How many calories are in chorizo?
One bun-size chorizo link weighs 75 g and carries 256 calories. Pan-fried chorizo runs 341 calories per 100 g, more than Polish sausage, bratwurst or plain pork sausage. Fat does the work here: 21.1 g in that single link, against 2 g of carbohydrate and 14.5 g of protein.
You'd need to walk about 51 minutes to burn the 256 calories in one bun-size link (75 g).
How long does it take to burn off chorizo?
One bun-size link (75 g) is 256 kcal. Enter your weight and the amount you ate to see how long it takes you to burn that off:
lb
| Activity | Time to burn 256 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 51 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 32 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 37 min |
| Jogging | 30 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 57 min |
Times are for a 155 lb adult at a steady pace; change the weight to see yours. The amount is set to the portion in the text (75 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Chorizo quick facts
- US servings, from one ounce to a full cup
- Raw, pan-fried, beef, Spanish and soy chorizo
- Sodium and saturated fat land before the calories do
- How does chorizo compare?
- Most popular chorizo brands
- FAQ
Chorizo quick facts
The row on this page is the FNDDS record 2706179, "Chorizo", which describes the sausage the way it reaches the plate: cooked, out of the skillet, fat rendered but still in the pan. That is the form somebody is holding when they look up the number, and it is the only chorizo record carrying a full panel, sugars, fiber, cholesterol and potassium included, along with American household measures such as the patty, the link and the cup.
The main serving below is the bun-size or griller link at 75 g. Two nutrients are missing from the table on purpose: added sugars and trans fat. The FNDDS edition does not publish either value for sausages, so guessing them here would be inventing numbers.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 bun-size link (75 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 341 | 256 | — |
| Total fat | 28.1 g | 21.1 g | 27% |
| Saturated fat | 9.45 g | 7.1 g | 35% |
| Carbohydrate | 2.63 g | 2.0 g | 1% |
| Dietary fiber | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Total sugars | 0 g | 0 g | — |
| Protein | 19.3 g | 14.5 g | 29% |
| Sodium | 983 mg | 737 mg | 32% |
| Cholesterol | 107 mg | 80 mg | 27% |
| Potassium | 435 mg | 326 mg | 7% |
% Daily Value is based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from USDA FoodData Central, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food composition database, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified September 2026. How we verify our data →
USDA carries three other chorizo rows, and the gap between them is preparation, not disagreement. Raw sausage still holds its water, so per 100 g it reads lower even though nothing has been removed.
| USDA record | fdc_id | Calories per 100 g |
|---|---|---|
| Chorizo, as eaten (FNDDS) | 2706179 | 341 |
| Sausage, pork, chorizo, raw (SR Legacy) | 173859 | 296 |
| Chorizo, cooked, pan-fried (Foundation) | 332864 | 346 |
| The same Foundation analysis under a second ID | 746781 | 346 |
That last line is worth knowing if you search the database yourself. The pan-fried Foundation analysis appears twice under two different IDs with identical values, so finding "two" lab records for cooked chorizo is not confirmation of anything. It is one measurement, listed twice.
US servings, from one ounce to a full cup
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 breakfast-size link | 20 g | 68 kcal |
| 1 oz, cooked | 28 g | 97 kcal |
| 1 patty | 35 g | 119 kcal |
| 1 bun-size or griller link | 75 g | 256 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 341 kcal |
| 1 cup, cooked and crumbled | 140 g | 477 kcal |
Every weight in that table is a USDA household measure attached to the record, not a guess about what a link "usually" weighs. The spread is the point: the same sausage covers 68 calories and 477 calories depending on which shape shows up.
The cup is the trap. Crumbled chorizo packs loosely, so a cup looks like a modest scoop and still weighs 140 g, five ounces of sausage, 477 calories and 1,376 mg of sodium by our own arithmetic from the 100 g row. An ounce, the amount that actually flavors a pan of eggs or a pot of beans, is 97. If you cook chorizo by the cup and log it by the ounce, you are off by about 380 calories per meal.
