Chorizo in pregnancy: not raw, fine when cooked through
The short answer
No, raw chorizo is not recommended during pregnancy; it is allowed once cooked right through in a hot dish. Chorizo is a dry sausage made from raw pork, salted, spiced with paprika and dried. Like dry-cured salami, which Manger Bouger specifically advises pregnant women against, it carries two risks: toxoplasmosis, a parasite found in raw meat, and listeriosis. Cooking eliminates both: chorizo in a paella, a pizza, pasta or a pan-fried dish, served piping hot, yes; sliced as a nibble with drinks, no.
These guidelines follow the official French recommendations. If in doubt, your midwife or doctor can answer your questions.
The two risks of raw chorizo
- Toxoplasmosis: the parasite Toxoplasma gondii can be found in pork. Drying and salting do not guarantee its destruction, cooking does. The risk concerns pregnant women who are not immune, which your blood test at the start of pregnancy shows; for them, a blood test is repeated every month.
- Listeriosis: Listeria monocytogenes can contaminate cured meats and multiplies in the cold. The infection is rare, fewer than fifty cases a year in pregnant women in France according to Santé publique France, but serious for the foetus. This risk concerns all pregnant women, whether or not they are immune to toxoplasmosis.
Manger Bouger therefore advises against dry-cured salami and dry-cured ham during pregnancy, and recommends eating meat well cooked. Chorizo, a dry sausage, follows the same rule.
What chorizo recalls show
The public RappelConso database lists 126 recall notices concerning chorizo products between 2021 and September 2026. Their content sheds light on the real risks:
| Reason for recall | Notices | Products concerned |
|---|---|---|
| Ethylene oxide in the chilli powder used | a large share of the 2021 notices | a chemical contaminant, unrelated to pregnancy risks, which led to many recalls that year |
| Salmonella | 21 | sliced or Iberian dry chorizos, but also grilling chorizos, roasts and paupiettes (stuffed meat rolls) with chorizo, to be cooked |
| Listeria monocytogenes | 14 | mild or hot dry chorizos, fuet-style chorizo sticks, and a few ready meals: pizza, sandwich |
| Undeclared allergens, foreign body | 7 | various |
This survey adds a third risk to those cited by the authorities: salmonella, present in several ready-to-eat dry chorizos. It too is destroyed by cooking. Above all, it confirms the rule: a dry chorizo is eaten raw, and it is this lack of cooking that is the problem during pregnancy. The grilling chorizos recalled for salmonella, for their part, pose no risk if cooked right through.
The chorizo traffic light
| Form | Pregnant | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sliced chorizo, as a nibble with drinks | 🔴 avoid | raw dried meat |
| Chorizo on a board, in cold tapas | 🔴 avoid | same reason |
| Chorizo in a sandwich or added to a pizza after baking | 🔴 avoid | not cooked |
| Chorizo cooked in a paella, rice dish or soup | 🟢 allowed | cooked for a long time right through |
| Chorizo on an oven-baked pizza, served hot | 🟢 allowed | cooked at high temperature |
| Pan-fried or grilled chorizo, until sizzling | 🟢 allowed | heated right through |
| Chorizo cooked in pasta, a well-cooked omelette, a gratin | 🟢 allowed | hot dish |
| Leftover chorizo dishes, reheated | 🟢 allowed | reheat until piping hot; 3 days maximum in the fridge |
And what about fresh “cooking” chorizo, sold at the butcher’s counter? It is prepared like a fresh sausage: well cooked right through, it is allowed.
Tapas night: the full picture
Chorizo often turns up in the middle of a tapas assortment. Here are the most common ones, run through the French recommendations:
| Tapas | Pregnant | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sliced chorizo, salchichón, lomo | 🔴 avoid | raw dried cured meats |
| Jamón serrano or ibérico | 🔴 avoid | raw ham |
| Chorizo a la sidra, cooked and served hot | 🟢 allowed | cooked right through |
| Ham croquetas, fried and hot | 🟢 allowed | cooked filling |
| Tortilla, well set | 🟢 allowed | cooked eggs |
| Tortilla, runny in the middle | 🔴 avoid | undercooked eggs |
| Gambas al ajillo, fried squid, cooked octopus | 🟢 allowed | cooked seafood, served hot |
| Boquerones en vinagre, marinated anchovies | 🔴 avoid | marinated fish, uncooked |
| Patatas bravas | 🟢 allowed | watch out for a home-made aioli sauce made with raw eggs |
| Pimientos de padrón, pan con tomate | 🟢 allowed | cooked vegetables or well-washed tomatoes |
| Manchego | 🟠 conditional | uncooked pressed cheese: only if made with pasteurised milk |
| Sangria | 🔴 avoid | alcohol; a version with no wine, made with fruit and sparkling water, is fine |
For other products, see our pages on cured ham when pregnant, prawns when pregnant and soft-boiled egg when pregnant.
