How to make a spicy, creamy Mexican chorizo sauce. Enjoy it with pasta, chicken, fish, steak, seafood and more!
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About This Spicy Chorizo Pasta Recipe
Our creamy chorizo pasta sauce owes literally all of its flavors to the robust spices and earthy herbs of Mexican chorizo sausage (chorizo fresco). The heavy cream in the recipe acts as a smooth, stable medium for the ground meat to literally melt into and infuse with flavor - the two lovingly imbibe each other.
You will need only a short time to make the sauce, about as long as it takes for your pasta to cook. Even better, you will expand almost no effort - yet it will taste as if you spent a while carefully layering flavors to achieve the rich spiciness, full-bodied flavor and creamy texture.
Ingredients You Will Need for Chorizo Sauce
Mexican chorizo sausage. Typically made with pork, but beef, venison, chicken, turkey and vegetarian versions exist as well. This type of sausage is not chopped and cured like its Spanish and Portuguese counterparts, rather once the meat is ground and blended with herbs, spices, garlic and vinegar, it is stuffed into casings and sold raw. Hence the classification of fresco (fresh/uncooked). While Mexican chorizo is well-know for being on the spicy hot side, it is never overwhelmingly picante.
Heavy cream. Do not try to make this sauce with regular cream or half and half. The fat content of heavy cream is what guarantees that this sauce will not break and can be reheated successfully.
Non-stick pan. It is essential that you use one because to brown the chorizo you will not be using any oil (it already has a generous amount of fat mixed into it). A reliable non-stick surface helps a lot.
Lime and cilantro. Both are optional, but a squeeze of lime's mild acidity and a bit of fresh herb essence complement the richness of the sauce with their bright notes.
TIP: To make a vegetarian chorizo pasta you can buy tofu chorizo to prepare the cream sauce.
Make the Chorizo Cream Sauce: Step-by-Step
Brown. Heat the non-stick pan over medium and add the chorizo. Break it up into small pieces with the help of a spoon or spatula. Let it brown for a few minutes. If any excess fat is rendered feel free to scoop it out with a small spoon.
Simmer. Add the heavy cream to the browned chorizo and stir to combine. Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sauce has thickened a bit and the chorizo has nearly dissolved into the cream.
Serve. Before you toss pasta in the sauce or drizzle it over other food of your choice, give it a taste to determine if it needs any extra seasoning. It might call for some extra salt (due to the sweetness of the heavy cream) or heat.
Serve Mexican Chorizo Cream Sauce with Pasta, Chicken, Fish and Seafood
- Pasta. The wider the noodles the better - to maximize the flavor of every bite you need the larger surface of flatter noodles or short cut pasta such as penne. A sprinkle of Mexican dried oregano is a nice touch when serving the sauce with pasta.
- Spaghetti squash or 'zoodles'. A low carb alternative to pasta and every bit as delicious.
- Fish. Baked fish fillets such as cod welcome the richness of this sauce.
- Seafood. Seared scallops or sauted shrimp (peeled, tails off) both partner really well with creamy chorizo sauce.
- Avocado. Thinly sliced avocado with a drizzle of this sauce and a squeeze of lime is a divine snack, served with some tortilla chips for scooping or applied as an off the beaten path taco filling.
- Chicken. Pan-seared or grilled chicken breast smothered with creamy chorizo sauce is one of our favorite ways to enjoy the otherwise dry meat.
Other Recipes You Might Enjoy
Lemon Cream Sauce
Shrimp Cream Sauce
Fried Pasta Primavera
Creamy Schinkennudeln
Chorizo Cream Sauce (for Pasta, Chicken, Fish & More)
Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 1 minute
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 11 minutes
Easy creamy chorizo pasta recipe! While your favorite noodles or short cut pasta is cooking as per the package instructions make our Mexican chorizo cream sauce.
Ingredients
- 9 oz Mexican chorizo sausage*, removed from the casing
- 1 ½ cup heavy cream
Instructions
1. Place a non-stick pan over medium heat. Add the chorizo sausage and with the help of a wooden/silicone spoon or spatula break it up. Sauté until just browned, about 3-5 minutes.**
2. Add the heavy cream and stir to combine with the browned chorizo. Lower the heat a bit, to medium-low and simmer until the sauce thickens, about 5-6 minutes. Taste to decide if any extra seasoning is needed and add accordingly.***
3. Combine the creamy chorizo sauce with your choice of pasta (cooked according to the packaging instructions) or enjoy it with chicken, seafood like scallops or shrimp etc. Garnish with cilantro and a squeeze of lime.
Notes
*We recommend that you use pork chorizo, but beef, chicken and tofu versions work well too. If using tofu chorizo you will not need to brown it - simply break it up in the pan and immediately add the heavy cream.
**Some chorizo preparations have extra fat added to the ground meat. If too much fat is rendered and pools to the sides of the pan, feel free to scoop out some of it with a small spoon.
***Typically chorizo is so robustly seasoned that the dilution with heavy cream simply serves to tame the flavors somewhat. It is very likely that you decide no extra seasonings are needed once the sauce has thickened. It is however reasonable to expect to add some salt, cayenne or black pepper - the matter will be decided by your taste buds.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 594Total Fat: 57gSaturated Fat: 30gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 23gCholesterol: 157mgSodium: 812mgCarbohydrates: 4gFiber: 0gSugar: 3gProtein: 18g
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