Spicy Chorizo & Collard Green Slow Cooker Soup

Slow-cooker solutions: taking easy weeknight meals from bland to BAM!

Spicy Chorizo & Collard Green Slow Cooker Soup

Being a food blogger, many people assume I cook these elaborate meals each day of the week. A common misconception that many people have (and I had in the past) is that cooks and foodie bloggers love to make BIG, fancy meals ALL THE TIME.

Honestly, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Some nights cooking (aka doing dishes) is the last thing I want to do. I’ve gotten to the point where I can cook 2-3 meals during the week, and spend one night roasting some chicken and veggies for lunches. Not very glamorous, but hey it works!

Tuesdays are almost ALWAYS slow-cooker meal nights. If I’m not traveling, I’m in the office late so I can make it to my weekly horseback riding lesson. My barn time is sacred, so many nights I don’t make it home until late, and I often find myself publicizing the day’s blog post, which leaves me little time to cook. The best feeling is to walk in the door and find a hot, delicious dinner waiting for me.

This soup is a mash-up of cleaning out my pantry and wanting to use as many good-for-you ingredients as possible. I always have canned tomatoes, beans, potatoes, and broth on hand. After a quick pit stop to the grocery, I easily had all of the needed ingredients.

Soups are great because you can pile in the veg & protein, add a killer spice blend and you’re on your way to a seriously nutritious & filling meal.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

Chorizo Sausage (mine was pre-cooked)

Fingerling Potatoes

Fresh Collard Greens

Onion

A Can of Diced Tomatoes

A Can of Cannellinii Beans

A Box of Unsalted Beef Stock

Sea Salt

Oregano

Pepper

Chilli Powder

Cayenne

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

This is a dump and go meal – for sure. One thing I’ll ask you to do is to pay attention to how I layer the soup in the crock pot; the food on the bottom needs the most cooking time. Chop your potatoes and lay them on the bottom of the pot. Next, slice the chorizo, you’ll want to make the slices about the same size as the potatoes for easy eating. Add those to the pot. Chop the onion and add this next.

You’ll then add the canned tomatoes, drain the beans and add them on top. Next, add in your seasoning and spices. Lastly, chop and pile in your collard greens. Stuff them in there as well as you can, these will majorly cook down. The reason I have you put these on top is because the steam will rise and cook them beautifully, and they won’t overcook in the bottom of the pan.

I usually assemble this on a Monday and place in the fridge overnight.  In the morning, I add the stock and turn the slow cooker on. You can cook this for 8+ hours on low or for 4 on high.

This is another incredibly versatile recipe. You can sub any type of bean in the mix, swap in kale or swiss chard for the collard and use whatever type of sausage for a different flavor.

Side note: this soup goes great with a LARGE glass of hot cider and your favorite fuzzy blanket.

Slurps up, baby!

xoxx,

Miss AK