Vegan Cuban Picadillo

I have a friend who has gone to the dark side and gone vegan 😉. I love cooking and don’t mind a challenge of trying to make a meat dish into plant based meat dish. We are both Hispanic, so decided I would try to make Cuban picadillo recipe, vegan. This is my first attempt at making this dish vegan. I would highly recommend Gardein “ground beef”, not only does it look like ground beef, the texture is incredibly close. I tweaked the recipe because real beef adds an Unami flavor and plant based meat I realize needs more seasoning to get a flavor profile similar to beef picadillo. All in all, I’m impressed with the turn out and my friend loved it. I saved some for my dad and he didn’t even know it was vegan. I hope you feel the same, Buen Apetito.

1 Pkg Gardein Plant based ground beef

1 can diced tomato

2 med. yellow potatoes 1/2 in. Diced

1 med. onion finely chopped

1 red pepper finely chopped

4 garlic minced

6 tbs olive oil

2 tbs tomato paste

1/2 cup white wine

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp oregano

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp blk pepper

3 tbs Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup olives

3 tbs olive brine

2 tbs capers

1/2 cup water

Finely chop onions and red pepper, mince garlic and dice potatoes to small 1/2 in. bite size pieces.

Heat 3 tbs olive oil in large pan over medium heat, saute onion and red peppers for 6 minutes

Add minced garlic, tomato paste, cumin, oregano, bay leaves, rest of olive oil, salt and pepper. Turn heat to med. high, cook for 2 minutes.

Add white wine and cook for 5 minutes.

Add bag of Gardein “beef”, can diced tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, olives with brine, capers, water and potatoes. Mix well, turn heat to medium, cover and cook till potatoes are done (25-35 minutes). Poke potatoes at 25 minutes mark to see they’re fully cooked, if not, you may have to add 1/4 cup water and cook longer till potatoes are done. Add more salt to taste if needed.

Once finished, I served with black beans and rice with slices of avocado. Can be just served with rice.

Also my friend made a Cuban/Mexican chili with the leftovers by adding chili powder, chipotle seasoning and a can of kidney beans. What a great idea for leftovers.

I hope you enjoy this recipe.🥰