Cuban-Style Turkey Picadillo with Sweet Potatoes is a super-flavorful skillet dinner perfect for a weeknight. Add a salad or green vegetable and you’ve got a healthy, well-balanced budget-friendly meal everyone will love!

Ground turkey in place of ground beef is a healthier choice when you’re trying to make improvements to your diet. However, it’s easy to get bored with it because of its lean nature.
That’s one of the reasons we love this Cuban-Style Turkey Picadillo with Sweet Potatoes!
Another reason we love it is it’s an easy dish to pull together with only a few fresh and raw ingredients with a number of pantry ingredients that you probably already have on hand so it’s budget-friendly.

What is Picadillo?
Picadillo is a traditional Latin American dish that’s typically made with ground meat, tomatoes or a tomato sauce, raisins and olives and other ingredients that vary by region. The name means “to mince” which is picar in Spanish.
Picadillo is also prevalent in the Philippines. In Mexico, picadillo is often used as a taco filling and in some countries, as a savory filling for pastries.
How to make Cuban-Style Picadillo with Sweet Potatoes:
- Gather together the fresh and raw ingredients:
- Lean ground turkey
- An onion
- A green bell pepper
- A sweet potato
- Garlic
- Cilantro for garnish (if desired)

- Gather the pantry ingredients:
- Olive oil
- Dry white wine
- Chicken broth
- Canned fire-roasted tomatoes
- Golden raisins
- A bay leaf
- Dried Mexican oregano (preferably)
- Ground cumin
- Green olives
- Capers
- Red wine vinegar (if needed so not pictured)
- Crushed red pepper flakes (if desired for some heat so not pictured)
- Salt and black pepper (if needed so not pictured)

- Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan or skillet and cook the onions and peppers until softened.

- Add the ground turkey and cook until it’s no longer pink.
- Add the white wine and bring to a boil.
- Let that cook down until it’s almost evaporated.

- Add the spices, chicken broth, tomatoes, raisins and sweet potatoes.
- Cook until the sweet potatoes are tender and easily pierced with a fork.

- Add the olives, capers, red wine vinegar if needed and crushed red pepper flakes if desired.
- And that’s it!

- Garnish with cilantro if desired.

Cuban-style picadillo is traditionally served with black beans and rice. However, we do a salad or green vegetable because of the addition of the sweet potatoes in this version so extra starch isn’t necessary.

Enjoy!
More ground turkey recipes you’ll love!
- Turkey, Black Bean and Quinoa Chili
- Easy Awesome Beer Turkey Meatballs + Review: 20-Minute Italian by Andrea Soranidis
- Turkey Apple Meatloaf with Balsamic Ketchup Glaze
- Skillet Turkey Pinto Bean Chili with Pepper Jack Biscuit Topping
- Turkish Turkey Meatball Lettuce Wraps with Tzatziki
- Spinach Feta Stuffed Turkey Meatloaf
- Layered Turkey Meatloaf with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
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Cuban-Style Turkey Picadillo with Sweet Potatoes

Cuban-Style Turkey Picadillo with Sweet Potatoes is a super-flavorful skillet dinner perfect for a weeknight. Add a salad or green vegetable and you've got a healthy, well-balanced meal everyone will love!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
- 1 pound lean ground turkey
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano, preferably Mexican
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 large bay leaf
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 can (14.5-ounce) diced fire-roasted tomatoes
- 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1/4 cup golden raisins
- 1/2 cup sliced green olives with pimento
- 1 tablespoon capers
- Splash of red wine vinegar or to taste (if needed)
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet or saute pan.
- Add the onion, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 4-5 minutes or until beginning to soften.
- Add the green bell pepper and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes or until beginning to soften.
- Add the ground turkey. Increase heat to medium-high and brown well, breaking up the meat into small pieces as you go until no longer pink.
- Add the salt, garlic, oregano, cumin and bay leaf. Stir to coat the turkey evenly with the seasonings.
- Add the wine. Bring to a boil and cook until the wine is almost evaporated.
- Add the chicken broth, tomatoes, sweet potatoes and raisins.
- Simmer 20-25 minutes or until liquid has reduced and sweet potatoes are tender.
- Add the olives, capers and heat through.
- Taste and add red wine vinegar if needed.
- Remove bay leaf.
- Add crushed red pepper flakes and freshly ground black pepper if desired.
Notes
Whether to add the red wine vinegar will depend upon the wine used and the acidity of the tomatoes.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 468Total Fat: 25gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 18gCholesterol: 119mgSodium: 1167mgCarbohydrates: 25gFiber: 5gSugar: 12gProtein: 34g
The nutritional information above is computer-generated and only an estimate. Please do your own research with the products you're using if you have a serious health issue or are following a specific diet.
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