Spicy Chorizo Pasta Recipe (2024)

Ah! A recipe for good old "macarrones con chorizo". This is everyday comfort food in Spain (where I lived for 25 years), just like mac 'n cheese is here. No need to "thinly slice" the chorizo; small bite size chunks work better. And this recipe seems awfully dry; I use a can of diced tomatoes cooked down with a little onion and garlic to make a tomato sauce. Bake it in the oven in a casserole dish with grated parmesan cheese on top. Oh, and any kind of pasta will do, usually small macaroni.

This dish was perfect as is, as long as you add enough of the reserved pasta water and then heat the pasta and tomato paste to make a glossy sauce. This preserves the caramelization of the tomato paste, which gives it a lovely smoky flavor. There’s no need to put in diced tomatoes, which make it a completely different dish. Honestly, sometimes I’m waiting for some of these notes to say that people added chocolate chips, green olives, and pine cones “and it was so much better that way!”

This was pretty good, and certainly easy to make on a weeknight. I used chicken chorizo (since we generally don't eat pork). Next time I think I would add something green, like kale or broccoli rabe, and it would probably benefit from some sauteed onions.

Made several additions based on the other comments, and it came out great! Started by caramelizing a diced white onion, then cooked down a chopped red bell pepper along with the garlic. After the chorizo & tomato paste, threw in 1 tbs. smoked paprika, 1 tbs. red pepper & 1 tsp. cumin, then added a can of diced tomatoes with liquid. Stirred in about 1/2 cup of pecorino Romano after the pasta & liquid. Topped with a nice sheep’s milk cheese. Delish!

Of course it did! The recipe very clearly calls for Spanish chorizo, and the headnote even says that Mexican chorizo is different. Take it from a Texan in Europe, this is a very good recipe with Spanish chorizo, a totally different thing from Mexican chorizo.

Works great with Soyrizo to make it a vegetarian dish,

I'm adding my voice to those who say make the recipe as is. It's fantastic, simple, and so deeply flavorful. Why not try it the original way before trying to "improve" it? This one is worth resisting any urge to modify until you've tried it.

From a reviewer. This is everyday comfort food in Spain (where I lived for 25 years), just like mac 'n cheese is here. No need to "thinly slice" the chorizo; small bite size chunks work better. And this recipe seems awfully dry; I use a can of diced tomatoes cooked down with a little onion and garlic to make a tomato sauce. Bake it in the oven in a casserole dish with grated parmesan cheese on top. Oh, and any kind of pasta will do, usually small macaroni

As a Spaniard, I'll tell you to add a good splash of milk to it to make it creamy. My mom would do that when we were kids and it was (and still is!) one of my favorite comfort foods.

The number of people who still, despite the recipe specifically explaining it, used Mexican chorizo and then commented that it turned out "different" is making me lose all remaining hope in humanity. Pro tip: if you substituted "soyrizo" or "chicken chorizo" then you made a completely different dish.

Good, but the recipe needs to be clearer on which pot you need to cook the tomato paste in. I used the pasta pot originally because the recipe said to put it in the pot and return to medium heat, but then it says if the sputtering is too much cover it and the picture at the end is in a dutch oven so it made it super confusing in the moment. I realized on my own that it needs to go into the dutch oven, but I tend to follow recipes to the T and when it was presented as a pot it confused me

Here in San Diego, Mexican chorizo is what most stores carry, and Spanish style is hard to find outside specialty stores. Is there a better substitute I should use, such as a pork linguica? Or should I just go with the Mexican chorizo? It's much softer than the Spanish style.

A quick, delicious weeknight meal. I made as is with d’artagnan brand Spanish style chorizo. I’ll be adding this to my rotation.

Loved this.Used fresh chorizo and minced onion before the tomato pasteEverything else to recipe Will make it again

Worked well with Trader Joe's SoyChorizo. I also added a couple of anchovy filets and milk (as per Alba's suggestion).

I must have done something wrong. There was too much pasta for the amount of sausage. Doubling it would have been better.

Delicious as is!! 10/10 recommend!

Buy chorizos and keep them in the freezer. Cut them up frozen when ready to cook and throw into the pan. It’s best to buy “fresh” chorizos that are raw like sausages, rather than the air dried, cured chorizos. Buy some “tomate frito”, another Spanish pantry staple. All you need to do is added to the sauteed chorizos. You can also add some pancetta cubes. Add a dash of good olive oil. Great to have around on a cold winter day, when you don’t want to go food shopping

I followed the recipe and didn’t make any changes or additions. My partner and I were not huge fans of this one, it was just ok. I usually like chorizo mixed with other flavors but less so on its own, which is probably why this wasn’t my favorite. If I ever made it again, I would test out some of the notes from reviewers who said they’re Spanish and loved the traditional recipe.

6Tbsp canned tomato paste is 100g.Made the (moose) pasta in cold water (á la Alton Brown's Cacio e Pepe recipe). Used linguica patties. Tomato paste and garlic did splatter a lot. Salted (kind heavily) at the end, and added Parmesan. Was pretty good. Came together very quickly.

This was easy and quick to make. Spanish comfort food, I love it. I would not compare it to mac and cheese though, it is so much better. I must admit that I doubled the amount of chorizo and the sauce for the same amount of orecchiette. My kids are big fans of chorizo so I needed to have enough to satisfy them!

This is the NYT Cooking dish I've made more than any other because it's so freaking simple and good. The major change I usually make are is to double the meat and use less olive oil. That way you fry the garlic/tomato paste in more rendered fat (and 4oz isn't much for 1lb pasta).I also add more garlic and finish with pecorino but that's just me. Otherwise, cooking the pasta in a small amount of water helps up the starch concentration and makes for a glossier sauce. Such a good dish, make asap.

This was good, but it was definitely a bit dry. I cooked the chorizo (more than the recipe called for), half a red onion, garlic, and a big handful of cherry tomatoes all together, then added a can of tomato paste. I had fresh oregano and meant to add it but forgot. Next time, I would add more water or maybe even better, a can of diced tomatoes.

Here in San Diego, Mexican chorizo is what most stores carry, and Spanish style is hard to find outside specialty stores. Is there a better substitute I should use, such as a pork linguica? Or should I just go with the Mexican chorizo? It's much softer than the Spanish style.

The number of people who still, despite the recipe specifically explaining it, used Mexican chorizo and then commented that it turned out "different" is making me lose all remaining hope in humanity. Pro tip: if you substituted "soyrizo" or "chicken chorizo" then you made a completely different dish.

As a Spaniard, I'll tell you to add a good splash of milk to it to make it creamy. My mom would do that when we were kids and it was (and still is!) one of my favorite comfort foods.

Update: we made this into a baked ziti ricotta style casserole. Ricotta, parmesan and mozzarella. Once you've eaten this dish that way your life will change. Baked for 25 min. at 350, then 20 min. at 450. Increible.