I’m loving these one skillet meals not only because they’re so easy to make, but because they’re so easy to eat. Instead of filling my plate with a main dish and a couple of sides, This Chorizo Sweet Potato Skillet has everything I need in one bowl. Carbs, fiber, protein, vegetables, and CHEESE. Ha, just kidding about needing the cheese (not kidding).
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Anyway. Since making my Chorizo & Sweet Potato Enchiladas over three years ago, I’ve been in love with the sweet and spicy combo of chorizo and sweet potatoes. Spicy Mexican Chorizo and the subtle sweetness of sweet potatoes go so incredibly well together and I just can’t get enough of it. So, for this skillet meal I paired up the famous flavor duo and cooked them together with rice, black beans, and salsa (the same method used for the Southwest Chicken Skillet). I don’t know if there’s an easier way to pack in so much flavor with so little effort.
And, BONUS, this one freezes super duper well, so it’s a great candidate for stocking your freezer with ready to reheat meals!
Chorizo Sweet Potato Skillet
Servings 6Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.13)
- 1 sweet potato (1 lb.) ($1.50)
- 1/2 lb. Mexican chorizo ($2.75)
- 1 15oz. can black beans ($0.59)
- 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice ($0.33)
- 1 cup salsa (red or green) ($0.46)
- 1.75 cup chicken broth ($0.23)
- 1 cup shredded cheese ($0.90)
- 2-3 green onions, sliced ($0.20)
Instructions
- Peel and dice the sweet potato into 1/2 to 3/4 inch cubes (size matters, make them small). Sauté the sweet potato cubes in a large skillet with olive oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes have softened about half way through (they’ll cook more later).
- Add the chorizo to the skillet (squeeze it out of its casing if it came in links) with the sweet potatoes. Sauté the chorizo and sweet potatoes together, breaking the chorizo up into small pieces as it browns.
- Once the chorizo is fully browned, pour off any excess grease if needed. Rinse and drain the black beans. Add the beans, salsa, and uncooked rice to the skillet. Stir them into the sweet potatoes and chorizo until everything is well combined.
- Add the chicken broth, stir briefly, then place a lid on the skillet. Allow the contents of the skillet to come up to a boil, then turn the heat down to low. Let the skillet simmer on low for 30 minutes. Make sure it is simmering the whole time (you should be able to hear it quietly simmer away). If it is not, turn the heat up slightly.
- After 30 minutes the rice should be tender and have absorbed all of the liquid. Turn off the heat, fluff the mixture, sprinkle the cheese on top, then return the lid to trap the residual heat and help the cheese melt. Slice the green onions while the cheese is melting, then sprinkle them on top and serve.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Chorizo Sweet Potato Skillet – Step by Step Photos
First, peel and cut the sweet potato into 1/2-3/4 inch cubes. The easiest way to do this is to first peel the sweet potato, cut the sweet potato into rounds, then cut the rounds into cubes. If a few of your rounds are about the same size, you can stack them before cutting them crosswise into cubes. Making the cubes too big will prevent them from cooking through completely, so make sure not to go any larger than about 3/4 inch.
Sauté the sweet potato cubes in a large skillet with 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat for about five minutes. You want them to cook about half way through at this point. You’ll notice that they turn a little bit darker and slightly translucent as they begin to soften.
This is the type of chorizo I use. I only used 1/2 lb. for the entire recipe! Johnsonville is a large national brand and is available in most major super markets. It’s basically just pork sausage seasoned with Mexican spices. If buying another brand, make sure to check the ingredients and package well because not all chorizo is created equal (I bought some in a “tube” once and it was VERY fatty and not very pleasant). If your chorizo comes in links, simply squeeze the ground meat out of the casing.
Add the chorizo to the skillet and continue to sauté until the chorizo is fully browned. If your chorizo has let off a lot of grease, you may want to drain it from the skillet at this point (mine did not).
Next add one cup of your favorite salsa, one 15-oz. can of black beans (rinsed and drained), and one cup uncooked long grain white rice. You can use either green or red salsa, they both work great! Now stir these all together with the chorizo and sweet potatoes until everything is evenly mixed.
Lastly, add 1.75 cups of chicken broth to the skillet. Give it a quick stir.
