My Mom makes the most amazing Chouriço & Peppers sandwiches. We just celebrated my son’s 3rd birthday and of course I asked my Mom to make this delightful treat.  I also asked that she be sure I was there to document her exact steps with my trusty camera, so you get the recipe right from the source.

Five easy ingredients, one pot, and three simple steps make for a new favorite week night meal, pot luck contribution, tail gating staple or party request time and time again.  I don’t think I can ever recall a Portuguese party that did not have some version of this sandwich piled up on a platter.  But, I have to say every time I bring these little sandwiches with this specific recipe to a party, I hear nothing but compliments and requests for the recipe. This past weekend was no exception. People ate them right up and kept coming back for more! So here it is…

Here is the start.

This is ground chouriço… Most recipes involving chouriço that I have shared thus far have involved chouriço in its original form… but this is a version sold without the skin and ground up.

It’s the same price as regular chouriço and for this recipe we are starting with 3 lbs. because this is for a party.

A lot of people like to use green bell peppers for this recipe, but I am not a fan of the green, I prefer the sweeter red, orange and yellow. This is total personal preference. If you want to go the traditional route, go ahead and use green.

Three small cans of tomato sauce. We like to use plain Hunt’s… not ‘no salt added’ not ‘italian seasoning’ …just plain.

My mom likes to dice her onions pretty finely, she is not a fan of chunky onions in anything.

The peppers however, are diced up pretty big, each piece is roughly chopped to the size of between a nickel and a quarter. Saute both onions and peppers in a bit of olive oil for just a few minutes.

Add in all the tomato sauce and stir.

Now you want to add in about 8 oz. of beer per pound of chouriço.

Add in chouriço.

Stir.  Notice how thick the consistency is when you start out.

Cover, lower heat to medium/low and allow to simmer.

As the cooking process goes on some of the fat is released from the chouriço and it becomes much more liquidy. Continue to cook until that liquid gets reduced by about half. In the end, you still want it moist.

Each brand of chouriço has a different level of fat, this recipe is based on Michael’s Provisions Chouriço which has a low fat content and so it produces less liquid when cooking… If you are using a chouriço with a higher fat content, you may need to cook longer to cook off some of the liquid.

Recipe for Mom’s Amazing Chouriço & Peppers:

(makes 30 party size sandwiches)

3 lbs. ground chouriço

3 bell peppers, large dice

3 onions, small dice

3 small cans tomato sauce

24 oz. beer

olive oil

30 mini portuguese sandwich rolls (or lg. rolls cut in half)

Directions:

Saute onions and peppers in olive oil.  Add in chouriço, tomato sauce and beer.  Cover and simmer over medium/low heat for about 1 hour.  When liquid is reduced by about half, turn off heat and stuff sandwiches. (The meat should be very moist, but not soupy.)

Enjoy!

***NOTE: this recipe is a one to one ratio throughout, so if you want to cut it down or increase the amount, just do so in kind… for example to make for a family dinner use 1 lb. chouriço, 1 small can tomato sauce, one pepper, one onion and 8 oz. of beer 🙂