🇨🇺 Cuban Cuisine

Picadillo a la Criolla

Cuban Ground Beef Hash

Prep Time 10 min

Servings 4

Difficulty Easy

Calories 412 kcal

A savory-sweet ground beef hash simmered with tomatoes, olives, raisins, and cumin — a quick, flavorful weeknight staple of Cuban home cooking.

Ingredients

500g ground beef
1 onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can crushed tomatoes (400g)
1/3 cup green olives, halved
2 tbsp raisins
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

Instructions

1 Heat oil in a large skillet. Sauté onion, bell pepper, and garlic until softened, about 5 min.
2 Add ground beef, breaking it up. Cook until browned, 6-8 min.
3 Stir in cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper.
4 Add crushed tomatoes, olives, and raisins. Simmer 15-20 min until thickened.
5 Adjust seasoning. Serve over white rice with fried plantains.

Did You Know?

The combination of olives and raisins in picadillo represents the sweet-savory balance that defines Cuban cuisine — a marriage of Spanish and Caribbean flavors.