Easy Mexican Picadillo Recipe

Last Updated on January 31, 2023 by Anne-Marie

Learn how to make this easy Mexican picadillo recipe with ground beef, chorizo, potatoes, and raisins. Serve on top of rice for a tasty weeknight dinner.A plate of Mexican Picadillo on white rice with fork, napkin, and lime.

Why this recipe works

Have you ever tried Mexican Picadillo? Its fantastic flavor makes it one of my family’s favorite dinner recipes.

The term picadillo originates from the Spanish word picar, which means to mince. It's also called carne molida con papas or picadillo con papas.

What makes it different from the usual hash-like beef and potato recipe is what’s added to the dish - chorizo, tomatoes, raisins, and spices. Then it’s served on rice, or it can be used as a filling for tacos.

I first made this dish as part of a blogger recipe challenge where I recreated Alessio of Recipe Taster’s recipe for Cuban Picadillo.

Since I didn’t have several ingredients, I came up with this quasi-Mexican version. It’s become a favorite comfort food ever since.

Plate of Mexican Picadillo on rice with brass fork with a pink bowl of rice and saute plan in the background.

Ingredients

  • olive oil
  • onions
  • celery
  • potatoes
  • garlic cloves
  • sea salt
  • cumin
  • oregano
  • green chili sauce
  • chorizo
  • ground venison or lean ground beef
  • fire-roasted diced tomatoes
  • raisins
  • Cooked rice for serving

How to make this recipe

This is an easy and versatile dish you can serve on rice or make into tacos.

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, celery, potatoes, and garlic, and cook until onions start to brown and caramelize. Stir often. Turn down the heat if vegetables begin to burn. About 10 minutes.

2. Add salt, cumin, oregano, and green chili sauce. Cook for 1 minute.

3. Add chorizo, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, spatula, or potato masher. Stir it into vegetables.

4. When the chorizo has browned, add the ground meat. Break up meat and stir into other ingredients.

5. When the meat has browned, add in the diced tomatoes. Stir to combine with other ingredients.

6. Add raisins and stir to combine.

7. Cover the skillet and turn down the heat to low.

8. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes.

9. Serve on top of rice.

10. Store leftover picadillo in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Plate of rice and Mexican Picadillo with fork and saute pan and wooden spoon and pink bowl in the background.

FAQs

What kind of potatoes and onions?

You can use yellow potatoes, gold potatoes, white potatoes, or russet potatoes. For fun, you could try sweet potatoes, too.

You can also use frozen precut potatoes from the supermarket. Just measure out what you need for this Mexican dish and store leftovers in the freezer for next time.

You can substitute cauliflower for potato if you’re on a low-carb or keto diet.

You can use yellow onions, white onions, red onions, or sweet onions.

What kind of ground meat?

I used ground venison, but you can use lean ground beef, low-fat ground turkey, ground chicken, or even ground buffalo.

It’s OK to keep the fat content of the ground meat low in this Mexican dish, especially since chorizo tends to be on the fatty side.

Where can I buy chorizo?

You can usually find it in the refrigerated section with the sausage or refrigerated Hispanic foods.

You can make your own if there’s no chorizo at your supermarket for your Mexican picadillo recipe.

Here’s how to make homemade chorizo.

Overhead view of Mexican Picadillo served on rice, with bowl of rice, and picadillo in frying pan with wooden spoon.

Making authentic Mexican picadillo

Many Mexican picadillo recipes also include peas and carrots.

While I didn’t include that in this recipe, adding a bag of heated peas and carrots to the cooked dish is simple.

It’s also a terrific way to get extra veggies into your meal.

The easy way to make rice

Don’t forget to start your rice cooking before you start working on the picadillo.

For perfect rice, I use a rice cooker. Here are some of the best rice cookers on Amazon.

We love our Zojirushi rice cooker since my kids also use it to steam dumplings.

How to serve

If you’re making picadillo tacos, skip the white rice. Serve on warm corn tortillas, and make this Quick Mexican Rice Recipe as a side dish.

Mexican Picadillo goes well with a Mexican Christmas Salad or Southwestern Sweet Potato Salad.

