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.
16 recipes using tomatoes — Ropa vieja, moros y cristianos, lechón — bold, slow-cooked Caribbean flavours.
These 16 cuban tomatoes recipes are ready in about 100 minutes on average, with 150–540 kcal per serving, and 44% 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 bell pepper. The dishes here span cuban classics ready in as little as 15 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.
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.
A tangy tamarind-lime spin on Cuban picadillo, the sweet-savory ground meat stew built for spooning over rice.
Bell peppers stuffed with a spiced ground beef, rice and tomato filling, based on ajies rellenos, a Cuban home-cooking classic.
Mushrooms roasted in a smoky tomato-garlic sauce, a coastal-style starter built on Cuba's love of sofrito and smoked paprika.
Cumin-and-oregano beef meatballs simmered in a charred-lemon tomato sauce until they soak up all the sofrito flavor.
A crisp Cuban chopped salad of avocado, tomato and radish tossed in a citrus-yogurt dressing instead of the usual straight vinaigrette.
Shrimp simmered into saffron-orange rice with peppers, tomato and a gentle chile kick.
Slow-shredded beef in a smoky tomato-pepper sauce, baked into a comforting family casserole.
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 16 Cuban tomatoes recipes are ready in around 100 minutes from start to finish. The quickest, Ensalada Cubana con Cítricos y Yogur (Citrus Yogurt Chopped Salad), takes about 15 minutes, while the slower-cooked dishes run up to 205 minutes.
Across this collection they range from about 150 to 540 kcal per serving, averaging 413 kcal — Cuban Coastal Smoky Tomato-Roasted Mushrooms is the lightest option at 150 kcal.
Ropa Vieja is a great place to start — it's rated easy and comes together in about 170 minutes. 44% 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 bell pepper. Cuban kitchens also lean on its own regional aromatics, fats and signature spice blends.
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