Chorizo Bolognese Recipe

This non-traditional riff on a classic Bolognese Sauce is made with smoky bacon and fresh Mexican chorizo sausage. My Chorizo Bolognese is bold, savory and comes together in under one hour.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love a traditional spag bol.  It’s just that sometimes I don’t have the energy to devote several hours to a simmering pot of sauce.  When I’m craving a meaty pasta sauce, and I need to get something on the table fast, I make this Chorizo Bolognese.

This recipe starts with a flavorful base of bacon, onion, carrot, celery, and garlic.  I like to chop all of this up in a food processor to get it to a similar texture to the chorizo.  This also really cuts down on the prep time!  After the aromatics sweat, in goes the tomato paste, followed by the Mexican chorizo.

Deglaze with some red wine, then simmer everything in chicken stock until the flavors melt together (about 30 minutes).  Finish the dish with Parm and torn basil, and you’ve got a flavor-packed dinner ready with minimal effort.  Continue reading for the recipe.

Before we get to the recipe, I want to highlight an important distinction.  Mexican chorizo is a fresh, raw sausage (ground pork or beef) while Spanish chorizo is a cured sausage (like salami or pepperoni).  This recipe will not work with Spanish chorizo, so please make sure you use the Mexican version!

I tested this recipe with the Mexican chorizo that comes in a tube (like Cacique or Reynaldo’s) and also loose Mexican chorizo from a grocery store meat counter (Northgate Gonzales or Whole Foods).  Mexican chorizo is packed with seasonings and spices, so it adds a lot of flavor to the sauce with just a 30-minute simmer.  Both versions work here, but I really like the loose chorizo version more.

Mexican chorizo that comes in the tube can be cut with fillers and the texture is very smooth.  The loose chorizo is typically 100% beef or pork and has a more substantial texture.  Either way, the sauce will be delicious, so just use whatever you have access to! 

Chorizo Bolognese

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 55 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr

Course Dinner

Cuisine Italian, Mexican

Servings 4

Ingredients

  

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• 4 ounces bacon, sliced
• 1 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 large carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 celery rib, coarsely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 ½ pounds Mexican chorizo sausage (pork or beef), casings removed
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 cup dry red wine (such as cabernet sauvignon)
• 1 ½ cups chicken stock (or water)
• 1 ounce freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
• Kosher salt
• 1 pound rigatoni
• Fresh basil, for serving

Instructions

 

• Pulse bacon in a food processor until finely chopped. Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic and pulse until vegetables are finely chopped and mixture has paste-like consistency, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
• Warm oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add bacon-vegetable mixture and several turns of black pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated (about 6 minutes). Continue to cook until very dark browned bits form on the bottom of the pot (6 to 8 minutes). Avoid overstirring. You want to give the mixture time to develop color. Stir in tomato paste and cook until the mixture darkens in color (1 to 2 minutes).
• Reduce heat to medium, add chorizo and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add wine and scrape up any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Cook until wine has reduced (about 5 minutes). Stir in broth and Parmesan, return sauce to simmer, partially cover, reduce heat to low, and let simmer for 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and additional pepper.
• While the sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook rigatoni to al dente according to the package instructions. Reserve ½ cup of the cooking liquid, then drain rigatoni and add it to the pot with the sauce, tossing to combine. Drizzle in reserved cooking liquid as needed to loosen up the sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• To serve, spoon pasta in shallow bowls and top with freshly grated parmesan cheese and torn basil leaves.

Keyword bolognese, chorizo, rigatoni

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Brandon

I’m Brandon: food explorer, recipe curator, cocktail shaker, dessert lover. Kitchen Konfidence is how I document my time spent in my favorite space, the kitchen. Did you make a recipe? Tag @brandiego on Instagram so I can see the how it went!