South America → Argentina → Mendoza
🥙 LUNCH
Choripán
A grilled fresh chorizo split and tucked into crusty bread with a generous spoon of garlicky chimichurri, the opening act of every asado.
Argentine · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 20 min · plus 30 min hands-off time
~397 cal · 9g protein · 3g carbs · 39g fat · 0g fiber · 1g sugars · 10g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Choripán is the king of Argentine street food and the first thing off the grill at any asado, eaten standing up while the rest of the meat is still cooking. The name is a plain joining of chorizo and pan, sausage and bread, and it turns up at football stadiums, roadside stalls, and weekend fairs across the country.
The chorizo is the fresh, coarse criollo kind, a pork or pork-and-beef sausage seasoned with garlic and paprika, grilled slowly over coals until the casing is deep golden and the inside is juicy. It is split lengthwise, the mariposa or butterfly cut, so it chars well and sits flat in the bread.
The one condiment that matters is chimichurri, the tangy sauce of parsley, oregano, garlic, red wine vinegar, and oil that Argentines argue about endlessly. Spooned generously over the hot sausage in a crusty roll, it makes choripán smoky, sharp, and gloriously messy.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, nut- and egg-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 4 fresh chorizo sausages (criollo style)
- 4 crusty bread rolls (pan francés)
- 1 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp chili flakes (ají molido)
- to taste salt
Instructions
- 1Make the chimichurri: stir together the parsley, garlic, oregano, vinegar, olive oil, chili flakes, and salt. Let it sit at least 30 minutes so the flavours meld.✎ Chef’s noteChimichurri is better made ahead. Even half an hour of resting pulls the raw edge off the garlic and lets everything come together.
- 2Cut each chorizo lengthwise almost through and open it out flat, the butterfly or mariposa cut.
- 3Grill the chorizo over medium coals, cut side down first, turning now and then, until cooked through and crisp at the edges, about 15 minutes.
- 4Split the rolls and toast the cut sides briefly on the grill.
- 5Tuck a butterflied chorizo into each roll and spoon over plenty of chimichurri.
- 6Eat immediately, ideally standing near the grill, with napkins on hand.
Argentine asado and street-cart tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Mendoza. Flood irrigation has a side effect nobody planned. Periodically drowning the soil kills phylloxera, the root louse that destroyed Europe's vineyards, which is why a good many Mendoza vines are still growing on their own ungrafted roots, some of them over a century old. The water is rationed on a schedule set under a law dating from 1884.
🗺️
Argentina. Empanadas are provincial before they are national. Salta's are small, juicy and often baked in a clay oven; Tucuman's are cut differently again; and the crimp along the edge, the repulgue, is read as a signature of what is inside. The rest of the Italian legacy is worth naming too, in the thick-crusted Buenos Aires pizza and the milanesa.
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South America. South America's cooking follows its dramatic geography, potatoes and quinoa in the high Andes, cassava and river fish in the Amazon basin, and grass-fed beef on the pampas. Indigenous ingredients like maize, ají peppers, and cacao meet Spanish, Portuguese, African, Italian, and Japanese influences brought by five centuries of migration. Ceviche, feijoada, arepas, and the smoke of the asado are its most beloved icons.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Argentina
Empanadas MendocinasBaked empanadas the Mendoza way: a juicy beef and olive filling heavy on onion, sealed with a braided edge.
LocroThe thick national stew of white hominy, beans, and squash slow simmered with beef, pork, and chorizo, finished with a spicy paprika oil.
Tortas FritasSimple fried dough discs, crisp-edged and dusted with sugar, that Argentines make on rainy mornings to eat with mate.
Browse all Argentina recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Grill or barbecue.
Storing it: Best made to order. Prep the fillings ahead and assemble just before eating so nothing turns soggy.
Make it an Argentina meal
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Empanadas MendocinasDinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Choripán?
A grilled fresh chorizo split and tucked into crusty bread with a generous spoon of garlicky chimichurri, the opening act of every asado.
Where does Choripán come from?
Choripán is an Argentine dish from Mendoza, Argentina.
Can Choripán be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Choripán recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Choripán safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Choripán take to make?
About 1 h 5 min in all: 15 minutes prep and 20 minutes cooking, plus 30 min of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 4.
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