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Home » Entrees

Homemade Fresh Chorizo Sausage Recipe

04/21/2016 Updated: 01/04/2021 By Karrie 18 Comments

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Chorizo sausage recipe in a bowl uncooked.

This Homemade Chorizo Sausage recipe is so delicious and simple to make, you'll never buy the pre-made store version again!  Use in recipes for quick and easy meals or freeze for up to 4 months.

A chorizo sausage recipe made with ground pork and spices.

What is fresh chorizo sausage?

Fresh chorizo is a raw Mexican style pork sausage that can be used in a variety of quick and easy recipes. It's an uncured sausage made with chiles, garlic, and paprika.  

The fresh sausage mixture can be stuffed in casings to grill them. Or leave the mixture loose and fry it in a pan to then use in recipes.

All these photos of this homemade chorizo sausage recipe is when it's raw, not cooked, so it's easy to see how all the seasonings in Mexican chorizo contribute to it's beautiful color and intense, delicious flavor.

What's the difference between Mexican chorizo, Spanish chorizo, and Portuguese chouriço

  • Mexican chorizo is fresh and uncooked ground pork (or sometimes beef) flavored with chilies, garlic, and paprika, with other spices.  The ground meat is available either loose or in a casing. 
  • Spanish chorizo and Portuguese chouriço are both made with pork, garlic, and spices, but are cured in a casing. Both can be eaten as-is or lightly fried or grilled to just heat through.
    • Spanish chorizo is made with white wine and heavy on smoked paprika.
    • Chouriço is made with less paprika, more garlic, and a Portuguese red wine. 

Speaking of Portuguese chouriço, I am lucky enough to live close to an unbelievable Portuguese grocery store that makes their own homemade chouriço and carne de vinha d'alhos. 

Their version of chouriço has big pieces of pork in it that have been marinated in a wine, garlic, and paprika mixture. It's cured in a natural casing in a long rope fashion.

It's seriously the best I've ever had!

Fresh Mexican Chorizo in a white bowl

Absolutely perfect sausage for quick and easy meals

Homemade chorizo is perfect for throwing together a quick weekday meal at home. Make a big batch ahead of time and freeze 1 pound packages for later use.

Just take out a package from the freezer, thaw, and sauté the chorizo in a pan. Here's some ways to use it:

  1. Add it to scrambled eggs and potatoes for breakfast (or do breakfast for dinner). 
  2. Put it into corn or flour tortillas for burritos, quesadillas, and for Taco Tuesday.
  3. Make a 4 bean chili.
  4. Add it to a cheese dip.
  5. Top a pizza.
  6. Put in a Mexican rice dish.
  7. Mix it into a creamy cheese sauce and toss with noodles.

We are getting ready to go camping again at Little River State Park in Vermont in the pimpin' camper. This fresh chorizo will definitely be coming with us on the trip for some tasty meals! 

Quick and easy tasty meals is my thang when I'm camping and frying this chorizo up in a cast iron pan over a campfire is perfect. 

I think I could live out the rest of my life in my camper, traveling around the US, with a big batch (or two) of fresh chorizo.

A homemade fresh Chorizo sauage recipe with pork, chili powder, garlic, and paprika.

A homemade chorizo sausage recipe made the all-natural way

It may seem like making homemade fresh chorizo sausage is too time consuming, but it's really not. 

It's super easy to mix the cubed pork and spices together, then place in the refrigerator overnight to bind all the flavors together. 

The next day, just run it all through your meat grinder and store the ground mixture in a covered container in the refrigerator until ready to use in recipes.

The wonderful thing about making your own homemade sausage is it's easy to control the quality of meat and ingredients.

Leave out all those unnecessary ingredients in pre-made sausage, like sugar or nasty preservatives.

Uncooked Mexican sausage in a bowl  ready for the skillet.

Try this easy homemade Chorizo sausage recipe and leave the processed stuff behind in the grocery store.  PIN it for later to use it in this Beef and Chorizo Chili recipe too!

Homemade Fresh Chorizo in a white bowl

Homemade Fresh Chorizo Sausage

Homemade Fresh Chorizo sausage is so delicious and easy to make, you'll never buy the pre-made grocery store version again! For added convenience, make up a big batch, separate into smaller portions, and store in the freezer for up to 4 months.
5 from 12 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Entree
Cuisine: Mexican
Prep Time: 8 hours
Total Time: 8 hours
Servings: 3 pounds
Calories: 466kcal
Author: Karrie | Tasty Ever After

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds boneless pork shoulder or butt cut into 1' cubes
  • 3 tablespoons chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 3 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon dried coriander
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ cup apple cider vinegar
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • Place pork cubes in a large bowl and set aside.  In a small bowl, mix together all spices (chili powder through cinnamon). Pour mixed spices and apple cider vinegar over the pork cubes, mixing well with your hands until all cubes are coated. Cover and place in refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight.
  • After the 8 hours, set up a food grinder with a medium grind attachment and grind the chilled seasoned pork cubes. Store the ground pork mixture in a covered container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Recipe Notes & Tips:

