Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Ropa Vieja Panameña
Panama's shredded beef: flank steak simmered tender then stewed in a sofrito of tomato, peppers, and onion with olives, capers, and culantro, served over rice.
Panamanian · medium · serves 6
prep 25 min · cook 150 min
~497 cal · 41g protein · 10g carbs · 31g fat · 3g fiber · 4g sugars · 10g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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AI-generated illustration
Ropa vieja, "old clothes," takes its name from the shredded strands of beef that look like tattered rags, and it is a beloved comfort dish in Panama as across the Spanish Caribbean. Flank steak is simmered until it falls apart, then folded into a fragrant tomato-and-pepper sofrito brightened with olives, capers, and culantro, the pungent local herb.
Brought by Spanish settlers and made Panamanian in the pot, it is home cooking at its most satisfying: the beef is first boiled with aromatics to build a , then shredded along the grain and returned to a glossy red-orange sauce until every strand is coated. Culantro (recao), stronger than cilantro, gives it its unmistakable Panamanian scent.
It is served over a mound of white rice, often with sweet fried and avocado alongside, the kind of one-pot meal that defines home cooking across the isthmus.
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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 large onion, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground () or paprika
1/2 cup pimiento-stuffed green olives
2 tbsp capers
1/4 cup fresh culantro or cilantro, chopped
1 bay leaf
3 tbsp vegetable oil
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Cover the flank steak with water, add a little salt, the bay leaf, and some onion, and simmer 1.5 to 2 hours until it shreds easily. Reserve a cup of the broth and shred the meat along the grain.
✎ Chef’s note
Shred along the grain into long strands, not chunks; those tattered strands are what give ropa vieja its name and its texture.
2
In a wide pan, soften the sliced onion and both peppers in the oil until lightly caramelised, about 10 minutes, then add the garlic.
3
Stir in the tomato paste, cumin, oregano, and annatto and cook until deepened, then add the tomato sauce and the reserved broth and simmer 10 minutes.
4
Fold in the shredded beef, olives, and capers and simmer 15 to 20 minutes until the sauce thickens and clings.
5
Stir in the culantro, adjust the salt, and serve over white rice with fried plantains.
Panama City home tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Panama City. Panama City simmers sancocho, a chicken stew with yam and the pungent local herb culantro, treated as a cure for everything. Its position between oceans and continents shows in ceviche, rice with coconut, and fried plantain at nearly every meal.
🗺️
Panama. Panama's cuisine reflects its crossroads geography, sancocho chicken soup, rice dishes, and fried corn tortillas, with Afro-Caribbean coconut cooking on the coast. Plantain, root vegetables, and seafood anchor the plate.
🌍
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 Panama
Sancocho de GallinaA restorative hen soup with yam, yuca, and a mountain of culantro, Panama’s cure for everything from hangovers to heartbreak.
Tortilla Panameña con QuesoA thick, crisp-fried corn cake, not a thin tortilla at all, split hot and stuffed with melting white cheese, a staple Panamanian breakfast.
Ceviche PanameñoDiced corvina cured in lime with onion, celery, and habanero, the fish-market lunch sold in cups across Panama City.
Browse all Panama 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 Panama meal
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Sopa BorrachaDessert
Arroz con Pollo PanameñoLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Ropa Vieja Panameña?
Panama's shredded beef: flank steak simmered tender then stewed in a sofrito of tomato, peppers, and onion with olives, capers, and culantro, served over rice.
Where does Ropa Vieja Panameña come from?
Ropa Vieja Panameña is a Panamanian dish from Panama City, Panama.
Can Ropa Vieja Panameña be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Ropa Vieja Panameña recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Ropa Vieja Panameña 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 count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), 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 Panameña take to make?
About 175 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 150 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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