Savor Costa Rican comfort food with this easy Picadillo de Papa recipe! Tender beef, seasoned potatoes, and fresh tortillas create the perfect family meal.

Get ready for meat and potatoes the Costa Rican way! This potato and shredded beef picadillo is a Costa Rican culinary staple and a crowd favorite.

About This Costa Rican Picadillo de Papa Recipe

Costa Rica is well known for its picadillos, and with good reason! Traditionally made with diced vegetables, meat, and spices, picadillos are a beloved staple of Costa Rican cuisine.  Picadillo is usually served with homemade corn tortillas or alongside a Costa Rican casado.

These tasty hashes are very versatile and can involve whatever vegetables and meats that might be available at the time. One of the most popular picadillos is called picadillo de papa, or “potato picadillo” in English. 

In order to make this recipe, I decided to combine two old favorites: my earlier recipes for Costa Rican-style boiled potatoes and shredded beef, respectively. These two recipes are delicious on their own, but combined? A whole new world of flavor! 

This makes a huge batch of picadillo de papa, so you’ll have plenty of leftovers for dinners to come!

Picadillo de Papa Costa Rica Recipe

Ingredients: 

For the potatoes:
1 pound of white potatoes
4–5 cups water
1 tablespoon chicken bouillon (Maggi)
2–3 tablespoons vegetable oil
¼ cup finely chopped white or yellow onion
¼ cup finely chopped red pepper
¼ cup finely chopped cilantro leaves and stems
2 garlic cloves, pressed
Salt to taste

For the meat:
3 pounds flank steak
1–2 tablespoons salt (see notes)
1–2 tablespoons chicken bouillon
1–2 tablespoons soy sauce
½ red pepper, roughly chopped
½ white onion, roughly chopped
½ bunch cilantro, with stems, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic
2–3 tablespoons Salsa Lizano
6–8 cups water (see notes)

Instructions:

For the potatoes

Roughly chop the potatoes into evenly sized pieces. Place them in a medium saucepan or stockpot and cover with water. Stir in the Maggi seasoning. Bring everything to a boil and boil until potatoes are fork-tender.

While the potatoes are boiling, you can make your sofrito. Heat oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add the onion, pepper, cilantro, and garlic and cook on medium heat until the onion is translucent and the red pepper has softened significantly.

Once the potatoes have cooked, drain all the water except about 1/2 cup.  Mash the potatoes with a fork or potato masher. You will roughly mash these potatoes- you want some small chunks of potato in there. This doesn’t really affect the flavor, but it’s the traditional texture of this recipe.

Add the potatoes to the sofrito and stir until evenly combined. You may need to add a bit more oil to the pan to keep the potatoes from sticking as you stir-fry. Check for salt, and serve!

For the meat

Place all the ingredients into the pressure cooker. (I use an electric pressure cooker like the Instant Pot.)  Cook on high pressure for 25 minutes. You can use the quick release or the natural release- I don’t think it matters, but I usually just let the pressure release on its own unless I’m in a hurry.

Remove the meat from the pressure cooker and set aside to cool slightly.

Strain the beef broth through a fine-mesh strainer and place in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. I usually put the broth in Ball jars or freeze it in plastic gallon bags for later. 

Shred the beef using two forks or your hands. True Costa Rican shredded beef is shredded very finely, so I use my hands for this.

To Make The Picadillo

Simply combine the potatoes and the meat in a skillet and heat thoroughly. The easiest way to make this recipe is to make the potatoes and meat ahead, and then just combine the two the day you want to serve the picadillo.

This recipe is almost always served on corn tortillas, and we like to make them ourselves for extra flavor. Here is my homemade corn tortilla recipe.

Related Recipes You’ll Love:

• Ground Beef Picadillo de Chayote
• Costa Rican Carrot and Green Bean Picadillo 
• Picadillo de Chayote

Substitutions

When you’re preparing your sofrito for the boiled potatoes, you can swap in butter or margarine for the oil. For seasoning the boiled potatoes, plain salt can be substituted for the Maggi chicken bouillon cubes. 

Though flank steak is the best option when it comes to preparing Costa Rican-style shredded beef, chuck, rump, and round roasts will also work in a pinch. 

Variations

Besides a pressure cooker, the shredded beef can be prepared using both a slow cooker and a crockpot instead. You can place all of your ingredients in either one and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 6-8 hours. Though slow cookers and crockpots might take a little longer, the end result will be just as tasty!

For the boiled potatoes, feel free to add chorizo, bell peppers, or chile dulce to fill out their flavor. 

The Mexican-style picadillo de papa is made with seasoned ground beef, and sometimes we do that in Costa Rica as well.

Serving Suggestions

Plate your picadillo de papa alongside some warm tortillas and top with a dollop of sour cream if desired. Costa Rican-style white rice and gallo pinto make excellent side dishes for this recipe! This is often served as part of the afternoon coffee tradition or at parties.

Of course, this is always served with Salsa Lizano!

Printable Recipe

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