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).
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!
I made this last week – I tried to use brown rice instead of white rice and I couldn’t get the rice to cook as well as I would have liked. I think it would have turned out better if I had followed the recipe (I plan to make it again with white rice) – so beware if you try to substitute brown rice.
I couldn’t find chorizo the day I wanted to make it so I went with hot Italian sausage. It was delicious!
This could be one of my new favorite dishes…it had so much flavor! I had a sweet potato that needed to be used, some chorizo in the freezer, and not a ton of time to prep, so it was this recipe to the rescue! I’m trying to stay ahead of the holiday lbs. so I didn’t put cheese on it, but I really didn’t feel like I was missing anything without it. I subbed in brown rice as well, increasing the broth to 2 cups and simmering for about 45 minutes. I had two servings before I had to make myself stop eating, portioned out the other 4 servings for lunches and froze 2 of them. Hopefully they thaw well.
Tried this out last night. My first time cooking with chorizo, and I was kinda nervous! But it was so delicious! I didn’t add cheese to mine, because I can’t have dairy, but it was still amazing.
I have made this several times now with brown rice. Just up the broth to 2 cups, cooking time is about the same, maybe 5 mins more. Thank you for an amazing and easy recipe!
I want to do this and I have everything but the sweet potato at home, but I *do* have a butternut squash who’s looking at me and winking. I guess if I cut it a bit bigger, to account for the softer texture, it should be fine.
I can’t imagine that it could turn into a disaster. The worst that could happen would be that the squash would, well, squash away and dissolve a bit.
Of course, now that I’ve said that, I’ll probably set my whole kitchen on fire…
Hahaha, hope for the best, not the worst! :) I’m sure it will work fine.
This recipe has been in our weekly rotation for the last 8 weeks. It is delicious! I make it with brown rice. I add about 3 1/4 cups of water and let it simmer for about an hour. I’ve made it with red salsa, green salsa, combo of the two, and even green enchilda sauce twice when we ran out of salsa. I always forget about the green onions, but I’m sure it would be even better with them on it. I don’t necessarily think it needs cheese. I usually cut the amount of cheese in half or sometimes omit it all together, and it still tastes great. It’s an all around winner.
I made this and loved it but now I’ve been asked to bring enough to feed 40 people! Tips for using the crockpot to make this?
Hmmm, I’m not sure how the slow cooker would work, really. It’s tricky business getting that rice to cook just right and I’m not sure if it would work the same in a slow cooker.
I’m in the UK, so our Chorizo is an expensive Spanish sausage rather than a cheap Mexican one. It’s far thicker & denser than the one you show and would have to be cubed, it doesn’t act like a normal pork sausage the way yours does. We’re thinking of using a mix of proper chorizo (chopped finely) and pork sausage meat when we make it, that’s probably our best route isn’t it?
Spanish and Mexican chorizos are just completely different products. One is cured, one is raw, and I think the blend of spices may be different as well. I think it would still taste good to use finely chopped Spanish chorizo, but definitely different than the original recipe. :)
Yeah John, I’d go for spicy Italian sausage then. It has the same texture/properties, because the Spanish chorizo won’t crumble that way.
Bon appétit!
Here’s a quick homemade chorizo recipe that gives the basic spice combination and some substitutions for harder-to-find spices.:
1.10 lb. or 500 grams of ground pork
1 tbsp. cumin seed
1 tsp. coriander seed
5 whole cloves
2 bay leaves
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. oregano
½ tsp. thyme
1 tbsp. granulated garlic
1 tsp. sea salt
5 whole peppercorns (or ½ tsp. ground black pepper)
2 tbsp. Ancho chile powder OR substitute with a combination of
2 tbsp. paprika mixed with ½ tsp. cayenne powder OR
2 tbsp. paprika mixed with 1 tsp. red chili powder
3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar (can substitute with
red wine vinegar)
Grind your spices in a mortar and pestle, or use a coffee grinder.
I made this a few weeks ago with vegetarian sausages, because my spouse is a vegetarian. My spouse loved it, but I don’t really like these sausages, so I loved the bites that didn’t have sausages in them, lol! What would you suggest as a vegetarian substitute for the chorizo?
I don’t think there really is one aside from commercial “soyrizo” and products like that (is that something like what you tried?). The thing that makes chorizo unique is the blend of spices, so substituting something else that isn’t spiced the same will change the dish quite a bit.
Mexican Chipotle Field Roast! We’re both huge meat eaters, but have to cook for vegetarians on occasion and this is a really tasty substitute.
I’ve made the enchilada version many times, tonight is my first try with this recipe. I added a diced pasilla/poblano pepper at the beginning (sautéed with the yams) and used a can of garlic roasted tomatoes as I had no salsa. I also used beef broth – out of chicken broth. One thing I love about your recipes is that I’m not afraid to substitute with what I have on hand! :) I chopped some cilantro to add as desired when serving. It turned out to be delicious! I will try it again as written. Thanks again for your website.
Cannot wait to make this tonight! I think I’m going to add 2 chipotle peppers in adobo though cause I like the flavor (and they keep staring at me in the freezer). Thanks for all your recipes Beth!!
This has become a standard of mine!
I make it a bit differently, though. Instead of buying salsa, I bought a jalapeño pepper and an anaheim pepper, along with a can of rotel, green-chili tomatoes.
I dice the peppers and put them in with the chorizo. Add the rotel tomatoes when you add the salsa and cook everything the same.
I found the taste to be a bit fresher, and with a bit more heat.
This recipe is fabulous! What a wonderful combination of flavors. A huge hit with my family tonight.
BTW, I made my own turkey chorizo, saving both calories and a little money. If you live in a chirozo-deprived area, here is a link to the recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/turkey-chorizo-228870
For those of you who want to use brown rice, I tried it today, as I’m not a fan of white rice. I used brown basmati from the bulk bins at the health food store, which is my favorite kind of rice. I increased the broth to 2 3/4 cups and I checked on it after 30, 45, and 60 minutes. After an hour, the broth was all absorbed and the rice was still a little al dente. So I added maybe 1/4-1/3 cup more broth and simmered it for a few more minutes before adding the cheese. I’d definitely start with 3C of broth and expect at least an hour of cooking time.
I made a couple other changes as well, had a half a green bell pepper and a half an onion left over from another recipe so I sauteed them with the sweet potato. I substituted homemade seitan chorizo (recipe from Viva Vegan). It’s a bit firmer and doesn’t crumble so I chopped it in small pieces to disperse the flavor throughout the dish. It turned out excellent, even my picky husband loved it (said it reminded him of Hamburger Helper, believe it or not this is a compliment). Will definitely be making this again.