Place the lid on the skillet and allow it to come up to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer, with the lid on, for 30 minutes. Make sure you can hear it simmering the whole time. Every range will have its “sweet spot” heat setting where the skillet will be simmering, but not so hot that the bottom scorches. Mine is just slightly above the low setting. Using a thick, heavy skillet will help it to cook thoroughly and evenly, too. (This is what it looks like AFTER simmering.) After 30 minutes, the rice should be tender and all of the liquid absorbed. If it isn’t, cover it back up and let it go for another 5-10 minutes. Like I said, every skillet/range is different. If the heat was set too low, it will take just a bit longer. If it was too high, it may be sticking to the bottom of the skillet.
Once the rice is tender and has absorbed all the liquid, turn off the heat and fluff it up with a fork to mix the ingredients back together.
Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top, then cover it back up with the lid. This will trap the residual heat and melt the cheese.
Slice the green onions while the cheese is melting, then sprinkle them on top.
Boxed skillet meals ain’t got nuthin’ on this Chorizo Sweet Potato Skillet!
Oh man, I already want to make a second batch!
My wife and I have been making this dish for years now. It’s simple, well balanced, tastes great, and the leftovers keep well. We sub out the chorizo for hot pork sausage which is just a little easier to find in a southern grocery store. It’s also great topped with green hot sauce or avocado, eaten with tortilla chips, or if you want to spruce up the leftovers a bit, fried hard in a cast iron pan and topped with a runny fried egg. Awesome recipe!
This recipe has been one of our staple meal prep recipes for years now. I use prechopped sweet potato to save on time. Can’t find chorizo easily here, so mild Italian sausage works well. Thanks Beth!
I have everything except the salsa. Is there a substitute or can I just leave it out?
Hi Pam, you definitely shouldn’t skip a substitute as you need the liquid in the salsa to help cook the rice. Try subbing with an equal amount of diced tomato (fresh or canned) and add a few chili flakes to taste. Happy cooking! XOXO -Monti
:Hello,
Can you please clarify if it is a quantity of one 3/4 cup of broth? Or is it 1-3/4 cup?
If it is the latter, it would be helpful to have you add the “-” to your recipe to make sure there is no confusion. My wife and I are arguing which quantity is correct.
Thank you
It’s 1.75 cups :)
Hi there! This sounds so good! I was wondering if you rinse the uncooked rice, or just leave it unrinsed. Thanks in advance!
You can do it either way, just make sure all of the water is drained away if rinsed!
Hi! Would brown rice work for this recipe in place of white rice?
No, unfortunately brown rice is not well suited for this recipe because it requires more liquid and a much longer cooking time, so the whole recipe would need to be reformulated.
This was great! I tripled the recipe (because that’s how I cook…haha) and used yellow rice because we have a ton of it in the pantry, and it was still delicious…even though I started to worry as it was cooking that I’d gotten the proportion of liquid wrong when I subbed the rice. This was filling, satisfying, and a great low-meat recipe to add to our repertoire. (We’re trying to eat less meat for environmental reasons.) Thanks, Beth!
I happened to have all the ingredients for this in my house and decided to make for dinner today. I doubled the recipe so I could have leftovers and added 1 can of corn. We also decided on green salsa instead of red. This is SO DELICIOUS!! Thank you again!
I made this with spicy Italian sausage because my grocery store did not have chorizo. I also used my favorite “campfire” salsa which has a smoky taste. The combination of smoke, sweet from the sweet potato, and spice from the sausage was really good! I also like that there’s not much chopping/prep work involved. This recipe relies on the sausage/salsa/broth for all its seasoning so be aware you may want to add a pinch of salt if you’re using milder-flavored versions of those ingredients.
This is easily in both my husband and my top 5 favorite meals ever! It never fails to impress!
Could you use meatless chorizo with this?
That would probably work well. :)
This dish is delicious! The next time I make it, I might double the chorizo for my meat-eater husband.
This recipe was so easy and delcious! It was instantly added to our rotation of meals! And dishes were a breeze 🙌😁
I’ve been making this recipe every 1-2 months for the last several years because I love it so much. I make it with Trader Joe’s Soyrizo and I also sautee kale in with it before adding the beans and rice. It’s so easy to make, is one-pot, feels pretty healthy, and is really delicious. Even though I’ve made it probably over 50 times at this point (lol), my boyfriend and I still look forward to it!
I was worried that 30 min would be too long for jasmine rice, but it was perfect. I used a dutch oven. Queso quesadilla was awesome in this.