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Cuban Shredded beef or Ropa Vieja can be made in the slow cooker or instant pot! We sear the meat and then braise it for hours with onions, garlic, and spices until the meat is just falling apart tender. Serve this Ropa Vieja recipe with avocados, black beans, and rice!
Ropa Vieja is one delish Cuban dish!
And a lot fancier sounding than the amount of energy actually required to make this dish.
Because let’s face it, we’re talking about a quick sear on the meat and into the slow cooker or instant pot it goes! Out comes braised, cuban shredded beef that is falling apart tender and delicious with rice, on tacos, and even with eggs and black beans for breakfast. Or maybe mixed in with migas.
This recipe is a dream for chilly evenings in the fall.
Warm, cozy, comforting, meaty, and saucy. The tomato sauce seasoned with oregano, cumin, and garlic adds such a nice balanced warmth to the dish. Plus there’s the whole thing about not having to turn on the oven and just a quick 10 minutes of stovetop.
If you’re making this in a a pressure cooker, you don’t even have to turn on the stove. Just sear the beef on the saute setting before setting it to pressure cook. It’s a cozy bowl served with smashed sweet plantains, slow simmered black beans, all served on a bed of white rice.
Cuban shredded beef is my jam.
So what is Cuban shredded beef (Ropa Vieja)?
Literally translated ‘Ropa Vieja’ means old clothes. And it’s the most amazing braised Cuban shredded beef of your life. Start with flank steak or chuck roast. Then you simmer it in a homemade tomato-based sauce. And what you’re left with is a shredded beef stew-ish type dish that you didn’t even know you were missing.
This was great! My husband loved it! It will certainly become part of my regular rotation of crockpot recipes! Thanks for a great recipe!
Ingredients for homemade Ropa Vieja recipe
- Beef: I suggest using a tough cut of meat that does well with braising. Flank steak, chuck roast and or any other type of meat that requires a slow cooked method.
- Garlic: You’ll want to insert a few of the garlic cloves into the meat so that it flavors the inside. The rest gets chopped up and used for the sauce portion of the recipe.
- Avocado oil: Or any high heat oil works here. This is simply to sear the meat. You can do this over medium-high heat in a dutch oven if you are slow cooking this in a crock pot. Or feel free to just saute in the pan of your pressure cooker.
- Tomato sauce: Is the base of the ropa vieja sauce.
- Green bell pepper: Thinly slice the peppers, then stir them into the sauce ingredients. They’ll cook up nicely with the onions and green chilies.
- Onion: You’ll want to thinly slice your onions for this recipe. Feel free to use a yellow or white onion!
- Chopped green chilies: The stuff that comes in a can, is exactly what you need. They usually have it near the pickled peppers section of the grocery store. You’ll need a 4 ounce can.
- Tomato paste: Just gives the recipe a concentrated shot of tomato paste!
- Seasonings: You’ll need ground cumin, dried oregano, salt, and red pepper flakes. Feel free to toss in a couple bay leaves if you’d like!
- White vinegar: This helps tenderize the meat so that it’s fall apart tender.
- Beef Broth: This is an ingredient that you would just need if you were making this recipe in the instant pot or pressure cooker. It helps build adequate steam in the pressure cooker so that the meat cooks through without burning and sticking to the bottom.
- Cilantro: This helps add color and flavor because we eat with our eyes first!
- Optional ingredients: Some people like to use capers or green olives for this recipe, but I’ll be honest, I save those for when I make Picadillo!
How to make Cuban shredded beef:
- Start by seasoning the meat. Sprinkle the beef with kosher salt and black pepper (optional) and then score a few ‘x’ in the meat to hide garlic cloves in the thickness of the meat. Let the meat sit for 30-45 minutes if time permits, if not, you can go right to the next step.
- Sear the meat. This is EVERYTHING. When you sear the outer surface of a piece of meat in a hot pan with a little bit of oil it forms a crust on the outside which then allows for crazy amounts of flavor to develop and helps get the meat extra tender. This is especially helpful in a pressure cooker because we’ll layer the flavors with peppers and onions when it boils.
- Toss in the rest. Then add the onions, garlic, bell peppers, tomato sauce, and all of the seasonings into the slow cooker or instant pot. Keep in mind if you’re making this in a pressure cooker, you’ll also need a bit of beef broth to help it reach a boil. Add the seared beef and allow it to braise for 6-8 hours on the low setting in a crock pot or cook for roughly 20 minutes per pound for a pressure cooker. Once the timer goes off, twist the valve to release the steam and use two forks to help shred the protein. Let it simmer in the tomato sauce so that it soaks up all that flavor. Then taste and adjust with more salt if need be.
That’s it. It’s seriously the easiest dinner ever and you can start it right before you go to work and have it ready and waiting for you when you get home. Perfect, tender, and a crowd pleaser. And seriously, the comfort factor — it’s to a whole new level. I serve it on a bed of cilantro lime rice with a side of cuban-style black beans. And obvi, in 10+ years we’ve been together now, you know I need tons of chopped cilantro and lime wedges to serve on the side.
