Ground Beef Tamales (tamales de picadillo)

Those ground beef tamales are generously filled with a delicious meat and vegetables mixture flavored in a chili sauce. Super fluffy and moist, those warm tamales are perfect to serve at any gathering pairing with a traditional champurrado or cafe de olla.

this recipe

What are beef tamales?

This recipe is a delicious version of the famous Mexican tamales. The dough is almost the same as used in red pork tamales but the difference resides in the filling. Ground beef tamales are made with a mixture of ground beef and vegetables simmered in a flavorsome red guajillo sauce.

In Mexico you’ll find those types of tamales with the name of tamales de picadillo. The recipe might vary from state to state and from family to family, some use guajillo peppers to make the sauce, some uses also tomatoes, while others uses a mix of different dried chilies.

In my family, my grandma Elvira used to make this recipe using olives, raisins and pine nuts, specially if she was making beef tamales for Christmas, as she will use the turkey stuffing leftovers to make some tamales aswell, something many families do.

The Step By Step Recipe

Make the filling

Clean the guajillo chilies discarding first the stems, then cut them with scissors longwise and remove the seeds. Place chilies in a bowl and cover with boiling water from 20 to 30 minutes.

After the resting time and when chilies are very soft, add them to a blender with garlic, cumin seeds, peppercorns, and oregano. Add 1 cup of water and blend until smooth. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve into a bowl and set aside.

Heat oil in a medium pan, add the onion and sauté for 1 minute. Now, add the meat and cook, breaking it with the back of a spoon, until browned (about 10 minutes).

Add carrots, potatoes, peas and olives, then mix to combine.

Pour in the guajillo sauce and add about 1 teaspoon of salt. Add 1 1/2 cups of water, mix well and bring to a boil.

Cook for 10 minutes over medium-high heat or until vegetables are almost cooked through. Rise the heat to high and allow the liquids to evaporate (about 5 minutes). Adjust with salt, remove from heat and allow to cool down.

Make the dough

Place lard in a mixer bowl and add 1 tsp of salt. Mix at high until lard will become smooth and puffy. NOTE: If you using vegetable oil, you can add it with masa harina and beef stock altogether.

Add masa harina, then set the mixer to the lowest and add beef stock slowly while mixing until both are fully incorporated with the lard. Adjust salt to taste and mix at high for 2 more minutes to achieve an airy dough.

Make tamales

Drain the corn husks and pat them dry with a kitchen towel. Use two husks to make the strips needed to tie tamales.

Place a generous scoop of tamales dough in the middle of a husk and spread it well.

Spoon in the beef mixture, be generous, we want tamales to have lots of filling.

Now fold the husk to cover the filling and secure the dough and filling inside.

Next, take the narrow end of the husk and fold it towards the center, as in the picture below.

Last, with the strips you made before, tie the tamal but make sure is not too tight as tamales will puff while cooking.

Repeat all steps until all dough is used. TIP: If you end with some picadillo filling leftovers, don’t worry! You can make our delicious sopes de picadillo or serve beef tamales with more filling as topping.

Cook

Prepare your steamer or large stock pot with a steamer basket/rack and add water just before it touches the basket. Place beef tamales in layers, or you can also arrange them standing up.

Bring the water in the steamer to a boil, cover the pot and cook the tamales for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, checking occasionally and adding more water when is needed.

How To Store Tamales

Ground beef tamales leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days in an airtight container or in the freezer, wrapped in cling film (with the husks on) for up to 3 months.

How To Reheat Tamales

• Microwave: Unrwap the tamales and reheat in the microwave in 1 minute intervals until heated up.
• Stove top: Heat a little bit of oil in a non-stick pan and heat tamales until slightly crispy on the outside.
• Steamer: By far the best way to reheat tamales is using the same steamer where you cook them. Don’t need to unwrap, just place tamales and heat them up for about 10 minutes.
• Grill or griddle pan: Place them with the husks on until the husks have charred marks and tamales are heated through.

Watch How To Make Tamales de Picadillo

Looking for more tamales recipes?

If you loved this recipe, why not try a sweet version of this traditional Mexican dish? Pineapple tamales and Sweet corn tamales are just as amazing good and easy to make.

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