How to Make Healthy Beef Chorizo
Every week, we’re spotlighting a different food blogger who’s shaking up the blogosphere with tempting recipes and knockout photography. Here, Ana Frias of Muy Delish puts a healthy spin on traditional Mexican chorizo.
Using meat with a lower percentage fat content translates to healthier chorizo. Photo: Ana Frias
Healthy Beef Chorizo
Serves 8 to 10
You can’t go to a Mexican restaurant and not see chorizo on the menu. Even grocery stores carry chorizo, but you never know what kind of meat is used. And have you seen all those extra preservatives and processed ingredients on the labels? Yikes! I don’t know about you, but I like to know what I’m eating.
Chorizo is one of the easiest Mexican dishes to make at home. The leaner the ground beef you use, the healthier the dish is.
2 pounds 96-percent fat ground beef
2 tablespoons Mexican spice mixture (recipe below)
1 tablespoon ground chipotle chile
1 tablespoon ground ancho chile
2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon granulated garlic
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon water
Mix all the ingredients well in a large bowl, kneading as if for bread dough.
Cover with plastic wrap and allow the mixture to stand refrigerated for at least 6 hours or as long as 4 days. Time allows the spices to infuse their flavors into the ground beef and for the chorizo’s flavor overall to mellow.
Once the chorizo has cured, you can freeze it in smaller portions and use as needed.
Cook by frying in a pan, until cooked through and lightly browned. Break up with a wooden spoon, so that it has a crumbly texture. Serve in tacos, with eggs, or potatoes.
Mexican Spice Mixture
½ cup kosher salt
½ cup brown sugar
½ tablespoon cumin
½ tablespoon allspice
1 tablespoon ground ancho chile
½ tablespoon granulated garlic
½ tablespoon fresh ground pepper
Mix all ingredients and store tightly lidded.
More Mexican recipes for your next fiesta:
Deconstructed vegan enchiladas drizzled with cashew cream
Legendary nachos from L.A.’s Bar Amá
Mexican tostado BLTs from Rick Bayless
How will you celebrate Cinco de Mayo?