Breakfast links are the friendliest unit on the list. At 20 g each, two of them come to 136 calories, which fits inside a normal breakfast rather than replacing it.
Raw, pan-fried, beef, Spanish and soy chorizo
Chorizo is not one product. Mexican-style chorizo is a fresh sausage you cook; Spanish chorizo is cured and sliced like salami; soy chorizo copies the seasoning and drops most of the fat.
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw pork chorizo | 296 kcal | 1 link, 4 inch (60 g) | 178 kcal |
| Pan-fried chorizo link | 346 kcal | 1 medium link (80.4 g) | 278 kcal |
| Pan-fried chorizo, ground | 346 kcal | 1 cup (185 g) | 640 kcal |
| Beef chorizo (Cacique Ranchero) | 414 kcal | 2.5 oz (70 g) | 290 kcal |
| Spanish cured chorizo (Fiorucci Cantimpalo) | 393 kcal | 5 slices (28 g) | 110 kcal |
| Soy chorizo (Reynaldo's) | 200 kcal | 2.5 oz (70 g) | 140 kcal |
Raw versus cooked. Raw pork chorizo is 296 calories per 100 g and the pan-fried version is 341 to 346. Nothing was added in the skillet. Water left, fat mostly stayed, and the concentration climbed by about 45 calories per 100 g. Weigh the sausage raw and log it raw; weigh it after cooking and log the cooked row.
Two different cups. The FNDDS cup of crumbled chorizo is 140 g and 477 calories. The Foundation record's cup weighs 185 g and comes to 640. Neither is wrong, they are just packed differently, which is why a scale beats a measuring cup for anything crumbly.
Beef versus pork. Among the US brand labels, Cacique Ranchero Beef Chorizo is 414 calories per 100 g and 290 for its 2.5 oz label serving, while the same brand's pork chorizo lists 271 per 100 g and 190 per serving. Beef chorizo costs about 100 calories more for the identical scoop, which surprises most people who assume beef is the leaner choice.
Cured Spanish chorizo. Fiorucci Chorizo Cantimpalo is 393 calories per 100 g, second only to beef chorizo on this page, but it is sold in thin slices: five slices weigh 28 g and come to 110 calories. Density and portion pull in opposite directions here, and the portion usually wins.
Soy chorizo. At roughly 200 calories per 100 g it is the lightest version by a wide margin, 140 calories for the same 2.5 oz that gives 190 in Cacique pork.
Sodium and saturated fat land before the calories do
For most people counting calories, chorizo is not a calorie problem first. One 75 g link is 256 calories, about an eighth of a 2,000-calorie day. That same link is 35% of the Daily Value for saturated fat and 32% for sodium, using the FDA Daily Values on the Nutrition Facts label.
In salt terms, 737 mg is about a third of a teaspoon of table salt from one link. The CDC puts average US intake well above the recommended limit already, mostly from packaged and restaurant food rather than the shaker, and cured or seasoned sausage sits squarely in that group.
Saturated fat is the tighter constraint. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend keeping saturated fat under 10% of daily calories, which is roughly 22 g on a 2,000-calorie diet. Two links, a normal serving on a plate of eggs, deliver 14.2 g of that. If you are watching either number, the ounce-sized accent portion does most of the flavor work for 97 calories, with 8 g of fat and 279 mg of sodium by our own scaling of the 100 g row.
The protein column is the genuinely good news: 14.5 g in a link, 29% of the Daily Value, with essentially no carbohydrate. Chorizo is a seasoning that happens to be a protein source, and it behaves best when used that way.
How does chorizo compare?
| Sausage | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chorizo | 341 kcal | 1 oz, cooked (28 g) | 97 kcal |
| Polish sausage | 337 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 96 kcal |
| Bratwurst | 333 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 94 kcal |
| Pork sausage | 325 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 92 kcal |
The per-ounce figures for the three neighbors are our own arithmetic from their USDA 100 g rows, not USDA label servings. Chorizo tops this group on calories, yet it does not top it on fat: Polish sausage carries 29.68 g per 100 g and bratwurst 29.18 g, both above chorizo's 28.1 g. Chorizo wins on calories because it also carries the most protein of the four, 19.3 g against 18.53 g for pork sausage and 12.45 g for Polish sausage.
