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Pambazos are Mexican sandwiches packed with chorizo, potatoes, and lots of toppings like crunchy lettuce, spicy red onion, and tangy cotija cheese. The bread is toasted with a flavorful chili sauce before assembling, making this sandwich extra flavorful!
For more chorizo inspiration, check out my chorizo soup recipe, which brings just as much bold flavor and deliciousness!
Do you love Mexican food? You know, the real-deal kind like tostadas de tinga and pozole verde? Then, friends, do I have a treat for you! Today, we are going to learn how to make “pambazos,” which are sandwiches made with chorizo, potatoes, and lots of delicious fixings.
Similar to elotes, pambazos are hidden gems within the street-food scene in Mexico City. Locals love grabbing one of these for breakfast, lunch, and dinner alike. They’re creamy, tangy, crunchy, and hearty – in other words, you need this sandwich in your life.
Why You’ll Love This Pambazos Recipe
- Authentic. This recipe uses authentic Mexican ingredients to recreate all the textures and flavors of pambazos you’d be able to buy from street vendors in Mexico City.
- Flavorful. From the chili sauce, to the chorizo filling, to all the fixings – every layer of these sandwiches are packed with incredible flavor. Don’t miss it!
- Doable! This recipe has a couple of steps, but they can be completed in stages and don’t involve any complicated techniques. Make your chili sauce one day, then use it to toast the bread and assemble your sandwiches the next.
What Are Pambazos?
Pambazos are a street-food sandwich prepared in Mexico City and its suburbs. They’re made with telera, a type of Mexican bread, which is sliced and dipped into a guajillo-based sauce to give the sandwich color and spice. Before the sandwich is assembled, the bread is grilled, then a chorizo and potato filling is spread across the bread, and lots of toppings are the final step. I like to add crunchy lettuce, spicy red onion, Mexican crema and tangy cotija cheese add creaminess.
What You’ll Need
There are several components to making authentic pambazos, but don’t let the length of the ingredient list scare you. Many of them are pantry staples. The rest can be easily found in supermarkets or your local Mexican market or you can order them online.
Here’s a quick overview of what you’ll need to make pambazos. Please scroll down to the recipe card for a printable list.
For the Guajillo Pepper Sauce
- Dried guajillo peppers – These are the base of the dish so try to get a hold of them. If you absolutely can’t, New Mexican chilis are the closest thing.
- Olive oil – Feel free to swap it out for vegetable, corn, or canola oil.
- Onion – Only use white onion. Yellow onion is sweeter, whereas red onion is spicier. Anything other than white onion will change the sauce’s flavor.
- Garlic – I recommend fresh garlic, but garlic paste or garlic powder will work.
- Salt & Black Pepper – Table salt, sea salt, or kosher salt are all okay to use. I also like to use freshly ground black pepper here, but it’s okay to use pre-ground pepper.
- Water – Helps emulsify the sauce for a smooth, cohesive texture.
For the Filling
- Canola oil – Don’t use olive oil here at all. Since we’re grilling the breads, we need a higher smoke point oil, so go for corn or vegetable oil if you need to use a substitute.
- Telera bread – Mexican bolillos and birote, Kaiser rolls, bread rolls, and even French baguettes will work as substitutes.
- Guajillo pepper sauce – You’ll make some in step one of this recipe.
- Chorizo – You can usually find this at the grocery store. Remove the chorizo from the casings and break it up.
- Potatoes – Diced and cooked, these will be mixed in with your chorizo.
- Pickled red onions – I almost always get these in a jar from my local grocery store. They add a crunchy texture and a tangy pop that balances the guajillo sauce.
To Assemble Your Pambazos
- Lettuce – Romaine lettuce is crunchier so I prefer it, but use whatever you’ve got on hand.
- Mexican crema – Sour cream thinned with a bit of milk also works.
- Cheese – Cotija cheese adds tanginess to brighten up the sandwich. If you can’t find it, use crumbled queso fresco.
- Salsa – Add your favorite kind of salsa before serving. Both red and green salsa works!
A Note About the Bread
Telera’s most important characteristic is its dense crumb. Without it, all the liquids and moisture from the different fillings would make the sandwich fall apart in minutes. If you can’t find it, you can also use:
- Mexican bolillo
- Mexican birote
- French baguette
- Bread rolls
- Kaiser rolls
Unlike telera, birotes and baguettes have crunchy crusts. What you can do in those cases is steam them for up to a minute or until they’ve softened. As long as the bread is plain with a soft exterior, it should work.
How to Make Pambazos
Here’s a quick look at how to make these sandwiches. Be sure to scroll down to the recipe card for a full, printable list of detailed instructions.
- Make the chili guajillo sauce. Toast and hydrate the peppers, then make the sauce in your blender.
