If you ever get bored with your ground beef rotation of recipes, try Instant Pot Picadillo for something different. What, you may ask, is Picadillo? It is similar to hash. It is made with ground beef, tomatoes (tomato sauce may be used as a substitute), and other ingredients that vary by region. It is often served with rice or used as a filling in dishes such as tacos, savory pastries or croquettes. The name comes from the Spanish word picar, which means “to mince” or “to chop”.
Instant Pot Picadillo
Thank you Wikipedia, for that concise definition. Now I will tell you mine. It is “What in the heck can I make with this ground beef tonight? I’m bored.” Then you cook that ground beef (ground turkey works well, too) with tomatoes, garlic, onion, green olives (or capers), some seasonings, and even raisins! It’s a hash, so anything goes, and there is no RIGHT way to make this!
The unexpected flavors of this pressure cooker Picadillo are sure to take you out of the boring ground beef recipes rut. The hints of salty/sweet are really nice!
You can use Instant Pot Picadillo as a filling for tacos, burritos, empanadas, or on tostadas. Picadillo is often served over rice, which is a good way to enjoy the juices that develop while cooking. Yum!
Instant Pot Picadillo comes together pretty fast, so it works well for a weeknight meal. You can even cook rice in a separate dish in the pot at the same time (Pot-in-Pot).
If you try this yummy Instant Pot recipe, drop me a line in the comments and let me know what you thought of it. I hope you enjoy this recipe!
Instant Pot Taco Soup
Instant Pot Cheesy Taco Pasta
Instant Pot Taco Pie
Instant Pot Mexican Stuffed Peppers
Instant Pot American Goulash
Instant Pot Picadillo is made with ground beef and lots of savory ingredients. Picadillo makes a great taco, or empanada filling, and is delicious over rice, too! Make this pressure cooker Picadillo today!
- 1 1/2 lbs Ground Beef (93% lean) or Ground Turkey
- 1 med Sweet Onion (or yellow onion)
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp Cumin
- 2 tsp Oregano (Mexican is best)
- 1 tsp Salt
- 4 cloves Garlic, pressed or minced
- 1 Jalapeño, seeded and diced
- 1 Red Bell Pepper, Chopped
- 1/2 cup Green Olives, sliced (you can also do half capers and half olives)
- 1 Tbsp Green Olive Juice (from jar)
- 2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
- 1/8-1/4 cup Raisins (golden or black)
- 1 14 oz can Diced Tomatoes (with juice)
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Turn on your pot's sauté setting. Add the ground beef and cook, stirring to break up the meat, until almost done (if using ground turkey, add 2 tsp olive oil to pot before adding turkey).
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Add the onion, bay leaves, cinnamon, cumin, and oregano, and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion starts to soften.
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Add garlic, jalapeño, and red bell pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, for a minute.
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Add green olives, olive juice, Worcestershire, and red wine vinegar. Stir together.
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Sprinkle raisins over the top, then pour the diced tomatoes evenly over the meat mixture. Do not stir.
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Cancel the Sauté function. Place the lid on the pot and lock it into position. Set the steam release knob to Sealing.
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Press the Pressure Cook/Manual button, or dial, and then the + or - to choose 7 minutes. High pressure.
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When the cook cycle ends, let the pot sit undisturbed for 5 minutes. Then Manually release the remaining steam/pressure until the pin in the lid drops down. Then open the lid and stir the picadillo.
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Taste and adjust salt, if desired.
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Serve over hot rice, or in tacos, burritos, etc.
Resources to Make This pressure cooker Picadillo Recipe and More
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Maria Moreno
So easy and amazing flavors! Also, it can be cooked with regular staples and doesn’t require involved specific shopping. I wasn’t sure about the vinegar plus the tomatoes without any sugar to neutralize it but trusted the recipe, followed it and the flavors all worked out like a magic. It turned out so well balanced and tasty!
Gaby
Dinner started with “wow, that smells amazing” and ended with an empty pot and five wide smiles. What a great recipe! I replaced the tomatoes with canned tomatoes because that’s what we had. It goes into the dinner rotations. Thanks!
Sandy
Yay! I’m so happy you all liked this recipe! It is not typical, and I really want people to discover it!
Laura Pentecost
My family loves ground beef recipes in the instant pot but I was tired of rotating through the same ones. This meal was excellent! I didn’t have green olives but I had kalamata so I followed the directions using those instead. I also completely forgot to put the bay leaves in but it turned out great anyway! I served over hot rice and dumped a bag of microwave corn on top of the servings. Delicious!
Nancy
First time trying any kind of Picadillo, and loved this one. Only thing is the ground beef came in 1 lb packs, so I used all of it, and increased all of the other ingredients. Would love to have this recipe start with 2 lbs ground beef, as there is plenty of room in the Instant Pot for it, and prepacked grnd beef often comes in 1lb packs. Very tasty!! Would do this one again.
Jennie
Thanks, Sandy, picadillo was a nice spin on “what to do with this ground beef?”
I tweaked it a bit to go with what was in my kitchen, but we all enjoyed the results. And next time I won’t be a coward, and WILL use the full 1/4 cup of raisins. 🙂
Cheers