Our take: at the ounce level these four are interchangeable, a spread of five calories, so pick chorizo on flavor and ignore the ranking. The decision that matters is the portion, not the sausage. For weight loss, treat chorizo as a spice: one ounce crumbled into eggs, beans or rice at 97 calories. For a meal that has to hold you until dinner, one 75 g link at 256 calories with 14.5 g of protein and no meaningful carbohydrate does that job, and it costs you a third of the day's saturated fat allowance to do it. What we would not do is cook chorizo by the cup, where 477 calories and 1,376 mg of sodium arrive in a portion that still looks small on the plate.
Most popular chorizo brands in the United States
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United States, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each Nutrition Facts label, checked against USDA FoodData Central.
| Product | Calories (per 100 g) |
|---|---|
| Cacique Pork Chorizo | 271 cal |
| Cacique Ranchero Pork Chorizo | 271 cal |
| Cacique Premium Pork Chorizo | 257 cal |
| Fiorucci Chorizo Cantimpalo | 393 cal |
| Fiorucci Uncured Chorizo | 393 cal |
| Cacique Ranchero Beef Chorizo | 414 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Chorizo FAQs
How many calories are in chorizo?
A bun-size link of 75 g is 256 calories, and pan-fried chorizo is 341 calories per 100 g. A smaller breakfast link of 20 g is 68, a 35 g patty is 119, and a full cup of crumbled chorizo is 477. That single link also brings 21.1 g of fat.
How many calories in 1 oz of chorizo?
One ounce of cooked chorizo, 28 g, is 97 calories. Scaled from the USDA 100 g row, that ounce holds 8 g of fat, 5.5 g of protein and 279 mg of sodium, which is 12% of the Daily Value for sodium in a portion most people add to their eggs without thinking about it.
How many calories in pork chorizo?
Raw pork chorizo is 296 calories per 100 g and 178 in a 4-inch link of 60 g. Pan-fried, the same sausage measures 341 to 346 per 100 g, because the skillet drives off water faster than fat. Almost all fresh chorizo sold in US supermarkets is pork unless the label says beef.
How many calories in beef chorizo?
Beef chorizo runs higher. Cacique Ranchero Beef Chorizo lists 414 calories per 100 g and 290 for its 2.5 oz (70 g) label serving, against 271 per 100 g and 190 per serving for the same brand's pork version. That is 100 calories of difference for an identical scoop.
Does chorizo have carbs?
Barely. Chorizo has 2.63 g of carbohydrate per 100 g, which works out to 2 g in a 75 g link and 1% of the Daily Value. Total sugars are 0 g and fiber is 0 g. The little carbohydrate present comes from spices and binders, not from anything sweet.
How much sodium is in chorizo?
A 75 g link carries 737 mg of sodium, 32% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value, and 100 g brings 983 mg. A full cup of crumbled chorizo reaches about 1,376 mg, roughly 60%. Put another way, one link is close to a third of a teaspoon of table salt.
Is chorizo keto friendly?
On carbohydrate, yes: 2.63 g per 100 g, 2 g per 75 g link, with 0 g of sugar and 0 g of fiber. That link also gives 21.1 g of fat and 14.5 g of protein. The limit you hit first is sodium, at 737 mg per link, rather than carbohydrate.
How many calories in soy chorizo?
Soy chorizo is about 200 calories per 100 g and 140 for a 2.5 oz (70 g) serving. Pork chorizo at that same 70 g is about 239, our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g row. That is 41% fewer calories per gram, and it browns closely enough that most cooks swap it one for one.
Similar foods
- Brie — 95 cal per oz
- Falafel — 170 cal for 3 patties
- Coconut — 283 cal per cup, shredded
- Sausage Link — 75 cal per link
- Coconut Shrimp — 250 cal for 4 shrimp
- Summer Sausage — 203 cal for 4 slices
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the skillet and BodyPal counts the chorizo for you, link, patty or crumbled cup.
