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I originally made this recipe with diced pieces of pastured Boston butt, mainly because I had an awesome (and somewhat scary looking) old fashioned metal meat grinder that a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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I LOVE this spice mixture! I skip the optional hot stuff, 10x it (because that’s how much fits in my jar), keep it in the fridge (I don’t know that that’s necessary?), and then use 1 tablespoon for every pound of meat. I LOVE IT! Thanks Wellness Mama!
Can these be cooked, cooled and then frozen?
Katie, I love your site. You have so many awesome recipes for healthy living not only food but everything. You are such a good source for those looking to live more healthfully. Thanks for all the work you put into making it easy for us. I’m just wondering if 1 inch patties is correct in this homemade sausage recipe. That would be the size of a quarter. If I made them that small I would surely get more than 16 patties out of 2 pounds. I really want to try it so I’ll just weigh out 2 oz portions and see what size I get. That would give me 16 patties out of 2 pounds.
Delicious Recipe. I made it with 1lb venison and 1lb ground turkey. Omitted the cayenne due to allergy. Cooked on low heat in cast iron pan with a little sunflower oil.
Eating this as I type! It is wonderful!!! I love the spices. The only think I left out was the rosemary because my husband doesn’t care for it! I also used local pork from a fellow homeschool family! Thanks for the recipe!
I use Alton Brown’s breakfast sausage recipe but I use boneless/skinless chicken thighs. I cut the thighs into strips, season and then grind. DELICIOUS! Even my picky 12 year old daughter loves it. There aren’t any leftovers when I make them for breakfast. Give it a try.
This recipe looks pretty good, but…if you don’t have or don’t want to use cloves, you can use about a teaspoon of finely chopped (or grated) fresh ginger (I usually make about 5 lbs. of sausage at a time, so I’m approximating for the 2 lbs. of meat in this recipe). If you want to grind your own pork, use pork shoulder (Boston Butt) for a good protein to fat ratio. If your pork is too lean, consider mixing in some pork belly or pork back fat to make it cook up and taste right. Really lean pork does not make good sausage. Don’t let anyone tell you it does – they lie.
My most memorable experience using that “scary meat grinder” involves grinding fresh cranberries. Hoping to impress my in-laws with my culinary skills one year, I was determined to make a delicious fresh cranberry sauce. No one told me the grinder leaked….or maybe they didn’t know! We soon discovered just how badly the thing no longer screwed together very well as cranberry juice made its way down the side of the counter and onto the floor! This good-natured laugh on me kept them all going long after my marriage was over. The. cranberry relish, as well as myself, remained a favorite for years to come!
I’m going to try this recipe with boneless skinless chicken thighs
Made a few batches of bulk sausage, pork and chicken. Kitchen Aide attachment. Very easy.
Just takes a bit of practice.
Next I want to try some link.