward to receiving more recipes from this site!
Wonderful recipe! Since we love spicy, I use 2 serrano peppers instead of a jalapeño. Didn’t have enough fresh tomatoes, so I substituted a large can of diced tomatoes.
I’m a newbie but love Mexican food. One thing that concerns me is eating too much corn or white flour products like tortillas which don’t digest well. Otherwise we I can enjoy meat. Veggies & salsa which always helps me stay healthy. How can I serve this? Or what do you suggest? Cauliflower rice ?
Hello Carol! We have various types of recipes that’ll work for you! We suggest looking at our mexican cauliflower rice or roasted mexican zucchini recipe.
I have made the Picadillo before, but the salsa makes a world of difference sooo good !! Loved it !
This is absolutely delicious and simple! Love your site and all your tips and recipes!
OMG, this sounds amazing. I don’t want to run to the store to get all the sauce ingredients, do you think I could just use a jar of salsa?
Thanks, Janet
Hi Janet! Yes, you can use a jar of salsa. Just note that this might change the flavor of the recipe a bit.
I liked this dish but found that it was too soupy. I never had to add extra water either. Also, when I made the sauce it almost turned frothy. Did I blend it too long? Should it have been a chunkier consistency?
Hi Silvia! I don’t think you blended it too long, especially since the sauce has to reduce and thicken. If it was too soupy to your liking, you can half the sauce recipe and try that!
Do you have to use Mexican oregano ? Can it just be regular oregano? I want to make this tonight and they don’t have Mexican oregano at my store.
Regular oregano is fine!
This was terrific. My husband commented on how good it was after just a couple of bites. I served it over cilantro lime rice and it worked really well. I really enjoyed having a ground beef recipe that was really different from a typical “hamburger helper” type of recipe. This is going into my home made cookbook.