Picadillo is a spicy Latin American meat dish often served as a stuffing in chilies, taco filling, or served with rice. I nabbed this recipe from my friend Heidi H’s recipe collection one day because it looked intriguing. What a keeper! Lots of flavor and in the time it takes you to cook the rice, the dish will be done.
Pork Mango Picadillo Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground pork (can substitute ground turkey, but add a bit of oil to the pan when cooking)
- 1/3 cup thinly sliced onions
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
- 1 cup of chunky, tomato-based salsa (prepared or homemade)
- 1 mango, peeled, pitted, cubed
- 2 Tbsp toasted almonds, chopped
- 2 Tbsp cilantro leaves
- Hot cooked white or yellow rice
Method
1 Heat a large skillet on medium high. Add small chunks of ground pork to the pan, not stirring, so that the meat has a chance to brown. Once one side is nicely browned, use a spatula to flip the pieces to the other side, again stirring as little as possible. Once you have some nice browning, you can stir and cook the pork all pieces are cooked through and no longer pink. Drain off any fat in excess of a tablespoon.
2 Lower the heat to medium. Stir in the onions, garlic, cinamon, coriander, cumin, oregano, and thyme. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes more. Gently stir in salsa and mango pieces.
3 Lower the heat to low. Cover and heat through, about 2 minutes. Spoon into serving dish. Sprinkle with chopped almonds and cilantro.
Serve with hot cooked rice.
Yield: Serves 4.
I found this recipe easy to make with an intriguing blend of flavors to enhance the pork. This recipe is a keeper.
Just wanted to thank you for this recipe. We made it again last night (our third time or so) and were impressed by the easy, tasty results. Your site is a treasure — keep up the good work!
I thought the picture made the dish looks really yummy and a little Chinese?
I can’t wait to try it… just love mango.
What a great looking recipe. I’ve had mango with chicken, but never with pork.
Great recipe:)
It sounds delicious Elise. I’m saving the recipe for our mango season.
Mmm…sounds delicious and easy to dish it up. Will definitely try it out.
I’m getting a vision…yes, yes…becoming clearer…almost there…Eureka! I’ve got it!
Pork Mango Picadillo Empanadas. Brilliant.
I love converting entrees to appetizers. I also like long walks on the beach and deep conversations. Wait – wrong website.
Now, to work on the dipping sauce…
Elise, I think this sounds like a brilliant combination. (Also Jonathan might be on to something there with the idea to use it as an empanada filling.)
I know mango is central to this dish, so this is silly question, but I’m allergic. can you suggest a substitute fruit?
Sure, try apricots. ~Elise
Do I have to use it as a filling or can I just bathe in it?
Hi Elise
New twist on ground pork, I use ground pork to make Italian sausage. I not a fan of fruit in meat dishes but this dish looks tasty enough to try.
My mother loves Picadillo…and mango…I have a feeling she’ll be requesting me to make this very soon!
For the person with the mango allergy, we had it with small pineapple chunks tonight instead of the mango. Tasty.
This is on my stove right now, waiting for the rice to finish, and it smells SO GOOD.
Pork and mango are a perfect combo. What about adding some red onions? Delicious.
or peaches, instead of mango, pineapple, or apricot
Hi Elise!
This recipe was a hit last night. First picadillo I’ve ever made or tasted, and we really liked it. I now try to make about one new recipe a week to change things up, and they almost always come from your site!
We made this last night and everyone loved it. We tripled the recipe and it was demolished! It was fast, easy and delicious! Thank you for sharing it!
I made this dish tonight. It is so delicious and flavorful. It will definitely be a keeper. Thanks Elise!
We only have philippine mangoes here. Would it be alright to use it, considering these mangoes taste completely different from the mangoes you have in the US?
Well, since you can make this picadillo with other fruit, you should be able to use a different kind of mango. Try it and see! ~Elise
Well i tried this, had everything, followed the recipe……tried it once, will not again.
It was interesting, had a flavor that was unusual, but just not for me…..
Oh, I’m totally making this. :) (hi!)
Hey, this sounds great. Just this morning, as I ate a delicious mango for breakfast, I thought, I need to cook up something involving mango.
And then I saw this post. :) Thanks.
We tried this with medium hot peach salsa and it was really good. For the person who can’t eat mangoes, I think peaches or nectarines might be a good substitute. A keeper. And it really does cook quicker than the rice.
This was so good! I kind of changed up the recipe a lot though. I used ground chicken instead of pork and used the suggestion to add oil. I also used fresh chopped pineapple instead of mangoes and I didn’t have thyme so I added poultry seasoning instead. I also browned the onions and fruit first so they would get nice and caramelized. When I was done, it still felt like it needed something, so I threw in some cayenne, brown sugar, and a few squirts of honey. I think the honey really brought out th sweet caramelized fruit flavor.Yummy! I hoped I would have some leftovers I could eat tomorrow but we practically licked the pan it was so good!
Next time I make this I will try adding some thai basil instead of oregano since this dish reminded me of thai food.
Thanks for the fabulous recipe! I made it with a few tweaks (added some cayenne, a little less thyme, and a little of the leftover roast chicken we had in the fridge) but essentially the same and we all loved it. My six-year-old asked that in the future I make it at least once a week. I served it (rice and picadillo) over a bed of spinach and it made the perfect one bowl meal. Thank you!
Elise,
The hardest part was peeling and cutting the mango. The best part was the flavor and fragrance of the cilantro. I fixed a few plan-over meals and I will need to convince my husband that one of them is mine. Thanks for the great recipes.
This was delicious when I made it, but depending on the salsa used, may need the addition of an acid to round out the flavors. I used a touch of white wine vinegar, and it was perfect! I’ll be making this again. Thanks.
This recipe is amazing! As a variation, from our previous night’s BBQ pork tenderloin dinner, we used cubed tenderloin and it worked fantastically well in place of the ground pork!
What a delightful meal! I had a perfectly ripe mango and decided to try it with this recipe and I’m so glad I did. I used a peach and pineapple salsa which complemented it nicely and served it over quinoa. I didn’t have ground pork, but used lean ground turkey and a hot Italian turkey sausage link (casing removed). Turned out beautifully. I’ll definitely make this again!
I have made this delicious recipe numerous times with ground pork, and decided to try it with ground chicken. It was terrific! Also, if you don’t have a ripe mango on hand, the canned kind actually works just fine.
Elise, I have tried all the mango recipes(except the sorbet) in your blog and love this one best! This recipe is so easy and the taste is out of the world! Followed recipe to the T but left out the almond and cilantro as I didn’t have them. Highly recommended!! I am looking forward to more mango recipe creations.
Elise, can I use frozen mango chunks in this recipe?
Good question. I think if you let them defrost first, then yes, you could use them. Haven’t tried it though. ~Elise
Wow, what a great recipe! So easy to make and so flavourful! We all loved it