It’s almost soup season and one of my favorite things to do is take a flavorful recipe and turn it into a soup. One of the best parts about learning how to cook at home is mastering the recipe switcheroo. This Chorizo Yam Stew is a great recipe switcheroo!
Being able to take the flavors from a certain dish and use them in a completely different recipe is so much fun.
For this one-pot chorizo yam stew, I took the basics from one of my favorite taco recipes (Chorizo yam tacos), but instead of cooking everything together and piling it in a tortilla, I simmered it with a few other basic ingredients for a super-simple and flavorful stew. It’ll make your whole house smell amazing and tastes like you slaved away for hours, but really it’s ready in about 45 minutes.
Added bonus: The dishes you have to clean will be a knife, a single pot, and the dishes you eat on. Not bad!
Doubled Added Bonus: It’s gluten-free in case you or your guests are gluten-sensitive!
What kind of chorizo works well for this recipe?
There are two basic kinds of chorizo that are available: Spanish chorizo and Mexican chorizo. The Spanish chorizo is more of a cured meat, closer to a spicy salami while the Mexican chorizo is just heavily spiced ground pork.
You want the Mexican chorizo for this recipe!
Cooking the Chorizo
The first part of this chorizo yam stew recipe is getting the chorizo cooking. Buy ground chorizo (or you could use hot Italian sauce, but if you do that add 2 teaspoons of paprika to the stew), and make small meatballs out of the mixture. They should be bite-sized. You should get 25-30 meatballs out of a pound of chorizo.
Add a few tablespoons of olive oil to a sturdy pot over medium heat and cook the meatballs for about 8 minutes until they are browned nicely and cooked through. These are looking right.
While the meatballs cook, you can chop the yams and onions. This is really the only chopping you have to do so take your time with it. Peel the yam and cube the yam into a small to medium dice. You don’t have to be as exacting as I was, but you don’t want any huge chunks.
I measured out two cups of cubed yams, but you could use more without much issue. If you have extra I would just toss it in.
When the meatballs are done, remove them from the pot, but leave any oil that has accumulated. Add the diced yam and onions along with a few thyme sprigs.
Cook this all together for a few minutes until the veggies soften.
Finishing the Chorizo Yam Stew
The last piece of this stew is spinach which adds some great color to the stew. You can just use a big bunch of adult spinach. Chop off any huge stems and rinse it well.
When the veggies are soft in your pot, add the garlic to it and cook it for 30 seconds so the garlic doesn’t burn. Then add the chicken stock and white beans. Bring that to a simmer and toss in the spinach.
This will wilt quickly. Maybe a minute or so and then you can add the meatballs back in to finish the chorizo yam stew. Taste the stew and season it with salt and pepper. It’ll probably need a pinch of pepper but might not need salt depending on the saltiness of your chorizo and chicken stock.
Mine was pretty good actually without much extra seasoning.
Tip for thickening this stew
As-is the stew will be a bit on the watery or thin side. If you want to thicken it up, this is what you do!
Scoop out about a cup of the yam and bean mixture and mash it well with the fork.
Stir this back into the stew and it will thicken it a bit.
Serve up the stew in big, deep bowls.
YUM.
I just love this flavor combo. It’s my new favorite stew!
Leftovers
This stew keeps really well for about 5 days in the fridge in a sealed container. After that the greens in it start to get a little funky.
You can also freeze this stew for later which will keep for at least three months.
One Pot Chorizo Yam Stew
Ingredients
- 1 pound chorizo, in meatballs
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 white onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2-3 sprigs thyme
- 2 cups chopped yams
- 2 15-ounce cans Cannellini Beans
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 1 large bunch adult spinach, rinsed well
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Shape ground chorizo into small spoon-sized meatballs. In a large pot or Dutch oven, add olive oil over medium heat. Add chorizo meatballs and cook until browned well on all sides, about 8 minutes turning occasionally.
- Remove meatballs (leaving any grease in the pot) and add chopped yams and onions. Cook for 6-8 minutes until veggies are soft and possibly browned in spots. Add minced garlic and stir together and cook for 30 seconds.
- Add drained and rinsed beans, fresh thyme and chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes covered.
- Remove about a cup of the beans and yams from the pot and mash them well to form a paste. Stir that back into the stew to thicken it. Add meatballs back into the pot.
- Add rinsed spinach to the pot and cook for another minute or two until spinach is wilted. Season stew with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.
Tim
long-time lurker, first time commenter here! This looks like a very nice, warming, filling, soup for Fall. I assume that you mean to use sweet potato rather than an actual yam? A possible shortcut would be to use chorizo sausages instead of making meatballs. fry and remove like you did with the meatballs, then while the vegetables are softening, cut the cooked sausages lengthwise and then crosswise into bite size pieces. I find this to be quicker and less fiddly than making actual meatballs anyway, and do it frequently with bratwursts and italian sausages all the time.
Keep up the good cooking!!
Nick
Hey Tim, yea… That’s always confusing. It’s labeled a yam in most American super markets but you’re right that it’s not a traditional yam. Here’s a good article for those interested on the difference (http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-yams-and-sweet-potatoes-word-of-mouth-211176). This recipe works best with the slightly sweet orange potato. Haha. Confusing stuff!
And yes… you can definitely use chorizo sausages instead. Just cut them into rounds and you’ll be all set.
Tim
Hey Nick, FINALLY found some chorizo, hard to find in DC. the only modifications i did was to use 3 cups sweet potatoes, which was 1 potato!! and 2 boxes of frozen spinach rather than mess with fresh. that is probably twice the spinach called for, but i like it and as a forty mumble mumble year old white american male, i probably need as much healthy food i can sneak into my diet! The stew is a winner! thanks for the idea!
Dan S
We always do chorizo, butternut squash, and kale. Thanks for the reminder of a great recipe! I like the idea of using sweet potatoes, though. They can be quicker to deal with than squash.
Stephanie @ Girl Versus Dough
This stew sounds so flavorful! And I love that it doesn’t require many dishes. ;) Pass me a spoon!
Nick
Thanks Stephanie! It was definitely a hit at our house. :)
Matt
Oh yes. Yes yes yes. Tons of chorizo in the freezer I didn’t know what to do with besides gumbo. This will fit the bill nicely, thanks!
Lisa
What an appetizing photo! Making me want to try it this weekend, even though I have a million household chores to do!
Looks delishhhhhhhhhhhh!
danielle
Can’t wait! Any suggestions where to find non-sketchy chorizo?
danielle
Duh, whole foods. Just found it.
Nick
Beat me to it. ;)
Lenny
How many people does it feed ?
Nick
Hey Lenny, it’s serves 4 easily with maybe some leftovers. Good luck!
Josie
I loved this stew, so delicious. Even better the next day if that is possible. Thanks so much for this winning recipe.
Todd
Made this tonight and it was terrific! Thanks for a solid recipe!
Whee
Hello! Thank you for this amazing recipe! I tried it the first time with hot Italian because I was unable to find chorizo and it was delicious!! The second time I did try with chorizo but it did not turn out quite right. The chorizo I got did not hold meatball shape at all and basically melted into the stew. What kind of chorizo do I need to get??
Moe
This is one of my favorite recipes! I’ve made it several times over the past few years and it’s always a hit. Thank you so much!
Donna Budhai
Wonderful recipe! I made some changes based on some missing ingredients in my fridge and it still came out pretty good.
I used one small red onion and one large shallot for the onion taste.
I used sliced chorizo from my local deli shop. (about 1 and half sausages).
I used about 5 nuggets of frozen spinach instead of fresh spinach.
And I added some seasoning salt instead of regular salt, and some fresh thyme and dried oregano.