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One bite of my Portuguese Chorizo Stuffing, and you know you’re in for a treat! This is the best stuffing recipe for Thanksgiving. It’s ready in just a few steps using simple ingredients, but the flavor it packs is incredible. Best of all, it’s ready in under an hour.
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Portuguese Stuffing Recipe
Growing up in Portugal with my grandmother’s cooking, there is no flavor I love more than chouriço. I could eat it with anything from my favorite Portuguese potatoes and cheese dip to this tasty chorizo stuffing for Thanksgiving.
My Portuguese stuffing recipe, complete with chouriço, ground beef, garlic, and cornbread, is savory and a little spicy, with a hint of sweetness from the cornbread. It’s so flavorful, and pairs very well with turkey, ham, chicken, and more!
To be honest, I love this chorizo stuffing so much that I don’t always wait for the holidays to make it. I bet you’ll feel the same way once you give it a try!
I tried it! It came out amazing!
Monica on Pinterest
Portuguese Stuffing with Chourico Ingredients
- Chorizo Sausage: Look for the Portuguese or Spanish-style hard sausage links, which are different in flavor and texture from Mexican chorizo (a ground variety). You want to make sure to get the right kind, or the flavor and texture of the stuffing will not be the same.
- Ground Beef: I recommend an 80/20 ground chuck mix for this chorizo stuffing recipe for the best flavor.
- Olive Oil: Used to saute the veggies, but also adds flavor. You can substitute other veggie oils for olive oil if you don’t have any on hand.
- Onion: Use white or yellow onion for the best flavor. Red onion is a little too strong.
- Celery: The base of any good stuffing recipe starts with celery. If you don’t like celery, though, you can leave it out or replace it with a bitter root veggie like chopped radishes. When baked in the stuffing, they have a similar texture and flavor profile.
- Garlic: Finely mince your garlic or use garlic paste (my go-to). A garlic press is great for smashing garlic to use if you don’t like mincing it yourself.
- Cornbread: Use either toasted cornbread or homemade cornbread, crumbled up.
- Chicken Stock: I recommend giving my homemade chicken bone broth a try for even more intense flavor.
- Butter: Use unsalted butter.
Chorizo Stuffing Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add olive oil, then your chopped onion.
- Cook until the onions just begin to soften, then add celery.
- Continue to cook for about 3-5 minutes until the vegetables soften and brown.
- Add your chorizo (reserve some for the topping) and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chorizo browns and is crispy.
- Once browned, push the chorizo and vegetables to the edges of the pan and add ground beef to the center. Break the beef up as it cooks and brown for about 5 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper. Pour in ⅓ of your chicken stock, then add crumbled cornbread to the pan. Stir all together until fully mixed, then add another ⅓ of your chicken stock and stir again. Add butter, mix through, and then add the final ⅓ of your chicken stock.
- Grease a casserole dish with butter. Spread the cornbread stuffing in an even layer in the dish and sprinkle reserved chorizo on top. Bake until it heats through and is lightly browned on top, about 30 minutes.
- Serve, and enjoy! Garnish with green onions if desired.
For a fun twist, try adding craisins! Craisins pair so well with chorizo and are perfect in this cornbread dressing recipe.
Chorizo Stuffing Recipe Expert Tips
- Use Portuguese or Spanish chorizo, not Mexican chorizo! Spanish and Portuguese chorizo are both sold as hard sausage links, while Mexican chorizo tends to be ground and uses different seasonings, so the texture and flavor are completely different.
- Use a sharp knife when dicing the chorizo. The chorizo is very hard, so please be careful when slicing.
- I like to separate my cornbread stuffing into two dishes: one with onions, and one without, for my guests who do not like onions.
Portuguese Turkey Stuffing FAQ
Also known as chouriço (pronounced shoh-ree-zoo), or linguiça, Portuguese chorizo is a hard sausage made from pork mixed with garlic, paprika, red wine, salt, and pepper. It’s slowly dried over smoke and is deeply flavorful. Spanish chorizo is similar to Portuguese chorizo, but uses much more paprika and is not made with wine. Both will work, but I recommend Portuguese chorizo.
You can easily make Thanksgiving stuffing 2 days ahead of time. Prepare as instructed, refrigerate, and then pop it in the oven when ready to serve.
