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This Spanish white bean stew is a great way to eat your beans! The spicy chorizo makes it extra warm and cozy, perfect for a weeknight dinner.

This Spanish white bean stew with chorizo sausage is so good that everyone will believe you spent hours in the kitchen! The chorizo flavors the beans so beautifully, that even the ones who don’t like beans will certainly try a tablespoon or two. And who knows, you may turn them into bean lovers!

The combination of beans and meat is very common in the Mediterranean cuisine and you can find it in many countries throughout the world. Lately, I used it in my Greek-Mexican Pitacos recipe (I’m talking about some delicious minced beef and beans tacos made with pita bread!).

Reading: White bean and sausage stew

Keep in mind that if you use the chorizo in moderation you’ll be able to include this dish in your Mediterranean Diet plan. The chorizo sausage flavors perfectly the earthy beans and in combination with the tomato sauce gives us a unique dish. You can use a spicy or a sweet chorizo, depending on your taste.

Personally, I am a bean lover. Why? Because even when made with the simplest ingredients (like these Tuscan style white beans), beans have something extra comforting, something that brings warmth to my heart. Or maybe it’s because they’re considered Greece’s National food.

Due to their high nutritional value and their low cost, dried beans have raised many generations and have helped the people of the Mediterranean, especially the Greeks, not to starve during some tough times.

But they’re also a favorite ingredient of other Mediterranean countries like Italy and France. In this Spanish white bean stew, their spicy character is due to the chorizo which makes this dish extra warm and comforting. If you can’t find fresh chorizo, use any other fresh sausage of your liking.

How to make Spanish beans with chorizo sausage

Soak the beans (skip this step if you use cooked beans): Transfer the beans in a large bowl with plenty of water and let them soak overnight.
Boil the beans (skip this step if you use cooked beans): The next day rinse them well, transfer them in a pot with water (don’t add salt) and simmer until tender – about 60 minutes. Rinse and drain well.
Make the stew: Saute the vegetables and the chorizo sausage with some olive oil in a large skillet or pot until the vegetables are soft. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until the sauce thickens.

What type of chorizo sausage to use for this bean recipe?

There are a lot of chorizo types apparently… There’s the dry/cured chorizo which can be eaten as is and there’s the fresh chorizo which must be cooked before you eat it. There’s also spicy or sweet types and soft or hard ones. Usually, the hard sausages are cured and the soft is semi-cured.

But that’s not all… There’s also the Spanish and the Mexican chorizo. If you buy a Spanish chorizo, it will probably consist of Iberico pork, a well known Black Iberian pig. And since this is a Spanish white bean stew I’d recommend using a Spanish soft (semi-cured) or fresh chorizo.

It can be sweet or spicy (this is up to you), but if you can’t find any, then a Mexican chorizo will also do. If you can’t find chorizo at all, you can also use an Italian sausage.

You can read more in this article about the 11 types of chorizo and in this article: an intro to chorizo.

Can you bake the beans in the oven?

Yes you can! Beans are cooked perfectly if you have a pressure cooker but in my humble opinion they’re even better if you bake them in a dutch oven for a LOOONG time. And this applies to chickpeas also. I’ve used the baking method in this Greek baked chickpeas (Revithada) and the results were amazing.

If you want to try this method, you’ll have to add the soaked beans, the rest of the ingredients and enough water to cover them by half an inch in a Dutch oven and bake them at 390°F (200°C) for about 3-4 hours.

Some notes/tips:

Try to find a good quality soft chorizo, and not a hard/cured one.
Soak dried beans overnight in a bowl filled with salted water and rinse them very well before cooking.
Boil the beans without adding any salt until they’re soft and tender.
If your water is hard it’s best to use bottled water for cooking.
You can boil the beans one day before and keep them in the fridge. If you boil some extra, you can use them in salads during the week.

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