Chorizo Is The Simple Swap For A Spicier Sloppy Joe
A sloppy Joe is a meal that many people grew up enjoying at school or with their families. But if you're looking for a spicy twist to elevate this classic American dish, we have the answer. Swap out the ground beef for chorizo in your next rendition and you won't be disappointed.
Chorizo is a pork sausage that is popular in Spanish and Mexican cuisine. The sausage seasoning features smoked paprika, garlic, ancho chili powder, coriander, and cumin. These spices give the meat a smoky, subtle heat that will play off the flavors already present in sloppy Joe recipes for a major flavor bomb. The result ends up being a sweet heat, with a smoky flavor from the chorizo and a slight tang from the sandwich's sauce.
Thankfully, swapping chorizo for ground beef in your sloppy Joe is very easy, all you have to do is brown your meat like normal and use the same amount of chorizo as you would ground beef. Just use caution when adding additional seasoning to your dish since this style of sausage has a lot of flavor already. Then taste your concoction before seasoning to see what else it needs since you can always add more.
Other add-ins for chorizo sloppy Joe
You can take inspiration from chorizo to add other unique ingredients to your sloppy Joe recipe for a cohesive, flavorful, bite. Diced jalapenos are a great option if you want to increase the heat of your dish. You can either saute jalapeno with your chorizo meat before adding in the sauce or you can top your sandwich with fresh slices for a more intense spicy bite. Other chiles and peppers you could saute with your chorizo include hatch chiles, poblano peppers, or even serrano peppers.
Another simple swap involves limiting the amount of crushed tomatoes in your recipe and opting for a can of Ro-tel to bring in more flavors. The peppers and seasonings in this brand will amplify the taste of your chorizo without being too overwhelming. Ro-tel even comes in different spice levels and seasonings so you can customize it to your preference. However, you don't have to swap all of your crushed tomatoes, you can do a 50/50 mix so you don't overpower the other flavors in the dish.
Whichever ingredients you decide to add to the mix, if you're looking for an incredible-tasting sloppy Joe with a kick, you can't go wrong with using chorizo.