Chorizo Stuffed Sweet Potatoes Recipe

I was recently challenged to create a dish inspired by one of Destinology's most popular destinations; Spain. Although I'm no master chef, I do love getting a bit creative and finding simple yet effective recipes. For this recipe I combined a few of my favourite things into one healthy, easy and delicious meal!

Destinology kindly sent me a little kit to get started which included some Marks & Spencer's spices (Cinnamon & Nutmeg) as well as some authentic Calasparra rice. They also gave me a voucher to spend in Waitrose for the rest of the ingredients.

I bought some pre-done ginger, chilli and lime chicken breasts from Waitrose which meant that I could focus on the stuffed sweet potatoes. Feel free to swap the chicken for some prawns or salmon if you prefer. (Both go equally well with a crips glass of Spanish white...)

For the stuffed sweet potatoes you'll need; 

(based on two people)

Two sweet potatoes 

6 tbs chorizo (I bought diced but you can chop them yourself if you prefer)

Cheese (I used goats cheese but mozzarella also works well - add as much/little as you like)

1 Red onion

A handful of pecan nuts

1tbs balsamic vinegar

1tbs brown sugar 

1 .5tbs of butter

1tbs of olive oil

A sprinkle of cinnamon 

A sprinkle of nutmeg

• First of all pre-heat your fan oven to 200°C / OR gas mark 7.
• Once the oven is warm cook your sweet potatoes as they are (in the skin and uncut) for one hour (until soft)
• While they're cooking, start on your filling! Chop the onions into small pieces
• Chop the cheese up into smaller chunks (about 2cm x 2cm)
• Chop the pecans up into small bits, and put them to one side.
• Get a frying pan out and put the oil in while it's on a medium heat.
• Once the frying pan is hot (it'll sizzle) add the onions, stir, and then turn the heat down to a medium/low. Leave this for about 20 minutes - occasionally stirring.
• After the 20 minutes is up or the onions look very brown and sticky, add 1tbs of balsamic vinegar and stir, then add 1tbs of brown sugar, and then add a sprinkle of cinnamon (that's the magic part of this!) then stir it all in and remove from heat.
• If you haven't realised already - you've just made caramelised onions! Celebrate with a sip of wine... 
• Now grab those pecan nuts and gently fry them with a little butter until they are brown, then remove from heat.
• Once the potatoes have been in for an hour, remove them and cut them lengthways in half. 
• Then, using a spoon, take out all of the inside potato and put in a separate bowl (you'll need this shortly)
• Put the sweet potato's skin back in the oven for 10 minutes to crisp the outer skin up.
• Now grab your mash, add 1tbs of butter and mix.
• Then add your caramelised onions and chorizo to the mash and keep mixing
• Once the 10 minutes have passed, add the mash into the skins, sprinkle the nutmeg and pecans on top and return to the oven for another 5 minutes.
• Remove from oven and add cheese - it should melt nicely on the hot skin, but you could add it on the previous step if you prefer.
• Enjoy!

I accompanied my stuffed sweet potato with rice, a chicken breast and a dash of rocket but feel free to mix and match different things with them - they'd also be perfect on their own! I hope you've enjoyed my recipe and please let me know if you give it a go, don't forget to visit Destinology's site for some more Spanish inspiration!

View more recipes and home cooking suggestions!
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Bloglovin