Salpicón (Nicaraguan Minced Meat) Recipe

This Nicaraguan beef dish can be as light or as buttery and crispy as you like.

Updated September 01, 2022

SalpicÃ³n, white rice, red kidney beans, and a slice of lime on a blue plate on a marble counter. — Serious Eats / Julia Estrada

Why It Works

Simmering the beef before chopping in a food processor with onion and bell pepper gives the dish a finely-minced texture without a meat grinder or laborious knife work.
The option to sauté the cooked and minced salpicón adds a crispy texture and a hint of browned-butter flavor.

It took months for my husband to feel comfortable having dinner with my family, but not for the reasons you would think. Nicaragua is a tiny country and it seems that you either know or are related to absolutely everyone. Everybody is a busybody, and there is nothing hidden between earth and sky. So, when we started dating, my husband and I had been in each other's lives at least peripherally our entire lives. He should have been at ease when he sat down with my mom, dad, and three younger siblings. But he wasn't.

My mother was the perfect hostess, my dad played the part of let's-talk-man-to-man-but-if-you-so-much-as-lay-a-finger-on-my-muchachita, my princesa-I'll-shoot-you-and-feed-you-to-the-sharks-in-el-lago, and my brothers stuck to toilet humor—the usual antics. What freaked my husband out was how lax the dinner rules were. You want pancakes? Gallopinto? Steak? A grilled cheese sandwich? There were options to rival a restaurant menu. He didn't understand how this was possible and tried to hide his shock and awe behind quiet politeness, saying he'd have what everyone else was having. Eventually he gave up, realizing everyone was having a different thing, and started eating (effectively gaining 15 or so pounds in the first few months of our noviazgo).

Salpicón is a traditional dish in Nicaragua, simply made by simmering cubes of lean beef in water with onions, green bell peppers, garlic, salt, and black peppercorns. Once cooked through, the vegetables are tossed out with the broth and the beef is finely chopped with fresh onions and bell peppers, then finished off with a squeeze of lime juice. It's a rather healthy dish, especially when compared to many of our other national favorites that just love being submerged in sizzling lard or oil.

Typically, salpicón is served with white rice and the small red kidney beans particular to our region. The beans are commonly served with some of the broth they were cooked in, so the combination of all three items becomes a mixed up, mushy mélange that, though unattractive, is as homey as home-cooked gets.

Back to the odd manner of eating at my house: Salpicón is served warm as soon as it's made. In this stage, it is slightly steamy and moist, and, though fine, some people (myself included) prefer it to be a little more on the crisp side. Naturally, at home, three variations of salpicón were offered: freshly made, sautéed in butter (the accompanying recipe offers a how-to on the buttered salpicón), and, for those who preferred their salpicón to be like aserrín (sawdust), sautéed, re-processed in the food processor, and fried to a dark golden brown. Most homes will offer one of these, according to the cook's prerogative, but come to my house and you can order yours however you like. Or you could just have a bowl of cereal...

August 2012

Recipe Details

Salpicón (Nicaraguan Minced Meat) Recipe

Prep 10 mins

Cook 45 mins

Active 30 mins

Total 55 mins

Serves 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

2 pounds (900g) beef round, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
1 large green bell pepper (7 ounces; 200g), cored, seeded, and cut into 1-inch pieces, divided
1 large white or yellow onion (8 ounces; 225g), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces, divided
2 teaspoons (6g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt, divided, plus more to taste; for table salt, use half as much by volume or the same weight
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
4 medium garlic cloves (20g), peeled and smashed
1 lime, halved
4 tablespoons (2 ounces; 60g) unsalted butter (optional)

Directions

In a large pot, combine beef, half of the bell pepper, half of the onion, salt, peppercorns, and garlic. Add enough cold water to cover ingredients by 2 inches. Bring mixture to boil over medium-high heat, then immediately reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until beef is cooked through, about 15 minutes.
Serious Eats / Julia Estrada
Strain beef mixture through a fine-mesh strainer set over a large heatproof bowl; remove and discard bell pepper, onion, peppercorns, and garlic and discard liquid. Allow beef to cool for 10 minutes.
Serious Eats / Julia Estrada
In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, combine half of the beef, half of the remaining bell pepper, and half of the remaining onion and pulse until mixture is finely chopped. Transfer to large mixing bowl and repeat with remaining beef, bell pepper, and onion. Squeeze lime over beef and toss to combine. Season with salt to taste.
Serious Eats / Julia Estrada
Salpicón may be served immediately or toasted slightly in a skillet. To toast in a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add beef and cook, stirring, until beef is beginning to crisp and dry out, about 15 minutes. Serve right away with white rice and small red kidney beans, or gallopinto.
Serious Eats / Julia Estrada

Special Equipment

Large pot, strainer, food processor, large mixing bowl, large skillet (optional)

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
323	Calories
14g	Fat
4g	Carbs
47g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4 to 6
Amount per serving
Calories	323
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 14g	18%
Saturated Fat 5g	26%
Cholesterol 136mg	45%
Sodium 451mg	20%
Total Carbohydrate 4g	1%
Dietary Fiber 1g	2%
Total Sugars 1g
Protein 47g
Vitamin C 11mg	56%
Calcium 22mg	2%
Iron 4mg	22%
Potassium 444mg	9%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.