Patatas Bravas with Chorizo and a creamy Paprika Aioli is an utterly delicious dish that is often served in Tapas restaurants. But it’s super easy to make at home as a side dish, appetizer, or even main for brunch or dinner!
Potato Perfection. That’s what we have here. Crispy, salty, slightly spicy potato PER-FEC-TION! My Patatas Bravas Recipe with Chorizo and a creamy Paprika Aioli is an easy, indulgent, and utterly delicious savory treat that you really must try this week! Our friends in Spain really know how to do it up!
My version takes spicy chorizo that’s been seared and rendered in a pan so all of the wonderful fat comes out. The potatoes pre-roast in the oven to save time. The potatoes then go into the pan with the chorizo to get super crispy and flavorful in that chorizo goodness. Spanish Paprika is the main flavor here and it is simply heaven! It’s smokey, spicy, and warm. Top everything off with a creamy, tangy, slightly spicy Paprika Aioli and that’s how you get potato perfection!
Paprika – Make it the Star Spice!
Paprika is made from ground dried peppers that range from sweet to hot. Not only does it add a beautiful red color and peppery flavor, it has benefits for your health! Paprika is a great source of antioxidants and can help eye health. If you go for the hot paprika, then the capsaicin that gives the heat also has anti-inflammatory benefits.
So, put Paprika on EVERYTHING! Try it in my Hungarian Paprika Chicken! Here are some of the great ways to incorporate paprika into food: Sprinkle over avocado toast, mix into cooked quinoa or rice, season raw meats or fish with it, add it to sauces or soups or stews, sprinkle over veggies before grilling, and so much more!
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Simple Ingredients for this Chorizo Patatas Bravas Recipe
- Yukon Gold Potatoes – These are great for this recipe because the skin is thin and doesn’t need to be peeled. You could also use Baby New potatoes or creamer potatoes.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil – This is for pre-roasting the potatoes in the oven.
- Spanish Paprika – You can use regular paprika or Hungarian Paprika, but the key is that you are looking for a smokey flavor here.
- Spanish Chorizo – Chorizo comes in a few different variations. You will find fully cooked sausage, raw sausage, and dry-cured. For this recipe, you will not want dry-cured. You can get either the fully cooked or raw sausage, both of which will likely have a casing that you will want to remove. I used a fully cooked chorizo.
- Garlic Powder – You can use fresh minced garlic as well, but I find that the garlic powder is best for coating the potatoes and evenly mixing into the aioli so you do not get a chunk of garlic
- Mayonnaise – This is for the easy aioli, so you don’t need to fuss with raw eggs. I used full fat mayo, but you could swap with light or even sour cream or greek yogurt in a pinch.
Simple Equipment for Patatas Bravas
Nothing special for this one! Just a large sheet pan (I use a 17×11) and a large skillet/frying pan. I use my absolute favorite 12″ Ceramic Pan, which is great because food really does slide right off with minimal oil and I don’t have to worry about food sticking and burning. It comes with a glass lid, which is perfect for watching your dinner cook!
Time Saving Prep-Ahead Steps for Patatas Bravas with Chorizo
We are all extremely busy and making dinner during the week can be overwhelming. Here are the steps you prepare in the day(s) in advance and store in the fridge as your meal Kit… (See the recipe below for more details)
For this recipe, you can roast the potatoes ahead in the oven and then when you are ready to eat, you can cook the chorizo and crisp up the potatoes in the skillet!
Wash the potatoes and leave the skin on. Cut the potatoes into bite-size pieces, generally about an inch. Add the potatoes to large sheet pan. I like to cover the pan with aluminum foil for easy clean up, but it’s not necessary.
Drizzle with olive oil and then sprinkle the salt, black pepper, and paprika.
Rub the seasoning all over the potatoes using your hands making sure each pieces is coated.
Then spread into a single layer and roast in a 400 F degree oven on the center rack for 30 minutes. When they are done, you can cool them off and store them in a sealed container in the fridge until ready to finish cooking.
While the potatoes are cooking, you can also prep the chorizo. If it’s fully cooked, peel off the outer casing.
For raw, don’t worry about breaking up the meat until it cooks. If it is cooked, break it up into chunks. Store sealed in the fridge until ready to cook.
Finally, prepare the Paprika Aioli Sauce by adding the mayonnaise to a mixing bowl, then adding the garlic powder and paprika. Mix to combine and store covered in the fridge.
Final Cooking Steps for Patatas Bravas with Chorizo
Preheat a large skillet on high. The chorizo has a lot of delicious fat, so you probably don’t need additional oil if you are using a non-stick skillet. But you can always add a drizzle of olive oil if desired.
Add the chorizo to the hot skillet. If raw, break it up with a spatula into bite-size pieces. Let it sear and start to render the fat.
Once it is fully cooked and/or seared, remove it it using a slotted spoon or spatula, leaving the fat behind.
Add the potatoes to the chorizo fat and stir to coat with all of that yummy flavor! Maneuver the potatoes into a single layer so that each potato is touching the skillet and then let them sear to get crispy for a few minutes. Once one side is crispy, you can flip them to get the other side crispy.
Finally, add back the chorizo to the potatoes and stir to mix.
To serve, dollop or drizzle the sauce over the top of the Patatas Bravas and make sure that you have some to serve on the side because I guarantee you will want lots! ENJOY! 😍 Carrie
Patatas Bravas with Chorizo Recipe FAQs
Can I use other kinds of potatoes in Patatas Bravas?
