Carne guisada is the ultimate Latin beef stew with chunks of tender beef simmered low and slow with vegetables and Puerto Rican flavors, easy and hearty! Includes a video recipe to see exactly how it's made.
What is Carne Guisada?
Carne guisada literally means “stewed meat,” and it’s a beloved Latin American comfort dish made with tender chunks of beef slowly simmered in a flavorful gravy.
Because it is popular across such a large region, you’ll find all sorts of variations from country to country and even kitchen to kitchen.
This version is a Puerto Rican Carne Guisada, loaded with all those enticing flavors. I've been making this for many years now, and it's always a big hit.
It’s very easy to customize to your own preferences, for a rich, hearty beef stew that’s perfect over rice, with beans, or piled into a comforting bowl all on its own.
Let me show you how to make carne guisada.
What You'll Love About My Recipe
- Bold, Authentic Flavors. My recipe captures the essence of traditional carne guisada with the perfect blend of Puerto Rican flavors - aromatic sofrito, savory spices, and tender beef.
- It's Very Customizable. You can make this dish with different cuts of stew beef, vegetables, and especially flavorful seasonings and ingredients to make it your own, including spice and heat levels. I'll show you how!
- Perfect for Any Occasion. This hearty, comforting dish is sure to impress and satisfy everyone's appetite, from casual family dinners to festive gatherings.
Featured Reader Comment
From Boo: "Ya did it again, knocked it out off the hook, the real deal. Oh, this was so very yummy, full of flavor, scrumptious with the homemade tortillas, and Mexican rice and salsa made with avocado (your recipes of course). People wait for me to get to the parties with your recipes."
Key Ingredients
- Beef. Beef is the star of this dish, so choose cuts that love low and slow cooking. Well-marbled, tougher cuts with plenty of connective tissue break down beautifully into tender, flavorful bites. I prefer chuck steak or chuck roast, but beef round, shoulder, or any labeled “stew meat” all work well. Trim any large, hard pieces of fat, but leave some marbling for richness.
- Adobo Seasoning. A classic Latin American spice blend that brings salty, garlicky, savory flavor to the beef. It’s a quick way to build that “tastes-like-it’s-been-simmering-all-day” flavor.
- Aromatics & Sofrito. Onion, green bell pepper, homemade sofrito, and garlic form the flavor base of the stew. You can swap in hotter peppers for more heat, and use fresh garlic or garlic powder.
- Sauce & Seasonings. Tomato sauce (or fresh roma tomatoes), dried oregano, bay leaves, achiote oil, olives, capers, and a bit of water or beef broth create the rich, savory gravy that defines carne guisada.
- Root Vegetables. Potatoes and carrots add body and make the stew extra hearty, though you can also work in other roots like turnip, parsnip, or rutabaga if you like.
How to Make Carne Guisada - the Recipe Method
- Trim beef into 1-inch cubes, pat dry, and season with adobo, salt, and pepper.
- Brown beef in oil over medium-high heat in batches - set aside.
- In the same pot, cook onion, peppers, and sofrito for 5 minutes.
- Add garlic and cook 1 more minute.
- Stir in oregano, salt, pepper, tomato sauce, water or broth, achiote oil, olives, capers, and bay leaves.
- Return beef to the pot, bring to a boil, then simmer 20-30 minutes.
- Add potatoes and carrots, bring to a boil again, then cover and simmer 30 minutes more, stirring occasionally, until meat is tender and sauce thickens.
Boom! Done! Time to serve up some of this outstanding Carne Guisada! It really is the ultimate beef stew recipe, so huge on flavor, very hearty, and very, very satisfying.
Recipe Tips & Notes
- The Beef. Tougher cuts of beef are ideal for this recipe, but you can make it with leaner cuts. You just won't need the longer simmering time. I recommend a good stew beef, though, as the resulting flavor and texture is unrivaled.
- Simmering Time. Simmer longer for more tender beef. Gauge the recipe based on the tenderness of the beef and the flavor, not time alone.
- Recipe Variations. There are many ways to make a great carne guisada beef stew recipe. This is a Puerto Rican version with lots of those wonderful flavors, like adobo seasoning and sofrito. However, you can make a Mexican version, Cuban version, Caribbean or any Latin American version with your favorite local seasonings and ingredients, like sweet raisins or peas.
- The Root Vegetables. Toss in other root vegetables, like sweet potatoes, rutabaga, squash and more.
- The Heat Factor. This is not meant to be a typical "hot and spicy" dish, though it is HUGE on flavor. It traditionally calls for milder peppers, though you can very easily add in hotter peppers.
That's it, my friends. I hope you enjoy your wonderfully hearty carne guisada. It's really hard to wrong with a good beef stew, especially with all those alluring Latin American flavors.
Let me know if you make it. I'd love to hear how it turned out for you. Keep it spicy!
Got any questions? Ask away! I’m happy to help. If you enjoy this recipe, I hope you’ll leave a comment with some STARS. Also, please share it on social media. Don’t forget to tag us at #ChiliPepperMadness. I’ll be sure to share! Thanks! — Mike H.
Carne Guisada Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 pounds beef roast use beef round of chuck steak
- 1 tablespoon adobo seasoning or more to taste
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 green bell pepper chopped (or use hotter peppers, if desired)
- ¼ cup sofrito
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 8 ounces tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon achiote oil
- ½ cup olives
- 1 tablespoon capers
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 pound potatoes cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 large carrot peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Trim the beef and cut it into 1-inch cubes. Dry the pieces with paper towels. Season the beef with adobo seasoning and salt and pepper.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot or Dutch oven to medium-high heat. Sear the beef in batches to brown all sides. Remove to a bowl or plate and set aside.
