The Best Homemade Vegan Chorizo Recipe
Chorizo is one of my comfort foods, nothing beats a breakfast of papas con chorizo, warm corn tortillas, and salsa molcajeteada. This spicy vegan chorizo is packed with flavor and made with the same traditional cooking method as the real thing, so you know it’s good!
A combination of tofu and mushrooms is marinated in a sauce made with dried chiles, Mexican oregano, cumin, clove, paprika, and apple cider vinegar, then cooked until golden brown. It is the perfect addition to your breakfast burritos, burrito bowls, tofu scramble, or to spice up your taco night.
What Makes This A Great Recipe
There are quite a few plant-based chorizo options in grocery stores now, my favorite is Trader Joe’s Soy Chorizo, but none of them come close to the flavor of authentic Mexican chorizo. That’s why I set out to make my own, and after testing recipes with quinoa, tempeh, TVP, and even lentils I settled on this spicy and crumbly chorizo, with tons of umami flavor, and notes of clove and coriander. It makes an excellent plant-based protein and is vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free,
Difference Between Spanish and Mexican Chorizo
Spanish chorizo as we know it today was born in the Iberian Peninsula around the XVII century when pimentón (paprika) arrived in Spain from the Americas. Pimenton is made from small red peppers that were not available in Spain before then, previously chorizo was white or black. Spanish chorizo is typically made with chopped pork, seasoned with pimentón (which gives it its red color) and garlic, and is cured for 2 to 4 weeks.
Mexican chorizo is similar to Spanish chorizo in flavor, but it is not cured, and the pork is usually ground, making it a crumbly and chunky chorizo that needs to be cooked before eating. It is seasoned with pimentón (paprika), like Spanish chorizo, but it is spiced with various dried chiles, oregano, cumin, and coriander. Toluca, in central Mexico, was one of the first places to register chorizo production in Mexico. To this day, Mexicans consider chorizo from Toluca among the best in the country.
Main Ingredients
Unlike other soyrizo recipes this one is made by reconstituting dried chiles. If you have never worked with dried chiles before, don’t worry it is quite easy to do. You will need:
Dried ancho chiles: Ancho chiles are dried Poblano chiles with medium heat. They are large in size and a dark red almost black color. They are available at your local Mexican market or online.
Dried guajillo chiles: Guajillo chiles are the dried form of the mirasol chile. They are elongated in shape, a dark cranberry red color, with mild heat. Sometimes there mislabeled as chile cascabel or New Mexico chile. They are available at your local Mexican market or online.
Dried arbol Chiles: Chiles de Árbol are small, thin chiles, about 2-3 inches long and less than a ½ inch wide. They are a bright red color and are hot so be careful. If you want this chorizo to be mild I recommend you omit the chiles de arbol. They are available at your local Mexican market or online.
Tofu: Tofu is my favorite meat substitute, for this recipe I use extra-firm tofu. If you want to make a soy-free chorizo you can use coarse chunks of garbanzo beans instead or chopped cauliflower.
How to Make Vegan Chorizo
Press the tofu for 30 minutes, by placing it in between two plates with a heavy object on top.
Remove the stems and seeds from the dried chiles, pour boiling water over them, and let them soak for 15 minutes.
Drain the chiles and transfer them to the blender. Add the garlic, oregano, cumin, cloves, paprika, coriander, apple cider vinegar, and some of the soaking liquid to the blender and puree until smooth.
Pass the puree through a fine mesh sieve. Add half of it to the crumbled tofu.
Mince the mushrooms finely. Sauté them until golden brown and a bit crispy.
Add the remaining half of the chile puree and cook for a couple more minutes until the mixture has thickened.
Add the marinated tofu to the pan with the mushrooms.
Stir to combine everything together, and cook until the chorizo begins to brown.
Expert Tips and Tricks
- To increase or decrease the spiciness, adjust the quantities of chile de arbol.
- Mince your mushrooms finely. I recommend you do this with a knife, not a food processor. This helps make a much better texture.
- If browned bits of chorizo get stuck to the bottom of the pan, use a little bit of broth to deglaze the pan and use a wooden spoon to scrape the bottom of the pan and incorporate all the browned-up bits into the chorizo.
- To make this oil-free: omit the avocado oil and use a non-stick skillet
Serving
The chorizo possibilities are now endless. I will be making papas con chorizo, torta de chorizo, and sopes con chorizo.
Storing
Store the chorizo in an airtight container for up to 3-5 days in the fridge or 6 months in the freezer.
FAQ
Chorizo originated in the Iberian Peninsula, which is mainly composed by Spain and Portugal.
Mexican chorizo is raw meat seasoned with dry chilies and aromatic spices. In Spain, chorizo is generally composed of chopped pork and pork fat seasoned with garlic, salt, and pimentón, a type of smoked paprika, and it is cured.
More Vegan Mexican Breakfast Recipes
Homemade Vegan Chorizo
Ingredients
- 1 block extra firm tofu (14 oz)
- 6 dried chile guajillo, seeds and stems removed
- 2 dried chile ancho, seeds and stems removed
- 4 dried chile de arbol. seeds and stems removed
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 tablespoon dried Mexican oregano
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 whole cloves
- 1 tablespoon ground paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt, divided
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoon avocado oil (optional)
- ½ pound mushrooms, finely chopped
Instructions
- Press the tofu for 30 minutes. If you don't have a tofu press you can do this by placing the tofu in between two plates then placing a heavy object on top.
