Time for an egg recipe! However, this isn’t just any egg recipe. It’s a Smoked Chorizo Armadillo Eggs recipe, and ironically it doesn’t contain any eggs. I teamed up with Cowboy Charcoal to cook this Texan inspired dish to perfection. These “eggs” consist of a cheese stuffed jalapeno, encased in chorizo, wrapped in bacon and covered in a spicy barbecue sauce! Sound like a mouthful? That’s because it is, but it sure makes for one delicious bite! Let’s talk more about it below.
Sponsored by Cowboy Charcoal
Why Armadillo Egg?
You might be wondering what armadillo eggs are and why this non-egg dish goes by that name. Well, let me explain. An armadillo egg is a jalapeño that has been deseeded and is stuffed with cheese. The jalapeño is then encased in sausage and wrapped in bacon. It’s said that the bacon wrap around the jalapeño stuffed sausage looks like an armadillo shell, thus giving this dish it’s unique name.
I started this recipe by cleaning and deseeding all six of my jalapeños. Then, in a large bowl I mixed together cream cheese and shredded cheese. Cream cheese is a great option for a recipe like this because it’s soft and malleable. I added in the shredded cheese to bring sharpness and texture to the filling, but you could stick to just cream cheese if you like. Now these armadillo eggs are ready to be covered in sausage.
Chorizo was my sausage of choice for this recipe. When given the option, I always opt for chorizo. One by one, I carefully wrapped and pressed chorizo around the cheese stuffed jalapeños. How much chorizo to use is really up to you! If you want larger “eggs” then use more chorizo, or if you want to enjoy these as more of an appetizer then use less chorizo for smaller “eggs”.
The last step for these Smoked Chorizo Armadillo Eggs is to wrap them in bacon. It’s basically a proven fact that anything wrapped in bacon is inherently better. These chorizo armadillo eggs are no different! I used two to three slices of bacon per armadillo egg and secured it with a toothpick.
Putting the Smoke in Smoked Chorizo Armadillo Eggs
Now that the armadillo egg assembly is complete, we will move to the smoker. It’s so important to preheat the smoker before cooking on it. You wouldn’t try to cook anything in your oven without preheating it, so don’t try it with your smoker either! I filled my charcoal basket to the brim with Cowboy Charcoal and watched those orange embers bring this smoker to life. Wait until the smoker reaches 250 degrees Fahrenheit and then add the chorizo armadillo eggs.
While the chorizo armadillo eggs are smoking, let’s make the spicy barbecue sauce! All I did was toss all the barbecue ingredients into a cast iron sauce bowl and stirred them together. It’s best to do this early in the cooking process so that the sauce has time to combine.
Smoked Chorizo Armadillo Eggs For All
Cook the armadillo eggs until they reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit. It took a little less than two hours for my eggs to reach that temperature. Before pulling them from the grill, use a basting brush to coat each egg in that spicy barbecue sauce. Then, I actually removed them from the grill, pulled up the coal basket within the smoker and placed the eggs back on the grill for a final sear. This will help crisp up that bacon on the outside, and who doesn’t love some crisp to their bacon?!
After the final sear, I gave each egg one more coat of barbecue sauce and then pulled them from the grill. I served them each individually and loved slicing them right down the middle to reveal the cheesy jalapeño on the inside. Such a fun recipe, and even better to enjoy with friends and family. Cheers!
It’s a Smoked Chorizo Armadillo Eggs recipe, and ironically it doesn’t contain any eggs. This Texan inspired recipe never disappoints.
- 1.5-2 lbs of Ground Pork Chorizo Sausage
- 15-20 Slices of Bacon
- 6-8 Jalapeños cored and seeded
- 1.5 cups of Cream Cheese
- 1 cup of Shredded Cheese
- ½ cup of Ketchup
- 2 tbsp of Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1.5 tbsp of Soy Sauce
- 1 tbsp of Chipotle Puree
- 2 tsp of Hot Sauce
- 1.5 tsp of Agave Nectar
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Begin by mixing together the cream cheese and the shredded cheese. Add that mix to the cored & seeded jalapenos. Stuff them completely full. Taking a large handful of chorizo, encase each jalapeno in ground chorizo until completely covered. Do not add too much as this will cause you to have to cook longer. Finally, wrap each Armadillo Egg in 2-3 slices of bacon making sure to secure them with toothpicks. Set everything to the side until ready to cook.
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Preheat a grill with Cowboy Charcoal for indirect cooking at 250F. Add some wood chips or chunks for added smoke flavor.
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Add your armadillo eggs to the smoker to cook for 2 hours or until they reach 165F internal on the ground meat. Try to prevent flare ups as the bacon will want to cause them. About 30 minutes before the eggs are done, add a basting skillet with all the ingredients for the Spicy BBQ Sauce to the smoker. Let that blend together until the eggs are done.
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When the eggs are done, glaze each one in BBQ sauce and pull off the smoker. Crank up the heat in the smoker to 400F. Sear off each Armadillo Egg for 30 seconds a side to crisp up the bacon. Pull off and rest for 2-3 minutes
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Finish by glazing all sides with more BBQ Sauce and enjoy!
Derek Wolf is the owner of OvertheFireCooking.com, published cookbook author, expert live fire chef, and creator of multiple spice lines.