Filipino Picadillo is a delicious, one-skillet dinner made with ground beef, potatoes, raisins and vegetables in flavorful sauce.
When my husband Jack and I decided to start sharing recipes here on A Family Feast (nearly four years ago!), so much of the inspiration behind our recipes came from our families. There really is nothing like an old family recipe – with its familiar tastes and smells – to bring someone back in time.
Today’s recipe – this delicious Filipino Picadillo – is a family recipe from our friend Virna. She was born and raised in the Philippines and later settled in the United States during medical school. Virna is a serious foodie herself – so when she raves about a dish like this Filipino Picadillo – both Jack and I take notice!
Virna grew up eating this Filipino Picadillo. It was a dish that her father cooked for their family often – and today, when Virna makes it for her own family, it brings back fond memories of her dad.
Many cultures have recipes for picadillo – each with their own unique differences. In the Philippines, picadillo (also called giniling which means ground meat) is made with ground beef, raisins, tomato sauce and diced potatoes, and we also added peas and carrots. It is served with white rice, savory fried plantains on the side, and a fried egg on top.
As Jack made this wonderful recipe to share here on A Family Feast – he consulted Virna all along the way to make sure we recreated an authentic Filipino Picadillo. (I hope we did the recipe proud Virna!)
This one pan skillet meal is great for a quick weeknight meal – and any leftovers reheat perfectly for a second meal the next day! Virna recommends eating this picadillo with a little hot sauce on top, but it’s equally delicious served on its own.
This post originally appeared on A Family Feast in September 2016. We’ve made some updates to the post and photos.
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PrintFilipino Picadillo
Filipino Picadillo is a delicious, one-skillet dinner made with ground beef, potatoes, raisins and vegetables in flavorful sauce.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
- Category: entree
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Filipion
Ingredients
2 cups uncooked white rice
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 1/2 cups yellow potatoes, peeled and diced into bite sized pieces (one pound)
2 cups carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch dice
1 1/2 cups onion, diced
1 tablespoon fresh garlic, minced
1 pound 80/20 ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 pound fresh plum or San Marzano tomatoes, seeded, corded and diced (alternatively, you could use a 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes with liquid)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup raisins
1 tablespoon fish sauce
3 tablespoons good quality soy sauce
1 teaspoon chili garlic paste
1 cup water
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
Fried egg for each serving
Tabasco sauce, served as a condiment
Instructions
- Begin cooking rice by adding twice as much water as rice to a pan or rice pot. Cook rice while preparing the dish.
- In a large skillet or sauté pan, over medium to medium high heat, place 2 tablespoons of olive oil and once shimmering, add potato and carrots.
- Fry this for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. They should start to brown and be just shy of tender. Remove these to a bowl with a slotted spoon but leave oil in pan.
- Add remaining tablespoon of oil and onion and sauté for three minutes.
- Add garlic and sauté for one minute.
- Add the ground beef and ground pork and sauté for about eight minutes or until browned.
- Make a hole in the center and add tomato paste and stir that for one minute.
- Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, raisins, fish sauce, soy sauce, chili garlic paste, water and reserved cooked potato and carrot mixture.
- Reduce heat to medium and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated.
- Add peas, stir and remove from heat.
- In a fry pan, fry enough sunny side or over easy eggs as needed for each dinner guest.
- Serve by placing cooked white rice in a serving bowl, top with the Picadillo then top with one fried egg on top of each portion.
- Serve with Tabasco on the side along with Savory Fried Plantains.
Easy to follow recipe. Ingredients are simple and preparation was quick. Left out the Patis for health reasons and still came out great!
Thank you Al!
Made this last night and it was yummy. I didn’t have any garlic paste, so I substituted it for ketchup & cayenne pepper. I also used beef broth instead of water and simmered for about 30 minutes.
Thanks Sheila!
Picadillo is the actual dish described here. Giniling is ground beef—not the dish here—simply ground beef. So, you can put giniling is spaghetti, omelets, etc. There is giniling in this dish, but this dish is picadillo. I hope that makes sense.
I was born and raised in San Francisco, but I grew up with my Filipino grandparents. I also lived in the Philippines for a few years when I was a kid.
Thanks Mel!
This homely dish opened the floodgates of childhood memories for me, & it was delicious! Thank you for sharing.
You’re very welcome!
My local shops do not carry fish sauce or chili garlic paste. Used chili powder and red pepper flakes. Came out great. Will be making this again when I can find all th3 ingredients.
Thanks Henry!
Delicious and very easy to make! I intensified the flavors a bit with more garlic, more fish sauce, more chili paste and a bit of hoisin sauce.
Great suggestions Jonathan!
My first time trying Philippine and I loved it. Living by myself made a little too much for one so I dispensed with the rice. Loved it, will do this time and time again I am sure, tweaking it a little here and there, but only a little.
Thanks Roger – glad you liked it!
Just made this. It was AMAZING! I used ground turkey instead of beef and pork to make it a little healthier. Thanks very much, this will become one of my regular dishes from now on.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Gregory!
How much is a serving in cups?
Hi Exequiel – We’ll have to do a cup measurement for you the next time we make this recipe – sorry I can’t say for sure off the top of my head.
This looks so yummy!!! While reading all the feedbacks of this recipe, this is already one of my top fave.
Thank you so much!
Hope you enjoy the recipe!