- Cook the chorizo and potato filling. Break up the chorizo, then cook it with the potatoes and spices.
- Coat the bread in the chili sauce. Place it in your oven and broil the bread briefly to make it toasted.
- Assemble your sandwiches. Fill the bread with your chorizo-potato mixture, then add your fixings of choice and dig in!
Variation Ideas
- Use cabbage. Shredded cabbage is a common topping for Mexican tortas (sandwiches), so feel free to swap it out.
- Use carnitas or birria. Their juiciness and flavor profiles will make a mind-blowing pambazo. Use them instead of, or in addition to, the chorizo filling.
- Add refried beans. Before adding the chorizo and potatoes or other fillings, spread some refried beans on each bread half for extra flavor.
- Make them Veracruz-style. Forget the guajillo sauce completely and make pambazos like a regular sandwich. They’re still delicious!
- Add avocado. Whether it’s diced avocado or guacamole, it’ll add a perfectly yummy creaminess.
How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
Don’t store fully assembled pambazos because the bread will soak up all the moisture and your sandwich will fall apart. What you can do instead is store all of its components separately.
The telera bread can be stored in a paper bag at room temperature for up to 3 days. Everything else should be refrigerated in airtight containers.
In airtight containers each of the components will keep in the fridge as follows:
- The guajillo sauce will keep for up to a week.
- The chorizo and potatoes filling for up to 5 days.
- The lettuce will only keep for 1-2 days before losing its crispness.
- Everything else, like the crema and cotija cheese, should be refrigerated according to package instructions.
When it’s time to reheat, pop the chorizo and potatoes mixture into the microwave for 1-2 minutes or until warm.
Can I Freeze Extras?
Only the chorizo filling, sauce, and telera can be frozen. Everything else will have to be freshly prepared or a prepped couple of days in advance.
Place the chorizo and potatoes into a freezer-friendly container and freeze for up to 2 months. The sauce can be frozen in a freezer-friendly bag or container for up to 6 months. Teleras have to be individually wrapped in plastic wrap and then placed into a freezer-friendly bag or container. They’ll last up to 3 months.
When you want to make pambazos again, transfer the filling, sauce, and bread into the fridge overnight. The next morning, set them on the counter until they’re completely thawed. Meanwhile, you can prep the rest of the ingredients.
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Pambazos
Ingredients
For the sauce
- 5 guajillo peppers
- boiling water, enough to cover the peppers
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ white onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For the Pambazos
- 2 large russet potatoes, peeled and diced
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1½ tablespoons canola oil
- 8 ounces chorizo, casings removed if needed
- 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- additional kosher salt to taste
To assemble
- 6 Telera bread rolls, sliced in half
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ½ cup pickled red onion
- 1 cup shredded romaine lettuce,
- ¾ cup crumbled cotija cheese
- ¼ cup Mexican crema, or sour cream
- ⅓ cup tomato salsa
Instructions
For the sauce
- Toast the peppers. Place a skillet over high heat. Add the peppers and toast until they puff up, turning every 15 seconds or so. Turn the heat off.
- Hydrate the peppers. Add enough boiling water to the skillet to cover the peppers. Let the peppers soak for 30 minutes or until soft.
- Saute the aromatics. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Add the diced onion and saute for 2 minutes or until translucent. Add the garlic and saute for 20 seconds or until fragrant.
- Blend. Drain the peppers, reserving ½ cup of the cooking liquid, and remove the stems. Transfer the peppers to a blender along with the sauteed onions and garlic, and add salt and pepper. Blend until smooth, then set aside. If the mixture isn't smooth, add some of the cooking liquid to the blender and process until smooth.
For the potato-chorizo filling (make the filling while the peppers are hydrating)
- Boil the potatoes. Bring a pot of water to boil over high heat and add ½ teaspoon of salt along with the diced potatoes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and boil the potatoes for 5 minutes or until fork tender.
- Cook the chorizo. Place a large, heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat and add the canola oil. Add the chorizo, season with oregano, and cook until nicely caramelized and cooked through, crumbling it with a wooden spoon as you go.
- Put it all together. Drain the potatoes and add them to the pan with the chorizo. Season with smoked paprika and saute for a few minutes until the potatoes get a little crispy. Taste and season with additional salt if needed.
To assemble.
- Toast the buns. Set the oven to broil and brush the cut sides of each bun with olive oil. Place the buns, cut side up, on a baking sheet and broil for 1 minute or until golden brown.
- Assemble. Brush both cut sides of each bun liberally with the guajillo sauce. Divide the chorizo mixture evenly between the buns and top with pickled red onion, romaine lettuce, cotija cheese, crema, and salsa. Close the pambazos with the other half of the bread and serve.
Equipment
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
