Spanish Lentejas with Chorizo (Lentil Stew)
Spain's everyday lentil stew, the dish Don Quixote ate on Fridays: a grated sofrito of onion, carrot, tomato and garlic in olive oil, brown lentils and potatoes simmered with bay, then slices of chorizo and sweet pimentón stirred in at the end.
Edited by JP Lambiase
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Swaps change the price only: cook any meat to its own safe temperature. Where these numbers come from
Lentils have been Spanish everyday food for centuries. On the first page of *Don Quixote* (1605), Cervantes lists his hidalgo's weekly meals, and lentils are the Friday dish: "lantejas los viernes," in the old spelling, "lentils on Fridays" in John Ormsby's English translation (Project Gutenberg, Spanish text: English:). Today *lentejas con chorizo* is the lentil stew of Spanish home kitchens, the kind of pot people call grandmother's cooking. The Spanish food site Directo al Paladar makes it with a blended sofrito of carrot, onion, tomato and garlic fried in olive oil, lentils and potato simmered with a stock cube and a bay leaf for about 45 minutes, and the chorizo and sweet paprika (pimentón) added only for the last 10 (Maria Jose, January 11, 2019:). Spanish chorizo is a pork sausage colored with pimentón and comes fresh (*chorizo fresco*, for cooking) or cured; Mexican chorizo is a different, raw sausage seasoned with chiles and vinegar (Wikipedia:). In the U.S., cured "Spanish-style" chorizo is the easiest match.
Why it works the kitchen science
A grated sofrito melts
Grating the vegetables makes them dissolve into the broth, so the stew tastes rich and children do not find chunks of carrot to pick out.
Chorizo last
Added in the final 10 minutes, the chorizo flavors the broth with pimentón and fat but keeps its own texture instead of boiling dry.
🧰 You'll need 3 items
Everything the steps call for. Tick off what you have before you start.
Pans and pots
Tools
Step by step
- Step 1
Heat the oil in a 6-quart pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the grated onion, carrot, tomato and garlic and cook, stirring often, 10 minutes, until thick and jammy.
- Step 2
Add the lentils, potatoes, bouillon cube and bay leaf, and pour in water to cover everything by about 1 inch (about 8 cups).
- Step 3
Bring to a boil over high heat, about 10 minutes, then lower to a gentle simmer, partly cover and cook 40 to 45 minutes, stirring now and then and adding water if the lentils peek through, until the lentils are tender.
- Step 4
Stir in the chorizo and pimentón and simmer 10 minutes more, until the chorizo has stained the broth orange.
- Step 5
Taste for salt (the bouillon and chorizo are salty), remove the bay leaf and let the stew rest 5 minutes before serving.
Spanish Lentejas with Chorizo (Lentil Stew)
Serves 6 · about 3 quarts · 1 hr 25 min total
Sofrito
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion (150 g), grated or very finely chopped
- 2 carrots (150 g), grated
- 2 medium tomatoes (250 g), halved and grated, skins discarded (or 1 cup canned crushed tomatoes)
- 3 cloves garlic, grated
Stew
- 1 lb brown or pardina lentils (454 g), picked over and rinsed
- 2 medium potatoes (400 g), peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
- 1 chicken or vegetable bouillon cube
- 1 bay leaf
- About 8 cups water
- 6 oz Spanish-style cured chorizo (170 g), sliced into half-moons (optional)
- 1 tsp sweet pimentón (Spanish paprika), or smoked if you skip the chorizo
- Kosher salt
Equipment: Dutch oven, Chef's knife and cutting board, Measuring cups and spoons
Method
- Heat the oil in a 6-quart pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the grated onion, carrot, tomato and garlic and cook, stirring often, 10 minutes, until thick and jammy.
- Add the lentils, potatoes, bouillon cube and bay leaf, and pour in water to cover everything by about 1 inch (about 8 cups).
- Bring to a boil over high heat, about 10 minutes, then lower to a gentle simmer, partly cover and cook 40 to 45 minutes, stirring now and then and adding water if the lentils peek through, until the lentils are tender.
- Stir in the chorizo and pimentón and simmer 10 minutes more, until the chorizo has stained the broth orange.
- Taste for salt (the bouillon and chorizo are salty), remove the bay leaf and let the stew rest 5 minutes before serving.
Adapted from Maria Jose, "La receta más casera y fácil de lentejas con chorizo," Directo al Paladar (January 11, 2019; 350 g lentils, serves 4): scaled to a 1 lb bag of lentils for 6. Changes: we grate the sofrito vegetables on a box grater instead of blending them (no machine needed), and we give amounts for the chorizo (the source says only "chorizo fresco") and the water. Method as written, in one pot. Estimated cost: about $7.40 for the pot at the prices.json chorizo price, about $1.23 a serving; with imported Spanish chorizo (our estimate, about $4.50 for 6 oz), about $1.73. Directo al Paladar. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
Tips
- Estimated cost: about $1.23 a serving (about $1.73 with imported Spanish chorizo), about $7.40 for the pot.
- Meatless: skip the chorizo, use vegetable bouillon and smoked pimentón.
- Like most Spanish stews it is better the next day; cool in shallow containers within 2 hours and reheat to a boil.
- Pardina lentils, small Spanish brown lentils, need no soaking; ordinary U.S. brown lentils do not either.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Don Quixote ate lentils on Fridays. Documented (*Don Quixote*, Part 1, chapter 1, Project Gutenberg texts).
- Soak lentils overnight. Folklore: Directo al Paladar's recipe goes straight in; small brown and pardina lentils do not need it.
- Mexican chorizo is the same as Spanish chorizo. Folklore: Wikipedia describes Mexican chorizo as a raw sausage seasoned with chiles and vinegar, and Spanish chorizo as pimentón-colored, either fresh (*chorizo fresco*, the source's choice) or cured.
- Add the chorizo at the start for more flavor. Disputed: Directo al Paladar adds it for the last 10 minutes; other Spanish recipes fry it with the sofrito (seen only in search summaries).
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