Easy Choripan BBQ Chorizo Sandwich

Recipe: Choripan Recipe »

Choripan is a delicious sandwich made with grilled chorizo sausages in a baguette with melted mozzarella cheese, spicy mayo and classic chimichurri sauce. This mouth watering South American street food is easy to make on the barbecue or grill and is perfect for cookouts, summer barbecues and casual entertaining!

About This Choripan Recipe

Choripan is a mouth watering South American street food sandwich particularly popular in Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay. It is made with chorizo sausages in a bread roll with chimichurri sauce or salsa criolla (onion, tomato and capsicum pepper salsa). It's fantastic made on the grill so it's great for cookouts or barbecues.

The name Choripan is a portmanteau of the word "Chorizo" and "Pan" (or bread aka a baguette). In Chile they use pebre sauce instead of chimichurri and use longanisa sausages instead of chorizo.

Choripan is easy to make and if you love chorizo then you will love this. I am sharing some of my secrets from the choripans I ate when I travelled in South America!

My best tip for choripan is to use fresh bread (see note below) but also to hollow out the soft centre of the bread and fill it with mozzarella or provolone cheese. It gives each bite the perfect ratio of bread to filling. I also add spicy mayo to the bun - this was influenced by one I tried in Peru, the land of sauces (they really love sauces as much as I do!) :).

Video How To Make A Choripan Sandwich

Video: How to Make Choripan

Ingredients For Choripan

Chorizo sausages - I did a little bit of testing and tried a variety of chorizo sausages from ones by Salumi Australia, Aldi, Miguel Maestre and Montecatini and they were all pretty good. Some browned more quickly than others but taste-wise in the choripan they were all similarly delicious and none really stood out for flavour. So go for either your favourite chorizo or the ones you can get. I wish I had tried some South American specialty ones but I made these after Christmas and I was trying to relax and not do so much so I went for easiest chorizos I could find.

French baguettes - While the chorizos were all quite similar, baguettes were not. I didn't like the Woolies or the Bakers Delight ones. I ended up finding the perfect baguettes at Costco! (not sponsored). They have 2x 450g/1lb Kirkland Traditional Style French baguettes for $7.95 and they had the perfect texture. A lot of baguettes are hollow and dry out easily but these did not. So if you can get your baguettes here I promise they will make a big difference (that is if you can't find a South American bakery!).

Mozzarella cheese - I grated a ball of mozzarella but you can also use pre grated mozzarella. Other mild cheeses like provolone also work well.

Mayonnaise - Use your favourite mayonnaise to make a spicy mayo.

Chilli sauce - I mention Sriracha chilli sauce as it is easy to get everywhere. In South America you would use aji amarillo which is a yellow chilli sauce that is delicious but not super easy to find here. Carlos from Mr Papa in Canberra kindly gave me this jar.

Chimichurri - It amazes me that the supermarket doesn't sell a premade chimichurri because it is literally a cure-all seasoning for everything and makes everything taste delicious from seafood, vegetables and steak. Here is a link to my chimichurri recipe that is very easy and tasty-pinky swear!

Tips For Making Choripan

1 -If you're using an electric grill, line it well with foil up to the sides as the chorizos release a lot of juice.

2 - Cook the sausages on high but then cook the bread with the cheese on medium heat so that the bread doesn't burn.

3 - I like to cut the sausage in half because I like eating it that way-this is called Mariposa or butterfly.

4 - If you don't use the cheese, spread the chimichurri on the bread so that it softens and absorbs into the bread.

5 - If you are making a lot of these and want to serve them hot, you can reheat choripans on a grill or a panini until the cheese has melted again.

If you love chorizo as much as I do then give these chorizo sausage rolls a try next or these chorizo and cheese scones!

Choripan Recipe

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Recipe Overview

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Makes: 6 choripans

Ingredients Needed

• 6x 100-125g/3.5-4oz chorizo sausages
• 2x40cm/15.7inch French baguettes* see note above
• 300g/10.6ozs grated mozzarella cheese
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons Sriracha chilli sauce or aji amarillo
• 1 batch chimichurri (see recipe)

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1 GRILL - Place the grill on high heat and line the base and sides with a double layer of foil. Grill the chorizos until browned, around 10-15 minutes or until the centre reaches 71°C/160°F.

Step 2 BAGUETTES - While the chorizos are cooking, cut each baguette into equal thirds (around the length of each sausage) and split in half across. Hollow out the soft centre (tip: pulverise this and use as breadcrumbs), drizzle with oil and fill with 50g/1.7ozs of grated mozzarella. Repeat with the rest of the bread. Place on the grill until cheese is melted.

Step 3 FILL - Mix the mayonnaise and Sriracha together to form a spicy mayonnaise and drizzle 1 tablespoon over the cheese. Cut each sausage in half horizontally (be careful it doesn't spit when you cut into it). Place the sausage halves cut side down and add chimichurri on top. Close sandwich and enjoy!

Personal Note

I mentioned taking it easy over the post Christmas period and it has been heavenly. While I am still working, it's not at the frenetic pace of Christmas and we eased nicely into the New Year feasting on these choripans as they were easy to make and delicious.

There was one thing that I did task Mr NQN to do before New Years. I am a very superstitious person so on New Years Day we don't a) wash our hair (washing away luck) b) work or c) clean as the superstition goes, if you do both, you'll set yourself up for a year or working and cleaning.

A couple of weeks before New Year's I told Mr NQN "You have to get rid of your hump,". His hump was this growing pile of clothes, dirty or clean status unverified and probably a combination of the two. It sat on his side of the bed near where I worked out near the mirror. It grew larger each day and I was sure that soon we would see some sort of creature scurry out of it.

You have to let him know of these plans because he will never do anything straight away. So I reminded him one week before and then on NYE I told him that his hump was no more because it was a new year the following day. He procrastinated as much as possible, with naps and other tasks and then at 11:50pm he finally cleaned up his mountain of clothes. By the time he had finished it was after midnight and I was asleep but his hump was gone. And hopefully to never return (I suspect its a matter of time though).