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Chorizo Sliders made with simple homemade chorizo, easy garlic mayo, fresh pico de gallo, and queso fresco for an explosion of flavor in every bite. These are great for appetizers or the main dish!
Lately I’ve been having incredible bursts of inspiration and motivation where I just want to DO things. It can be hard to harness that kind of energy into productive and efficient time because my mind immediately starts racing over all the things I want to do for myself and for my blog business. Sometimes I look back at my brainstorming in my notebook and think I kind of look like a crazy person because one page to the next looks completely different in organization and content. Do you ever have this problem? How do you take creative energy and turn it into something real without loosing focus?
Sometimes restaurants can spark recipe creativity in my brain and when I taste an incredible dish, I immediately want to recreate it at home and share it with you guys. Jared and I shared Chorizo Sliders recently at a restaurant in Chandler, Arizona called Barrelhouse American Kitchen & Cocktails. Our entrees were okay but these Chorizo Sliders and the “Them Apples” cocktail I had which tasted like an apple pie were incredible. While scarfing down the sliders I couldn’t help but think how relatively easy they’d be to make at home since they don’t require many special ingredients or professional equipment.
So, here we are! I’m sharing my version of the recipe, which I think is pretty spot-on. The homemade chorizo is made ahead of time to let the flavors marinade and utilizes both sweet smoked paprika and hot smoked paprika which you can find in many grocery stores or places like Williams-Sonoma, Sur la Table, World Market, Whole Foods, Penzey’s, and other specialty stores or on Amazon. You can of course save time by using premade chorizo mix and shaping it into patties and even purchasing premade pico de gallo from the produce section of the grocery store, but making everything yourself is usually much more flavorful!
Recipe Rundown
Taste: Smoky, slightly spicy, fresh, garlicky, and all-around mouthwatering.
Texture: The chorizo patties are caramelized at the edges while the pico is juicy and the cheese is soft and sticky. The buns are toasted goodness.
Ease: Every element of the recipe is easy to make and can be done ahead of time, though it does dirty a few dishes.
Appearance: Like gourmet food from a restaurant!
Pros: Tasty Mexican-inspired spin on sliders.
Cons: Makes a bit of a mess, nothing too crazy though.
Would I make this again? Yes!
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Chorizo Sliders
Ingredients
For the chorizo:
- 1 pound ground pork (20% fat)
- 2 teaspoons smoked sweet paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked hot paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican
- 1/2 teaspoon ancho chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- Vegetable oil, for frying
For the garlic mayonnaise:
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Pico de gallo:
- 2 roma tomatoes
- 1/4 cup finely diced red onion
- 1/2 jalapeno, seeded and minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro
For the sliders:
- Slider buns, preferably brioche-style, toasted
- Queso fresco
Instructions
For the chorizo:
- Place all the chorizo ingredients in a large bowl and mix together with your fingers until everything is thoroughly combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 1 week to develop the flavors.
For the mayonnaise:
- In a small bowl mix everything together. Refrigerate until ready to use.
For the pico de gallo:
- In a small bowl mix everything together. Refrigerate until ready to use.
To finish the sliders:
- Shape the chorizo mixture into patties the same size as your slider buns. Cover the bottom of a large skillet with oil and heat over medium-high. Fry the chorizo patties until cooked through and browned on both sides.
- Slather the toasted buns with the garlic mayonnaise. Top with a chorizo patty, pico de gallo, and queso fresco. Serve.
Sliders are so much fun and your homemade Chorizo sounds so wonderful!
Thanks for this recipe. These would be perfect for Superbowl Sunday. I also checked out the menu for Barrelhouse it looks amazing and can’t wait to try it.
Oh yay – hope you like the restaurant!
I’d also love to know how people harness that creative energy! I go through the same thing. My mind goes crazy, I can’t sleep, and I feel stressed about all the things that I want to get done!
But, I think I can definitely take a little crazy brain break for these sliders. I love that you gave a homemade chorizo recipe! My hubby loves it and I had no idea how to make it from scratch!
This is a pretty basic scratch chorizo recipe – it can get a lot more complicated! My boyfriend loves chorizo too, I’m always thinking of ways to center recipes around the stuff.