What Is Longaniza Made Of?

Are you a fan of longaniza? The tasty, spicy sausage that’s pretty similar to chorizo?

Have you ever wondered what longaniza is made of, exactly? Here I’ll get into all of the details, but in short, longaniza is made with pork and fat like many sausages! Read on for more.

What is Longaniza?

Longaniza is a type of sausage that’s very similar to chorizo and also the Portugese linguica. It’s a spicy pork sausage that’s long and thin in shape.

Longaniza originates from Spain, but like most sausages (and food in general, for that matter), other regions around the world have adopted their own take on the longaniza.

Examples of such countries with their own longaniza include Mexico, El Salvador, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Dominican Republic, and even the Philippines (though they spell it “longganisa”).

Across these regions, longaniza can vary in how spicy, garlicky, citrusy, and/or sweet it is. It can be smoked, cured, kept fresh and then cooked, or even fried.

What is Longaniza Made Out Of?

Longaniza is made with pork and stuffed into an intestinal casing. What makes it unique is that it’s made with pork that has been chopped, instead of the usual ground pork.

While this may seem like a small difference, using chopped instead of ground pork gives this sausage a whole different texture.

While traditional longaniza is made with pork, some regions make it with beef, chicken, turkey, or if you’re in the Philippines, tuna.

What Part of the Pig is Longaniza?

There’s no single right way to make longaniza, and the meat that goes into varies from region to region.

In general, most pork sausages like longaniza are made with pork shoulder. As mentioned above, the pork shoulder is chopped instead of ground.

Fat is also a necessary ingredient in sausage, and longaniza is typically made with pork fat. The pork shoulder and fat mixture is then stuffed into a casing made from pork intestines.

In Summary

Now you know what longaniza is made out of. It’s just pork!

Although, the type of meat used (and part of the animal it comes from) can definitely vary depending on what region of the world you’re in. To me, that’s the beauty of sausage – endless possibilities!