Serve the picadillo for tacos with this Quick & Healthy Horchata Recipe.

Mexican Picadillo served on ricewith picadillo in frying pan and sliced limes.

Authentic picadillo from around the world

Picadillo Cubano includes peppers, onions, garlic, oregano, cumin, tomato sauce, olives, raisins, and potatoes. Sometimes people add capers. Cuban Picadillo is served with black beans and rice.

In the Dominican Republic, they make a similar dish to the Mexican picadillo. They add a hard-boiled egg and some allspice and serve their version of picadillo on either white or brown rice.

Puerto Rican picadillo is used as a filling for empanadas, alcapurria, piononos, and other types of fritters. It’s served with rice and beans, just like with Cuban-style Picadillo.

Filipino Picadillo is a soup-like dish made with potatoes or chayote and ground beef. It’s made without green olives or capers and served with white rice, fried plantains on the side, and a fried egg.

Mexican Picadillo on a plate with white rice, a pink bowl of rice, and a frying pan of picadillo.

More ground meat recipes

Check out these delicious and easy-to-make recipes:

Make this Easy Homemade Gyros Recipe at home. They’re as tasty as what you get at your favorite Greek restaurant and much healthier.

My family loves this Gluten Free Shepherd’s Pie. You don’t have to be gluten-free to know that it’s delicious.

If you’re a meatloaf lover, you’ll enjoy Mashed Potato Stuffed Meatloaf or Gluten Free Meatloaf Recipe with Potato Chips & Carrots.

Got leftover meatloaf? Make Leftover Meatloaf Sandwiches.

If you have a smoker, make Smoked Meatloaf. It’s amazing!

Do you love Mexican food? What are your favorite Mexican recipes?

Yield: 8 SERVINGS

Easy Mexican Picadillo Recipe

Mexican Picadillo served on rice, with bowl of rice, and picadillo in frying pan with wooden spoon.

Learn how to make this easy Mexican picadillo recipe with ground beef, chorizo, potatoes, and raisins. Serve on top of rice for a tasty dinner.

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2/3 cup chopped onions
  • 2/3 cup diced celery
  • 2/3 cup diced potatoes
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon oregano
  • 1 tablespoon green chili sauce
  • 8 ounces chorizo
  • 1 1/4 pounds ground venison or lean ground beef
  • 1 14.5-ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • Cooked rice for serving

Instructions

  1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, celery, potatoes, and garlic, and cook until onions start to brown and caramelize. Stir often. Turn down the heat if vegetables begin to burn. About 10 minutes.
  2. Add salt, cumin, oregano, and green chili sauce. Cook for 1 minute.
  3. Add chorizo, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, spatula, or potato masher. Stir it into vegetables.
  4. When the chorizo has browned, add the ground meat. Break up meat and stir into other ingredients.
  5. When the meat has browned, add in the diced tomatoes. Stir to combine with other ingredients.
  6. Add raisins and stir to combine.
  7. Cover the skillet and turn down the heat to low.
  8. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes.
  9. Serve on top of rice.
  10. Store leftover picadillo in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 413Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 104mgSodium: 627mgCarbohydrates: 23gFiber: 3gSugar: 9gProtein: 31g

Nutritional information is automatically calculated per the ingredients list. Serving size may not be accurate. Please double-check with your preferred nutritional app for the most accurate information.

13 thoughts on “Easy Mexican Picadillo Recipe

  1. Deeba

    Never have made a picadillo, and you inspire me to try making some. I enjoy Allesio’s blog a lot, and this is a great pick from his treasure trove!

    Reply
  2. Andrea @ Fork Fingers Chopsticks

    Looks tasty. It’s been awhile since I’ve made it. I like mine with olives but I like the idea of adding raisins to cut the pungency of chiles, etc.

    Reply
    1. Anne-Marie Nichols Post author

      We had oodles of venison this year, which was why we chose to have the extra made into chorizo sausage. I think we’ll do it every year because it’s so delicious.

      Reply
  3. Amanda

    That is an awesome dish, I bet it tasted fabulous! Great adaptation 🙂 Thanks for playing along this month, it’s been so fun hopping from blog to blog!

    Reply

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Recipe rating: 5 4 3 2 1