Traditional Spanish Chorizo And Beans Recipe

This Spanish chorizo and beans stew is a warming, hearty and versatile dish that can be enjoyed as a filling evening meal or as a soup for a midday snack or lunch. It offers traditional Spanish flavors and was inspired by dishes I learned to cook when living in Spain.

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Chorizo and Beans

I am a big fan of cooking and eating Spanish dishes, and I love that most of the meals are made using only minimal ingredients, which are put together in a way that makes them super tasty and wholesome. 

This Spanish recipe stems from a traditional dish called Fabada Asturiana. Asturias is a region in the north of Spain. Fabada is usually made with black sausage and pork belly. Using Spanish chorizo makes this dish a lot easier to prepare at home with more simple ingredients.

My Twist on Spanish Beans with Chorizo

After trying the traditional variety of Spanish bean and chorizo stew many times after moving to Spain, I started playing around with the recipe at home. I changed a couple of the ingredients and added my personal touch to the methods. 

I tried a few variations over the years, but this has to be my favorite. It’s close to the traditional version, only I swap out the pork belly and black sausage for chorizo and include many more beans. It still uses the Spanish white beans that make the fabada stew.

Personally, I prefer this dish to have more liquid. It’s more like a soup consistency than a stew, but that’s just my preference. You can alter this to your taste. You can serve this as a stew or soup or even in smaller portions to make it a Spanish tapas recipe.

Using Chorizo in Cooking

The most commonly used chorizo that most people use in their cooking is the Mexican style. Mexican chorizo is commonly found in many supermarkets. When cooked, Mexican chorizo resembles more like ground beef.

However, there are many different varieties of chorizo. Spanish chorizo is different, looking more like a sausage than ground beef.

If you visit any Spanish market or butcher, you will find all kinds of chorizo sausage, from fresh to semi-cured. 

It’s entirely up to you which kind you use in your Chorizo and beans recipe, but I would recommend semi-cured, mainly because there is less preparation. If you want to use fresh, this will need pre-cooking before adding it to your stew. 

Handy Tip: When using the semi-cured variety, I find it helps to poke a couple of holes into the skin to allow the juices to run into the stew.

Spanish chorizo recipes

Check out some of our other chorizo recipes. I learned each of these recipes while living in Spain, but probably made them most when living in Ireland. That’s when I missed Spanish food the most. There were no tapas or Spanish restaurants where we lived in Ireland, so I found myself craving Spanish cuisine and needing to make it myself.

We had access to great chorizo, so I found myself making a variety of tapas dishes when entertaining, including chorizo in red wine and chorizo in Spanish cider. I’ve also enjoyed using chorizo in stuffed mushrooms.

Chorizo and Bean Soup

When I make this chorizo and beans recipe, I like to make it more like a hearty soup than a thick stew, so the method differs slightly from the traditional Fabada recipe.

To start with, I fry the chorizo with the veggies, so the vegetables are coated with the flavorsome oils from the meat. I like to blend the cooked vegetables and broth to make a smooth soupy consistency before adding the meat back in at the end with the beans. This version is excellent served with a side of crusty bread for dipping. 

Spanish Beans with Chorizo – Ingredients

The ingredients for this Spanish chorizo and beans recipe are all relatively simple and easily obtainable, and you won’t need a lot of herbs and spices either because the chorizo itself gives the dish a distinct flavor. 

All you’ll need to make this chorizo and bean soup is celery, carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic, olive oil, Spanish chorizo, beans, chicken stock, bay leaves, and salt and pepper. 

Don’t be scared to salt this dish. Of course, you don’t want the dish to be too salty. But because there aren’t many other seasonings in this recipe, salt is the key to enhancing the flavors of the other ingredients. 

Remember: Prick your chorizo with a fork to allow the natural oils to season your stew.

Preparing The Ingredients For A Chorizo And Bean Stew

To prepare your ingredients, you’ll need to drain and rinse your beans. The beans will be added right at the end of the cooking process. The beans are already cooked, so they simply need to be brought to temperature. 

Next, you will want to peel and finely cube your vegetables, but don’t worry too much about size, as they’ll be getting blended anyway. However, they cook faster and blend easier the smaller they’re chopped.

For my version of chorizo and bean soup, I cut my chorizo into large chunks, skin pricked, for the frying process, and then dice them into smaller ones while the broth is blending bite-sized pieces. 

How To Make Chorizo And Bean Soup

The cooking process begins with creating a thick soup-like broth. The vegetables are added to a large stock pan with the chorizo chunks and bay leaves. Take note of how many you put in; you’ll need to pick these out before blending. 

Next, add your chicken stock (vegetable stock also works well) and make sure that the veggies are covered with liquid. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for thirty minutes until the potatoes are soft.

This is the point where you will now remove the chorizo and bay leaves before you blend the broth. You can either transfer the mixture into a blender or blend in the pan using a stick blender. 

This is also when you will need to dice the chorizo into smaller, bite-size pieces, I like to do them very small, but this is my personal preference. 

Add your broth to the pan, and toss the chorizo and beans. Warm through for 5 or 10 minutes before serving with a garnish of fresh parsley and a wedge of crusty bread. 

Spanish Chorizo and Beans Recipe