Honeyed Chorizo & Fig Crostini

This post has been compensated as part of my partnership with Natural Merchants and may contain affiliate links. As always, all opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that keep me creative in my tiny kitchen!

This smoky-sweet Spanish appetizer recipe is guaranteed to be a hit at your next tapas party! Pair it with a fruity Spanish wine for a simple, elegant hors d’oeuvre that can be prepared in under 15 minutes!

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I’m a big fan of Spanish tapas. It’s a great way to get a little sampling of lots of different dishes all in one meal.

Plus, I’ve always enjoyed sharing dishes at restaurants. My husband and I always order different dishes so we can sample 2 things from a menu rather than just one each. We usually have a sort of vote for who orders which dish with the understanding that we are definitely sharing.

But you don’t have to go out to a restaurant to have a fabulous tapas-style meal at home!

Every once in a while, my family will do what my son likes to call, “snacks for dinner”. It often involves a big ol’ cheese and charcuterie board, and most certainly cocktails or wine pairing for the adults.

And sometimes it involves a whole tapas-themed Spanish dinner.

Our most recent tapas-for-dinner involved 3 different simple yet elegant appetizers that all paired beautifully with the Spartico Tempranillo/Cabernet from Natural Merchants.

This particular wine is special for a few reasons. First of all, it’s a blend of 50% Tempranillo and 50% Cabernet Sauvignon. My husband tends to gravitate toward blends when he opts for red wine, and this one was an incredibly bright, fruit-forward, smooth choice.

Secondly, it’s an organic wine. A while back, I learned that there was some confusion when it came to the labeling of organic wine, so I was glad to get some clarification on the different categories of organic wine.

Basically, organic wine sold in the United States falls into 2 categories: “Made with Organically Grown Grapes” and “Organic”. Both are made with 100% USDA Certified Organically Grown Grapes, and many are also produced with No Sulfites Added.

In wines labeled as “Organic Wine”, no added sulfites are allowed and naturally occurring sulfite levels must be under 10 parts per million (ppm).

The legal maximum for the combination of natural and added sulfites in wines labeled as “Made With Organic Grapes” is 100 ppm vs. the limit of 350 ppm in conventional wines.

Sulfur dioxide, a compound formed from sulfur and oxygen, occurs naturally during fermentation in small quantities.

At Natural Merchants, we work to import wines that use the least amount of sulfites and other interventions in the winemaking process as possible. The resulting wines are the true essence of the winery’s terroir, creating a “taste of place” and a glass to remember.

If you’re looking for a crisp, sparkling Spanish wine to add to your tapas party, the Tarantas Sparkling White is an excellent choice.

Both of these Spanish wines are from Natural Merchants’ winery partner, Bodegas Iranzo, which produces some of the oldest Estate bottled wines in Spain. The vineyards are in the middle of a National Reserve Park, the largest environmentally protected area in the Valencian Community.

The vine cultivation system used encourages the creation of a micro-climate at the level of the plant’s organs, with optimum temperature, insulation and humidity constants for producing organic grapes that ripen perfectly — a fundamental factor in obtaining quality fruit with the minimum of human intervention.

I created 3 different dishes that all worked BEAUTIFULLY with the Spartico wine. I’ll share the other 2 here soon, but today I’m all about this chorizo and fig situation.

Whenever I think about tapas recipes, I remember a dish from a Spanish restaurant that we used to go to regularly, until it closed, several years ago. It was flaming hot chorizo sausage (they brought it out from the kitchen literally on fire!) that had a sticky-sweet honey coating and plump, dried figs alongside.

I thought it would be fun to come up with a riff on that dish – but something that would be able to sit out on a platter for a while, and wouldn’t potentially require a call to the fire department.

So I went with a crostini format here, piling each little toast high with some of my favorite Spanish ingredients. 

The toasted baguette was the perfect base for these beauties. It made them easy to pick up, and gave each serving a crispy texture to go with the meat, cheese, and fruit.

Manchego cheese is my go-to choice for Spanish tapas. The one I used here was an 8 month aged raw milk variety. It worked beautifully with the chorizo and was also good on its own with a few sips of the wine.

Chorizo comes in a few different forms, but for the purposes of this recipe, you’re looking for a dried variety (not the kind that’s fresh in a casing in the refrigerator section of your grocery store). You can get a mild variety or a spicy one – either would work well here. I opted for mild so my 6-year-old could enjoy it.

A drizzle of honey and some fresh chives are the perfect finish for this crostini. You can skip the chives if you want, but definitely don’t skip the honey! It really brings each bite together and balances out the flavors.

This recipe is a quick and impressive addition to your tapas repertoire – I hope you love it as much as we did! And stay tuned for recipes for the other 2 bites that I served for this epic tapas-style dinner.

What are your favorite tapas dishes? I’d love to hear about them in the comments section below!

Looking for more bite-sized favorites? Check out these 5-star recipes:

• French-Inspired Deviled Eggs
• Patatas Bravas with Chipotle Aioli
• Killer Shrimp Cocktail
• Cheesy Bacon + Apple Croissants
• Tuna Tostada with Avocado Dressing + Chipotle Sour Cream
• Marcona Almond + Dried Cherry Popcorn with Crispy Rosemary
• Veggie Cream Cheese Roll-ups
• No Mayo Deviled Eggs
• Mini Turkey Pot Pies with Puff Pastry
• Falafel-Spiced Cucumber Bites

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