Breakfast sausage is a favorite food of the men (including the little ones) in our home. I love it too, but don’t love that many store-bought breakfast sausages have nitrates or nitrites and other preservatives and flavors added.
When a local farmer started selling pastured pork, I decided to figure out a recipe for homemade breakfast sausage. This recipe can actually be made with beef for those who don’t like pork, though the taste will be a little different.
I originally made this recipe with diced pieces of pastured Boston butt, mainly because I had an awesome (and somewhat scary looking) old fashioned metal meat grinder that a relative gave us. I soon realized, after spending much cleaning time on said scary meat grinder, that this made the process more time consuming. I now just buy ground (pastured) pork for this recipe. However, if you also have a scary meat grinder and the patience to clean it, I highly recommend that option as well.
I pre-make this in two-pound (or larger) batches and refrigerate or freeze for quick breakfasts. The patties turned out pretty light in the picture but are typically darker and have more visible spices.
Homemade Breakfast Sausage Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground pork
- 1 TBSP Himalayan salt (or sea salt)
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp fresh sage leaves (finely chopped, or 1 tsp dried sage)
- 1 tsp dried fennel (crushed)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp dried rosemary
- 1 tsp fresh thyme (or ½ tsp dried thyme)
- 1 dash cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1 dash cloves (optional)
Instructions
- If grinding yourself, grind meat with the finest blade of the grinder.
- Combine ground pork with all other ingredients and mix well.
- Form into 16 one-inch patties.
- Store in the refriferator or freezer until ready to use.
- To cook, heat in skillet over medium heat for 5-7 minutes per side until cooked through.
Notes
- Form patties
- Lay on wax-paper lined baking sheet
- Freeze until firm
- Store in a sealed container in the freezer until ready to use
Nutrition
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Ever made sausage? Ever used a scary meat grinder? Share below!
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Just requesting your readers to please only use pork from compassionately-raised pigs. Pigs confined in cages on factory farms suffer terribly. They are highly intelligent and aware, so it is particularly cruel to treat them this way. The more we buy pork without ensuring it’s not from a factory farm, the more we contribute to animal suffering. Nothing will change until meat eaters care.
Top tip when using meat grinders, scary or otherwise, when you are done grinding your meat, push through a couple of slices of bread or half a cup of oats, forces out most of the traces of meat so more ends up in your dish and far easier to clean
I have made sausage with venison and sage and the Creole seasoning my husband likes so well. We really like it, but I think if it had pork in it too (or possibly turkey) it would fry up better and not be as dry.
Venison and bison meat are very lean so adding 1% to 2% beef fat to it will make it just right!!
Hi there,
I’m just wondering if these stick well together seeing that there is no egg in the recipe. Thanks!
Yes they do!
This is perfect! My husband just had a heart attack and now he has to give in to this whole clean eating thing (finally!) He was just complaining that he is relegated to eating sticks and twigs cuz all the food he likes has nitrates or sodium benzoate or other scary sounding ingredients. He will love this 🙂
I really appreciate all the home recipes. I love sausage but cant eat it often because its to salty & i have high blood pressure. I will try to make it myself with less salt.
Every year near Christmas, our family makes Polish sausage. We do about 50 or so pounds and split it between the siblings and parents. We grind pork butt and add salt, pepper, and garlic. Then we case it and hang it for 24 hours. It’s the best sausage ever!
When you ‘case it’ – what do you use for casing?
When you hang it – what temp – room temp, refrigerate?
Thanks!
You make your own polish sausage? Oh yum!
I’m from Florida, where do you hang it? And can you do this with other meat?
Where do you ger the casin.
I used to make sausage from ground beef. Adding some Liquid Smoke made then really good. I have not done this for years but I’m pretty sure Liquid Smoke meets paleo guidelines.
What would you typically serve these with for brekkie Katie?
Hi
First off love the website. It’s so full of wonderful information. Quick question… since i don’t eat pork could i use say ground beef, chicken, or turkey in the recipe….thanks
I have not tried it, but I bet that would work. Let me know if you do try it, and how you like it!
I’ve made homemade breakfast sausage (not this recipe) using ground chicken, it’s delicious!
You can use ground turkey and it turns out just about the same, but I’m pretty sure ground beef wouldn’t give you the same “sausagy” taste – it would be more like an oddly flavored hamburger patty. I’d stick to the more benign tasting meats like pork and turkey that take to these added flavors well and need the extra bump of flavor. I use a similar rendition of this recipe but I add two Tbsp of organic maple syrup. That, mixed with the fennel, tastes amazing!
I’ve always used ground turkey. It’s excellent and much Heather.
Because this is a wellness site, I’m actually shocked that pork would be included as an ingredient on this forum. I had high standards for this site.
Pastured pork from a healthy source is good for you.
To Verna – Katie is right. Pastured pork is not the same as factory farmed pork! This wonderful site and great information.
Agreed! I studied animal science and this site it great.
Did your studies mention that if the meat is not certified organic, it could be FDA-approved cloned flesh?
I like ground chicken the best. I prefer the texture because it more closely resembles the texture of pork sausage. BTW this recipe is really tasty. Added to my own personal recipe book
I’ve used a meat grinder… and I completely agree about the cleaning time (no thanks)! Tastes great. Nowadays, I usually just pulse things in the Ninja because it’s easier to clean.
And homemade sausage is the best! I’m excited to try this rendition soon. Thanks for sharing. 🙂