  • Store the chorizo in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 4 months.
  • Use the chorizo to make this 4 bean homemade chili!
Nutrition Facts
Homemade Fresh Chorizo Sausage
Amount Per Serving
Calories 466 Calories from Fat 189
% Daily Value*
Fat 21g32%
Saturated Fat 7g35%
Cholesterol 185mg62%
Sodium 2674mg111%
Potassium 1234mg35%
Carbohydrates 9g3%
Fiber 4g16%
Sugar 1g1%
Protein 56g112%
Vitamin A 3450IU69%
Vitamin C 2.2mg3%
Calcium 93mg9%
Iron 6.4mg36%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Tried this recipe? Tag me today!Mention @tastyeverafter or tag #tastyeverafter

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 ©  Tasty Ever After  All images and content are copyright protected, so please do not copy or claim my work as your own.  Please do not use any images or republish this recipe without prior permission.  If you want to reference this recipe, link directly back to this post.  Thank you.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kylie

    August 03, 2021 at 8:06 am

    Can’t wait to try this. Do you think using already ground pork would work too? I don’t have a meat grinder. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Karrie

      August 03, 2021 at 11:45 am

      Yes Kylie, you can use ground pork for this recipe. Let the mixture sit for as long as possible before using it, so the spices work into the meat. Please let me know how you like the chorizo!

      Reply
  2. Kaye

    March 30, 2021 at 6:22 pm

    5 stars
    I'm going to try this seasoning on tofu as I don't eat meat. Thank you for creating this recipe.

    Reply
    • Karrie

      March 30, 2021 at 9:26 pm

      That sounds wonderful Kaye and please let me know how the tofu turns out!

      Reply
  3. Keto

    May 22, 2016 at 11:18 am

    5 stars
    Darn chorizo is pretty simple to make! I didn't know until i made this. So delicious. Thank you for posting!

    Reply
    • Karrie@tastyeverafter

      May 23, 2016 at 11:19 pm

      Thanks Keto!

      Reply
  4. Maria C.

    May 20, 2016 at 8:13 pm

    5 stars
    Got to this recipe from your beef chorizo chili recipe and it's awesome! Never thought about making my own and thanks for the recipe.

    Reply
    • Karrie@tastyeverafter

      May 23, 2016 at 11:21 pm

      Thank you Maria

      Reply
  5. annie

    May 15, 2016 at 12:02 pm

    5 stars
    I keep telling my hubby we need to make sausage from scratch and we made this after I saw it on Pinterest. So simple and was great in tacos. Will make again soon!

    Reply
    • Karrie@tastyeverafter

      May 23, 2016 at 11:21 pm

      So happy you both enjoyed it and thank you for taking the time to leave a review!

      Reply
  6. Kathryn

    April 26, 2016 at 6:25 pm

    5 stars
    I love chorizo and the amazing flavor it brings to pretty much any dish (totally with you on having it for breakfast, lunch or dinner) but I do NOT love being unsure of what's really lurking in those store-bought varieties. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply
    • Karrie@tastyeverafter

      May 23, 2016 at 11:19 pm

      Store bought stuff is always scary Kathryn. Yikes!

      Reply
  7. demeter | beaming baker

    April 23, 2016 at 10:58 am

    5 stars
    Okay... but we missed you. Like, for real. However, I'm so happy to hear that you went on vacation girlie! Especially if it entails you getting to enjoy New England. Woot woot! How as Vegas? I saw a couple fun-lookin' photos on IG. And omg... y'all did an awesome job on the camper makeover. Love the aqua tones. How soothing is that? I can just imagine the perfect lunch being had with camper in tow. Lol. Also, did I tell you? My sister is a HUGE camper! She would be all over this right now.
    Great recipe--as always, happy to see your kitchen genius at work. Happy camping!

    Reply
    • Karrie@tastyeverafter

      April 25, 2016 at 5:48 pm

      Thanks Demeter. Vegas was awesome. It was a girls trip so we had lots of fun. Thanks on the camper reno. I love that thing so much. We got it ready this weekend and I just sat it in for awhile. I could def live in that thing and travel all around. No, you didn't tell me your sister is a huge camper! Does she live in California? I'd love to know where she camps too.

      Reply
  8. GiGi Eats

    April 22, 2016 at 9:08 pm

    5 stars
    I'm not a pork girl, although I do love wild boar - TOTALLY DIFFERENT in my eyes for some reason, lol - But I could easily make this with ground beef!

    Reply
    • Karrie@tastyeverafter

      April 25, 2016 at 5:43 pm

      Yeah, isn't wild boar just a wild pig? Which would mean it's pork...but that's okay if you want to see it differently. hahahaha. I think ground beef is a fine substitute!

      Reply
  9. Cheyanne

    April 22, 2016 at 3:56 pm

    5 stars
    I think most people need a vacation from their vacation... at least I know I always do! Maybe I should use that as my excuse as to why Boy and I haven't taken a vacation in 5 years - because we don't have time to take 2 vacays. Anyways, I'm glad you had fun in Vegas! Next time I'm going with you! And super glad you guys are going out on the road in the pimped out camper soon! It's official - I'm going to vicariously live through you, #bestie! Anyways, chorizo! Hellllzzzz to the yes on this homemade fresh chorizo! This looks absolutely delicious and full of fabulous flavor! Store bought can't hold a candle to TEA chorizo! Totally making a few pounds of this - some for now and some for the freezer! Pinned! Cheers, doll! xo

    Reply
    • Karrie@tastyeverafter

      April 25, 2016 at 5:39 pm

      Hahaha! You need to go on vaca girl and relax with Boy! I'll go with y'all too Thanks for your support too Bestie

      Reply

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