Mexican Chorizo is one of my all time favorite sausages. I may be a little biased on this one as all of the family on my mother’s side is Mexican and we had this sausage constantly.
This is a fresh sausage that’s cured with vinegar in the refrigerator for about a week. The flavor of this Mexican sausage comes from the peppers that are used in the recipe. You can get creative with types of pepper you use, but typically you’ll find chiles ancho, guajillo, and or arbol in the recipe.
After this sausage is made a “curing” time happen in your refrigerator. This allows for the flavors to develop and the meat to slightly acidify (due to the vinegar). This is what gives chorizo it’s signature tangy like taste. The amount of time you allow this to cure is up to you as some people allow for 3 days where I typically will let it go a week.
During this process you’ll want to squeeze out any excess liquid that develops on a daily basis as this will further deepen the flavors.
One easy way to get rid of the excess liquid is to wrap your chorizo in cheese cloth and hang it in your fridge over a bowl. Each day simply tighten the cheesecloth and squeeze out the liquid. This works really well if you are making 5 pound or less.
With that being said these last 2 steps are completely optional as you can technically eat this the same day it’s made.
Follow these sausage preparation practices when making this sausage.
- Clean and Sanitize all of your equipment.
- Keep your meat and grinder parts super cold (below 34F)
- Any liquid or ingredients that is added to the mince needs to be ice cold
- Mix your very chilled meat till the mince becomes very tacky
- Allow to cure in your refrigerator for 3-7 days (squeezing out excess liquid each day)
- Cook till the internal temperature reaches 155F
Here are a few things you might find useful when making sausage
- High Quality Natural Casings (AA Grade)
- Iodophor Sanitizer
- MK4 Thermapen (Accurate Thermometer)
- Chef Knife – KOTAI
- Boning Knife
- Sausage Pricker
- Iwatani Professional Chef Torch
- Non Fat Dry Milk Powder
- Meat Grinders
- Meat Mixers
- Sausage Stuffers
- Smokers
- Bella’s Cold Smoke Generator
Enjoy the video and the recipe. If you have any questions feel free to ask away. If you make this at home I’d love to hear about how it came out!!
If you want to see the different things that we use in operation our be sure to check out our new Amazon Store.
2 Guys & A Cooler Amazon Storefront
Mexican Chorizo
Ingredients
- 1589 g lean pork
- 681 g pork back fat
- 34 g cumin powder
- 10 g coriander powder
- 2.5 g clove powder
- 9 each bay leaves ground to a powder
- 2.5 g cinnamon
- 3 g oregano
- 1.5 g thyme
- 15 each garlic cloves
- 35 g kosher salt
- 8 g black pepper
- 14 g chipotle powder
- 7 dried ancho chili stem removed and seeded
- 7 dried guajillo chili stem removed and seeded
- 10 dried arbol chili stem removed and seeded
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Clean your meat of any silver skin, sinew, arteries and cut into small strips or cubes. Place in the freezer for an hour or until the temp reaches 32f – 34F.
- **The chili's called for in this recipe are whole chilis not powder and the amount the recipe asks for is actual chilis (not weight)***Remove the seeds and stems from the chili and toast on a cast iron skillet. Be sure not to burn so stir often. While you are toasting your chilis bring 8 cup of water to a boil. Once your chilis are finished toasting place them in a bowl and cover them completely with the boiling water. Cover and let them rehydrate for 30 minutes.
- Grind your very chilled meat on a 6mm plate (medium) and place back in the freezer
- Prepare the chili paste by adding all of the rehydrated peppers and the vinegar to a blender and blend till smooth
- Add your chili paste and all of your seasonings to your very cold mince meat and mix till it becomes well incorporated.
The curing process (this step is optional but recommended for the development of flavors. It can cure for 3-7 days in your fridge)
- Place the meat into your refrigerator to cure for 1 week. During this time you'll want to squeeze out any excess water that's in the sausage. One easy way of doing this is to place the sausage mix in a cheese cloth, tie it off and place on a rack with a pan underneath. Every day tighten the cheese cloth to remove any excess water.
- After 1 week your sausage is ready. Cook and enjoy. You can portion up what you don't plan on eating in zip lock bags and freeze.
We are Amazon Affiliates which means if you happen to buy something from Amazon after clicking one of our links we get a tiny percentage. This happens at no cost to you and really helps us offset the costs of running this site. Thank you in advance.
I grew up on the Texas/Mexican border and have eaten chorizo all my life. When I moved to Australia 15 years ago I had a real problem – no Mexican chorizo. Spanish, South American and other chorizos, but no proper Mexican chorizo. Over the years I’ve tried to make my own with limited success. Some better than others, and all better than nothing but none like my childhood favorite – Peytons brand chorizo. Your recipe is by far the closest and the best I’ve ever made. Next time I will try adding some achote paste and I think I’ll be there. Anyway, Thank you for the recipe, the tips and the great work you are doing on your channel.
Hey Mike, What a cool thing to say!! It’s such a great sausage! I’m glad you got a chance to make it!!
Just started making fresh sausage as a hobby and I discovered your site very excited to try these recipes. Also very good video production. Thank you
Is the Mexican chorizo recipe calling for 15 cloves of garlic?
Welcome. I’m here to help. Yes. 15 cloves are used for 5 pounds of chorizo. It’ll turn out amazing…. Trust me 😁
I find your recipe very difficult to follow and I am extremely disappointed. .09 ounces? what is that? and the dried chilies? how many chilis is 6.99? I thought I had an authentic recipe to try, got all the ingredients, and the recipe is not do-able
Hi Lisa. Sorry you are having a tough time with my recipe. When I write my recipes I write them in grams. It’s easier and WAY more precise that way. So, for starters I would recommend using grams when following my recipes. Any halfway decent scale should be able to switch between grams and oz easily. Secondly you need to determine how much you want to make. I would suggest starting off with 5 pounds. In the box at the top of the recipe where it asks “How much would you like to make?” it should already be preset for 5 pounds (2270g). If you make a smaller amount the spices are hard to measure without a good precise scale but feel free to adjust the quantities. As far as the chilies go, simply round up if there’s a weird number. Take your time and follow each step as I’ve written it. This recipe is very doable but you’ll need to learn the method of how I write recipes. Once you get the hang of it you will greatly appreciate the end result. This is by far one of the best Mexican chorizo recipes on the internet. 😉 If you have any questions during the process, feel free to reach out and let me know. I am here to help.
Can this sausage be stuffed into casings?
hello Eric, i have just made my first batch of Mexican Chorizo. very nice, but it crumbles very easily, is this normal.
can it be put into casings like other sausages?
That is totally normal. Traditional Mexican Chorizo crumbles when cooked (it’s because of the added vinegar). If you don’t want it to crumble just omit the vinegar and stuff it into a casing..
Hi Eric. If you leave out the vinegar do you still cure it for 3 to 7 days?
no.
I’ve never noticed this about your recipes, but why not simply provide the weight of the liquid ingredients in grams as well? I did the calculations on 0.44 cups of liquid and guess what it was 10% of the weight of the meat. LoL.
LOL. This was an old recipe. I have since started to do that. I need to update this one😉
LIsa, did you ever switch over to grams? It is so much easier than ounces and god forbid, spoons and cups. It’s super precise. I use a cheap jeweler’s scale I bought online to measure the spices, which are small amounts. I was surprised you mentioned 0.09 ounces. Eric’s recipes default to grams for me. The recipe gives you the option to use either grams or US customary, which is the ounces. Trust us, use grams. Good luck! And remember, good players, make their luck!