How to cook chorizo so it is safe
Anses recommends reheating dishes that are eaten hot to above 70 °C right through. For chorizo:
- in a frying pan: fry the slices for a few minutes, until they sizzle and release their red fat;
- in a slow-cooked dish, paella, soup, lentils: the chorizo cooks with the rest, for a long time;
- in the oven, on a pizza or in a gratin: it cooks with the dish, which must be served piping hot;
- leftovers: three days at most in the fridge, reheated until scalding hot.
A slice that is merely warmed, placed on a hot dish, is not enough. And for fresh “cooking chorizo”, sold at the butcher’s counter, the rule is that of any raw sausage: cook it fully, with no pink in the centre.
What chorizo contains
| For | Calories | Protein | Fat | Saturated fat | Salt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 g of chorizo | 128 kcal | 7.1 g | 10.8 g | 4.3 g | 1.27 g |
| 100 g of chorizo | 425 kcal | 23.5 g | 36.1 g | 14.3 g | 4.24 g |
| 100 g of premium cooked ham, for comparison | 113 kcal | 21.0 g | 2.8 g | 1.1 g | 1.87 g |
Chorizo is one of the fattiest and saltiest cured meats: 30 g provides a quarter of the 5 g of salt a day advised by the WHO. Even cooked, it remains a flavouring ingredient, to be used in small amounts. The PNNS (French national nutrition and health programme) recommends limiting cured meats to 150 g a week for the whole population.
Chorizo dishes, in numbers
Once the question of cooking is settled, salt and fat remain. Here is what common portions of chorizo dishes provide, according to Ciqual:
| Portion | Calories | Protein | Salt | Saturated fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home-made paella with chicken, seafood and chorizo, 300 g | 405 kcal | 19.1 g | 3.8 g | 2.3 g |
| Shop-bought chorizo pizza, half a 200 g pizza | 472 kcal | 19.8 g | 2.6 g | 8.5 g |
| For comparison: shop-bought ham and mushroom pizza (“pizza royale”), 200 g | 416 kcal | 19.0 g | 2.5 g | 5.9 g |
| Sliced chorizo, 30 g | 96 kcal | 6.8 g | 1.3 g | 2.6 g |
The paella is a surprise: a large plate provides nearly 4 g of salt, almost all of the 5 g a day advised by the WHO, because of the chorizo, the seafood and the stock. The chorizo pizza provides clearly more saturated fat than a ham pizza. Nothing is forbidden, but these are dishes to keep for occasions, with a salad or vegetables on the side, and without adding salt.
Chicken chorizo, vegetarian chorizo: the same rule?
- Turkey, chicken or halal chorizo: the meat changes, not the production method. It is still a dry sausage made from raw meat, salted and dried, which falls under the same precaution as pork chorizo: raw, avoid; cooked right through, allowed.
- Vegetarian chorizo: it contains no meat, so no toxoplasma. But a ready-to-eat product sold in the chilled aisle is not immune to Listeria for all that: in 2023, Santé publique France linked 4 severe cases of listeriosis in pregnant women to plant-based alternatives to cheese and foie gras. The safest approach is to cook it, like a regular chorizo, before eating it.
For the wider family of dry-cured sausages and hams, see our full guide to cured meats when pregnant.
What chorizo labels say
We surveyed the 100 most-scanned chorizos sold in France on Open Food Facts. 93 show a legible ingredient list. Here is what we find in them:
| Ingredient or marker | Found in | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Sodium nitrite (E250) and potassium nitrate (E252) | 60 chorizos out of 93 | preservatives to limit for everyone, not a guarantee of safety against Listeria |
| Dextrose (sugar) | 63 out of 93 | it feeds the drying cultures; the product remains raw |
| Milk or lactose | 61 out of 93 | worth knowing if you digest lactose poorly |
| Soya | 10 out of 93 | allergen to watch |
| Salt, per 100 g | from 1 to 5.5 g, 3.7 g median value | one more slice quickly adds up over the day |
| Fat, per 100 g | from 7.9 to 63 g, 36.7 g median value | “lighter” versions exist, but are still raw |
No packaging claim makes a dry chorizo safe to eat raw: neither “pure pork”, nor “Iberian”, nor “extra”, nor “30% less fat”. All are raw dried sausages, the same family as the dry-cured salami that Santé publique France advises against during pregnancy.
