Mexican vs. Spanish Chorizo: What's What? (2024)

If you like cooking with sausage, you’ve probably used chorizo at some point. This pork sausage is heavily seasoned—and very delicious! But not all chorizo is the same: If you're making a recipe that calls for it, you need to know about Mexican vs. Spanish chorizo so you can pick the one that's right for your recipe. They're both great—but they're not interchangeable.

Sausage in its simplest form is typically made up of ground or chopped meat, like pork, beef, or chicken, with plenty of spices and seasonings added in for extra flavor. It can be stuffed into casings to make links, or cooked like ground meat. Chorizo is a specific type of heavily seasoned pork sausage (it's usually a vibrant reddish-orange color from all the seasoning), and it comes in several forms. Mexican chorizo is generally a fresh sausage and is usually cooked like ground meat or other sausage links. Spanish chorizo, on the other hand, is a dried cured sausage with a completely different texture.

Both Mexican and Spanish chorizo will add a ton of flavor to a dish, like Ree Drummond's queso fundido or these breakfast tacos. You can even try making your own homemade chorizo using chiles, spices, and ground pork. No matter what you're planning to make, knowing the difference between Mexican vs. Spanish chorizo is a good place to start. Read on for more info!

What is chorizo made of?

Chorizo is a particular type of heavily seasoned sausage. The two most commonly sold types of chorizo are Mexican and Spanish, both of which have differences in their preparations and seasonings. They’re both often made with pork, though Mexican chorizo can be made with other proteins. Chorizo is also used in various ways throughout different regions of Central and South America.

What is Mexican chorizo?

Mexican chorizo is a fresh sausage—it's usually made from pork, but can also be made using beef. The meat used for Mexican chorizo is finely ground and mixed with various seasonings and spices made from red peppers, giving it a bright orange hue. Because Mexican chorizo is flavored with peppers, it has a slightly spicier taste compared to smoky Spanish chorizo. Additionally, Mexican chorizo is sold fresh and must be cooked before consuming; you can either buy loose chorizo or remove the meat from the casing, or you can cook the links whole. Mexican chorizo is very versatile and can be used in tacos, burgers, egg dishes, stuffed peppers and more.

What is Spanish chorizo?

While similar in hue to Mexican chorizo, Spanish chorizo gets its reddish shade from a different source. The meat used for Spanish chorizo is chopped and then mixed with paprika and other spices. The paprika used is either spicy or mild, but always has a noticeable smoky flavor. Spanish chorizo is sold cured and smoked, so it is technically fully cooked and has a hard, firm texture. Spanish-style chorizo can be sliced and eaten as a snack or served on a cheese plate, though it is also commonly used as a flavor base for stews and rice dishes like paella.