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!
Chorizo is hard to find in my area and what I can find, itsn’t all that great. I had some in the freezer that I used for this but I’m thinking next time I’ll try some ground turkey or beef with taco seasoning and see how that goes. I topped it with avocado, diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, sour cream and had tortilla chips on the side and it was pretty delicious even with the mediocre chorizo! Can’t wait to try it again with some tweaking, it was quick and easy to make and even my Mr. Picky Pants enjoyed it. I’m also thinking corn stirred in at the end would be good.
I made this tonight using chicken chorizo from Sprouts, and it turned out to be amazing! The only change I made was leaving out the cheese because I’m sadly lactose intolerant. And of course I added hot sauce :)
I was very impressed with the flavor in this recipe! The one-pot meal concept had me a little skeptical, but everything turned out great. Beth, you never let me down! The rice was fully cooked, the black beans and sweet potatoes held together, and most importantly all the ingredients taste great together! I love the idea of using the flavors that are already in the chorizo and the salsa to spice up the meal, instead of having to add a bunch of different ingredients.
Do you cook all the way through and then portion to freeze? Or do you cut the cooking time first go around? And do you reheat from frozen?
I cook it completely, then divide it into single portions, chill it in the refrigerator, then transfer to the freezer once chilled. :) I just use the microwave to reheat from frozen.
Added half an onion with chorizo and topped with cilantro instead of green onion. Very good, filling, and inexpensive!
This is definitely one of my favorite recipes of yours. The flavors are awesome. Thank you!
I normally don’t like sweet potatoes, but this is a new favorite dish! So yummy and filling. It’s good with or without cheese, but my favorite way to eat it is with a fried egg on top. That runny yolk richens and heightens all of the flavors. I could eat this for every meal.
This recipe works really well for weekly meal prep with one tweak: don’t do the last step with the cheese in the skillet. Portion it into your lunch containers and then sprinkle the cheese on.
I agree! I love this type of dish for meal prep. :)
This is a super tasty and quick weeknight meal. I, too, thought the salsa verde paired well with the sweet potato. I overcooked the sweet potatoes though, so this rice bowl did not have much texture. I can work on that next time though. This one-pot, rice bowl is a keeper!
I made this twice last week I liked it so much the first time! We didn’t have any chorizo on hand so I used ground beef and some chipotle powder and taco seasoning instead. I used diced tomatoes since we had those on hand (and I don’t like the jalepenos that are in all salsa). After eating it the first time, it definitely needed some ompf, IMO. The second time I added paprika and garlic and cooked the sweet potatoes with a diced onion, which helped. I like more spice in my meals than most, so others mileage may vary. We are making it again tomorrow, but subbing in corn and another can of beans for the meat.
Sounds like you omitted the two sources of flavor- salsa and chorizo…
Fantastic! I did use brown rice. I picked out a slightly underripe sweet potato, and cut it a little bigger (one inch or so). I probably used 1/4 cup more water too. Potatoes were firm and rice was done. The only thing I’d do differently if using brown rice again would be to add the beans in halfway. Good one skillet meal!
Yum!! I used veggie broth because that’s what I had in my cabinet and added an onion, a couple cloves of garlic, and red bell pepper (which I threw in just before I put the cover on so that it wouldn’t cook so long that it would fall apart). I think this all comes down to how good your ingredients are because it your chorizo, salsa, and/or broth aren’t well seasoned, you’re not going to get a good meal. All I needed was some salt and pepper and it was delicious and filling! I eat slightly bigger servings [than I probably should], so it’ll be 5 servings for me to look forward to!
One of my favorite easy dinners! If I don’t have chorizo on hand I’ll just add in other vegetables like peppers, corn, and zucchini for a delicious vegetarian meal.
This was SO good. So easy too.
The only tiny change I made was to add salt and pepper to the final result (It needed it IMO)
Excited to eat this again.
The flavors in this looked good but I’m trying to cut down the amount of meat I’m eating. I made this, but subbed the chorizo sausage for a chorizo blend of spices and an extra can of beans. Super delicious and satisfying.
Made this for the first time using a harissa olive oil, the salsa verde, & arroz bomba. Absolutely wonderful! Thank you for sharing this recipe.