Chorizo & White Bean Skillet

Andy | Dinner | Spanish

Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes Servings: 1

If I've had a big week at work and need something easy to cook (and I'm cooking for myself), this is what you'll find me making. It's a dish you can have for breakfast, lunch or dinner and can swap the ingredients with different meat, veg or beans you have in your kitchen. I'm using chorizo in this recipe as it gives it a really nice flavour. The chorizo also gets a nice browning on it adding to the texture. We'll also use some white beans but you can also use butter or Cannellini beans.

This one only take 10 minutes to cook and only uses one pan, and I usually eat it straight from the pan so there's even less dishes to clean up. Just make sure you put a trivet under the pan after taking it off the heat as it will be hot!

Ingredient Notes

Chorizo: Try to find a good butcher that makes chorizo sausages in your area (I like them spicy). As the fat renders from the chorizo the aromatic spices permeate throughout and give the dish a foundation of flavour. You can also use other sausages like Italian or bratwurst, you may just want to add some smoked paprika and chilli to get some of the chorizo character in there.

White beans: I like to use canned white beans (like Cannellini, Haricot, or Great Northern). I use these beans because they are creamy and mild with thin skins. When you add water and chicken stock powder, the starch from the beans lightly thickens the liquid. This creates a glossy, emulsified pan sauce that clings to the spinach and helps to enrich the dish.

Chicken stock powder: We're using a powder in this recipe so we can control the amount of liquid without losing flavour.

Equipment

Skillet or saute pan
Chopping board
Chef’s knife
Wooden spatula

Ingredients

1 chorizo
½ tbsp olive oil
400g tin (14 oz) white beans
½ tsp chicken stock powder
1 handful, 60g (2 oz) baby spinach
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste
⅓ baguette

Directions

Slice the chorizo in half lengthwise, then slice it into 1cm thick pieces.
Place a skillet or frying pan on high heat. Add the olive oil, then sauté the sliced chorizo in the pan for 3-4 minutes until the fat renders out and the chorizo becomes golden brown.
Drain the tinned beans then add them to the pan and stir to combine. The beans are pre-cooked, so you just want to warm them through at this stage. Add 50ml water and the chicken stock powder then bring to a simmer.
Once simmering, add 2-3 cracks of black pepper, ¼ tsp salt and the baby spinach. Create a well in the centre of the pan then crack in the egg. Season the yolk with a light sprinkle of salt and continue cooking until the whites have turned opaque.
Turn the element off, taste the beans for seasoning and adjust as needed.
Serve with a portion of baguette and enjoy.

Recipe notes

Chef's Notes

Get a good sear on the sausage

Getting the sear on the sausage just right is key. You want the fat to render and the sausage to become crispy and golden, but be careful as it can burn easily. Once you notice there’s not much more fat rendering or the pan starts to smoke, that’s a good sign it’s ready for the beans to go in, Skipping this step altogether will leave you with mushy beans as you try to cook the sausage.

Don't rinse your beans

Once you drain your beans, don't rinse them! The beans will have starch on them and that's what will help thicken the water.

Change the ingredients or make it vegetarian

Use this recipe as a base recipe for your creations. Swap out the chorizo for tomatoes, the chicken stock powder for vegetable stock and this dish is vegetarian. Take away the egg and it’s vegan. The point is, you can make minor tweaks to this recipe to create a very easy dish that suits your needs and still has the potential to be nutritionally balanced.

Storage

This one is best eaten straight away. But if you have leftovers, you can put it in an airtight container once it's cooled and store in the fridge for 3 days.

FAQs

Can I use a different type of sausage? Chorizo is great because it contains lots of fat and is packed full of spices that season the rest of the dish. If you don’t have any on hand, you can absolutely use a different type of sausage such as Italian, bratwurst or even breakfast sausage. If you’re using an alternative sausage, you can add a pinch of paprika and chilli to help bring some of the characteristics of the chorizo into the dish.

Can i make it for more people? This recipe can easily be scaled up to serve more people. Chuck a few sausages in there, grab another can of beans and a few eggs. It’s that easy. Even better yet, meal prep is this one for breakfast. Wait for the skillet to cool enough that you can touch it, then transfer the meal into a container fitted with a lid. Refrigerate and enjoy for up to 3 days.