On nitrites, Anses concluded in 2022 that there is a positive association between nitrites and nitrates in processed meat and the risk of colorectal cancer. It also examined the only available study on nitrate exposure before birth and childhood cancers, and could not reach a conclusion. Its advice remains the same: no more than 150 g of cured meats a week, which keeps you below the acceptable daily intake of nitrites. The details are in our guide to cured meats when pregnant.
Where chorizo hides
On Open Food Facts, 166 products sold in France have “chorizo” in their name without being filed in the chorizo category. 95 of them are pizzas. The others show that chorizo slips in everywhere, and that the rule depends on how the product is eaten:
| Product | Pregnant | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Chorizo sandwich, open sandwich or filled baguette, eaten cold | 🔴 avoid | dry chorizo, not cooked again |
| Chorizo rillettes or spread | 🔴 avoid | cooked cured meat kept chilled, like rillettes and pâtés |
| Chorizo pâté en croûte | 🔴 avoid | same family as pâtés |
| Squid or anchovies marinated with chorizo, in a tray | 🔴 avoid | marinated seafood, uncooked |
| Grilling chorizo, white pudding or paupiettes with chorizo | 🟢 allowed | to be cooked at home, right through |
| Fresh filled pasta with chorizo | 🟢 allowed | cooked in boiling water, served hot |
| Risotto, paella, vegetables cooked with chorizo, in a tray | 🟢 allowed | reheated to above 70 °C right through |
The rule of thumb: if the chorizo is in a product you eat cold, without cooking or reheating it, the answer is no. If it goes in a frying pan, an oven or boiling water at home, the answer is yes.
Replacing chorizo: the alternatives in numbers
Want to keep the spicy or smoky side? Here are cooking sausages, which Santé publique France advises favouring during pregnancy, compared with chorizo:
| 100 g of | Calories | Protein | Saturated fat | Salt | Iron |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dry chorizo (dry sausage) | 474 kcal | 20.9 g | 16.0 g | 3.91 g | 1.8 mg |
| Beef and lamb merguez, cooked | 283 kcal | 19.8 g | 12.0 g | 2.33 g | 2.04 mg |
| Toulouse sausage, cooked | 279 kcal | 18.8 g | 8.2 g | 1.71 g | 0.9 mg |
| Butcher-style chicken sausage | 239 kcal | 15.6 g | 6.2 g | 1.75 g | not measured |
| Black pudding, grilled or pan-fried | 246 kcal | 11.9 g | 7.46 g | 1.31 g | 22.8 mg |
Merguez, well cooked, gives the same kick with 40% less salt than dry chorizo. Black pudding is a case apart: 22.8 mg of iron per 100 g. The risk of iron deficiency during pregnancy is assessed with your doctor or midwife, but foods that provide iron are welcome. All of these cured meats count towards the 150 g for the week. And for flavour alone, a pinch of paprika in a pan of chicken or chickpeas is often enough.
Useful nutrients during pregnancy
Chorizo provides protein, but nothing that a pregnant woman cannot find better elsewhere. For iron and protein, well-cooked meat, cooked fish, cooked eggs and pulses are better choices. See our guide to foods high in iron.
Ideas for safe chorizo dishes
- Paella: the chorizo cooks for a long time with the rice.
- Chicken and prawn paella, where chorizo and prawns are cooked right through.
- A chickpea and chorizo soup, simmered.
- A chorizo pizza, baked in the oven and served hot.
For other cured meats, see our full guide to cured meats when pregnant, and for the full set of rules, eating during pregnancy.
And while breastfeeding?
While breastfeeding, the toxoplasmosis and listeriosis precautions specific to pregnancy no longer apply: raw chorizo becomes possible again, in moderation for salt and fat. See our guide to eating while breastfeeding.
Frequently asked questions
Can you eat chorizo when pregnant?
Raw, no: it is a dry sausage made from raw meat. Cooked right through in a hot dish, yes.
Is cooked chorizo safe when pregnant?
Yes, if it is heated right through, until scalding hot: paella, pizza, pasta, pan-fried dishes.
Can you eat chorizo when pregnant if you are immune to toxoplasmosis?
