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dinner
Ropa Vieja
Cuba's iconic national dish — long-braised beef flank steak shredded into tender strands and simmered in a richly seasoned tomato and pepper sofrito sauce.
⏱ 170 min🔥 420 kcalEasy
★4.8(1,534)
10 recipes using tomatoes — Ropa vieja, moros y cristianos, lechón — bold, slow-cooked Caribbean flavours.
These 10 cuban tomatoes recipes are ready in about 131 minutes on average, with 380–540 kcal per serving, and 50% are rated easy enough for a weeknight. Every recipe includes exact ingredient quantities, step-by-step instructions and full nutrition per serving.
Cuban cuisine — Ropa vieja, moros y cristianos, lechón — bold, slow-cooked Caribbean flavours — brings its own distinctive techniques and seasonings to every ingredient it touches. When Cuban cooks work with tomatoes, they reach for its own regional aromatics, fats and signature spice blends, and the techniques that come up most across these recipes are simmering, boiling, frying and braising.
Sweet-acidic fruit that forms the backbone of sauces, stews and salads across nearly every cuisine. In this collection it's most often cooked with olive oil, garlic, onion, ground cumin, dried oregano and green olives. The dishes here span cuban classics ready in as little as 40 minutes to slower, more involved cooking that rewards a relaxed afternoon.
Reader favourite: Cuban Ropa Vieja is the highest-rated dish in this collection at 4.9★ from 3,654 ratings.
Cuba's iconic national dish — long-braised beef flank steak shredded into tender strands and simmered in a richly seasoned tomato and pepper sofrito sauce.
Tender shredded flank steak braised in a rich sofrito of tomato, peppers, onion and olives — Cuba's national dish and one of the great slow-cooked beef preparations.
Spiced ground beef with tomatoes, olives, raisins and capers in a fragrant sofrito — Cuba's most versatile everyday dish, served with rice and beans.
Cuba's national dish — shredded flank steak braised until meltingly tender in a rich sauce of tomatoes, peppers, olives, and sofrito, served over rice and black beans.
Cuba's beloved spiced ground beef with olives, capers, and raisins in a rich tomato sauce — a true Cuban classic.
Cuba's national dish — slow-braised flank steak shredded into tender strands in a vibrant tomato, pepper and olive sauce.
Cuban spiced ground beef with olives, raisins and capers in a tomato sauce — served over white rice.
Cuba's national dish — shredded flank steak braised in tomato, pepper and olive sauce, eaten with rice and black beans.
Cuba's national dish — shredded flank steak braised with onion, bell pepper, tomato, olives, and capers in a deeply savory sofrito.
Cuba's national dish — flank steak slow-cooked then shredded into a deep, garlicky sofrito-and-tomato sauce with peppers, olives and capers, served over fluffy white rice with sweet plantains.
Ripe tomatoes smell fragrant at the stem and give slightly to a gentle squeeze. For cooking out of season, good-quality tinned tomatoes often beat pale fresh ones.
Store at room temperature, never the fridge, which kills their flavour and texture. Score and blanch to slip off skins; salting slices draws out excess water for salads.
A low-calorie source of vitamin C, potassium and the antioxidant lycopene — which actually becomes more available when tomatoes are cooked.
Most of these 10 Cuban tomatoes recipes are ready in around 131 minutes from start to finish. The quickest, Cuban Picadillo, takes about 40 minutes, while the slower-cooked dishes run up to 205 minutes.
Across this collection they range from about 380 to 540 kcal per serving, averaging 462 kcal — Cuban Picadillo is the lightest option at 380 kcal.
Ropa Vieja is a great place to start — it's rated easy and comes together in about 170 minutes. 50% of the recipes here are beginner-friendly.
In these recipes, tomatoes is most often paired with olive oil, garlic, onion, ground cumin, dried oregano and green olives. Cuban kitchens also lean on its own regional aromatics, fats and signature spice blends.