Beef Picadillo de Chayote- Costa Rica

This ground beef picadillo de chayote is a simple and healthy Costa Rican side dish recipe that combines lean ground beef, squash, cilantro, corn, and red pepper for a quick meal or a healthy side dish.

About Beef Picadillo de Chayote

This recipe is a very popular recipe in the Central Valley of Costa Rica as part of a casado. If you visit small restaurants or roadside buffets (called sodas in Costa Rica) you will often see this picadillo as part of the menu. It’s a little Costa Rican comfort food!

The star of the recipe is the chayote, which is a small green summer squash used in this picadillo and in the Costa Rican vegetable beef soup. You will often find three variations of this dish, either with a cream-based sauce (vegetarian), with a broth-based sauce (vegan) or this version with ground beef. Once in a blue moon, you might see this dish with Costa Rican shredded beef. This is a gluten-free recipe.

This dish is meant to be served as part of the larger Costa Rican casado meal- adding meat, white rice, black beans, fried plantains and a salad. However, at our house, we just eat it with rice and black beans or I throw it inside some Costa Rican tortillas and eat as a light snack. 

Ground Beef Picadillo de Chayote Recipe

Ingredients: 

• 2 chayote squash, cut into cubes
• 1/2 lb lean ground beef, browned and drained
• 1/2 can sweet corn, drained
• 1/2 tbsp butter
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/8 cup yellow onion, finely diced
• 1/8 cup cilantro, finely diced
• 1/8 cup red bell pepper, finely diced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbsp Maggi chicken boullion base

Instructions:

In a large saucepan, melt the butter on medium-high heat. Add onion, pepper, and garlic, and saute until the onion is transparent. Add the chayote and cook, covered, until just tender. Stir this frequently or the chayote has a tendency to burn at the bottom of the pan.

While the chayote is cooking, stir the bullion base into the water until combined. Add the water and bouillon mixture to the pan and bring to a simmer. Add ground beef, corn, and salt. Heat thoroughly. 

About 1 minute before the picadillo is done, stir in the cilantro. You want to keep the fresh flavor of the raw cilantro. Serve as desired.

More of our Popular Costa Rican Recipes:

• Costa Rican Arroz con Pollo Recipe
• Picadillo with carrots and green beans
• Costa Rican Empanada Recipes
• Costa Rican Tres Leches Recipe

Substitutions

I often use homemade chicken stock in place of the bullion mixed with water. 

You can also use fresh corn from the cob in place of canned corn- so delicious. 

You could use ground turkey in place of ground beef.

Variations

Some regions in Costa Rica use shredded beef in place of ground beef- this is much less common. If using shredded beef, use this Costa Rican Shredded Beef Recipe.

You can make a vegetarian version of this recipe with a milk base instead of a broth base. It’s creamy, delicious and one of my favorite Costa Rican vegetarian meals ever. You can find that recipe here- Picadillo de Chayote En Leche.

Finally, there is a vegan version of this recipe that omits the beef (obviously) and uses a vegetable stock or bullion place of the poultry stock.

Sometimes you see this with potatoes- just cube the potatoes and boil them separately. Add the potatoes at the end just before the cilantro.

Related post: Ground Beef Picadillo with Green Beans and Carrots

Serving Suggestions

Serve the picadillo with Costa Rican white rice and Costa Rican black beans. 

You can also make a casado plate and this can be the picadillo that accompanies the Costa Rican rice, the black beans, the plantains and protein. Perfectly pura vida.

You can also serve this as a gallo by placing a bit of the picadillo in the middle of a homemade corn tortilla and eating it with a cup of coffee or agua dulce as a snack. 

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Ground Beef Picadillo de Chayote

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This ground beef picadillo de chayote is a healthy Blue Zones recipe from Costa Rica that combines lean ground beef, squash, cilantro, corn and red pepper for a quick meal or a healthy side dish.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 chayote squash, cut into cubes
• 1/2 lb lean ground beef, browned and drained
• 1/2 can sweet corn, drained
• 1/2 tbsp butter
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/8 cup yellow onion, finely diced
• 1/8 cup cilantro, finely diced
• 1/8 cup red bell pepper, finely diced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbsp chicken bullion base

Instructions

1. In a large saucepan, melt the butter on medium-high heat.
2. Add onion, pepper, and garlic and saute until the onion is transparent.
3. Add the chayote and cook, covered, until just tender.
4. Stir this frequently or the chayote has a tendency to burn at the bottom of the pan.
5. While chayote is cooking, stir the bullion base into the water until combined.
6. Add the water and bouillon mixture to the pan and bring to a simmer.
7. Add ground beef, corn and salt. Heat thoroughly. 
8. About 1 minute before the picadillo is done, stir in the cilantro. You want to keep the fresh flavor of the raw cilantro. Serve as desired.

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