Calling all sausage lovers, Spain is your paradise. Forget plain old bangers; sausages in Spain come in more shapes, sizes, and flavours than you can shake a fork at.
Take chorizo, the celebrity of the sausage world. Spicy or sweet, it’s pork mixed with paprika and other spices, and it turns up everywhere from tapas plates to stews. Its close cousin, salchichón, looks similar but skips the paprika, relying on just salt and pepper. It’s softer, milder, and ideal if you like flavour without the fiery kick.
Sausages in Spain include leaner options for the health conscious
Then there’s lomo embuchado, a leaner option made from cured pork loin. Morcilla, on the other hand, is the rebel. Made with pork blood, onion, rice and spices, it divides opinion but has endless regional versions, from Burgos to León.
Catalonia contributes the ever-popular butifarra, which comes in both white and black varieties, while fuet, thin and dry, is the sausage you’ll find hanging in many Catalan kitchens.
Travel over to the Balearic Islands and you’ll be met with sobrasada, a soft, spreadable treat laced with paprika, eaten hot or cold. For beef fans, there’s cecina, a cured beef sausage sliced paper-thin, and morcón, a chunky, garlic-and-paprika-packed beauty often flavoured with wine or brandy.
Regional sausages are a proud tradition
But Spain doesn’t stop there. The country is crawling with regional sausages, each with its own proud tradition. In El Bierzo you’ll find botillo, stuffed with everything from ribs and tongue to bones. Catalonia, Aragon, and Valencia love their longaniza, fresh or dried, while Aragón also serves up chireta, made with lamb tripe, rice, and spices. Galicia has zorza, a garlicky, paprika-heavy pork mix usually grilled, while Catalonia offers llonganissa. And no trip to the Basque Country or Navarre would be complete without txistorra, a softer, paprika-laden sausage.
All this is only scratching the surface. From north to south, every region seems to have its own special sausage!
