Homemade Texas Red Chorizo Recipe

5 from 1 vote

If you're a fan of bold, flavorful Mexican dishes, you will love chorizo, a spicy sausage that adds depth to a variety of dishes. InAustin, TX chorizo appears on almost every Tex-Mex restaurant menu. It can be found in burritos, tacos, nachos and breakfast tacos. Most store-bought chorizo contains preservatives and additives, but with this homemade version, you're working with fresh, simple ingredients like fresh garlic, pork butt, and ground spices. You’ll know exactly what’s in your sausage and you will have control over the ingredients and spices, allowing you to adjust the spice level and flavors to suit your taste.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

Keyword chorizo

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 10

Total Time 30

Servings servings

Calories 235kcal

Cost $16

Equipment

1 Meat Grinder with a ¼" plate

Ingredients

Dried Chiles

4 each Ancho chiles stemmed, seeded
4 each Guajillo chiles stemmed, seeded
4 tbs Apple cider vinegar
10 each Garlic cloves chopped
1 each Yellow onion chopped

Meat

1.5 lb Pork shoulder boneless
.5 lb Pork back fat

Spices

1 teaspoon Cumin ground
1.5 teaspoon Cumin seeds
1 teaspoon Black pepper freshly ground
1 teaspoon Paprika
.5 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
4 teaspoon Kosher salt
¾ teaspoon Coriander ground
.5 teaspoon Cinnamon ground

Instructions

Prepare the Chiles

Remove the stems and seeds from the dried chiles. Place them in a fry pan and roast the chiles over medium high heat until they become fragrant and begin to darken (about one minute). Turn the chiles over and roast the other side (another minute). Remove the chiles from the pan, place them in a bowl and cover them with water. Let them soak until soft (about 20 minutes).

Prepare the Meat

While the chiles are soaking, cut the pork shoulder into 2" pieces. Cut the back fat into small pieces and grind it all together using a meat grinder with a ¼" plate. Set aside.

Put it All Together

Drain the soaked chiles and place them in a blender with the apple cider vinegar, onion and garlic. Blend until smooth (about 45 seconds).
Add the mixture to the ground meat.
Add all remaining spices.
Gently mix it all together with a gloved hand. Be careful to not squeeze the meat as that will change the texture of the chorizo. Just stir it together. Store extra chorizo in FoodSaver bags in the freezer.
Cook over medium heat until done (165°F). It can be difficult to tell when it's done because chorizo will not brown like ground beef. But it will dry out a bit. Use a thermometer to be sure.

Video

Nutrition