Spanish and Mexican chorizo are different, but both pack a flavor punch

There’s a wide world of chorizo out there. The first sausage is believed to have been made “around 500 years ago on the Iberian Peninsula, where the chiles arrived after the Columbian Exchange,” food writer Rachel Wharton wrote for TASTE. From there, it spread with the people of that region. “Think of any place Spain or Portugal once brutally colonized – the southernmost stretch of the United States, Mexico, much of Central and South America, several islands in the Caribbean – and you can bet all of them now have proud chorizo traditions of their own.”

While the sausages found in these regions might share the same or a similar name, they vary from place to place and even among the people within each. Here are some of the varieties of chorizo – with Spanish and Mexican being most popular in the United States – and what you need to know about them.

Spanish chorizo

The sausage that started it all, Spanish chorizo is composed of chopped rather than ground pork, and much of its flavor and color comes from pimentón (smoked paprika), which can range from sweet/mild to hot depending on the specific variety. Garlic and white wine are also included in the mix, and then the sausage is dry-cured and sometimes smoked, which can imbue it with even more smoky flavor. Because of this, Spanish chorizo typically does not need to be cooked, and you can slice and eat it as you would salami or soppressata. However, you can cook with it if you wish to add flavor to soups, frittatas, sauces and more.

Mexican chorizo

One of the other more popular varieties, Mexican chorizo is typically made from ground pork, chiles of all types (dried hot peppers blended into a paste are common, making most Mexican chorizos spicy), vinegar and a variety of spices. (There’s also the milder chorizo verde which is tinted green thanks to some combination of green peppers, tomatillos and herbs.)

“The sausages are usually aged for less than a week in their casings, which gives them just a little funk, but mainly a deeper flavor,” Wharton wrote. These sausages are typically sold fresh, meaning that they need to be cooked and are often removed from their casings before doing so.

Portuguese chouriço

Compared to its Spanish neighbor, the Portuguese sausage is almost always smoked and cured, typically has less paprika and more garlic, and usually includes red wine instead of just white. “Some versions of chouriço are heavily smoked, making them ready to eat, while others are lightly smoked and require cooking,” according to food writer and cookbook author David Leite of Leite’s Culinaria. You’ll probably need to head to a specialty shop to find this sausage in the United States.

Other options

Some other relatives you might find include Colombian chorizo (a raw sausage that is milder than the Mexican version and “always has cumin,” Wharton wrote), Argentine chorizo (an Italian-inspired sausage to reflect this large demographic of its population) and chaurice (a Creole sausage found in southwestern Louisiana). And let’s not forget the plant-based alternatives available, such as those made from tofu or other soy-based products.

Given the various differences, try to stick to the specific chorizo listed in a given recipe to achieve the intended flavor profile. But if you must make substitutions, a recipe should still turn out fine if you swap fresh for fresh or cured for cured sausages.