For this Patatas Bravas Recipe, I used Yukon Gold Potatoes because they are really easy to work with. They are a waxy potato that doesn’t start oxidizing immediately after it is cut, like russet potatoes. It’s also great because the skin is thin and doesn’t need to be peeled. For these same benefits, you could also use baby new potatoes or creamer potatoes. You can also use Russet potatoes, however, you will want to peel off the skin and immediately submerge them in cold water to prevent them from turning brown. You can store them in the fridge in water for a day ahead either whole or cut into pieces. Then drain and pat dry before moving on to the seasoning and roasting step.
What can I use instead of Chorizo in these Patatas Bravas?
I used Spanish Chorizo in this recipe, which is filled with smoky paprika. If you cannot get chorizo, then you can use any sausage that you like and when you are rendering it in the pan, mix in 1-2 teaspoons of Spanish paprika to the sausage. Of course, you can leave the chorizo out all together and still have a fantastic dish, you will just need to add a bit of extra virgin olive oil to the pan during the last crisping step for the potatoes.
What should I serve with Patatas Bravas?
Patatas Bravas are typically served as part of Tapas, which is many small plates of different Spanish foods. However, I like to make this recipe as a side dish to go with a main. If you’re serving for breakfast or brunch, you can serve with a Vegetable Frittata or Breakfast Stuffed Mushrooms – Portabella Egg Nests with cheese! You can also just make eggs your preferred way. If you’re serving for dinner, it would go great with a simple Chicken main, such as Ground Chicken Meatloaf without Breadcrumbs or Creamy Garlic Parmesan Chicken.
How can I make this Chorizo Patatas Bravas Vegetarian?
This Patatas Bravas recipe includes Chorizo, so to make it vegetarian, you simply need to eliminate the meet or replace it with a vegetarian version.
How can I make this Chorizo Patatas Bravas recipe Vegan?
There are a couple ingredients to replace in order to make this Patatas Bravas recipe vegan. First, you will need to eliminate or replace the Chorizo with a vegan alternative. Second, you will need to find a vegan mayonnaise for the aioli.
Chorizo Patatas Bravas with Chorizo – Easy Potato Side!
Ingredients
Chorizo and Potatoes
- 6-8 Yukon Gold Potatoes
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 2 teaspoon Spanish Paprika (this will be mild. Use more or less based on spice preference)
- ½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Ground black pepper
- 10 oz Spanish Chorizo either cooked or uncooked is fine, but not dried
Paprika Aioli
- 1 cup Mayonnaise
- 4 teaspoon Spanish Paprika
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
Instructions
Prep-Ahead Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F degrees. (You will roast the potatoes in the oven as the prep-ahead and then later crisp them up in a skillet when ready to eat.)
- Wash the potatoes and leave the skin on. Cut the potatoes into bite-size pieces, generally about an inch. Add the potatoes to large sheet pan. I like to cover the pan with aluminum foil for easy clean up, but it's not necessary.
- Drizzle with olive oil and then sprinkle the salt, black pepper, and paprika.
- Rub the seasoning all over the potatoes using your hands making sure each pieces is coated. Then spread into a single layer and roast in the oven on the center rack for 30 minutes. When they are done, you can cool them off and store them in a sealed container in the fridge until ready to finish cooking.
- While the potatoes are cooking, you can also prep the chorizo. If your chorizo has a casing, you can remove the casing.
- If it's raw, don't worry about breaking up the meat until it cooks. If it is cooked, break it up into chunks. Store sealed in the fridge until ready to cook.
- Finally, prepare the Paprika Aioli Sauce by adding the mayonnaise to a mixing bowl, then adding the garlic powder and paprika. Mix to combine and store covered in the fridge.
Finish Cooking your Patatas Bravas Recipe
- Preheat a large skillet on high. The chorizo has a lot of delicious fat, so you probably don't need additional oil if you are using a non-stick skillet. But you can always add a drizzle of olive oil if desired.
- Add the chorizo to the hot skillet. If raw, break it up with a spatula into bite-size pieces. Let it sear and start to render the fat.
- Once it is fully cooked and/or seared, remove it it using a slotted spoon or spatula, leaving the fat behind.
- Add the potatoes to the chorizo fat and stir to coat with all of that yummy flavor! Maneuver the potatoes into a single layer so that each potato is touching the skillet and then let them sear to get crispy for a few minutes. Once one side is crispy, you can flip them to get the other side crispy.
- Finally, add back the chorizo to the potatoes and stir to mix.
- To serve, dollop or drizzle the sauce over the top of the Patatas Bravas and make sure that you have some to serve on the side because I guarantee you will want lots!
Notes
- I used Yukon Gold Potatoes because they are really easy to work with. They are a waxy potato that doesn’t start oxidizing immediately after it is cut, like russet potatoes. It’s also great because the skin is thin and doesn’t need to be peeled. For these same benefits, you could also use baby new potatoes or creamer potatoes. You can also use Russet potatoes, however, you will want to peel off the skin and immediately submerge them in cold water to prevent them from turning brown. You can store them in the fridge in water for a day ahead either whole or cut into pieces. Then drain and pat dry before moving on to the seasoning and roasting step.
- I used Spanish Chorizo in this recipe, which is filled with smoky paprika. If you cannot get chorizo, then you can use any sausage that you like and when you are rendering it in the pan, mix in 1-2 teaspoons of Spanish paprika to the sausage. Of course, you can leave the chorizo out all together and still have a fantastic dish, you will just need to add a bit of extra virgin olive oil to the pan during the last crisping step for the potatoes.
- To make it vegetarian, you simply need to eliminate the meet or replace it with a vegetarian version.
- To make this Patatas Bravas recipe vegan. First, you will need to eliminate or replace the Chorizo with a vegan alternative. Second, you will need to find a vegan mayonnaise for the aioli.
Chef Mimi says
Oh yum. Perfect for cold weather. The paprika aioli sounds wonderful. I thought it was Truff! Have you had that yet?! To die for…