Spanish Chorizo And Beans Recipe

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This Spanish chorizo and beans recipe can be prepared as a stew or a soup, using traditional Spanish ingredients and spicy chorizo. 

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Chorizo And White Bean Stew

Spanish cuisine is one that specializes in using simple ingredients in a totally tasty way. Many dishes seemingly only have two or three ingredients. But, to get the flavors right there’s a bit more complexity to the recipe. This is just one such recipe. 

When I started making this white bean recipe, I tried to copy a traditional fabada recipe. Fabada Asturiana (a region in the north of Spain) is a white bean dish often made with morcilla, which is black sausage, and pork belly. It’s a hearty stew where the meat takes the center stage. 

My Version Of Chorizo And Beans

My version is a bit different than a traditional fabada. My version includes chorizo but skips the other meats. Instead, the white beans take center stage.

I also like to make it a little bit more soupy than a traditional stew. This is because we always serve this dish with big slices of crusty bread. I just love sopping up the soup with the bread.

Check out our other Spanish recipes that I learned living in Spain:

Spanish Spinach And Chickpeas

Vegetarian Spanish White Beans

Authentic Spanish Ropa Vieja

Spanish Chorizo And Lentil Stew

Cooking With Chorizo

There are a few different types of chorizo and ways of cooking it. Many people are familiar with a Mexican-style chorizo, which is spicy ground pork.

It’s normally cooked from raw pork. While prepared in a casing, most Mexican dishes normally remove the casing to cook the ground pork on its own. 

The Spanish variety is a little different. At our local market, we can purchase two main types of chorizo for cooking – fresh and semi-cured.

Fresh sausage looks almost like a hot Italian sausage. Semi-cured chorizo is more dry and sometimes even smoked. You can also find cured chorizo, which looks more like a pepperoni or a salami.

How To Cook Chorizo

You can use either fresh or semi-cured chorizo in this chorizo soup recipe. There’s a bit of an extra step if using the fresh variety. If using fresh chorizo, sear the chorizo in the pot before adding in the olive oil and the vegetables. 

If using semi-cured chorizo, there is no need to sear it ahead of time. Be sure to poke a hole in the skin with a fork to prevent the sausages from exploding. This will also help to release the seasoning and spices of the sausage into the soup. 

I recommend using the semi-cured chorizo for this recipe, which you can buy on Amazon here. 

Chorizo And White Bean Soup

I often make this so that it is more like a soup than a stew. This is why my recipe is a little different than a traditional fabada recipe.

The vegetables are cooked with the chorizo. Once soft, I blend the vegetables to make a creamy soup. This means this chorizo bean soup can be a great side dish for a nice salad or served on its own. 

Ingredients For This Chorizo Beans Recipe

The base for this soup or stew includes carrots, celery, potato, onion, and garlic, which is all cooked with olive oil and chicken broth. The carrots, celery, and potato should all be diced relatively small. The larger the pieces, the longer it takes to cook. 

There’s also not a lot of seasoning for this dish. Slice the chorizo into large pieces. Pierce the skin of the chorizo if needed to make sure the chorizo doesn’t explode. The chorizo will cook with the vegetables and the broth. The seasoning of the chorizo is what will season the dish. 

Add a few bay leaves, salt, and pepper, and that’s all that is needed. Remember how many bay leaves you add because you will be removing them before serving. Dont be afraid to add salt. It won’t make the dish salty, but will help to bring out the natural flavors of the dish. Because there’s not a lot of spices, it’s important to add salt and pepper.

The other main ingredients for this chorizo recipe are white beans. Drain and rinse the white beans in a colander before using. Because the canned beans are already cooked, they are added in at the end just to warm them before serving this chorizo and bean stew. 

Preparing The Vegetables

One way to make this dish take forever to cook is to prepare the vegetables and cut them too big. I start by peeling the carrots and the onions.

I used to always pawn off my peeling tasks to the husband. But, once I started using this OXO Good Grips Y Peeler, I changed my tune. It has the classic OXO comfortable rubber grip and is smooth and easy to use. I swear it cuts down peeling time by half. Check out the OXO Good Grips Y Peeler on Amazon here.

Then, cut the vegetables into pretty small pieces. This will help them cook quicker. They don’t even need to be cut in pretty pieces because they will be pureed for the ultimate soup.

How To Make Chorizo And Beans

The first step in this chorizo stew recipe is to create, essentially, a thick soup broth.

Add the olive oil, carrots, celery, potato, onion, and garlic into a large stock pot or large dutch oven. The carrots and potato should be cut small enough that they will cook relatively quickly. The larger the pieces, the longer it will take to cook.

Cut the chorizo into large pieces and prick the skin with a fork. Add the bay leaves. Remember how many pieces of chorizo and bay leaves you add because you will be removing them.

Add about 4 cups or one liter of chicken broth to the pot to ensure all the vegetables are covered. Bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat to simmer. Cook on a low to medium heat for about 30 minutes or until the carrots and potatoes are soft. 

Remove the chorizo and put to the side. Remove the bay leaves and toss. Take the vegetables and broth and blend them in a blender or with an immersion blender.

Add the blended soup back into the pot. Cut the chorizo into small, bite-sized pieces and add them back into the pot. Add the beans to the pot and cook for about 5 minutes or until the beans are warm.

Fold in the fresh parsley before serving. Sprinkle with a touch of crushed red pepper before serving if you like a little heat.

Reheating

This recipe reheats super easy on the stovetop and works well coming from the freezer as well. 

One thing I like to do when reheating is adding a few handfuls of spinach to freshen in up. In fact, the spinach goes so well with this soup, it’s the perfect variation of the basic recipe. Add the spinach in just before serving. Fold it into the soup and let it wilt. 

Modifications And Variations

To make this dish a little more traditional, you can also add a link or two of morcilla or cured pork belly. 

You can use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. Or, you can even use water to boil the vegetables. I like to use chicken broth because it adds to the flavor and thickness of the soup. If you use the water, you can probably drain a bit of the water before putting the soup into the blender.

If you want this dish more like a traditional stew than a soup, that’s easy to do. After blending the vegetables in the blender, add the chorizo and white beans to the pot before adding the blended vegetables back in. Then, you can add as much or as little of the broth as you want.

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