Chorizo and potato tacos
Crispy little potatoes cooked in spicy red chorizo and piled into warm corn tortillas, the taqueria classic that costs almost nothing to make.
- 45 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $1.69 a serving
- 510 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 2 russet potatoes, about 1 lb
- 1 white onion, small
- 9 oz Mexican chorizo, 1 package, casing removed
- 12 corn tortillas
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
- ½ cup queso fresco, crumbled (optional)
- ½ cup salsa (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ cup water
Each serving has about 510 calories, 16 g protein, 63 g carbs and 23 g fat, and costs about $1.69 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No russet potatoes? Yukon Gold potatoes work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
- No limes? Lemons work.
- No queso fresco? Cotija cheese or feta cheese works.
- No salsa? Pico de gallo works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the potatoes if you like and cut them into ½-inch . the onion and set a quarter of it aside for the tops.
Peel. Peeling means removing the skin with a vegetable peeler or a small knife. It takes off tough or bitter skins, though potato and carrot skins are fine to leave on unless the recipe insists.
How you’ll know: The color underneath is even all over, with no patches of skin left behind.
Cube. Cubing means cutting food into chunky, even squares, usually three quarters of an inch to an inch. Same-size cubes cook at the same speed and brown on every side.
How you’ll know: Your pieces look like a handful of sugar cubes, a little bigger than diced, all close to the same size.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Dolly’s tip: Small cubes cook fast and get crisp. Bigger chunks stay pale in the middle.Heat the oil in a large that has a lid over medium. Add the potatoes, salt and water, cover, and cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring once, until nearly tender.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heatTimer: 9 min
Uncover, push the potatoes to one side, and squeeze the chorizo into the empty space. Break it up and cook 5 to 7 minutes, until it’s with no pink left.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 6 min
Food safety: Raw pork sausage is done at 160°F and raw chicken or turkey sausage at 165°F. Precooked sausage just needs heating until hot all the way through.
Add the onion, stir everything together, and cook 5 minutes more, until the potatoes are in the red chorizo fat and the onion is soft.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min
Spoon the filling into a bowl and wipe out the skillet.
Warm the tortillas a few at a time in the dry skillet over medium-high, 20 to 30 seconds a side, and stack them in a clean towel to stay soft.
Medium-high heat
Dolly’s tip: Cold corn tortillas crack. A quick toast makes them bendy and smell like toasted corn.Fill each tortilla with a spoonful of filling and top with the raw onion, cilantro, queso fresco and salsa. Squeeze lime over the top.
Food safety: If you’re pregnant, buy queso fresco labeled “made with pasteurized milk,” and for extra care, warm it until it’s steaming hot.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
