So, it finally got cold here. Like, I actually had to wear a sweater when I left the house the other day! :o That made me crave chili. Warm, hearty chili… But of course, I needed to try something new.
Ever since I discovered how awesome spicy Mexican chorizo and sweet potatoes are together (remember these enchiladas?), I’ve been looking for new ways to pair the two up. This chili is a super easy and fairly quick way to do just that. Because chorizo is so heavily spiced, you barely need to add anything else to the chili to achieve maximum flavor. It’s almost too easy. But that’s good, cuz I got places to go, panda costumes to wear, and birthdays to celebrate (yesterday was my birthday y’all!)
Anyway, the combination of spicy chorizo and creamy sweet potatoes didn’t disappoint once again. This chili is the BOMB. My new favorite chili, for sure.
Chorizo Sweet Potato Chili
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Looking for a classic chili recipe? Check out my Simple Homemade Chili.
Chorizo Sweet Potato Chili
Servings 6 8 cups totalIngredients
- 3 links Mexican chorizo (about ¾ lb.) ($2.51)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.42)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 lb. sweet potato ($1.00)
- 1 15oz. can diced tomatoes ($0.69)
- 1 15oz. can kidney beans ($1.09)
- 1 15oz. can black beans ($1.12)
- 1 6oz. can tomato paste ($0.55)
- 1 Tbsp chili powder** ($0.30)
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- 2 cups water ($0.00)
- 1 bunch green onions ($0.69)
Instructions
- Squeeze the chorizo out of its casing and into a large pot. Cook the chorizo over medium heat, breaking it up as it browns. After it is fully browned, drain the excess fat from the pot (if desired).
- While the chorizo is browning, dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add them to the pot after draining the fat. Continue to stir and cook. Peel the sweet potato and cut it into 1/2 inch cubes. Add them to the pot and continue to stir and cook.
- Rinse and drain the beans in a colander. Add them to the pot along with the diced tomatoes (with juices), tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and water. Stir until everything is well combined. Place a lid on the pot and allow the chili to come up to a simmer. Let the chili simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the sweet potatoes have softened. Serve hot, topped with sliced green onions.
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Notes
Nutrition
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Step by Step Photos
This is the Mexican chorizo that I used. Mexican chorizo is different than Spanish chorizo. Mexican chorizo is a fresh meat product and the links are soft, whereas Spanish chorizo is a hard, cured meat like salami. I used three links, or about 3/4 lb. The other two links will be frozen for later use.
Squeeze the chorizo out of the casings and into a large pot. Cook over medium heat, breaking it up into pieces as you go. Cook until it is fully browned. Chorizo is fairly fatty, so you can drain the fat off after it is fully browned, if you’d like.
While the chorizo is browning, dice the onion and mince the garlic. After draining the fat from the chorizo, add the onion and garlic and continue to cook over medium heat.
While the onions and garlic continue to cook, start dicing the sweet potato. First peel it, then cut it into medallions.
Stack a few of the medallions at a time and cut them into strips. Then, cut across the strips into small cubes. You want the sweet potato to be in fairly small pieces (1/2 inch cubes) so that they’ll cook quickly and so there won’t be huge chunks in the chili.
Add the diced sweet potatoes to the pot and continue cooking.
Add the diced tomatoes (with juices) to the pot. Rinse and drain the beans in a colander, then add them to the pot. Also add the entire can of tomato paste. I accidentally got seasoned black beans, but if you use regular black beans it won’t affect the flavor much.
Also add the chili powder, cumin, oregano, and two cups of water.
Please note: Chili powder in the United States is not the same as cayenne or red pepper, which are both very hot. If you use 1 Tbsp of cayenne pepper you’ll burn a hole through your mouth. This chili powder is a blend of mild chiles and other spices. If you don’t have this, you can sub all of the spices for one packet/envelope of chili seasoning.
Stir it all together until the tomato paste has fully incorporated. Put a lid on the pot and let it come up to a simmer. Let the pot simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. After 30 minutes the sweet potatoes should be soft. Now it’s ready to serve!