Turkey Recipes for Portuguese Stuffing
- Grilled Whole Turkey
- Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey
- Pressure Cooked Turkey Breast for small families
- Boneless Turkey Breast Roast
- Smoked Spatchcock Turkey a must-try method!
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Recipe
Portuguese Stuffing
Equipment
- Casserole dish
- Wooden spoon or large serving spoon
- Knife for cutting onion and chorizo
- Oven
Ingredients
- 5 oz. Chorizo sausage 4 small links, chopped; set aside 4 Tbsp. for topping
- 1 lb. Ground beef, 80/20 mix
- 2 Tbsp. Olive oil
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 3 stalks celery chopped
- 1 Tbsp. garlic minced
- 12 oz. Toasted cornbread or homemade cornbread, crumbled
- 1 cup Chicken stock
- 4 Tbsp. Butter
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add olive oil, then your chopped onion.2 Tbsp. Olive oil, 1 medium onion
- Cook until the onions just begin to soften, then add celery. Continue to cook for about 3-5 minutes until the vegetables soften and brown.3 stalks celery
- Add your chorizo (reserve 4 tbsp. for the topping) and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chorizo browns and is crispy.5 oz. Chorizo sausage, 1 Tbsp. garlic
- Once browned, push the chorizo and vegetables to the edges of the pan.
- Add ground beef to the center. Break the beef up as it cooks and brown for about 5 minutes.1 lb. Ground beef, 80/20 mix
- Season with salt and pepper. Pour in ⅓ of your chicken stock, then add crumbled cornbread to the pan. Stir all together until fully mixed, then add another ⅓ of your chicken stock and stir again. Add butter, mix through, and then add the final ⅓ of your chicken stock.12 oz. Toasted cornbread, 1 cup Chicken stock, 4 Tbsp. Butter
- Grease a casserole dish with butter. Spread the cornbread stuffing in an even layer in the dish and sprinkle reserved chorizo on top.
- Bake until it heats through and is lightly browned on top, about 30 minutes. Serve, and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- For this recipe, you will want to use Portuguese or Spanish chorizo, not Mexican chorizo. Mexican chorizo has a different flavor and texture from Portuguese chorizo.
- I like to separate my cornbread stuffing into two dishes: one with onions, and one without, for my guests who do not like onions. This also reduces the cooking time to about 20 minutes.
Jessica Sousa says
What type of cornbread did you use? Was it homemade, premade loaf or was it the cornbread stuffing box mix?
Isabel Laessig says
You can use any, Jessica! The box mix works great, but I do like to make it from scratch when I have the time. Use whatever works best for your schedule and it will be very tasty either way.
Josephine D says
If I’m making cornbread, do I have to dry it out for this recipe or put it in freshly baked?
Isabel Laessig says
Hi Josephine! You can use either. But I’m sure if it were dried out it would be easier to crumble, so whichever you prefer.
Eric S. says
Was wondering about draining the fat from the hamburg. There’s no mention of draining it so I just wanted to make sure as 80/20 can be fatty. Also, I was thinking of doing a Chorizo and linguica mix. Any thoughts? Thank you.
Isabel Laessig says
Hi Eric! Including linguica sounds fantastic. I think that would be a great addition. I don’t drain the meat, but if it turns out too fatty and you’re concerned, you could definitely drain it if you’d prefer.
Dorothy kleine says
I make my linguica stuffing just a little different (Americanized you can say) I do fry my linguica into cubes and fry my chop meat but I use garlic powder, salt and pepper I put that in a casserole dish and add in a few pieces of white bread as a binder I do use sweet onion in my chop meat and I add in a raw egg and I use parsley not celery and add in black olives my kids go wild over it…
Isabel Laessig says
This sounds wonderful! Parsley in place of celery sounds like a great choice. Thank you!
Tracey A Lytle says
Can I put this in a crockpot?
Isabel Laessig says
Hi Tracey! I haven’t tried this recipe in a crock pot yet, but yes, I think it’s doable. I would prep all of the ingredients as written to brown the chorizo, then cook everything on low for 3-4 hours. I would also make sure to grease the inside of the slow cooker.