Summer Chorizo Stew with Pesto
Slow cookers aren’t just for winter. This easy summer chorizo stew is packed with bright, vibrant flavours and can be enjoyed for either lunch or dinner. Chorizo is brilliant in the slow cooker, as it releases it’s smoky flavour throughout the cook. Add in potatoes, butter beans and then some fresh pesto at the end and you’ve got a fanstastic dish. So don’t pack the slow cooker away for the summer just yet and make this chorizo stew instead!

This recipe is incredibly simple and only requires a handful of ingredients. First, you just need to chop up some chorizo and potatoes. Next, simply chuck everything else into the slow cooker and cook for 3-4 hours. To finish, just spoon over fresh pesto and enjoy.
The flavours in this dish are perfectly balanced. The stew itself is smoky and spicy, while the fresh pesto balances it out with bright, herby flavours. If you want to keep this recipe very mild, then just leave out the chilli flakes in the recipe below.
In this recipe we use a supermarket bought fresh basil pesto. Alternatively, you can use jarred pesto, but it’s typically thicker so you need to be a bit more sparing than we have in the recipe video. Want to go the extra mile and make your own pesto? Then this simple BBC Good Food recipe is a good way to go.

Summer Chorizo Stew with Pesto
Equipment
- 1 Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 250 g Chorizo Sliced
- 250 g Baby potatoes Quartered
- 400 g Tinned butter beans (240g drained)
- 400 g Tinned tomatoes
- 2 cloves Garlic minced
- 1 tsp Dried chilli flakes
- 2 tbsp Tomato puree
- 200 ml Vegetable stock
To serve
- 100 g Green pesto fresh if possible
- Crusty bread optional
Instructions
- In the slow cooker place sliced chorizo, chopped baby potatoes, butter beans, tinned tomatoes, garlic, chilli flakes, tomato puree and vegetable stock. Stir well.
- Cook on high for 3-4 hours.
- After cooking, stir the contents of the slow cooker. Spoon small amounts of fresh pesto on top of each serving. Optionally serve with slices of crusty bread.
Notes
Nutrition
Other ideas
This recipe serves 3-4 and in our 3.5L slow cooker there’s enough room to make more. So if you’re looking to feed a crowd, just use the sizing feature on the recipe card above to scale up!
Want to try a chorizo based stew with some chicken added in to the mix? Then check out our Spanish Chicken and Chorizo casserole recipe. It’s one of our favourites!
Simple and delicious another great recipe !!!!
Made this tonight (to save turning on the oven in this heat!) And it was a perfect heatwave meal