Sausage is the category; chorizo is a pork sausage seasoned with paprika, which gives it its red colour. The crucial split is regional: Spanish chorizo is cured and ready to eat like salami, while Mexican chorizo is raw and must be cooked. They are not interchangeable in a recipe.
The core difference
- sausage — the general category.
- chorizo — pork sausage seasoned with paprika, which supplies both the colour and much of the flavour.
Spanish and Mexican are different products
This is the distinction that matters in the kitchen:
- Spanish chorizo — cured and often smoked, firm, sliceable, eaten without cooking. Seasoned with pimentón, Spanish smoked paprika, in sweet or hot versions.
- Mexican chorizo — raw, soft, sold loose or in a casing, and cooked by crumbling into a pan. Seasoned with chilli and vinegar as well as paprika.
Substituting one for the other does not work. Slicing raw Mexican chorizo onto a board would be unsafe; frying Spanish chorizo to a crumble simply will not happen.
Pronunciation
In Spain the final consonant of the first syllable is a "ch" as in church — roughly cho-REE-tho in Castilian, with the z as a soft th. In Mexico and most of Latin America the z is an s: cho-REE-so. English speakers commonly say cho-REET-so, which follows neither.
The related sausages
- salami — Italian, cured, usually beef and pork, seasoned without paprika
- pepperoni — an American development of salami; the word means bell peppers in Italian, so ordering it in Italy gets you vegetables
- longaniza — a longer, thinner relative of chorizo found across Spain and Latin America
- andouille — smoked pork sausage, French in origin and heavily associated with Cajun cooking
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between chorizo and sausage?
Chorizo is a type of sausage — pork seasoned with paprika, which gives it its red colour. Sausage is the general category.
Can I swap Spanish chorizo for Mexican chorizo?
No. Spanish chorizo is cured and ready to eat; Mexican chorizo is raw and must be cooked. They behave completely differently in a recipe.
How is chorizo pronounced?
Roughly cho-REE-tho in Castilian Spanish and cho-REE-so in Latin America. The common English cho-REET-so follows neither.