Have control of what goes into your chorizo with the great recipe for homemade, fresh chorizo. Don’t like one of the ingredients? Customize it per your taste – it’s only cooking!
Although my mother was a wonderful cook and prepared many gourmet meals for us growing up, I had never had chorizo until I married my husband and moved out to California.
One of my first Sign Language Interpreting jobs in San Diego, had me placed at a car repair school in the heart of down town. Class began at 7 AM and continued until 2 PM with an hour off for lunch. At ten o’clock, Rosie would pull around the corner in her Roach Coach (a term of endearment for her food truck) and beep her horn twice.
The line for her truck was always long and one day I decided to see what the fuss was about. Never having ordered from a food truck before I asked one of the students to make a suggestion. I ordered a wonderful burrito filled with potatoes, onions and chorizo. It was one of the best things I had ever had in my life! Viva chorizo!
I have been working hard on developing a recipe for a low carb, gluten-free, Paleo breakfast casserole that includes chorizo. I usually make it on the weekend and we enjoy it for breakfast during the week. About to prepare my latest version, I found that the grocery store had sold-out of chorizo for the Super Bowl! (Like What?)
I had some plain breakfast style sausage at home, so I decided to make my own, homemade version. This is what I came up with after looking at many, many, recipes. I played with the recipe several times so we have LOTS of chorizo in the freezer! (WINNING!)
While homemade chorizo sausage tastes a little different than what I purchase from the grocery store, it is easy to prepare and I think it tastes much better.
What makes me happy about making homemade chorizo sausage is that I can control what goes into it. Let’s face it, we seldom get to peek at the ingredient list when purchasing the products made in-house at the grocery store. I never know if there is any hidden sugar, dairy or gluten in their products.
Making my own spice mix puts me in control!
The hardest part in preparing homemade chorizo sausage is assembling the ingredients; the list is quite long. But, I have noticed that some of the best dishes, those that deliver the best complexity of flavors, have long ingredient lists. Some of my favorites are Mexican Mole sauce, Indian and Thai curries and anything created by Chef Paul Prudhomme. I suggest using real ground chiles instead of the pre-mixed chili powder sold in the store.
The recipe makes two pounds of very flavorful sausage – enough to freeze for next time. I think you are going to love it!
May I suggest using a little homemade chorizo sausage in your scrambled eggs or adding it to your low carb, gluten-free Chorizo Chile Rellenos (with a great new photo!). You wont be sorry that you did!
If you have never tried making a Mexican Mole sauce before, try my quick and dirty Faux Mole Sauce (new photos coming soon). It’s great served over poultry & especially delicious on chicken tacos and chalupas!
1/8 of the recipe (4 oz raw weight) is 2 net carbs
Fresh Homemade Chorizo Sausage Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 pounds fresh pork sausage
Chorizo Seasoning Blend
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano rubbed
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme rubbed
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chile powder or more
- 1/4 teaspoon ground clove
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or more
- 1/4 teaspoon ground bay leaf or sage
- 1/4 cup vinegar red wine or cider is my preference
Instructions
- Put the fresh pork sausage into a large bowl and add the vinegar. Mix the vinegar into the sausage with a hand mixer.
- Into a smaller bowl, measure all of the dry seasonings for the chorizo and blend together. Sprinkle the chorizo seasoning over the pork sausage and mix with the hand mixer until all of the ingredients are incorporated, evenly.
- Divide the pork into four 1/2 pound (or 8 1/4 pound) servings. Shape into patties, wrap, and freeze what you are not going to use right away.
- It will keep in the refrigerator for 5 days before cooking.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe sounds great! Just wanted to share that I make my own chorizo using cauliflower crumbles. It comes out great and the taste is very comparable to chorizo. I mix it with papas or eggs. It’s a great way to cut back on the fat, and it’s very low in carbs too. I’m anxious to try your chile rellenos recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Laura. While I’ve often thought of making this with tofu, frozen-thawed-then-crumbled, I haven’t thought to make it with cauliflower crumbles. It sounds divine. Thanks for another great Vegetarian idea! -Kim
Sounds great! What kind of pork sausage do you use? If unseasoned I might just grind a pork butt and start from there. Thoughts?
Hi Les. I’ve used ground pork and I’ve used unseasoned sausage. Since the ground pork is pretty lean, I add a few tablespoons of light-in-flavor olive oil or bacon grease to increase the fat content so it doesn’t dry out when it’s cooked. -Kim
Just made this last night using 85/15 ground beef. I made a scramble with it, this morning, and I may never buy chorizo again. The 15% fat was enough, but, I’m sure that more would be better.
What a great idea to use beef, John. You could always add a little olive oil or bacon grease to the overall mixture if you needed to, but I often drain off the excess grease, so you may be onto something! -Kim
I have never had Chroizo, but I want to make my own. How spicy is this recipe? I like some kick to my food, but want to make sure it is not too spicy. Again, I have never tasted Chorizo. Is is comparable in spice to Italian sausage, which I love?
Hi Denise. Chorizo is wonderful. It is full of spices so it is full of flavor. It can be “spicy” like a jalapeno, but this recipe is not. To make it more “spicy” add more cayenne pepper. I suggest making it as is the first time and then see what spices you may want to omit or increase in amount. -Kim
This sounds delicious, but I am confused about the pork. Your recipe calls for pork sausage. Pork sausage is already seasoned. Shouldn’t this be made with just ground pork since I would be adding many spices?. Pork “sausage” is already seasoned. Please clarify.
