Chorizo in red wine sauce or ‘chorizo al vino tinto’ is a classic Spanish tapas dish. Full of flavour and very easy to make with just two ingredients, these chorizo tapas are the perfect appetizer to spice up any dinner party.
One of the more popular things to do in Spain is going out to eat Spanish tapas which are small plates of food usually served with a drink and eaten as an appetizer to wet your appetite. There are lots of Spanish tapas dishes with different ingredients, like tortilla de patatas, croquettes and calamari rings to name just a few. One of the ingredients that is often used to make tapas (or Spanish food in general) is chorizo sausage.
Chorizo is a Spanish spicy pork sausage flavoured with garlic and pimentón (smoked paprika powder). It is the pimentón which gives the sausage its specific red/orange colour and flavours the chorizo somewhere between mild and spicy. Most people should know the dried and cured chorizo which is sold worldwide.
Ingredients to use for red wine chorizo tapas
Note: All the exact quantities of the ingredients can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
This Spanish tapa recipe is so easy to make with just a few ingredients. Can it be more simple?
- Chorizo: Use an uncooked chorizo sausage, because when you cook a raw chorizo sausage it will soak up the delicate flavours of the red wine.
- Red wine: Any nice red wine will do. To keep it Spanish, use a Spanish ‘vino tinto’ if possible, otherwise whichever red wine you like to drink.
- Bay leaves: A few bay leaves in the red wine sauce will add a subtle Mediterranean flavour without overpowering the taste of the red wine and chorizo.
How to make red wine chorizo tapas
Chorizo braised in red wine is really easy to prepare. First, take the uncooked chorizo sausage and with a sharp knife make a few small cuts in the skin. This will allow the juices of the chorizo to mix with the red wine while cooking and to bring more flavour to the sauce, but at the same time not dry out the sausage. If you make too many cuts, the sauce will be nice and rich but the sausage itself will taste bland.
Pour the wine into a skillet or cooking pot and bring it to the boil with a pinch of salt and some bay leaves. When the wine is just starting to boil, place the chorizo in the pan. They should be half covered in wine. You can opt to add more wine to completely cover the sausages, but it’s not really necessary and you may end up not have enough wine to drink with your meal. Leave the chorizo to cook for 10 minutes on low heat then turn the sausages to cook on the other side for another 10 minutes. I cover the pan during the first 10 minutes so the wine doesn’t evaporate but instead gets soaked up by the sausages while cooking.
After cooking, take the pan off the heat and let it rest for 10 minutes, then take the sausage out and cut them into slices of 1 cm (or 1/2 inch). Serve the sliced chorizo with the red wine sauce in a small bowl with some fresh farm bread or baguette to mop up the sauce.
These chorizo bites are usually served as a Spanish tapa or appetizer but you could also serve them as a main course. Allow 3 small sausages per person for a main course and serve with bread and a fresh side salad.
Looking for more Spanish recipes, Or Chorizo recipes?
- Easy Spanish gazpacho recipe
- Grilled Spanish Padrón peppers
- Spanish chorizo and chickpea stew
- One pot Spanish rice with chorizo and tomatoes
- Spanish garlic mushrooms
- Spanish chorizo in cider
Chorizo in red wine
Ingredients
- 14 ounces (or 400 g) uncooked chorizo sausages
- 1 cup (or 250 ml) red wine
- 2 bay leaves
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- With a sharp knife, make 2 small cuts in each chorizo sausage.
- Add the red wine in a skillet or cooking pot and bring it to the boil on medium heat. Add the bay leaves and a pinch of salt. When the wine is boiling, add the chorizo sausages and cook them covered for 10 minutes on low heat. After 10 minutes turn the sausages and cook for another 10 minutes, but this time uncovered.
- Take the pan off the heat and let the chorizo rest in the red wine sauce for 10 minutes.
- Slice each sausage into 1 cm (or ½ inch) pieces and serve with the red wine sauce and baguette or sliced farm bread.
Notes
- You can also have this chorizo in red wine as a main course. In that case, the quantities in this recipe are great for 3 people.
Did you make this recipe? I’d love to hear how it turned out! Leave a comment with rating below and share a picture with the hashtag #thetastychilli and tag me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.
Inspired to prepare this recipe? Don’t forget to pin it to your Pinterest boards for later:
This looks so good! This spanish chorizo is a perfect appetizer for our next sunday brunch!
I am a chorizo fanatic, but have never paired it with red wine. Can’t wait to try this!
LOVE tapas and love that these are braised in a delicious red wine sauce to really add complexity to the sausages. Thanks for a great recipe!
Loved that this didn’t require a billion ingredients or a bunch of time to make! :]