Chorizo and Sweet Potato Chili Recipe

This chorizo and sweet potato chili is a recipe I came up with a couple days ago. I wanted to eat sweet potatoes, and I had pulled some chorizo out of the freezer to thaw, so I set to googling. It seems like everyone only makes sweet potato and chorizo hash and that just seemed too fussy, so I decided to wing it and make chili instead!

This chili is AMAZING. It has loads of flavor for the small amount of ingredients.

By the way - I'm totally cheating ible-wise this time. I know I normally take step-by-step photos, but sometimes I just want to cook without a camera around my neck. And this was too good not to share! :D

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into a 1/2 inch dice
• 1 onion, diced finely
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 pound good chorizo - if in casings, remove it from the casings. Make sure this is raw, uncured chorizo.
• 14.5 oz can black beans
• 1-2 tablespoons salt-free chili powder
• 2 cups chicken stock (you can sub water, but you'll lose a little flavor)
• salt to taste

How much chili powder you use depends entirely on your chorizo. The chorizo I'm using right now is awesome and local and has loads of spices. Start with one tablespoon of chili powder and add more as needed. :)

Recipe:

1. First, prep work! Peel the sweet potato and cut it into a 1/2 inch dice. Dice the onion finely and mince the garlic. Remove the chorizo from the casings if it came that way.
2. Place a large heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium heat and cook the chorizo. Cook this, stirring frequently, until it starts to brown and the fat begins to render out. Break the chorizo up into tiny pieces as it cooks. This will take about 10 minutes.
3. Drain the excess fat is there's a ton - you only need 1-2 tablespoons to do the rest of the cooking.
4. Add in the cut up onion and sweet potato and turn the heat down a little. Stir this around so everything is coated in the fat. Cook this, stirring frequently, for 5-10 minutes or until the onions start to go translucent.
5. Add in a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of chili powder. Stir this around and let it cook for a couple minutes. Determine by smell if it seems chili-y enough at this point. If so, you're good to move on. If not, add more chili powder and let it cook again.
6. Once the chili powder is smelling great and covering all the ingredients, add in the garlic. Stir this for a minute - just until it gets really fragrant!
7. Add in the tomatoes, the black beans and their liquid and two cups of chicken stock. Stir and bring to a boil.
8. Once the chili has come to a boil, drop it to a simmer and cook it, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Stir at least every ten minutes.
9. After a half hour, the chili should be thickened up nicely. Taste test it and add more of whatever you need. I added a little extra chili powder. :D Also check the sweet potatoes
10. Simmer with the lid on for an additional 15 minutes after tasting it - this will ensure the sweet potatoes are nice and soft. :D
11. EAT THE WHOLE POT OF CHILI

And there you go - my super easy and tasty chorizo and sweet potato chili recipe! I think I'll be making this all the time now. It's maybe even better than my Ratfink chili. ;)

Comments

[EcoExpatMike]

I sometimes think you take pics of EVERYTHING you do, just in case you decide to 'ible it... Thanks!

[L41L4K]

Hey glad to see u used chorizo in one of your chilis I'm glad I inspired u to use it u should try adding bacon too it's awesome :)

[maccapen]

I've never heard of chorizo had to do an image search on it. Just wondering if there is a substitute for it so the dish can be enjoyed by vegitarians ?

[mchowdhury mumu]

looks tasty

[jessyratfink]

Not much with get close, I'm afraid!

However, I think if you crumbled some tempeh and fried it with some chorizo spice mix, it would be pretty good. :D

Here's a good spice mix: http://www.thekitchn.com/chorizo-spice-mix-185954

[killroytech]

Did it, delicious! I added 2 tablespoon of chili powder only, to keep it children friendly.

Tip: before adding the black beans,(I used a can of refried beans) dilute them in a bowl with some chicken stock, otherwise you have to work with a spoon in the sauce pan to break the lumps!

[MichaelAtOz]

Is your Chili Powder the blend of various spices type, or just powdered chillies?

[jewelsmythe]

I'm assuming the former (and it came out great this way, I might add). Two clues... (1) powdered Chile's wouldn't have salt in the first place, and (2) the usual convention is that chili with an I refers to the blended spices, which include chile peppers and cumin, among others, whereas chile with an E is straight powdered peppers, usually only one variety at a time.

The question I was going to ask at first was what king of chorizo to use... The Mexican kind, which is soft and melts readily, or the Spanish/Portuguese kind which is more akin to a spicy smoked sausage. However, since all I can get locally is the Mexican one, that's what I used. I would have had to substitute something for the other... although a nice andouille would probably have done the trick.

Making it again tonight, with the addition of some cooked & shredded chicken to stretch it a little (and to use up the chicken :))

[FreckledR]

This sounds yummy, but I just really really love the photos :D x

[MarshaS4]

I cooked this for dinner. It's good, but I don't know if the Mexican chorizo that was used is of high quality or not. There wasn't enough fat to bother draining some off, so that is a good thing. I'm not sure of the mix of savory and sweet. I'm from WV, so southern cooking is my thing. My grandma used to cook possum and sweet potatoes once in a while, but it was served as a main dish and side. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe w/photo. I love trying new things, especially with ingredients new to me. This was my intro. to chorizo. All the best to you in the New Year.

[jessyratfink]

Yay! I'm happy you gave it a go. :D

If you could see the spices and fat in the meat before cooking and the fat turns bright orange/red when you cook it, you've probably got some pretty good chorizo. That's how I determine it, at least!

I admit it took me a little while to get used to the savory/sweet too, but I had a bit of an introduction mixing southern food (I'm from western KY) and German food growing up.

If you'd like to try another thing with chorizo, my homemade mac and cheese with chorizo is super yummy and 100% savory: https://www.instructables.com/id/chorizo-mac-and-cheese/ :)

[MarshaS4]

I just had another bowl after it had sat for a couple hours. Much better. The sweet potatoes seemed to absorb a little of the flavor from the seasonings. Thanks again

[wrodawalt]

The potatoes look orange. Did you use sweet potatoes or yams? I am trying it with sweet potatoes (the white ones).

[jessyratfink]

Orange sweet potatoes! Though I'm sure yams would work great, too.

[keegancdr]

the spices really add to the color in my experience making it last night.

[diamonddozen]

Can you clarify whether you used cured (e.g. Spanish/Portuguese) or uncured (Mexican) chorizo? From the description, it reads like you used the latter since you mentioned browning and rendering fat, but I'd appreciate a clarification. They're fairly different and not really interchangeable. Thanks!

[jessyratfink]

Uncured - this is loose and raw. :)

[wrodawalt]

For those of you wondering about the calories. I came up with 462 calories for about 3.5 cup servings. This is slightly modified because I only used 12 oz of chorizo instead of 16 oz as called for. This was simply because that is the weight of the prepackaged chorizo I was able to find. It was very good, and mine had a bit of WANG to it.

[sekitori]

O yeah, made it today and tasted just great ! Used red kidneybeans instead of black, served with rice.

Had to share the whole pot with the rest of the family, unfortunately ;-)

[Buhuhu]

I'm literally drooling right now. Tomorrow after work, i'll stop to buy the ingredients.