Beef Kaldereta is a popular Filipino dish that is served during parties and holidays. It traditionally uses goat meat as the main ingredient but beef, chicken or pork may be used instead. Tomato sauce, onion, liver spread, bell pepper and cheese are the usual secondary ingredients used.
- 1 ½ lbs stewing beef cut into 1 inch cubes
- ½ cup vinegar
- 6 whole peppercorns crushed
- 4 cloves garlic crushed
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 onion sliced
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 cups water ,or more as needed
- 1 red bell pepper ,cut into strips
- 1 small carrot ,peeled and diced
- 1 potato ,peeled and diced
- 1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce or your favorite hot sauce
- ¼ cup liver spread
- ½ cup frozen peas
- Grated cheddar cheese ,optional
- In a bowl, combine vinegar, crushed peppercorns and garlic. Stir in the beef, cover with plastic wrap and let marinate in the fridge for 1 hour.
- While the beef is marinating, prepare all the vegetables needed for this dish.
- After an hour, remove the beef from the marinade and let it drain for few minutes.
- Using a heavy pan, brown the beef in hot oil a few pieces at a time. Transfer into a plate and set aside.
- Using the same pan, sauté the onion until translucent. Return the browned beef to the pan. Add tomato sauce, bay leaf, salt, sugar and water. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer for 1 ½ to 2 hours or until the beef is tender, stirring constantly and adding more water as needed.
- Add the red pepper, potato, carrot and hot sauce. Cover and simmer for 10 more minutes.
- Add the liver paste and green peas. Stir and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Transfer into a serving plate and top with grated cheese, if using.
- Serve as is or with steamed rice.
- Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from the cookbook “Filipino Cooking Here & Abroad”.
if you’re one of those who head straight to the comments section before even bothering to read the recipe, you’re doing it right.
and let me tell you right now you’ve got the best and the most delicious way of preparing caldereta the old fashioned way. believe me when I say this recipe will truly impress.
for step 1, I marinade mine overnight.
after straining the beef from the marinade, I strain the garlic as well and include this when I saute the onions.
I also like to add about a tablespoon of that vinegar when I put in the tomato sauce.
hi can i use
sirloin beef in kaldereta
Hi Agnes,
Yes, you can may sirloin beef to make kaldereta. Sirloin beef requires less cooking time than stewing beef so adjust the cooking time accordingly.
I have a question about step 5. It says to add the meat back to the pan and cook for 1.5-2 hours but shouldn’t the veggies (red pepper, potato, carrots) also be added in this step to make sure they cook thoroughly? It has them in step 6, but only cooking for 10 min. Just want some clarity. Thanks
Hi Andre,
Yes, in step 6, the veggies (red pepper, potato, carrots) are added to the pan with the beef and cook for 10 minutes. However, in step 7, the liver spread and green peas are added and the mixture is cook for another 5 minutes. So the veggies are cooked for a total of 15 minutes. which is enough time to cook them. Hope this helps!
Can you add peanut butter?
Hi Joel,
I have not used peanut butter in kaldereta but I have seen others used it instead of liver spread.
Yes you can, more tasty!
That’s for kari-kari!
Cooking it right now. Although I tweaked it a little bit, I added some black olives, and I used anchovy paste for saltiness and Umami. It’s my kitchen so I’m doing it my way 🙂 And thanks for the cooking guide.
Do you have to use liver spread?
If you want, you can omit the liver spread.
Let me try this for christmas.
Are you supposed to add soy sauce ? Or you just used salt for Flavoring?
Hi Elsa,
You can season to taste with soy sauce or salt at the end of the cooking time.
hello po…ano po ang purpose bakit po imarinate sa vinegar? hindi po ba lalong titigas yung beef meat?
Ok lang imarinate iyong beef sa vinegar for 1 hour. The meat usually starts to toughen after 2 hours. Hope this helps!
What’s the purpose of marinating the meat in vinegar??
Hi Mags,
Based on my experience, marinating the meat in vinegar tenderizes the meat.
Vinegar is acidic that it helps the meat to get tender not toughen. Yun ang nabasa ko. First time to hear vinegar will toughen marinated meat. Marinating can reach up to 24 hours or more
agree with kareen. any acidic ingredients will make the meat tender.
Hi Lisa,
I cook beef Caldereta an weeks ago and my American boyfriend loves it. I use Sheddar cheese instead of liver spread, came out really really well. Thank you for the out standing recipe!!! I’m going to try the pork adobe recipe !! God bless!
Awesome! So glad your boyfriend loved the dish. Take care and hope you are able to try some more recipes.
What is liver spread
Hi Ryan,
Liver spread is similar to pate and can be bought in a can at any Filipino store. Hope this helps!
Wow sarap naman po ate. Pwede po ba pork gamitin?
Yes, you may use pork but make sure adjust the cooking time.
hi ate Lisa, what kind of vinegar should we use?
Hi Vyra,
I used the regular white vinegar in this recipe but you may also use coconut vinegar, if you like. Take care and thanks for dropping by!
I’ve attended in some fiestas in the past and there has been no fiesta celebration without that Kaldereta that I’ve seen so far. Truly kaldereta is one of the great Filipino dishes. Yes you are right, traditionally the main ingredient is goat meat but I think some folks don’t like the pungent smell of goat so instead they opt for beef. If ever I use goat meat, I boiled it first with lots of water with some laurel leaf and discard the used water, so at least pungent smell of the meat lessened though not totally removed.