Chorizo-Stuffed Dates With Piquillo Pepper Sauce Recipe (2024)

I live in Seattle, and most butcher shops and all of the Mexican groceries here sell fresh uncooked, uncured chorizo. Typically it comes stuffed in a sausage casing, but sometimes you can buy it in the same way as ground beef. It is really great on a BBQ grill, but so are brats, Italian sausages, lamb sausages, merquez, ..........

Thin bacon is key, thick-cut would be way too much. Made with a roasted almond stuffed inside instead of chorizo. Cooked on parchment paper, flipped half-way through to evenly brown. Didn't have time for sauce and it wasn't needed, everyone loved them. Great party appetizer, good warm or at room temperature.

The sauce is delicious. I would just make the sauce again for serving on sandwiches or as a dip for other food.

I have no interest in bacon-wrapped dates, but I've made the pepper sauce by itself several times. It's good on roasted new potatoes, on white fish, on pasta, and I think we're going to try it on a pizza next.

Par cook the bacon for a few minutes to render some fat and soften the bacon. Cool. I can cut bacon in in thirds and wrap around the date.. I like them stuffed with goat cheese instead of chorizo. The sauce can be spooned around an disk of goat cheese and warm together to create a great spread for toasts. Freeze any leftover sauces in usable portions. You can make these dates at the drop of the hat with that sauce in the freezer.

A few modifications:-Thick Nueske bacon, parbaked and in 1 1/2" pieces-2/3T balsamic vinegar added to the sauce-Increased chorizo per date to 3/4T-Used a wire rack-On the side, soft scrambled eggs with a pinch of grated nutmeg on top-A generous garnish of raw fresh spinach or arugula

Didn’t love these…sauce was too bland, all I could taste was tomatoes. Added some balsamic vinegar and red pepper flakes to improve it. Did half dates with chorizo and half with blue cheese and pistachio and dusted with brown sugar and chipotle. Took about 10 min per side - cooked on a rack in lined sheet pan. Used toothpicks. Cheese one best but won’t make it again.

I found a few red jalapeños and roasted those/threw them in there as well. No difference between red and green really. The red are simply ripened longer, but going with red won’t affect the brilliant hue of the sauce while giving it that extra layer of complexity.

This is one of our favorite appetizers at a local restaurant and this recipe nails it! What a fantastic New Years Eve treat as we celebrate at home this year. I made the sauce earlier in the day and the entire thing could have been prepared and refrigerated ahead of time. Next time we will try that and, once the stuffed dates finish cooking, we will place the sauce in a cast iron skillet, top with the dates and run it under the broiler to warm the sauce which is how we’ve enjoyed them locally.

These little date bombs are so delicious! My guests LOVED them! I was bummed at first because I couldn't make the sauce as directed; I couldn't find any type of roasted red pepper at my market. Instead, I bought a jar of harissa with the intent of doctoring it up with my shallots and garlic but the sauce was beautiful right out of the jar. It was perfect with the dates. Pitting, stuffing, wrapping and cooking the dates came together very quickly. I can't wait to make this again!

This is really excellent! Have made it several times. If serving as a party finger food (not plated), you can definitely halve the sauce ingredients. I have done so twice and still had sauce left over.

If you have time, you should grill/smoke the peppers for some immense flavour. I also like to stuff the dates with ricotta or blue cheese from time to time. Nice change up.

Thin bacon is key, thick-cut would be way too much. Made with a roasted almond stuffed inside instead of chorizo. Cooked on parchment paper, flipped half-way through to evenly brown. Didn't have time for sauce and it wasn't needed, everyone loved them. Great party appetizer, good warm or at room temperature.

The sauce is delicious. I would just make the sauce again for serving on sandwiches or as a dip for other food.

Does anyone have a recommended sauce aside from this?

Very good. I served it with a little thai sweet chili paste mixed with some cilantro instead of the suggested sauce. Everybody loved them. Definitely make sure you don't use thick bacon because it won't crisp up enough without overcooking. Recommend thin meaty bacon.

When you say to use fresh uncured chorizo, you're not talking about Mexican chorizo (which is very common down here in Texas), are you? Because I've never seen fresh Spanish chorizo (even when I was in Spain) but I imagine it having a much different flavor profile than fresh Mexican chorizo, which I can't imagine being good in this dish.

Great party food! Once you procure roasted piquillo peppers, assembling the rest is actually easy. I used roasted red pepper relish and Mexican pickled roasted peppers in place (just because that's all I had on hand) and still turned out great.