Ropa Vieja

By J. Kenji López-Alt

Updated Nov. 5, 2025

Ropa Vieja
Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
Total Time
3 hours
Rating
4(1,459)
Comments
Read comments

Flank steak braised with vegetables and aromatics until it shreds into strands is the national dish of Cuba, though the cooking process is popular throughout Central America and the Caribbean. In Cuba, it’s called ropa vieja, which translates to old clothes, a reference to the beef’s tattered appearance. In Venezuela and Colombia, you’d call it carne desmechada. This version starts with a sautéed base of peppers and onions, which is further enhanced with olives, capers, raisins and tomatoes. The flavorful mixture works equally well with flank steak, pork butt or even chicken thighs. Serve it with cooked black beans and rice. (Watch Kenji make it on YouTube.)

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Ingredients

Yield:6 cups (4 servings)
  • 2pounds beef flank steak or sirloin flap, cut crosswise into 3- to 4-inch sections, or pork butt, cut into 3- to 4-inch steaks against the grain
  • Kosher salt and black pepper
  • 1tablespoon grapeseed, vegetable or canola oil
  • 1recipe Braised Peppers and Onions (about 3 cups)
  • 1(15-ounce) can crushed tomatoes or whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand
  • ½cup Manzanilla olives, sliced crosswise
  • ½cup golden raisins
  • ¼cup capers, drained
  • 2cups homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock
  • Cooked white rice, black beans and sautéed or braised hearty greens, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

686 calories; 35 grams fat; 11 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 16 grams monounsaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 48 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams dietary fiber; 22 grams sugars; 47 grams protein; 1530 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Season beef or pork with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over high until lightly smoking. Working in batches as needed, cook the meat in a single layer, turning occasionally, until well browned on all sides, about 8 minutes per batch, reducing heat as necessary if the oil smokes excessively.

  2. Step 2

    Add braised peppers and onions, tomatoes, olives, raisins, capers and chicken stock. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce to a bare simmer, cover with the lid slightly cracked, and cook, stirring occasionally and scraping any crust that has formed at the edges of the pan back into the liquid, until meat is completely tender and shreds easily with two forks, about 2½ hours. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

  3. Step 3

    Shred meat with two forks, and serve immediately with white rice, black beans and hearty greens. Ropa vieja can also be shredded, allowed to cool, and stored in the fridge for up to 1 week. It will improve in texture and flavor with time.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
1,459 user ratings
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Comments

Maria O.

I grew up in a Cuban household and ate delicious ropa vieja on a regular basis. My mom never added olives and raisins to ropa vieja, that was reserved for picadillo. I've seen this before in different recipes and I don't know if they are an American melding of the two dishes of if my mother's recipe was just more straightforward.

Teresa B.

In our Cuban household we enjoyed two meals from the one cut of meat. My mom would boil the beef first so that it could be shredded. The stock would later be used for soup. For Ropa Vieja she would sauté onions, peppers, couple of mashed garlic cloves and then add a can of tomato sauce. Salt, bay leaf, dry white wine or vinegar would then be added. The shredded beef would be added and simmered for about 20 minutes. Never raisens, capers, olives, or chicken stock. She garnished with pimentos.

victor p.

I and four others who I served it to were underwhelmed by this dish. It was a bit sweet and lacking much complexity for a dish of this nature. Frankly, we would have been better off just marinating the flank steaks or covering the, with a dry rub, grilling them and then serving it with the peppers and onions, black beans and maybe a pico de gallo. Again, not bad, but not the best use of these ingredients and time.

LD

If you watch his YouTube video, Kenji makes this completely differently on there - different ingredients, steps and even a different simmering process (puts it in the oven at 300 for 2 hours instead of stovetop simmering). Follow the recipe he does there instead of this written one. I could not bring myself to put raisins in this, maybe somebody could report back on how that worked out for them.

VMAY

Made as written - it was great! For all those who say this recipe isn't 'authentic,' you gotta remember...ropa vieja originated in Spain and traveled across the Americas. There are versions with raisins, garbanzos, carrots, and potatoes. All of them are 'authentic' to a city, a region, or even a family. The point of this recipe was to learn how to use the 'building blocks' of taste described in the article.

Bruce

Made this pretty much as printed. I can’t understand where the comments about sweetness come from, definitely wasn’t sweet. The flavours really melded after several days. I found it well seasoned even though there wasn’t much seasoning. The ingredients really came together

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