Slice the green onions and sprinkle over each serving. You can also add a little cheddar cheese or sour cream…
I dipped some tortilla strips in it. YUM.
Used a pound of ground chorizo, this recipe is 🔥.
Yum!
has anyone used ground turkey as a an alternative to chorizo? if so, what kind of spices could be used in place of the flavouring originally added by chorizo?
You’d definitely need to add some spices because the spices in the chorizo are responsible for a lot of the flavor in this chili. To find a chorizo spice mix, you can Google “Mexican chorizo recipe” to see what spices people usually use. :)
As per a previous poster’s suggestion, I added a quarter cup of brown sugar and a tablespoon of cinnamon (I made 10 servings) and holy shit did that addition make the flavor pop. Highly recommended.
I have made this several times with Trader Joe’s soy chorizo, and it always comes out wonderfully!! One of my absolute favorite recipes.
Oh I’ll have to try that chorizo next time! Thanks Zoe!
HI! What amount of the TJ’s soy chorizo do you use? The whole package?
Changed sausages to ground lamb and it’s just perfect 👌
Yummy!
I have made this many times and it is always absolutely delicious-especially served with cornbread! I have one of those manual vegetable chopper things that chops the onion and sweet potatoes into little squares in seconds. Makes this so easy to put together. This recipe, plus your lentil and sausage stew, are two of our winter favorite meals.
Side note-last year a dear friend had cancer. I made this chili for her and her family. She said it was one of the few foods that had flavor for her during her chemo/radiation. Thank you!
This is our new favorite chili. Our only change was having a full pound of chorizo. This one earns a permanent spot in our winter chili rotation. Thanks!
If I wanted to omit the beans from this recipe, would you recommend making any other adjustments to compensate?
You might want to increase the chorizo and sweet potatoes to make up for the decrease in solid matter in the chili, otherwise it might be very saucy, almost more soup-like.
This is one of my favorite recipes! It’s delicious but also can be vegan-ized super easily by subbing soy chorizo and making sure your beans are vegan (and is still so delicious you’d never know it’s vegan) Very useful for chili potlucks!
This looks amazing! Will try this tonight, but I don’t think they sell Mexican chorizo in Germany. I have some minced meat that needs to go, so I’ll try an EU adaption to this recipe.
Made today using Spanish chorizo. I am in London. Added some smoked paprika. Delicious. Served with tortilla chips and cheese.
This was SO GOOD! Easily a new favorite. I made this with your Everyday Cornbread recipe in muffin form and the combination was delicious (:
I LOVE this recipe andvhave made it a few times now. Can this recipe be modified to be made in a slow cooker?
Probably! After you brown the meat, you could probably just add everything to a slow cooker and do 8 hours on low or 4 on high. I haven’t tried it, but that’s what I would do if I were to test it out.
I made it in the slow cooker this weekend! Threw everything in the pot after I browned the meat and cooked down the garlic and onion. Put it in the fridge overnight and then in the morning popped it on high for 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Really, it’s done once the sweet potato is soft. :)
I have made this recipe multiple times and it has become a staple for sure. I have made it with ground turkey and chorizo, and it still tastes great! It also is very easy to cook in the crock pot. Your site is always the first place I go when I want to try my hand at something new to cook, thanks Beth!
I had some chorizo that I was planning to use in another dish, but that fell through. I came upon this recipe and made it the other night. The house smelled AMAZING first, and second, this tasted great! I had a friend over who actually doesn’t like sweet potato, and loved this chili, he had a second bowl. I also made your crockpot beef stew the other night, and that was fantastic with some nice crusty, hot italian bread. Thanks for the great recipes!
this was so easy to make and delicious!!! My family loves it and I even brought some to my neighbor for her to try and now she makes it all the time too! Thank you so much we love your recipes.
We had to be careful about choosing the right chorizo; we’ve made it a couple times with ones that weren’t flavorful enough, and it really brings down the overall quality of the chili.
But with the right chorizo, this is by far my most favorite chili ever, and there’s an award-winning chili maker in my family! One time, we substituted chorizo-style tofu sausage (tofrizo?), and turned out great too, but with far fewer calories.
