Picadillo is a traditional Cuban dish that brings together ground beef with raisins, onions, olives and tomato. It’s essentially a quick chili that has countless variations and tons of great flavor. While there are many different versions of picadillo out there, my version is vegan, thanks to Beyond Ground Beef.
This recipe is so simple, yet tastes as if you spent all day cooking it. It took me about 40 minutes total from start to finish to complete this recipe, and to make it even easier, I served mine over some microwaveable brown rice.
This is probably one of my favorite recipes to make. The flavors all meld so seamlessly together, and it is SO easy to throw together. Besides brown rice, you could also serve this in stuffed peppers, or even in a taco or quesadilla. Who doesn’t love an extremely versatile recipe?
Vegan Picadillo
Author: The Lean Clean Eating Machine
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 small sweet onion; chopped
- 1 large red bell pepper; seeds and stem removed, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves; smashed and minced
- 1 package Beyond Ground Beef
- 1/2 cup pitted green olives; sliced
- 1/3 cup raisins
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 1/4 cup vegan Worcestershire sauce
- 14-ounces canned tomato sauce
- 3/4 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
- Salt to taste
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
- Brown rice for serving (I used the microwavable bag from Trader Joe’s. One bag is 2 cups cooked)
Instructions:
- In a large, deep skillet, heat the olive oil until shimmering.
- Add in the cumin seeds and cook over moderate heat until fragrant, or about 30 seconds.
- Add in your prepared onion and red bell pepper and cook until softened, or about 5 minutes. Add in garlic and sauté until fragrant, or about 30 seconds.
- Add in the Beyond Ground Beef, sliced olives, raisins and oregano and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon until no longer pink. This will take about 6 minutes.
- Add in the vegan Worcestershire sauce, tomato sauce and vegetable broth and season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.
- Serve with brown rice.
- Refrigerate for up to 3 days.