You have found the best Pambazos Recipe! A Pambazo is basically a sandwich made of bread stuffed with potatoes and chorizo and then covered in a salsa made with Chile Guajillo.
It is served with lettuce, cheese, and cream. It’s probably served with other ingredients all over Mexico but this is the recipe we loved from Mexico City!
Check out my recipe for Tacos Al Pastor for another delicious and authentic recipe from Mexico City!
I have probably told you many times that since we moved back to the US – I can’t find really good Mexican food. So I have asked my friends in Mexico to share some of my favorite recipes so I can enjoy them at home. This Pambazos recipe was at the top of my list.
We loved all the celebrations in Mexico, especially the food!! Pambazos is one of those things that would be at many parties. I think it was because it was cheap and could feed a lot of people. Plus it’s filling! Serve it with a side of refried beans and you have a filling meal!
This is not a quick recipe – if you want quick recipes check out this recipe for Pollo Asada Tacos.
Here are some of my favorite Mexican Recipes:
- Carne Asada tacos – so quick and easy with so much flavor!
- Picadillo – my kids love this meal. It’s really cheap and so easy to make. You use carne molida (ground beef) and make a salsa with a tomato mixture that includes chipotle peppers, and onions and then add some potatoes and carrots and serve it over rice.
- If you want a sorta Mexican meal – we love to make these burrito bowls.
This recipe for Pampazos is a little faster than some other recipes. Some recipes have you heat up some oil over medium heat and fry the bread. But I find it faster and easier to just spray the tops and bottom with some Pam cooking spray and when you bake it – it gets a nice crunch. (As shown above.)
What is a Pambazo?
Basically, a Pambazo is a mixture of chorizo and potatoes on a special roll that is coated with a pepper sauce (not spicy) and then you top it with crumbled queso fresco, lettuce, and Mexican cream.
It’s a cheap meal but it does take some time to put together. I like to bring it to parties because I know it will feed a crowd.
What you need for this recipe for Pambazo:
Mexican Chorizo – the good kind. Make sure you read the ingredients. My favorite is Purnell’s “Old Folks” Chorizo.
Chile Guajillo – these are not spicy – you need these to make the sauce to cover the bread. I have found these at Walmart and local Mexican stores.
Types of bread To Use To Make a Pambazo Sandwich
Bolillos Rolls (or telera bread ) are the best option for pambazo bread. I can only find these at my Walmart. You can use white or wheat. You could also use Kaiser rolls or french rolls. They type of bread really depends on what you have access to at your local store. It is cheap bread.
The rest of the ingredients to make this Mexican Sandwich are things you may have at home and are usually easy to find:
- Mexican chorizo
- Potatoes
- Lettuce
- Queso Fresco (crumbling cheese) This is a very fresh cheese – it’s so good!
- Mexican crema – this is Mexican sour cream, it’s more of a liquid than sour cream and it’s a little sweeter. You could dilute sour cream with some water if you can’t find Mexican Creama.
- salt
- garlic clove
- Optional – Green Salsa
The first thing you want to do is make the guajillo sauce. This is the sauce you will paint the side of the bread. In a small pot, add the Chile Huajillo and enough water to cover the chilies. Cover with a lid and let boil on medium-high heat for 10-15 minutes. You want to hydrate them. You will know they are hydrated when the stem pulls off easily.
While that is boiling, peel and dice the potatoes. Add the diced potatoes and rinse with cold water. Add potatoes to a pot of water and a generous pinch of salt. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and boil for about 10 minutes until soft.
Once you have the potatoes cooking you can put the chorizo in a large skillet to start cooking on medium-high heat. Stir and crumble it into small pieces.
Make the guajillo salsa
By now the chilis are probably dehydrated. Remove them from the water (keep the water) and let them cool for a few minutes. Open the side of the guajillo chiles and scrape out the seeds and remove the stem and add them to a blender.
Place chiles, about 3/4 cup water from the pot where you boiled the guajillo chilies, salt, and 3-4 chopped garlic cloves, and puree it in the blender. Set this aside. It should be the consistency of a thick sauce. (You are going to spread these on the rolls.)
Tip – if you have too many seeds in the sauce – you can run it through a strainer to remove the seeds.
