Picadillo for Empanadas. The picadillo is then used in empanadas or papa rellenos. Puerto Rican Picadillo: beef hash seasoned with sofrito. Great with rice, or as a filling for empanadas, papas rellenos and tacos!

Place on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Lightly coat tops of empanadas with cooking spray. This Cuban Picadillo recipe is my family's favorite! You can cook Picadillo for Empanadas using 12 ingredients and 5 steps. Here is how you achieve it.

Ingredients of Picadillo for Empanadas

Prepare 1 pound of ground beef (80/20 or 70/30 is fine - I wouldn't go much leaner than that).
You need 1/2 cup of finely chopped onion (the fine chop is important because you don't want large pieces tearing your pastry).
You need 1/2 cup of finely chopped bell pepper (you can use any color, but I like the red or orange because they're sweeter and look prettier in the filling).
You need 2 Tablespoons of minced garlic (3 to 4 medium cloves).
It's 1/4 cup of raisins.
You need 8 of green pitted olives, cut in thirds.
You need 3 oz. of tomato paste (basically half of one of those small cans).
You need 1 teaspoon of salt.
It's 1 teaspoon of cumin.
You need 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper.
You need 1 of bay leaf (or 1/2 teaspoon crushed bay).
It's of neutral oil.

This is a dish I grew up eating as a kid, and I always loved when my Mom was making it. This sweet and sour picadillo filling is a classic. The take 'em out of the freezer, stuff 'em and bake 'em, empanadas don't get any easier than this kind. Picadillo is a Cuban-style hash made with ground meat (beef or pork or both), olives, onions and sometimes potatoes as in this recipe.

Picadillo for Empanadas step by step

In a 10 or 12 inch pot or pan, sweat the onions, peppers and garlic in 1 Tablespoon of oil over medium low heat until the onions are translucent. This should take 3 to 4 minutes. (Sweating them requires a lower heat than saute, but this results in sweeter and softer vegetables which will also yield better to the dough. Plus the garlic won't burn even if you throw it in at the same time as the onions and peppers.).
Push the refrito to the side of the pan and add 1 Tablespoon of oil to the center. Give the oil about 10 seconds to heat up and then add your tomato paste right on top of it (this will caramelize the tomato and give it sweetness and depth), along with the cumin, black pepper, bay leaf and salt..
Stir to incorporate all the ingredients in the pan, and add the ground beef, spreading it evenly over the surface area of the pan. Because you're simmering the beef at a lower heat, you'll find that you don't have to constantly break up the beef as usually needed when cooking at high heat. Other than a light sizzle right when the meat hits the pan, it shouldn't be sizzling and/or actively bubbling. If it is, turn the heat down a touch..
Simmer the ground beef for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then stir in raisins and simmer another 1 or 2 minutes. (I like to add the raisins toward the end so they can retain their shape and texture. Also, if olives are your thing, this is where you'd add them.).
At the end, you'll see your picadillo swimming in a little puddle of fat. I drain the fat by pushing all the picadillo over to one side of the pan and resting that side on the burner so the fat can drain to the lower part of the pan. In about 10 minutes, most of the fat should be drained, and you haven't dirtied another dish in the process..

The name picadillo comes from the Spanish verb picar. This makes more than enough picadillo to fill the empanadas. The leftovers can be used for making Papas Rellenas, served over. Picadillo is a dish from Spain. It contains highly seasoned, slightly sweetened, ground fried meat.