Skillet Ground Beef Dinner Inspired by Cuban Picadillo
This low carb version of Cuban Picadillo is a delicious recipe for the whole family that makes for easy dinners! Serve with salads, rice, plantains, beans or use the leftovers for tacos the next day!!
Servings 4 people
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs ground beef (can be minced as well)
- 4 tomatoes, chopped
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 bunch parsley, finely chopped
- 4 bay leaves
- 0.5 tsp salt (add more to taste)
- 0.5 tsp black pepper
- pinch cumin
- pinch paprika
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 ozs spanish manzanilla olives with pimientos
- olives brine (as needed)
- 0.5 beef broth or water (optional)
- 4 tbsps olive oil
Instructions
- Make sure ground beed is fully thawed, otherwise the picadillo will take longer to cook. Start by sauteing ground beef in olive oil. Brown well as you break up the meat. I prefer to use an wooden spoon for this.
- In the meantime, chop tomatoes, onions, pepper, parsley and mince the garlic. While you chop stir occasionally so meat doesn't burn on one side.
- Once the meat is browned, I tend to add the vegetables one by one as I'm done chopping them and I alternate between more chopping and stirring ground beef/veggies in the skillet.
- Once you are done adding all the veggies and onions have become translucent, then you can start seasoning the mix. Add salt, pepper, paprika, cumin and sliced olives. At this point I also add bay leaves. Continue stirring.
- Add tomato paste and some olive brine (about same volume as olives). Keep in mind that brine is salty so you might need to adjust salt qty if you would like to add more brine. Stirr and mix everything together.
- Assess if you need to add water or broth. This depends a bit on how soft the vegetables you used were and how stew like you would like this dish to be. There are time I don't add anything if tomatoes were soft and there are times I have added about half a cup of broth or water. It's up to you.
- Taste that everything is cooked, lower heat, cover and let simmer for few minutes. Serve over rice or other side dishes as desired.
Notes
- You can do a little more or less ground beef than the recipe. Add more tomatoes, onions and pepper if you have less meat so you can supplement.
- This recipe is enough for 4 adult portions, however for a family of4 with kids I always have leftovers.
- You can peel the tomatoes if the tomato skin bothers you in meals, I don't remove it myself. It makes for easy and fast prep.