- Reduce heat to medium and add the onion, peppers and sofrito. Cook for 5 minutes to soften the vegetables.
- Add the garlic and cook another minute, until you can smell the gorgeous garlic blooming.
- Stir in the oregano, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, tomato sauce, water, achiote oil, olives, capers, bay leaves, and seared beef.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper.
- Add the potatoes and carrots. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat. Cover and simmer for another 30 minutes, or until the beef is fall apart tender. The liquid should reduce and concentrate.
- Serve!
Video
Notes
Serving Carne Guisada
Carne Guisada pairs perfectly with warm flour tortillas, Mexican rice and beans. Try it with pico de gallo, guacamole, or a tangy cabbage slaw for a lighter dish. Serve as-is in a bowl, or over rice. It's really good over grits. It's also perfect as a breakfast taco filling or for topping mashed potatoes. It's so good!Storage and Leftovers
Store any leftover carne guisada in airtight containers in the refrigerator. It will keep for up to 5 days. To enjoy again, warm it gently in a pot on the stove, covered. You can also freeze it. I freeze mine in airtight freezer containers. It reheats very nicely and will last a good 6 months in the freezer.Nutrition Information
This Recipe Is In our Cookbook - FLAVOR MADNESS
Did you know that you can find this recipe in our new cookbook FLAVOR MADNESS? It's waiting for you on PAGE 140.
NOTE: This recipe was updated on 3/12/25 to include new information. It was originally published on 12/7/20.
Viviana Castano says
So incredibly delicious!! It reminded me of my Latin childhood!
Mike H. says
I am really happy I was able to bring back those memories for you, Viviana. Enjoy the recipe!
Marilyn Hernandez says
love it. it was so good i made it twice
Mike Hultquist says
I love to hear it! Thanks, Marilyn!
Rachel says
Can I use Sazon Packets the powder instead of the Achiote Oil? Thanks
Mike Hultquist says
You can, Rachel, though the flavor is quite different.
LaVerne Whittle says
Followed the recipe exactly except for the salt. I found it salty enough without adding salt. We would prefer it spicier so would like ideas on how to spice it up.
Mike Hultquist says
LaVerne, I discuss way to make it spicier in the Recipe Tips and Notes section of the post, by incorporating hotter chilies and/or spices into the mix during the cook down process.
Cote says
When I say I followed this recipe to a T, I did. I excluded the olives because I don’t like them but everything else, down to the weight of the meat was spot on. This dish smelled incredible while cooking but I was disappointed after the first taste test because it was incredibly salty.
Between the salt in the adobo seasoning, tomato sauce, sofrito, capers and a full teaspoon of salt later called for in the recipe it was borderline inedible (and that’s without the olives!) and I’m a salty food lover! I added more water than the recipe called for because it was a little thick, more potato to help distribute the salt, added lime juice and put it over a bed of plain white rice. I will say underneath the salt the flavors were there and the cook times were spot on. I will most definitely try this again but probably eliminate the capers, use only a table spoon of soffrito and eliminate that teaspoon of salt.
Mike Hultquist says
Definitely adjust to taste for the next time. Cheers.
Julian Neagu says
Dude, taste and adjust... it's so simple...Try again and use some love...
Danielle Quinones says
Can this be done in the pressure cooker the instant pot?
Mike Hultquist says
You can, Danielle. I would recommend 45 minutes for pressure cooking after you've nicely seared the meat. Let me know how it turns out of you.
Karin Wright says
I made this yesterday for a Colombian family and they raved about how good it was. I had cooked it longer since I used stewing beef and did about 3 lbs. the vegetables I par boiled and ice bath and added them last 20 minutes.. also 3 carrots.
Mike Hultquist says
So great to hear, Karin! Glad they enjoyed it! I appreciate you sharing this! =)
Boo says
Chili Pepper guy, ya did it again, knocked it out off the hook, the real deal. Oh, this was so very yummy, full of flavor, scrumptious with the homemade tortillas. and Mexican rice and salsa made with avocado (your recipes of course). people wait for me to get to the parties with your recipes. I know I can count on your wonderful, tasty recipes, a hit all the time. My pals comet on the wonderful photography on your site, I agree, looks so good, know it's going to taste nice and spicy, juicy. Appreciate your suggestions and guidance, thanks for sending your recipes to your followers.
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks so much, Boo! I really appreciate the kind words. =)
Barbara says
It was very good. This is my second time making it. Thank you.
Mike Hultquist says
Nice! Glad you love it, Barbara!
Amy says
This looks amazing and I'm hoping to make it this week. Just one question...
Could you make this in the Instant Pot and if so, for how long would you recommend?
Mike Hultquist says
You can, Amy. I would recommend 45 minutes for pressure cooking after you've nicely seared the meat. Let me know how it turns out of you.
Scott Wenzel says
Can this be made in a crock pot?
Mike Hultquist says
Absolutely. Just move everything to the crock pot after you get a good sear on the meat and cook the onions, peppers, sofrito, and garlic. Cook on high about 3-4 hours, or low for 6-8 hours until the meat is super tender. Enjoy!
JC says
What is the best way to get a little more sauce from this recipe?
Mike Hultquist says
JC, add in a bit more tomato sauce and/or water (or stock).
Lisa Kelly says
This recipe looks amazing and I can't wait to try it. Sofrito is impossible to come by in Australia. I guess I could make my own but is there an easy substitute given it's only 1/4 cup. Green salsa and salsa verde are almost impossible to locate here too. It's very frustrating.
Many thanks!
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks, Lisa. Yes, it is MUCH easier to make on your own, and rather easy. Plus, you can customize it! Enjoy!