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!
This recipe is a staple for me and my boyfriend! We’ve made it four times now, both for ourselves and for guests. Very easy and delicious!
My son made this for me and it was soooo good! Now I am going to make it for my husband and myself. :)
Hello! I’ve been loving your recipes!! I want to try this, my husband loves chorizo. But we aren’t fans of black beans…do you think this would taste fine with a different bean? Like pintos? Or cannelini?
Thanks!
Hmm, you definitely want to go with a firm bean so they don’t turn to mush (that’s one of the great aspects of the black bean, that and the bold color). Even though kidney beans aren’t really southwest style, I almost think they would work here. Or you can just leave the beans out.
Oh, thanks! I hadn’t thought of the pintos getting mushy…I think I will try it without the beans. Thanks for answering!
Just made this using homemade chorizo which I had leftover from making the chorizo and sweet potato enchiladas. Was going to make those again but thought I’d try this recipe. Almost forgot to add the cheese! I’d already portioned into bowls to put in the freezer when I remembered so just stuck cheese on top, should melt down great when reheated. This was really yummy and filling. I added the leftover poblano pepper I had as well, it worked in the enchiladas so figured it would go well with this. Already had cooked white rice so I added that at the end and reduced the chicken broth.
If you can’t find premade chorizo sausage just buy ground pork, I used lean ground pork, go online and find a chorizo recipe. Since you don’t need the casings for this recipe it’s super simple, you just have to put the chorizo in the fridge to meld flavours for at least 12 hours or overnight.
I made this over the weekend for my work lunches this week… It was as good (if not slightly better) than the regular southwest chicken skillet!
Like most people, I did make a couple of minor alterations: started with cooking the chorizo first, so I didn’t use any oil on the sweet potatoes. I wasn’t worried, because I knew I was going to use brown rice anyway, so the simmering time would be closer to an hour. My sweet potatoes were pretty much completely broken down by the time it was done (which gave it a silky, risotto-esque texture). I left off the cheese, and topped with sour cream, diced bbq grilled chicken (wanted more meat), and a couple of small grilled sweet peppers.
It was spicier than I’m used to eating, but so so good.
Definitely going to use the other half lb of chorizo to make it again soon.
This was soooo good. I’ve known about your site for a couple of years now, but just recently I have been trying more and more of your recipes. If I am going to cook/eat at home I MUST have a ton of flavor and variety. You knock it out of the park every time!
Um HUGE HIT! Super easy and super yummy. Thanks for this, and all of your other amazing recipes. I can’t wait to get down on this for lunch leftovers today!
Hi Beth,
On the account of not finding chorizo at my local store and not wanting going to the expensive store, I opted for using the shredded chicken I had left over in the freezer. But I’m not sure how long to sauté the sweet potato. You mention 5 minutes but with the chorizo added, the time increases. Should 10 minutes instead of 5 be enough before I add the chicken/beans/rice/salsa?
I’ve been making your southwest skillet, so I decided to try this and see how the sweet potatoes add to the flavour. Thank You.
I think it will definitely depend on how small the sweet potatoes are cut. Just keep an eye on it and move to the next step when the sweet potatoes start to get tender. They’ll also turn a slightly darker and almost translucent in color (instead of that opaque orange color).
I just made this and it was awesome! I’m in australia and couldn’t find the same chorizo you used, but it still tasted good. I ended up putting it in the oven to finish off because I couldn’t get the sweet potatoes to cook but it still came out really yummy (and slightly crispy around the edges, yum!!) – I think next time I will try it with pork mince and some chilli/mexican spice since we can’t get mexican chorizo here.
Wow – fabulous dish. We quadrupled it to feed our big family (and have lots of leftovers!) and I’m so glad we did. We used a combo of sweet italian and andouille sausage because we had it in the freezer and it was excellent. This will reheat well and everyone had several servings. Another hit from your website!
Where I live, mexican chorizo is a lot more expensive than I expected. My results produced something that was pretty sweet and spicy, but also a bit greasy for my taste.
Chorizo does vary quite a bit. I used one brand once that was mostly fat and I wasn’t a fan at all. I really like the Johnsonville brand, if you can get it. It’s a national brand, but they don’t always offer all of their products in all stores.
Just wanted to say that this came out really well; I used red salsa and hot Italian sausage and it was delicious. I think you should definitely come up with more skillet recipes, because they’re amazing!
I made this last night, and my husband and I both loved it–and since he does most of the dishes, he also loved that there was only one pot to clean up. :) Every recipe I’ve tried from you has been a success. Your oven fajitas and taco chicken bowls get cooked at least once a month, and now I’ll be adding this one to the rotation. Thanks for sharing such delicious, affordable, and easy recipes!
Beth…I literally can’t even. This is STUPIDLY delicious. Thank you. I couldn’t find chorizo in my usual grocery store, so I used spicy Italian sausage instead. I also went with mild salsa since I figure spicy salsa might be overkill combined with spicy sausage.
Lots of flavor, and so easy. After the 30 minute simmer, I still had a lot of uncooked rice. I added more water, and simmered for another 20 minutes.