It’s impossible to browse a market, step into a tavern, or sit at a family table in Portugal without coming across the famous chouriço.
This paprika-smoked sausage is one of the most emblematic products of Portuguese gastronomy. Served sliced as an appetizer, folded into many traditional dishes, or flambéed in front of guests, chouriço perfectly embodies Portuguese conviviality.
The different chouriço varieties
In Portugal, the word chouriço covers a broad family of cured or smoked sausages. Among the best known:
- Chouriço de carne: the most common; pork, garlic, paprika and wine.
- Chouriço mouro: dark, made with pork blood; more rustic and intense.
- Chouriço de cebola: enriched with onion; slightly sweet.
- Chouriço de pernil: made with pork ham (a nobler cut), often finer and drier.
- Farinheira: made with wheat flour, lard and spices; uniquely flavorful.
- Alheira: poultry and bread-based; created in the Middle Ages by Portuguese Jews to conceal their faith during the Inquisition.
Each region of Portugal has its own twists, with different balances of spices and paprika—making tasting endlessly varied.
The traditional chouriço recipe
Chouriço is typically made with:
- Minced pork meat and fat,
- Crushed garlic,
- Paprika (sweet or hot),
- Red or white wine,
- Salt and pepper.
The meat marinates for several days, is stuffed into natural casings, then air-dried and slowly smoked over oak or olive wood, which gives it its unmistakable aroma.
How to enjoy it
Chouriço can be savored in many ways:
- Thinly sliced as an appetizer with a glass of red wine,
- Worked into traditional dishes like Feijoada, Cozido à Portuguesa or Arroz de Pato,
- Grilled—on the barbecue, in the oven, or in the most spectacular way…
Flambéed chouriço: the “Assador de chouriço” tradition
Portugal has a very particular utensil: the clay chouriço grill (the assador de chouriço). It’s a small, shallow, often decorated dish in which you pour aguardente (Portuguese eau-de-vie).
You place the scored chouriço on top and light it: the blue flame bronzes the sausage, releasing its aromas and creating a convivial, show-stopping moment.
It’s a quintessentially Portuguese experience—perfect for aperitif or tapas—that turns a simple sausage into a unique moment of sharing.
A symbol of festive, everyday cooking, Portuguese chouriço is far more than charcuterie: it’s part of Portugal’s identity. Enjoyed cured, stewed, grilled or flambéed in a clay assador, it always showcases the depth of Portuguese flavors.
Explore our shop for a selection of artisanal chouriços and authentic clay chouriço grills so you can recreate this Portuguese tradition at home.