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Home » Recipes » Homemade Mexican Chorizo

Homemade Mexican Chorizo

Published: Feb 3, 2016 · Modified: Jun 8, 2022 by LindySez · This post may contain affiliate links

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This recipe for Homemade Mexican Chorizo is a lovely combination of ground pork and spices. Not the same as most of the packaged chorizo, made from lymph nodes and such. YUCK! This recipe is so easy to make you won't ever have to buy pre-made again. And it freezes beautifully, so you will always have some waiting for you to create your next best dish

Homemade Mexican Chorizo ingredients

The making of Homemade Mexican Chorizo

How does one make Homemade Mexican Chorizo look pretty in a picture? Well, you really can't. It's just a big ball of red meat. But you can make pretty pictures (well, mostly pretty) with what deliciousness you can make with your own homemade Mexican chorizo.

Homemade Mexican Chorizo

Like this beautiful and elegant Mexican Eggs Benedict or

Homemade Mexican Chorizo

This recipe for a simple Chorizo and Eggs with Crispy Tortilla.

So easy to put together once you have your homemade chorizo.

I've eaten chorizo and eggs since I was a little girl. We would pull that tube of Mexican chorizo out of the refrigerator, sauté in a pan until it dissolved into nothing but fatty flavor, add some scrambled eggs that would turn red from the spices, mix it up and serve it up with warm tortillas. I loved the spiciness of the eggs.

Then one day I read the ingredients.

Glands and nodes and lips...oh my.  Stuff I would think would go better into dog food or the trash. No wonder the stuff melted into nothing, it was made from fatty glands.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss. Because once you know the truth, you might have to change your ways.

So I went in search of meat markets that made their own, fresh, chorizo - which in the Los Angeles area was not all that hard to find. But in Tulsa OK - impossible.

So I started making my own. And over the years, I think I make a damn fine homemade Mexican chorizo - for a gringo.

Mexican chorizo is different from Spanish or Portuguese chorizo's which is a chopped, dry-cured meat. Mexican chorizo is not cured, and not dried. It's moist meat, generally, pork, mixed with chili and other spices to create a reddish ball of delicious meat.

In Mexico chorizo is used in many ways. Simmered with potatoes and onions in a tomato sauce, in tacos or enchiladas, sautéed into scrambled eggs...so you know they are making their chorizo with meat - not glands. And it's really easy to make.

Chorizo freezes beautifully, so make a batch, portion it out, and you will have some in the freezer whenever you want to have a little 'Ole in your day.

Homemade Mexican Chorizo Ingredients

Yes, it does seem like a lot of spices. But they are not unusual or exotic so I suspect you have many of them in your cupboard already. Maybe used for that pumpkin or apple pie, or that big pot of chili. And you do need ways to use them up right? I mean, we all need to use and replace our spices on a regular basis.

Homemade Mexican Chorizo

I like to use my mortar and pestle to finely grind my dried oregano. If you are using any other whole spices, add them and grind them up too. I go through cumin so fast, as I do most of my spices, that I generally buy ground. But whole spices do hold their flavor longer, and really, fresh is best (I know, sometimes I'm just lazy like that)...so whatever you use grind to as fine a powder as you can.

I used ground pork butt because of the fat to meat ratio. If you want to try this recipe with ground chicken or turkey, I'm sure it would work - but I would use dark meat rather than breast, and add some skin to it. I think chorizo needs some fat to carry the flavor to the food, and not just the meat. But maybe that's just me. I suppose bite for bite you would get the whole enchilada.

Once you've added your spices, mix, mix, mix with your hands. Oh, and the vinegar is key. The first time I made chorizo I didn't add any vinegar and it makes a big difference. I call for cider vinegar, but you could also use a white balsamic (not regular balsamic as that is too sweet) or even good old distilled white vinegar.

As with all things, taste and adjust for seasoning.

Homemade Mexican Chorizo

How? Well, take a bit of your chorizo, put it on a plate, zap it in the microwave for about 30 seconds, and taste it ... see that red oil on the plate? Yep, that's pure flavor.

Homemade Mexican Chorizo

(It may not be pretty, but it sure is good)

So how about it? Ready to add Homemade Mexican Chorizo to your cooking arsenal? Once you do, you won't look back.

'Ole!

The ingredients for Homemade Authentic Chroizo.

Homemade Mexican Chorizo

LindySez
This recipe for Homemade Mexican Chorizo is a lovely combination of ground pork and spices. Not the same as most of the packaged chorizo, made from lymph nodes and such.
5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time 15 mins
Total Time 15 mins
Course Breakfast, Other Meats
Cuisine Mexican
Servings 1 ½ pounds
Calories 100 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1 ½ pounds ground pork not super lean, you want some fat in it, at least an 80/20% meat to fat ratio
  • 2 tablespoons chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon ancho chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • ½ tablespoon smoked paprika or chipotle chili powder
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano preferably Mexican crushed fine
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon ground coriander
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper optional
  • ⅛ teaspoon a pinch ground cloves
  • Fresh ground black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons cider vinegar

Instructions
 

  • Place the pork into a large bowl; add all the remaining ingredients. Use your hands to mix well. OR easier method, place in the work bowl of you stand mixer, use the paddle to blend the ingredients. Divide into serving portions; wrap tightly in plastic wrap

Notes

Use fresh within 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.* *Freezing for more than 3 months will not cause any kind of health issue, but the flavor of the chorizo might not be as bright.  

Nutrition

Serving: 1gSodium: 205mgCholesterol: 30mgCalories: 100kcalPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 3gFat: 8gProtein: 7g
Keyword homemade chorizo, pork chorizo, spicy chorizo
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
« Chorizo and Eggs with Crispy Tortilla
Non-Traditional Rabbit Curry »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Chris Geirman

    February 05, 2016 at 8:08 pm

    OH HELL YEAH! I love me some chorizo and shudder to think what's in the store bought stuff. I hear the soyrizo is actually pretty good. I'd love to experiment with some healthier versions. ground turkey?

    There's a lot of spices in this I don't have. Sell me prepared, premeasured spice packets please 🙂

    Reply
    • LindySez

      February 06, 2016 at 9:13 am

      Ground turkey would work, but as I said in my back story, I don't think it would have enough fat and ground dark meat turkey isn't all that much better then ground pork.

      I like the idea of pre-measured spice packets. I'll work on that.

      Reply
  2. Megan Marlowe

    February 07, 2016 at 12:50 pm

    Oh I am absolutely trying to make this at home! Love this recipe!

    Reply
    • LindySez

      February 07, 2016 at 12:55 pm

      Thank you! SO much better then anything you can buy 🙂 Cheers ~ Lindy

      Reply
  3. Karen

    September 20, 2017 at 9:28 am

    Living abroad, I don't have access to Mexican chorizo and sorely miss it. I had all the ingredients save for the ancho chili powder ... and it still turned out great! Noticeably less fatty content/liquid consistency of traditional chorizo, but the flavors were spot on. Thank you!!!!

    Reply
    • LindySez

      September 20, 2017 at 3:13 pm

      Thank you for your comment. I suppose if you wanted more fat you could use a higher fat content bulk pork, but I like to have the flavor without the fat, so I use a leaner pork. The flavor is where it's at! Cheers ~ Lindy

      Reply

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Hi, I'm Lindy.

I am a home-trained chef who loves to cook and eat delicious food. As I like to say, "Life is too short to eat mediocre food". And I find too much food out there is mediocre. I don't think good food needs to be fussy, or difficult to prepare. Most of my recipes are fresh, quick, easy, and tasty while keeping both calories and fats in check. 

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