I’ve made this chili for everyone I know. It’s a huge hit all around.
I loved this recipe, although I too made a few changes. First, we used soyrizo, and because of that we added it after the sweet potatoes. It let the potatoes cook a little more evenly in the end without getting all smooshed up in the chorizo mix. We also used veggie broth in place of water, to give it a bit more flavor.
Not a change but we toasted some slices of baguette with slices of gruyere on top and used those to dip into the chili. It was amazing! I always recommend a side of some type of cheesy, crusty bread.
I can’t afford chorizo as I’m a student so I use whatever is on special (often beef mince) and it is always delicious. Definitely my go to healthy, comfort food :)
I forgot to add the diced tomatoes, but this was still very good, especially with some avocado and sour cream. Perfect for a rainy Sunday afternoon in front of the TV.
It’s really cold here in Greenville, SC today. This chili was a perfect way to warm up my insides! I forgot to add the tomato paste and it still tasted wonderful.
Tried this before and I thought it was great. I’m thinking about adding one of those canned chipotle peppers with a teaspoon of the adobo sauce to this recipe for a bit more heat and smoky flavor. Thoughts?
I think that would be great!!
This recipe is seriously so good. I replaced the beans with lentils and chickpeas, and it’s incredibly filling. Great when you’re trying to save money!
I really want to make this but I don’t know where to get Mexican chorizo in London. :(
If you can find plain ground pork, you can mix it up with spices to make your own chorizo. Here is a recipe. :)
Mmm, this was great for a snowy day in central Illinois. I made a few changes – no onion, so tripled the garlic, used soy chorizo, lentils instead of beans, and rehydrated some sweet potatoes that I bought for a cancelled camping trip. Their texture was a little weird, and fresh ones would have been better, but hey, it’s like 15 degrees out. Too cold for biking to the store.
This was amazing! We realized we forgot oregano half way through and substituted it with cayenne pepper. We also added a serving of pinto beans on top of the others. It had just enough heat to have one sniffling.
The sweet potatoes and chorizo combo is fantastic. We will definitely be making this one again.
Absolutely amazing recipe! I mean, this is definitely the best chili I have ever made. It’s a shame that I just came back from a chili cook-off because this baby definitely would have won.
Made this for the first time this past weekend and we LOVED it!!! Thank you for sharing all of your great ideas!!
If I make the chili the night before and then keep it warm in a crockpot for 3-4 hours the next day, will the sweet potatoes become mushy? Could I make the chili without the potatoes the night before and then throw them in the crockpot the next morning for 3-4 hours?
Yep, they probably will continue to soften. I think adding them the next morning and cooking for 3-4 hours might be your best bet. Honestly, though, I don’t think a mushy sweet potato would be a bad thing. :)
I added some cinnamon and garam masala to make this taste more fall-y. Loved it! Fortunately I live in an area with a large enough hispanic population to find multiple kinds of Mexican chorizo, as well as El Salvadorian chorizo!
So,so, sooo good! I love the chorizo and sweet potato combo.
I would love to make this veggie… what could I substitute for the chorizo that would still make the recipe yummy…???
suggestions???
You could do ground beef or turkey, but you’ll need to add a lot of spices to make up for the spices in the chorizo. Try using a packet of taco or fajita seasoning for added oomph.
I’m making this for the first time. (I’m crock potting it vs the stove so it’ll be ready for dinner.) I’m vegetarian, so I swapped soyrizo in. It’s at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. I’m so excited to find your blog, Beth. I’m not a student, but a very busy single working gal with a new, demanding job. I’ve gotten into a terrible habit of relying on fast food nachos and pizza and gained 30 lbs this year. I’m scaling back and making my own food now, but it’s hard to balance time and cooking. What I love is that your dishes are easy to make ahead and reheat, and are delicious! Thank you for making my life easier! Next recipe I’m trying is the dragon noodles
Tofuky has vegetarian chorizo. It’s really good.
