North America → Cuba → Havana
🍽️ DINNER
Ropa Vieja
Beef braised and shredded into a rich tomato-pepper sofrito, Cuba’s national dish, named "old clothes."
Cuban · medium · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 150 min
~734 cal · 43g protein · 69g carbs · 31g fat · 7g fiber · 32g sugars · 10g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Ropa vieja, "old clothes", is Cuba's national dish, and both its name and its legend come from its appearance: beef stewed until it shreds into soft, tattered strands that look like a heap of worn rags. An old folk tale tells of a poor man who, with nothing to feed his family, cooked his own worn clothes and prayed over the pot until they were transformed into a rich stew, a story about love and want as much as food.
The dish itself, with roots reaching back through Spain to the Sephardic kitchens of the Iberian Peninsula, is flank or skirt beef simmered until tender, then shredded and in a sofrito of onions, peppers, garlic, and tomato, often with a little wine, olives, or capers. The long cooking is what turns tough, cheap beef into something soft and deeply flavoured.
In Havana it is served the classic Cuban way, over white rice with black beans and sweet fried , a whole balanced plate of comfort. Homely, savoury, and steeped in story, ropa vieja is classic Cuban home cooking.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
- 2 lbs flank steak
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 1 green bell pepper, sliced
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 14 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1.5 tsp each ground cumin and dried oregano
- 1/2 cup green olives
- 2 tbsp capers
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- for 6 white rice, to serve
- for 6 black beans, to serve
- for 6 fried sweet , to serve
Instructions
- 1Sear the flank steak hard on both sides, then cover with water, add the bay leaves, and simmer 2 hours until it shreds easily. Keep the broth. (For jackfruit, skip to the sofrito.)
- 2Make the sofrito: cook the onion and peppers slowly in oil for 10 minutes, until soft and sweet.
- 3Add the garlic, cumin, and oregano and cook until fragrant.
- 4Add the tomato paste, tomatoes, wine, and a cup of the beef broth, and simmer 10 minutes.
- 5Shred the beef (or jackfruit) with two forks and fold it in with the olives and capers.
- 6Simmer 20 minutes, until the sauce thickens and clings to the shredded meat.✎ Chef’s noteThe name means "old clothes", for the tangle of shredded beef. Let it simmer until the sauce is thick enough to coat every strand.
- 7Serve over rice with black beans and sweet plantains.
Havana criollo tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Havana. Havana cooks Cuban comfort, ropa vieja, slow-roast pork with garlicky mojo, and rice and beans. Sofrito, citrus, and plantains flavor the salt-air capital.
🗺️
Cuba. Moros y cristianos means Moors and Christians, and the name describes the method: black beans cooked together with the rice so the grains take the colour. That is not the same plate as congri, which uses red beans, and neither is the same as serving beans over rice from a separate pot. Ropa vieja arrived by way of the Canary Islands, and the traditional mojo is sour orange rather than lime.
🌍
North America. Almost every regional cooking here records who arrived and on what terms. Enslaved West Africans brought rice, okra, black-eyed peas and the techniques behind Lowcountry and Creole food; Chinese railway labour and later Italian, Jewish, Mexican and Vietnamese arrivals built the way the cities eat; and Indigenous foodways sit underneath all of it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Cuba
Moros y CristianosBlack beans and white rice cooked together in one pot with a cumin-scented sofrito until every grain turns dusky and savory, the everyday soul of the Cuban table.
Tostada Cubana con Café con LecheButtered Cuban bread pressed flat and crisp, cut into batons for dunking into sweet, milky espresso, the quintessential Havana breakfast.
Cuban SandwichRoast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard pressed in Cuban bread until crisp and molten, the classic cubano.
Browse all Cuba recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
Make it a Cuba meal
MojitoDrink
Pastelitos de GuayabaDessert
Cuban SandwichLunch
Similar dishes from around the world
Dalmatinska PašticadaCroatia
Guyanese PepperpotGuyana
BirriaMexico
Asado Negro (Black Roast)Venezuela
LocroArgentina
Bœuf BourguignonFrance
Cuisine
Diet
Gluten-Free Recipes from Around the World
Dairy-Free Recipes from Around the World
Nut-Free Recipes from Around the World
Egg-Free Recipes from Around the World
Pork-Free Recipes from Around the World
Gluten-Free Dinners from Around the World
Dairy-Free Dinners from Around the World
Nut-Free Dinners from Around the World
Egg-Free Dinners from Around the World
Frequently asked questions
What is Ropa Vieja?
Beef braised and shredded into a rich tomato-pepper sofrito, Cuba’s national dish, named "old clothes."
Where does Ropa Vieja come from?
Ropa Vieja is a Cuban dish from Havana, Cuba.
Can Ropa Vieja be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Ropa Vieja recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Ropa Vieja safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Ropa Vieja take to make?
About 170 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 150 minutes cooking), serving 6.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.