That’s how we do. ✌️
If you like this recipe, you might also like:
- Cuban Mojo Chicken Quinoa Bowls with Mango Salsa
- Cuban Black Beans with Cilantro and Lime
- Very Best Cuban Black Bean Soup
- Marinated Mojo Steak Tacos with Quick Guac
Ropa Vieja Recipe (Cuban Shredded Beef)
Equipment
Ingredients
Seared Beef:
- 6 garlic cloves
- 2-2 ½ lbs. beef chuck roast or flank steak
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
For the Ropa Vieja recipe:
- 2 cans tomato sauce 8 ounce
- 1 green bell pepper thinly sliced
- 1 medium onion thinly sliced
- 1 can chopped green chilies 4 ounce
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ cup beef broth for pressure cooker only!
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro + more for serving
serving:
- cuban-style black beans for serving
- white rice for serving
Instructions
- SEARING THE MEAT: Take the beef chuck roast and using a small paring knife, make 3 small 'x' marks into the meat. Take 3 cloves of garlic and insert them into the 3 'x' marks so that the clove is completely inserted into the thickness of roast. Season both sides of the meat generously with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet or do this directly in your saute pan for the pressure cooker. Add the beef in one piece and fry on each side for 5 minutes, turning only when the exterior is browned. This will splatter a bit but don't cover the pan as the meat will end up steaming rather than searing.
- SLOW COOKER: Chop the remaining 3 cloves of garlic into thin slices and add to the slow cooker along with all the remaining ingredients. I used a 6-quart slow cooker but a 3-quart slow cooker will work too. Cover and let cook on the low setting for 7-8 hours.
- INSTANT POT: Once the beef has seared, remove it to a plate and saute the onions, peppers, and garlic in the remaining oil for 30 seconds. Add all the remaining ingredients and cover. Set the pressure cooker to cook for 20 minutes per pound. My roast was 2.5 pounds, so I did this for 50 minutes. Once the timer goes off, allow a natural pressure release.
- SHRED: Shred the beef with the forks and give it a stir. If it doesn't, slow cook or pressure cook for additional time as needed. Taste for seasonings, season with additional salt and pepper as desired.
- TO SERVE: Serve over a bed of rice with black beans on the side topped with additional cilantro and a few lime wedges. You can also use the shredded beef for burritos, breakfast quesadillas, or tacos! The possibilities are endless!
Notes
- Leftover beef can be kept in an airtight container and refrigerated for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 2 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like This? Leave a comment & rating below!
Hey ! I Will love to do this recipe bit i don’t have a crockpot. Can i do it with another way?
Instead of a crock pot you can braise it in the oven. Use a pot with a tight fitting lid or aluminum foil, and cook at 250F for 5 hours.
Hello, I am new to cooking a love crockpot recipes. I made this just the way you describe in the recipe with a chuck roast, but the meat came out very tough and would not shred like in the picture. What should I do differently next time? The only thing I can think of that could have messed it up was that I froze the meat, but I made sure it completely defrosted before searing it.
Hi Kimberly! It sounds like it just needed a little extra time in the slow cooker. Depending on the type of slow cooker you have, the timings can vary a little. If the meat doesn’t shred easily right away next time, just let it go for another hour in the slow cooker and then try shredding again. Hope that helps!
I just finished making this and it is so so so good! One thing is that this makes a lot of sauce! I used a 4lb chuck roast but didn’t scale the rest of the recipe. I still have plenty of sauce. I also cooked in the oven at 275 for about 5 hours instead of the crockpot. I will definitely be making this again!
Hi Marzia!
I’ve had this recipe pinned for a while and now that it’s 95 degrees in NH I am ready to ditch the oven and embrace the crock pot! 🙂 but I wanted to ask, do you mix all the ingredients and then add the meat? Or pour everything on top of the meat in the crock pot?
Thanks!!
Hi Tyler! Yes, so just mix everything in the slow cooker add the meat, spoon some of the sauce on top of the meat so it doesn’t dry out and just sit back! Hope you enjoy it! 🙂
This was great! My husband loved it. I used chopped jalapeños for the green chiles and it was just the right heat for us. This will be part of our regular rotation! Thanks for a great recipe!
Can’t wait to try this!! Can I use apple cider vinegar instead of white? Thanks
This was great! My husband loved it! It will certainly become part of my regular rotation of crockpot recipes! Thanks for a great recipe!
This is awesome but there is absolutely no reason to sear it ahead of time. That deletes the purpose of the crockpot.
I just popped it in with the rest of the ingredients, after installing the garlic, and eight ours later it was beautiful, tender, easy to pull apart meat. Delicious!
You cannot sear or brown food in a slow cooker. You can only boil it. Searing is critical for flavour.
Made this with dried chipotle – amazing.
Made this recipe with a venison roast. It turned out great and tasted almost exactly like the ropa vieja I get at the local Cuban stand. The lime squeezed on just before serving is PERFECT!
