Homemade Mexican Chorizo with Bold Chile Flavor

Dinner can start with five minutes of mixing and 8 to 10 minutes in a skillet. This homemade Mexican chorizo combines ground pork with paprika, cayenne, ancho, and guajillo powders for a loose, brick-red sausage with direct chile heat and warm spice from cinnamon and clove. The mixture is meant to be cooked loose and broken apart.

The blend uses paprika, cayenne, ancho powder, guajillo powder, garlic powder, cumin, oregano, coriander, Mexican cinnamon, clove, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper. Each dry seasoning is mixed directly into fatty ground pork, while the vinegar seasons the meat. The recipe also allows ground beef or other ground meats, but pork is the traditional base. Fatty pork shoulder, pork leg, or a 70/30 blend is recommended for flavor.

Once mixed, the pork should look uniformly colored, with the spices giving it its characteristic red hue. In the skillet, break it apart with a wooden spoon as it cooks over medium heat. The main avoidable problem is leaving dense pieces intact, which prevents the loose cooked texture used for tacos, burritos, and similar fillings. Do not expect a casing, since this preparation is used without one.

Spoon the cooked sausage into tacos and burritos, or use it for breakfast tacos, scrambled eggs, tostadas, Mexican tortas, soups, stews, and stuffed peppers. The crumbled format also makes it straightforward to spread through a filling rather than slicing links, which suits the recipe's fresh, uncured style.