I’ve used vegan soyrizo instead of chorizo for all of the sweet potato + chorizo recipes. Works really well and is less fatty than meaty chorizo. Delicious! :)
I made this in the crockpot (low for ~6-7 hours) but subbed TJ’s chicken jalapeno sausages and just used black beans. Oh Mylanta! It was incredible, especially on a snowy day! Definitely staying in my recipe roster.
So, I made this recipe for my first ever entry in a friendly chili cook off contest and I had to tell you that I won first place! I tweaked it a little by adding one seeded and one unseeded jalapeno, chopped and some extra ground meat (the judges were mostly men, I knew it needed to be meaty!). Then to go along with the sweet potatoes I added about 1/4 cup unpacked light brown sugar and a little less than 1 tbsp cinnamon and what I got was the most melt in your mouth unexpected combo of flavors. I owe it to you for my inspiration and all the bragging rights I get until next year!
That’s awesome! Congratulations!!
Hmmm…. I followed this recipe exactly, even going to my local Latino grocery store to get authentic Chorizo made in the store. My chili looks exactly like the picture, but the taste is quite bland, even after simmering for a while. Perhaps the Chorizo I used is not up to par. I ended up adding a minced jalapeño pepper, cilantro, and additional salt, chili powder, cumin and oregano.
For me, this is not a keeper, nothing unusual about the flavor.
Made this the other night for a friend who got pneumonia, and I’m pretty sure it cured him. Seriously though, this is an excellent and easy recipe. I switched out regular onion for red, and added a couple tablespoons of habanero hot sauce, and it really came out great! :D
Very good. My whole family loved it!
Made this tonight, subbing brats for chorizo. It was fantastic!
I browned the onions, sausage and garlic and then threw everything else in the crockpot…I’m cooking it on high since I didn’t decide to do it until noon…I’ll let you know how it turns out. I made it stove top once before and LOVED it!
This had the perfect amount of heat for us, very flavorful. For some reason at my local grocery store they hardly ever have chorizo so I used some leftover Conecuh sausage and some sweet italian I had in the freezer. It was great! I added an extra half cup of water, an extra small sweet potato to try and stretch it, which was good since my boyfriend ate two huge bowls :)
I could only find the spanish chorizo so I just ended up using them (just chopped them before browning).. and it was so delicious!! :D For those who can’t find mexican chorizo, spanish chorizo works just great! Never knew how easy it is to make delicious chili at home. Thanks Beth!
I had to go to 3 different stores to find chorizo (I live in Canada, so Mexican food is less common), but it was worth it. Such an easy, flavourful meal, and I love the flavour contrast with the sweet potatoes. The whole fam approved!
Love this recipe! I didn’t have Mexican chorizo handy – seems to be harder to find than Spanish chorizo – so I used soy chorizo. Tofurky makes one, Trader Joe’s is good too. Results were fantastic! I also added chopped carrots and zucchini. Healthy and delicious. This is a keeper.
I’m in France so I’m going to try to make this with merguez (spicy fresh North African sausage) since there’s no Mexican chorizo to be found… it’s sweeter, I wonder how this’ll work, I’ll post when I’m done so my continental brethren can enjoy this fucking awesome looking chili :)
It sounds delicious!
OMG SUCCESS. I REPEAT, SUCCESS. CANNOT STOP EATING. merguez and haricots rouges is a go.
I made this yesterday. First, the boyfriend couldn’t stop saying how amazing it smelled while cooking. And it tasted even better! Made lots of leftovers for lunches and I froze some too. Will make again! The combination of spicy and sweet is so comforting. Thanks!
This was great! Mexico chorizo is not available in Australia, so I made my own using turkey mince instead of pork. I also added 250g of cooked spinach to get some greens into this one pot meal.
This was even better the next day, served with cornbread. I need to find a better chorizo though, since mine wasn’t spicy enough to come through in the dish. I’m already set to make this one again!
We made this last night and it was really good! I actually just had some left overs for lunch at my desk.
The combination of chilli flavors with spicy chorizo and a hint of sweetness from sweet potatoes was great.