I recently made the recipe, intending to serve in tortillas as tacos. I made a couple modifications – using a red bell pepper and a jalapeno as I did not have a green bell pepper or chilis, and I also rubbed the beef with taco seasoning instead of salt and pepper (fitting the taco theme). The beef was delicious. I think it would have been delicious without my modifications. The one issue is that the dish was a bit runny for tortillas (likely the tomato sauce, or maybe the fattiness of the chuck I used), though once I figured this out and poured it into a collander to strain the dish, this helped. Any other tips on reducing the sauciness of the dish? Overall, a successful dish and I will try another of your recipes soon.
Hi Candace, i’m so glad to hear you enjoyed it! As this dish was intended to be served with rice, it does some gravy. Straining it is a great idea, you could also simmer the shredded beef (with all the gravy) in a stock pot to help evaporate some of that liquid and concentrate the flavor a little more. Thanks for taking the time to comment 🙂
This was SO GOOD! I made it today with flank steak and actually messed it up a bit. I was in a rush and in my haste, I accidentally dumped my entire can of tomato paste into the mix. I also didn’t have cilantro so I used Italian seasoning based on another comment’s suggestion. Despite all of this – it turned out absolutely delicious and I’m already daydreaming about when it could be acceptable to start eating the leftovers. Thank you for the recipe!!
Glad to hear it was enjoyed Melissa! Thank you for taking the time to comment. Also, it’s never too soon for leftover 😉
Made this dish last night for my boyfriend and I. I served it with the Cuban Black Beans from the blog as well. Absolutely DELICIOUS! Simple, tasty, and it made enough that I can have leftover for a few days. I look forward to trying more of your recipes!
I didn’t have oregano, so I subbed Italian seasoning. Just thought I’d leave this in case anybody else had the same issue!
The cuban beef and black beans are just fabulous! I used a roast instead of flank steak and froze my leftovers into a few different bags. Very easy to make!
Hi there…sadly I mistakenly used 2 15 oz cans of tomato sauce. I tried to remove some, but do you think this will ruin the meal. Or should I just add more seasoning?
Hi Tannisha! I hate it when something like that happens. Yes, i’d probably double all the ingredients listed under the ‘ropa vieja’ section of the ingredients to make sure the recipe tastes true to what was originally intended. You can always remove half the sauce before shredding the meat. Freeze the excess sauce in a zip-top bag and heat it through in a skillet with cooked ground beef for a quick version of this recipe next time! 🙂
After reading all the comments, I can’t wait to make it tomorrow! Do you think it would be ok to cook it on high for half the time?
It will work in half the time but the meat might not be as tender and may require more ‘pulling’ to shred it. For best results, I suggest cooking it on low.
Sounds good, I will cook it on low! I can’t wait to try it! I forgot to ask, is it pretty spicy?
Made this tonight, followed the recipe exactly and it was absolutely mouthwatering!! My husband packed leftovers for work right after dinner. That’s always a great sign! Thanks for a great recipe!!
I know what you mean! That’s how I gauge the success of a recipe too! Happy to hear it was a hit!
This recipe is so good!! I made it in the oven, for 3 1/2 hours at 300, and it was amazingly good! I’ve included the link in my most recent Weekly Meal Plan. I hope a lot of my readers try it out!
Is there any way to make this recipe with top sirloin? Unfortunately that is the only cut that is available at my butchers. However, based on a quick read it seems like the beef may become too tough if I put it in the slow cooker?
Hi Nida! Yes, unfortunately, top sirloin won’t work for this recipe. I’m afraid the meat would dry out too much during the slow cooking process.
I’m so glad I found this recipe! I very recently figured out I have food allergies and was feeling uninspired and sad about all the food I can’t eat anymore. This recipe is allergen free for me and my husband and kids really loved it! My 4 year old even got up from his seat, walked over to hug me, and told me “you’re the best cooker in the world”. So thank you for reminding me that “safe” food doesn’t have to be boring!
This totally makes my day Brittany! So happy to hear that this recipe is one that you can all enjoy together. 🙂
Can i ask is the oregano ground or crushed?
I used crushed or sometimes called dried oregano leaves.
Oh My Goodness, this was a huge hit with our bunch! I can’t say enough good things about it! Ironically, a few days before this recipe showed up, I was lucky enough to catch grass fed Chuck roasts (4 of them!) on the manager’s special-marked down rack at my local grocery store. The price was so excellent, I bought all 4 and boy, am I glad I did because I now have this terrific recipe! I made it exactly as instructed except I used my own home-canned tomato sauce & reduced the pepper flakes a bit because one member of our family doesn’t like things too spicy. It made the kitchen smell divine and was perfect after a day’s work out in the yard. I served it with organic white rice, your Cuban black beans (which are also just soooo yummy & a perfect compliment) a fresh fruit salad and pita breads. Everyone LOVED it. I will be making this regularly. Thanks again for another GREAT recipe!