Chorizo sausage is a common addition in Portuguese and Spanish dishes. It’s usually made with ground pork and combined with fat, wine, paprika and salt and then stuffed into a casing made of tripe. There are many varieties of chorizo. Linguica is a Portuguese-style chorizo that is sliced and cooked table-side in special lattice-topped pottery dishes. Chourico is a ground version of chorizo that looks like soft or “wet” Mexican-style chorizos commonly found in the U.S. 

Paprika and red chilies are the primary spices in Mexican chorizo and infuse it with a deep reddish color. Mexican “wet” chorizo is often made with freshly ground pork parts combined with chilies, vinegar and salt. The chorizo is removed from its casing before cooking. The “dry” Mexican chorizo has been dried slowly over a smoky fire and can be sliced and prepared like Portuguese Linguica.

I use the Mexican-style “wet” chorizo in my Crock-pot Portuguese Chicken recipe. It’s far more budget-friendly than imported chorizo sausages. The chorizo adds a zesty flavor to the tomato sauce that blankets the chicken while it slowly cooks in the crock-pot. Convenience products like bottled pasta sauce and canned tomatoes with chilies cut down on preparation time without sacrificing the spicy flavors of the dish.