Rick Bayless' potato chorizo tacos with avocado salsa

Tacos de papas chorizo y salsa de aguacate

Mexican chorizo sausage is crumbly. It's spicy and sensual. It's deliciously fatty. You don't remember taking the first bite. You just keep eating and eating and eating.

I made potato-chorizo tacos for our New Year's Day meal. Matt couldn't wait to eat them and he got short with me as I finished making the avocado salsa. We ate in silence, grunting occasionally as we chomped on each taco. When we finally looked up, we sighed in mutual happiness.

I think I could survive on Rick Bayless recipes every day of my life.



Potato-chorizo tacos with avocado salsa
Adapted from Mexico One Plate at a Time by Rick Bayless
Makes 12 tacos
2-3 (about 12 ounces total) medium red-skin or smallish Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 2 cups)
12-15 ounces Mexican chorizo sausage, store-bought (casing removed if there is one) or homemade
1 small white onion, finely chopped
4 ounces (2-3 medium) tomatillos, husked, rinsed and cut into quarters
1 garlic clove, peeled
2 serranos or 1 jalapeno
1 large ripe avocado
12 warm, fresh corn tortillas

For the filling: In a medium saucepan, bring about 1 quart of water to a boil. Add cubed potatoes and salt the water (about 2 teaspoons). Simmer until the potatoes are fully tender, about 10 minutes. Drain.

In a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat, combine the chorizo and onion. Break up the clumbs of sausage. Stir regularly, until the onion is soft and the sausage cooked through, about 10 minutes. If the sausage has rendered more than a light coating of fat over the bottom of the skillet, pour out the excess or sop it up with a paper towel.

Add the potatoes to the skillet and continue to cook over medium heat. Stir often until the potatoes begin to brown, about 8 minutes. As the mixture cooks, mash everything together a little with the back of a spoon or a spatula. Scrape up any crusty bits of potato, so that it roughly holds together (it'll look like hash). Cover and keep warm over the lowest heat.

For the salsa: As the filling finishes cooking, make the salsa. In a food processor, combine the tomatillos, garlic and chiles. Pulse in the machine until everything is finely chopped. Peel and pit the avocado, add the flesh to the processor and pulse until everything is well blended. Scrape the salsa into a serving bowl, taste and season with salt, about 1/2 teaspoon.

Scrape the warm chorizo filling into a serving bowl and set on the table along with the salsa and warmed up tortillas.

Print recipe

Step-by-step photos:

Chop onion. Peel and cut potatoes into cubes. I put potatoes in cold water to prevent them from turning brown.


In a medium (3-4 quart saucepan), bring about 1 quart water to a boil. Add cubed potatoes and heavily salt the water (about 2 teaspoons). Simmer until the potatoes are fully tender, about 10 minutes. Drain.


This is packaged Mexican chorizo sausage. Don't get Salvadorean or Spanish chorizo.


Cut open each sausage. Then place the sausage in a pan.


In a large (12-inch) nonstick skillet or griddle set over medium heat, combine the chorizo and onion; stir regularly, breaking up the clumps of sausage, until the onion is soft and the sausage cooked through, about 10 minutes. If the sausage has rendered more than a light coating of fat over the bottom of the skillet, pour out the excess or sop it up with a paper towel.

Add the potatoes to the skillet and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring regularly, until the potatoes begin to brown, about 8 minutes. As the mixture cooks, mash everything together a little with the back of a spoon or a spatula, scraping up any crusty bits of potato, so that it roughly holds together (it'll look like hash). Cover and keep warm over the lowest heat.


Husk tomatillos and quarter. 


The salsa. As the filling finishes cooking, make the salsa: In a food processor, combine the tomatillos, garlic and chiles. Pulse in the machine until everything is finely chopped. Peel and pit the avocado, add the flesh to the processor and pulse until everything is well blended. Scrape the salsa into a serving bowl, taste and season with salt, about 1/2 teaspoon.

Scrape the warm chorizo filling into a serving bowl and set on the table along with the salsa and a basket of steaming tortillas.