{"id":307,"date":"2025-01-26T20:39:18","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T12:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/2025\/01\/26\/easy-puerto-rican-picadillo-40-minutes\/"},"modified":"2025-01-26T20:39:18","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T12:39:18","slug":"easy-puerto-rican-picadillo-40-minutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/2025\/01\/26\/easy-puerto-rican-picadillo-40-minutes\/","title":{"rendered":"Easy Puerto Rican Picadillo (40 Minutes)"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

This picadillo is my go-to dinner when I don’t feel like cooking, which is, frankly, most days. Good thing it’s delicious enough that I want to eat it every day and versatile enough that it can be a little different every time I make it.\n<\/p>\n

Puerto Rican picadillo consists of ground beef cooked in a tomato sauce seasoned with sofrito. These ingredients are the constant. From there, people make their own additions, like potatoes, ripe plantains, and olives.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

My preference is to add frozen butternut squash or frozen sweet potatoes to my picadillo. Either is a good stand-in for calabaza (pumpkin) and plantains, which add a welcome sweetness. This recipe also calls for my easy version of sofrito. Cilantro, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and bell peppers come together to add tons of flavor. All you have to do is blend.\n<\/p>\n

This incredibly rich, sweet, and savory dish is unfairly flavorful for the amount of time you put into it. You can use it as a taco, burrito, or empanada filling, but my favorite way to serve picadillo is over white rice.\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Simply Recipes \/ Ciara Kehoe<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Tips for Making My Easy Picadillo <\/span> <\/h2>\n
    \n
  • Look for ground beef around 90 percent lean\/10 percent fat. If you\u2019re using fattier ground beef, omit the olive oil.<\/li>\n
  • If you’re not using a salt-free adobo seasoning, you should only add 1 to 2 teaspoons depending on your salt tolerance. Most brands like Loisa, Goya, and Badia contain salt and MSG.<\/li>\n
  • Depending on how you want to serve your picadillo (as a filling versus over rice), you may want the mixture to be thicker or more saucy. You can easily adjust the consistency by adding more or less water.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Simple Substitutions <\/span> <\/h2>\n

    You can swap the ground beef for ground chicken or ground turkey. You can also use a plant-based meat crumble substitute to make the dish vegetarian.\n<\/p>\n

    During the summer, I add different kinds of peppers to my sofrito for a more complex flavor, like purple bell peppers, Cubanelle (also known as gypsy), Anaheim, banana, or Jimmy Nardello peppers. I’ll sometimes add in some hot peppers, too.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Simply Recipes \/ Ciara Kehoe<\/p>\n

    <\/span>
    \n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

    \n
    \n