Hi Denise. I can sometimes get ground pork specifically for making sausage in the store. It has a high fat content where as regular ground pork is very lean. If you can only find lean ground pork, add a little olive oil or bacon grease to it (1-2 tbsp). -Kim
Wow – this is amazing! So easy and the spice blend is fantastic. I baked one large “patty” in the oven at 425* for 12 minutes and it came out perfectly. So nice to be able to adjust the spice level to your own taste.
This is the best Chorizo recipe I have ever made!!! Thanks so much for sharing this. :-)
I’m so happy you like the recipe, Linda! -Kim
As promised I am back with what I deem as the best chorizo recipe I have found so far and I have tried many. I cooked the chorizo this morning and scrambled some eggs with 3 flour tortillas for breakfast As usual I will probably tweak the recipe just a little, maybe a clove or two of finely chopped fresh garlic instead of garlic powder and who know what else I may do. This recipe needs nothing else done to it, delicious as is but like all my recipes I look up I tend to make them my own. Thank you for this recipe.
Just finished making the chorizo and without even cooking it I can tell this is the Mexican Chorizo I have been searching for. I have had chorizo in Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley of Texas many times and loved it but never thought I would miss this unique taste of Mexico until I moved to Florida and found out how I miss it. Tried a whole host of other recipes and tweaked many of them to what I thought I was looking for to no avail. I will put this in the refer and let it marinate for 24 hours and I will cook some up tomorrow and report back with my findings. Excited.
This has to be very tasty!!!!!
I dont think that nutrition information can be correct? 494 calories per gram!!!! :)
No Chris, that’s not right. I am sorry for the confusion. Changing over to a new recipe card was not seamless. I will get the info for you and correct the recipe today! Thank you for letting me know there was a problem. -Kim
Sounds great. What is the additional yellow items in the bowl photo?
That was scrambled eggs, Michelle! Lol. -Kim
what does it mean to rub oregano or thyme?
also, I don’t eat pork, would a high fat beef work or be too tough?
Rubbing herbs breaks them up and releases their oils. I measure them into my palm and rub them with the finger of my other hand to break them up into a powder. I have never made this with beef. -Kim
That Paleo breakfast casserole with Chorizo looks amazing and I’ve been searching for the recipe. We’re doing a Keto diet and my wife gets sick when she eats eggs. Thank you for posting great recipes!
could you make this with ground turkey instead of pork to lower the calories?
You could, Nancy, but fat carries flavor… This recipe makes two pounds. If you divide that into 8, 4 oz servings then the fat content drops down to 5 grams per serving, which I don’t think is too bad for sausage. -Kim
This was so good – very much reminds me of the southwest!
I’m glad. Thank you! -Kim
I like being able to read recipes then come back to them for grocery lists. It is difficult to find sometime when I come back looking for the second time can you include a search feature to make it easier?
Sandy, I have been wracking my brains about how I could make the recipe index easier to navigate. It will take a little time to straighten it out. I do have a search function. It is above my picture at the tip of the right sidebar on desktop. If you are on mobile, it will be above my picture the bottom of the page. I hope this helps for now. I agree that this theme is too hard to search for recipes, but again, I have been thinking about it. Have a great day and thanks for the feedback. -Kim
I’m not quite sure if I should start with ground pork or actual sausage. Wouldn’t that already have spices in it?
Great question Katherine. At my grocery store, I can purchase pork for sausage. It has a different grind than regular ground pork and of course the fat content is considerably higher. You can use ground pork, but I would add some bacon fat or it will be too lean and probably tough. The fat helps carry the flavor throughout the meat. -Kim
I stopped eating chorizo because of the heinous ingredients they add in, so this makes me happy. Actually many of your recipes make me happy. I think you are one of the top LC food bloggers out there and I take my food very seriously! Your latest caramel and pie crust recipe are tops! Keep up the super work :)
Melissa! Thank you so much. I think that is the best compliment I have ever had. I’m truly touched. I am glad you enjoy some of the recipes and it’s my absolute pleasure to share them. Have a wonderful weekend. -Kim
Looks delicious! I do have a question– Is it pork sausage or just plain ground pork? I am anxious to try this one!
Thanks, Cathy! It’s ground pork sausage (my store calls it country sausage), but I have used the spice mix for chili and other things, too. I hope you like it. Have a nice weekend. -Kim
Whoa. I cannot WAIT to try this! I can’t find chorizo anywhere in the store but I haven’t tried making it myself yet. I see some huevos rancheros in my future… thanks for the awesome recipe! Pinned :-)
Elizabeth- I’m glad you found this recipe helpful. Is there anything better than eggs and chorizo? Enjoy!
Wow, this recipe looks great! I used to love chorizo sausages before I became vegetarian – it’s one of the few things I seem to miss! I might see if I can substitute vegetarian sausages in this recipe.
Jess xo
http://www.eatingwithalice.com
Thanks, Jess! When I was a vegetarian I used TVP a lot & would combine it with lentils. I wonder if that would work? I also would freeze my tofu, thaw it, and it would get a spongy meat-like texture that would soak-up sauces and flavors. If you try it, let me know what works!