Chorizo tacos might be the fastest and easiest to make of all the popular varieties. In Mexico, chorizo is a breakfast sausage eaten with steak, eggs and/or potatoes, but this spicy pork is used in many other dishes like my Mexican black bean soup.
This is a favorite of mine because of the spices and yes, the fatty porky flavor. Chorizo gets its red color and heat from dried, smoked red peppers. If there’s not a little red fat running down your wrist while eating them, then you’re doing something wrong.
Making Chorizo Tacos
These don’t need special equipment like a trompo (spinning top) to cook the meat like al pastor. You don’t have to create a marinade for a lengthy overnight soak like carne asada. All you need is a frying pan.
Remove the casing from the chorizos, place them in the pan and flatten to fill the bottom. Turn the heat to medium and fry for 2-3 minutes.
Break up the meat like you would hamburger. Add the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and continue to chop and mix the sausage until it is completely broken apart. Cook until it is browned and you begin to see crispy edges about another 3-4 minutes.
When it’s ready, remove from the heat, push the meat to one side of the pan and tilt it to let the fat drain.
Assemble the tacos with vegetables and condiments of your choosing.
Important Tips
Get your chorizo from a genuine Mexican market. Second, don’t fry it without an apron or disposable shirt, because regardless how hard you try, you can’t avoid the potent staining splatter. Finally, draining it well can mitigate the red fat running down your arm, but where’s the fun in that?
Chorizo tacos on toasted flour tortillas with salsa, shredded cheese and red pickled onion. Print
Chorizo Tacos
Chorizo tacos with chipotle peppers and adobo with all the fixin’s
- Prep Time: 45
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8-16 1x
Ingredients
Taco Meat and Tortillas
- 1 lb freshly made Mexican pork chorizo
- 6 oz Mexican beef chorizo
- 2–4 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce – minced – to taste
- 16 street size or (8) 6″ flour tortillas
Optional Additions
- 1/2 lb quesadilla white cheese – shredded
- Fresh cilantro – minced
- Yellow onion – minced
- Pico de gallo
- Salsa verde
- Salsa rojo
- Pickled red onions – get the recipe HERE
- Hot sauce
- Fresh limes – quartered
Instructions
Cook the Meats
- Remove the casing from the chorizos, place into a large frying pan, smash it evenly flat and fry on medium heat 2-3 minutes
- Add the minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, the break it up and mix it like you would brown hamburger. Continue to cook until it is completely browned with crispy edges – about another 3-4 minutes
- Remove from heat, use a spatula to move the meat to one side of the pan and tilt it to allow for the fat to drain to one side. Alternately, if you wish to remove more of the rendered fat you may drain the meats on a paper towel covered rack
Prepare the Tortillas
Method A: Warm them over a gas stove flame briefly until they puff and lightly char
Method B: Stack, wrap in a clean dish towel and microwave until hot and ready to serve – about 20-30 seconds
Method C: Spray a non-stick skillet with pam and toast them over medium-low heat until they begin to puff
Assembling the Tacos
- Place the tacos in a taco rack and fill with a generous amount of chorizo and your choice of optional ingredients