Great variation of chilli for a change.
I cant wait to try thissssssssssss :-D
I actually just made the chorizo and sweet potato enchilladas for dinner last night and they were sooooo good. Usually I’m not a fan of chorizo, I used soyrizo, but that flavor combo with the sweet potato was awesome!
This was fantastic! I gambled and used salsa instead of diced tomatoes, because I didn’t have any cans of diced tomatoes at home, but it actually turned out really well. I also added a scant teaspoonful of cocoa, as I usually do with chili. Very tasty and made lots of leftovers. Thank you for the recipe!
Made this last night for my boyfriend and myself, and I must say it was absolutely amazing! I didn’t realize that pictured above is a yam and so I bought a sweet potato (luckily they’re pretty much interchangeable despite the color) and it came out just fine. Coupled with a hot batch of buttery cornbread and we were both happy campers :) delicious recipe!
And Happy belated Birthday Beth! Thanks for sharing all your wonderful recipes with us.
Wait, how can you tell the above is a yam? I bought a yam to make this because I couldn’t find sweet potatoes and I’m not totally clear on the differences and whether that will work. I also had to buy Italian hot sausage instead of chorizo – I hope it turns out ok. I’m not very good at figuring out substitutions!
I believe that yams are orange on the inside, while sweet potatoes are white. I could be mistaken though. I always use yams anyway.
Cant wait to try this! I LOVE those enchiladas when I tried them. SP & chorizo go so good together!
I was inspired by your sweet potato + chorizo recipes to make a couple of different things in that theme lately. One being a chorizo, sweet potato, and kidney bean burger, and the other being a chili stuffed and roasted sweet potato with an egg on top for good measure. Delicious! Hope you enjoyed this chili.
Made this with sweet italian sausage as I couldn’t find any chorizo at Trader Joe’s. Turned out amazing. So glad I took a chance and made a double batch to freeze portions out for the next couple weeks. Yum!
Any Idea how to substitute the herbs and in the Mexican chorizo?
I live in Germany, and it’s hard enough finding good Spanish chorizo. Finding Mexican one will probably give me the greatest headache.
There’s a “spices” missing. Sorry, it’s late here.
I found this basic recipe (you could probably sub the Aleppo peppers for any hot red pepper) and you can probably find more via Google. I hope that helps!
Awesome! Thank you so much! :)
I just made this and it was phenomenal! Like a comforting hug in food form. :) I will definitely make it again. (and again, and again…)
Inspired by this post, I made a version with butternut squash instead of sweet potato (my local grocery was out). It is AMAZING!!! thank you!
Beef chorizo also exists out there. I use that from time to time instead of pork.
I was just looking for a good chili recipe and I knew you could help a sister out! Oh – we have the same birthday :)
Happy birthday!!
No way, my birthday is the 26th October, so close haha :)
Happy Birthday! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE those enchiladas so you KNOW I will be making this. Have Sprouts grocers gotten to NOLA yet? If not, I hope they do soon. They make really good sausages including chorizo. I love Sprouts because they also have the best prices on produce. I would never eat red pepper because of price but Sprouts frequently has them for 2/$1.
Now about your description…it’s the what???? It taste like poop?
The ingredient list says 4 links of chorizo and the instructions say 3 links – which is correct?
Thanks for catching that! It’s three links :)
Well, I ended up making it with 4 links anyway and it was delicious! The only change I made was to add 1 tsp of cayenne because I like my chili spicy.
I was legit looking for a chili recipe earlier today. BudgetBytes has all the recipes I want.
Do you have any suggestions for a type of meat to replace the chorizo? I don’t eat pork. =/
I would use soyrizo! That is what I plan to do, since I’m a vegetarian.
You can look for a beef or vegetarian chorizo. You pretty much have to use a chorizo here to get the right flavor because the chorizo supplies most of the herbs and spices for the chili. Replacing it with another meat will change it quite a bit.
I just made this- have only tasted it so far, but I used Tofurky Chorizo. Seems like it will be great!
That looks tasty Beth.
Happy belated birthday!