How to Make the Potato-Chorizo Mixture
Once the potatoes are cooked drain them and place potatoes in a large bowl. Add the salt, milk, butter, and mayonnaise to it and use a masher to mash the potatoes. (You don’t want to make mashed potatoes – you want potato chunks)
Add the cooked chorizo to the potato mixture and mix with a wooden spoon. Get ready to assemble!
Preheat your oven to 350*. Line a large cookie sheet or 2 smaller cookie sheets with foil and spray with cooking spray and set aside.
How to Assemble a Pambazo:
Cut your rolls in half and place them on the cookie sheets. Pick up each roll and brush some of the guajillo paste salsa onto the bottom surface of the bread and set it back on to the cookie sheet.
Add a scoop of chorizo and potato mixture to all the sandwiches. If you have extra you can go back and add some more to each sandwich or just enjoy it while the sandwiches bake.
Once all the sandwiches have their filling, brush more of the chili mixture on the top of the rolls. Make sure you are also getting the sides of the rolls. Repeat with the rest of the buns.
Spray all the sandwich tops with cooking spray or put some olive oil on your hands and rub it on the rolls.
Bake for 10 minutes. Then flip the sandwiches and cover with cooking spray and cook for an additional 8-10 minutes until the rolls are crispy.
Now it’s time to enjoy these delicious pambazo sandwiches! Top with lettuce, Mexican Creama, and Queso Fresco and enjoy!
This recipe makes 18 sandwiches – so you can share these with all your friends and neighbors. I deliver some of these sandwiches to 3 of my neighbors.
I hope you enjoy this Pambazos Recipe – which is basically a stuffed bread Mexican dish! You can add some white onion or salsa verde to the sandwiches but I prefer them this way!
Pambazos Recipe
This is a yummy Mexican Potato & Chorizo Pombaso Sandwiches have lots of flavors. They are great for a party.
Ingredients
- 18 Bolillos Rolls
- 10 Chile Guajillo
- 2-3 chopped garlic cloves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 pounds of potatoes
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ⅓ cup milk
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1 pound chorizo
- 1 bag shredded Lettuce
- Queso Fresco (crumbling cheese)
- Mexican Creama
- Cooking spray or olive oil
Instructions
- Add the Chile Huajillo to a pot of water with a lid and let boil for 10-15 minutes. You want to hydrate them. You will know they are hydrated when the stem pulls off easily.
- While that is boiling, peel and dice the potatoes. Add them to a pot and rinse with cold water. Then fill with clean water. Bring to a boil and boil for about 10 minutes until soft.
- Once you have the potatoes cooking you can put the chorizo in a frying pan to start cooking on medium-high. Stir and crumble it several times while it's cooking.
- By now the chilis are probably dehydrated. Remove them from the water (keep the water) and let them cool for a few minutes. Remove the stems and seeds and add them to a blender. Take about ¾ cup of water, salt, and 3-4 chopped garlic cloves and puree it in the blender. Set this aside. It should be the consistency of a thick sauce.
- Once the potatoes are cooked, drain and add some salt, milk, butter, and mayonnaise to it and use a masher to breakdown the potatoes. (You don't want to make mashed potatoes - they can be a little chunky.)
- Add the cooked chorizo to the potato mixture and get ready to assemble!
- Preheat your oven to 350*. Line a large cookie sheet or 2 smaller cookie sheets with foil and spray with cooking spray and set aside.
- Cut your rolls in half and place them on the cookie sheets. Pick up each roll and brush some of the chili mixture onto the bottom and set back on to the cookie sheet.
- Add some of the potato and chorizo mixture to all the sandwiches. If you have extra you can go back and add some more to each sandwich or just enjoy it while the sandwiches bake.
- Once all the sandwiches have their filling, brush more of the chili mixture on the top of the rolls. Make sure you are also getting the sides of the rolls.
- Spray all the sandwich tops with cooking spray or put some olive oil on your hands and rub it on the rolls.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Then flip the sandwiches and cover with cooking spray and cook for an additional 8-10 minutes until the rolls are crispy.
- Now it's time to enjoy these sandwiches! Top with lettuce, Mexican Creama, and Queso Fresco and enjoy!