- Place the chiles in a heat-proof bowl and pour boiling hot water over them. Let them soak for 15 minutes.
- Drain the chiles, but reserve ½ cup of the chile soaking liquid. Transfer the chiles and reserved chile-soaking liquid to the blender.
- Add the garlic, oregano, cumin, cloves, paprika, coriander, apple cider vinegar, 1 teaspoon of salt, and pepper, and puree until smooth. Pass through a fine mesh sieve into a small bowl.
- Drain the water from the tofu and crumble with your hands into a large bowl. Pour half of the chile puree into the bowl with the tofu and stir to combine. Let marinate while you cook the mushrooms.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms are golden brown, about 6 to 7 min.
- Decrease the heat low and pour in the remaining half of the chile puree. Stir and continue to cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until the mushrooms begin to absorb the chile mixture.
- Add the tofu mixture and stir to completely incorporate it into the mushrooms. Continue to cook until the liquid begins to evaporate and the tofu starts to brown, about 7 to 8 minutes.
- Taste the chorizo, and if necessary add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Store the chorizo in an airtight container for up to 3-5 days in the fridge or 6 months in the freezer.
Video
Notes
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- To increase or decrease the spiciness, adjust the quantities of chile de arbol.
-
- Mince your mushrooms finely. I recommend you do this with a knife, not a food processor. This helps make a much better texture.
-
- If browned bits of chorizo get stuck to the bottom of the pan, use a little bit of broth to deglaze the pan and use a wooden spoon to scrape the bottom of the pan and incorporate all the browned-up bits into the chorizo.
- If you want to make a soy-free chorizo you can use coarse chunks of garbanzo beans instead or chopped cauliflower.
- To make this oil-free: omit the avocado oil and use a non-stick skillet
Nutrition
Although dorastable.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates.
Hi Dora,
Your recipe looks really good! I would love to try it but we can’t eat soy, what would you use instead?
Thank you!
Hi, you can substitute the tofu with lentils or with a mixture of cauliflower and walnuts.
could you use tvp instead of tofu?
Yes, just make sure you soak it in water before hand
This recipe is fabulous. My tofu did not crisp up but the flavors were spot on. Thank you.
So glad you liked it!!
Hi Dora, I would love to make this, but I have a question: Do you mean blender or food processor? I believe a blender might make the texture too mushy. Could you clarify? Many thanks!
Hi Lucia, I blended the sauce in the blender. I chopped the mushrooms with a knife and I crumbled the tofu with my hands.
I also just found your blog and very happy I did. I just made this. Delicious. Can’t wait to try some of your other recipes.
Welcome Shellie!!
I just found your blog a few weeks ago and I made this recipe on Sunday. It was fabulous. I also made just the sauce today and used it to make chorizo spiced black beans those also turned out amazing. Keep up the good work! Real Mexican flavor vegan recipes are hard to come by so I’m so glad I found your blog ;-)
I’m so glad you liked it!! I’ll have to try chorizo flavored beans, that’s a great idea.
Such a yum recipe! I wanted to know if you know the nutritious value of the recipe such as calories and carbs and fats and all that? Thank you?
Enter the recipe into the my fitness pal app and you should be able to get that information
I love this recipe. Soyrizo is always a hit and miss. As time consuming as this is, I am hooked and make it regularly. I added about 1/4 cup of walnut meat to give it a more “meat – like” texture. I soak them in water for 20 minutes, then just add them to the food processor before mixing them in with the rest of the ingredients. Overall, the seasoning and flavor of this recipe is amazing.
Thanks Angeline. I think walnut meat is a great addition to this!
Raw or dry walnuts?
Raw
Would it be okay to press the tofu overnight? I’ve made this recipe before and it tasted great my only thing was the tofu didnt crispy up enough for my liking I think maybe it still had to much water?
Yes, you can press it overnight. Some people have also said that freezing the tofu helps.
Chorizo is one of my Mexican faves. My wife is hasn’t eaten pork or beef in fifteen years and I tried this recipe to have her try. We made tacos with fried potatoes ave are both in love. This recipe is now added to my staples list
I’m so glad you liked it!!
Also can you do all the prep the day before and grill the next day?
Hi, would you recommend making larger batches and freezing?
Yes! It freezes really well. I would double the recipe, then freeze it
Hola! Muchas gracias por compartir tu receta! Soy mexicana viviendo en Alemania. He estado tras la receta de chorizo vegetariano desde hace un tiempo, y no había encontrado recetas que me convencieran. Pero ésta de tofu está fabulosa! Huele y sabe igual que el chorizo de México -ja, con carne-. No le agregué los champiñones porque solo a mí me gustan, y el resto de la familia es anti. Pero aún sin champis supo buenísimo, con tortilla recién hecha y frijolitos refritos. mmhm!!
¡Qué bueno que les gustó!
This looks fabulous! Can’t wait to try it. What about using frozen tofu and then squeezing the water out of it after it thaws? I have found that this is a great way to get flavor into tofu as it just seems to slurp up the flavors around it very fast.
This would work as well!
It freezes really well. I put it on everything!