Raw, no: the listeriosis risk remains, and it concerns all pregnant women.
Is chorizo pizza allowed when pregnant?
Yes if the chorizo has cooked with the pizza and it is served hot. No if the slices are added after baking.
I ate raw chorizo while pregnant, what should I do?
The risk from a one-off portion is low. Tell your doctor or midwife if you get a fever; if you are not immune to toxoplasmosis, your monthly blood tests will allow a check.
Can chorizo contain salmonella?
Yes: the RappelConso database lists 21 recalls for salmonella on chorizo products since 2021, including sliced dry chorizos. Cooking destroys it, as it does Listeria and toxoplasma.
Can you eat tapas when pregnant?
Yes, by choosing tapas that are cooked and served hot: croquetas, gambas, squid, a well-set tortilla, cooked chorizo. Avoid raw cured meats, marinated anchovies and raw-milk cheese.
Is cooking chorizo allowed when pregnant?
Yes, if it is cooked completely, like a fresh sausage, with no pink part in the centre.
Is a chorizo paella allowed when pregnant?
Yes: the chorizo cooks for a long time with the rice, like the seafood. Served piping hot, it poses no problem.
Is Iberian or pata negra chorizo safer when pregnant?
No. The quality of the pork and the length of drying do not change the fact that the meat is not cooked. Raw, avoid it; cooked right through, it is possible.
Are chorizo rillettes allowed when pregnant?
No. Santé publique France advises against cooked cured meats kept chilled, such as rillettes, pâtés and products in jelly, because Listeria multiplies in them in the fridge.
Does chorizo contain nitrites?
Most often, yes: 60 of the 93 chorizos we surveyed on Open Food Facts contain sodium nitrite (E250) and potassium nitrate (E252). One more reason to stay under 150 g of cured meats a week.
What can I replace chorizo with during pregnancy?
With a cooking sausage you cook yourself: merguez, Toulouse sausage, black pudding. Well cooked, they are allowed and contain less salt than dry chorizo, according to Ciqual.
Can you eat it when pregnant? The series
Food by food, what is allowed, conditional or to avoid during pregnancy: cheesecake when pregnant, foie gras when pregnant, feta when pregnant, mozzarella when pregnant, raclette when pregnant, surimi when pregnant, cured meats when pregnant, smoked salmon when pregnant, tiramisu when pregnant, taramasalata when pregnant, honey when pregnant, camembert and brie when pregnant, prawns when pregnant, soft-boiled egg when pregnant, sushi when pregnant, cured ham when pregnant, hummus when pregnant, tinned tuna when pregnant.
Our sources
- Manger Bouger (Santé publique France), “Quels aliments éviter et quelles précautions prendre quand on est enceinte ?”, 2026 update.
- Santé publique France, 1000 premiers jours website: “Les précautions alimentaires pendant la grossesse”.
- Ameli, foods to avoid during pregnancy; toxoplasmosis: prevention measures.
- Santé publique France, listeriosis surveillance data; PNNS: cured meats limited to 150 g a week.
- Ciqual 2025 table (Anses): chorizo, premium cooked ham. WHO: less than 5 g of salt a day.
- RappelConso, public dataset of product recalls (data.economie.gouv.fr), chorizo products, 2021 to September 2026.
- Anses, “Qu’est-ce que la listériose et comment s’en prémunir ?”: reheating to above 70 °C, leftovers kept less than three days.
- Ciqual 2025 table (Anses): home-made paella, chorizo or salami pizza, ham and mushroom pizza, premium sliced chorizo.
- Santé publique France, press release of 20 January 2023: listeriosis cases linked to plant-based specialities.
- Santé publique France, guide “De la grossesse à l’arrivée de bébé” (Manger Bouger): dry-cured salami and dry-cured ham not recommended; cooked cured meats kept chilled (rillettes, pâtés, products in jelly) to avoid; marinated fish to avoid; cured meats limited to 150 g a week, preferably to be cooked at home.
- Anses, revised opinion on the risks associated with the consumption of nitrites and nitrates, referral 2020-SA-0106, 6 July 2022.
- Open Food Facts, 100 chorizos sold in France (ingredient lists and nutritional values) and 166 products containing chorizo, survey of 26 September 2026.
- Ciqual 2025 table (Anses): premium chorizo, dry-sausage type, cooked beef and lamb merguez, cooked Toulouse sausage, butcher-style chicken sausage, grilled or pan-fried black pudding.
