Cuban Picadillo With Potatoes, Olives, Raisins & Mucho Seasoning
- November 2020
- By Ana Osadzinski (Colet)
- Recipe from Cuba
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- (14)

This hearty Cuban beef picadillo family recipe is a favorite family recipe submitted by Ana Osadzinski (Colet), a Cuba-born grandmother. She married a chef of Polish family heritage (“He’s a great chef, he taught me so much,” she says) and lives just outside of Chicago with lots of family around. What goes on the table for their familia meals is muy importante to this family of good cooks, as you might expect.
Ana was born in Bayamo in Cuba’s Oriente province and moved to the States when she was 14. Her mother taught her to cook. And you know Ana is a good Cubana because: “I love garlic,” she says. “I put it in everything.” Garlic adds bold flavor to help make up for the low-salt approach she brings to her cooking, for health reasons. You may want to add more salt than she calls for in her recipe, she advises. Also for health reasons, Ana says she’ll often make her picadillo ground meat half beef, half turkey, but adds that if you go the turkey route, be sure to use extra seasoning to make up for its blander flavor.
You see the pattern, right? Lots of seasoning is key to Ana’s delicious cooking. As you’ll see throughout her picadillo recipe, Ana sprinkles in spices at just about every step.
Ana advises serving this picadillo with white rice and a side of plantain maduros. When it comes to rice, she and her husband the chef disagree: “I like it to the side, but my husband likes his picadillo right on top, to catch all the juices.”
But the way her kids like to eat this dish most is accompanied by a side of another classic Cuban plato her mother taught her back in Bayamo. “‘Ay, Mami, make us your yuca con mojo’ they’ll always ask when I serve them picadillo,” Ana reports, delighted. So, she does.
Ready to Make Ana’s Family-Famous Cuban Picadillo?
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Suggestions and questions from our readers
My mom is making this picadillo this weekend. She is really excited: picadillo is one of her favorite foods. She’ll use all turkey meat, though.
I’ve had this exact dish made by Ana Osadzinski and it is phenomenal… HIGHLY RECOMMEND
This is an easy and tasty recipe! Leftovers are great for making empanadas.
Picadillo with scrambled eggs?! 🧐