Tía Mona's picadillo from Amá: A Modern Tex-Mex Kitchen (page 66) by Josef Centeno and Betty Hallock

Where’s the full recipe - why can I only see the ingredients?

Accompaniments: Queso; Cascabel pimento cheese chiles rellenos; My favorite chalupas

Always check the publication for a full list of ingredients. An Eat Your Books index lists the main ingredients and does not include 'store-cupboard ingredients' (salt, pepper, oil, flour, etc.) - unless called for in significant quantity.

Notes about this recipe

  • Eat Your Books

    The listed dried chiles (for Amá spice mix) can be replaced with chile powder.

  • alliesunne on March 22, 2026

    This ingredient list is missing several items, such as yellow onion and garlic.

  • lholtzman on August 16, 2025

    I made this with vegetarian ground “beef” and it was excellent. We enjoyed in our tortillas and I loved this for breakfast with a fried egg on top.

  • mjes on August 28, 2021

    This is better than my old standard (from Lady Bird Johnson) but not the best I've tasted. But I do think the balance of meat to other ingredients is excellent.

  • pattyatbryce on March 01, 2021

    Very good. I prefer the chorizo, but this is better if you have people who want a less-spicy meat for some of the recipes in the book.

  • southerncooker on September 19, 2020

    I made this so I could freeze some to make Chalupas p. 210 and Breakfast Tacos p. 69. I tasted of it when it got done and it was really good. I used a mix of chili powder and Chipotle instead of the AMA spice.

  • Frenchfoodie on May 09, 2020

    Made with just one sub, a mix of regular chilli powder and chipotle flakes for the ama spice mix. It came together quickly and was relatively flavourful but not so good I’d rush back. I do like the book tip that this can be made and frozen then warmed up in a pan from frozen, would be a good standby with a bit more tinkering.

  • patioweather on March 18, 2020

    I made this with faux, vegetarian ground meat. We enjoyed it a lot, but we upped the amount of chile powder a lot because it was clear that 1 tsp was not enough.

  • kitchen_chick on November 20, 2019

    We found this surprisingly bland. Not in a bad way, but blander than we expected or wanted. I'll probably use other picadillo recipes in the future. For example, it calls for 1/4 of a jalapeno for the entire dish? Why bother adding any at all. (I used an entire jalapeno.) It definitely needs to be part of another dish. All the dried chiles listed in the ingredients are for the special chili spice blend that is a separate recipe. The recipe says you can substitute chili powder, though it may not be as flavorful. (Maybe that's why ours was bland.)

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