Sausage Recipes - 10 Easy, Delicious Options!

I spent part of my weekend creating new sausage recipes. I also tweaked a couple of my older recipes for sausage. The aroma of the meat, herbs, and spices is still lingering in the house, especially in the kitchen. I think it’s driving the dogs crazy! I haven’t done homemade sausage in a while, as the sausage grinder stayed with my ex-husband. I solved that problem in two ways. First of all, I made patties, so I didn’t need a sausage maker that’s used with casings to make links. Second, I used meat that was already ground by a local butcher at my nearby Publix supermarket. I just told him what I needed, and I added for him to make sure the meat had enough fat in it. I could hardly wait to get the ground meat home and start on my concoctions! We had homemade sausage for dinner last night, and hubby had it again this morning for breakfast, in a buttermilk biscuit. Since I made several batches, I had enough to put in the freezer, too. You really should try your hand at this. It’s incredibly easy, and you can make some really delicious, customized patties. Instead of patties, you might prefer crumbling the meat in other dishes. Check out my sausage recipes!

I really enjoyed making sausage! I like the chance to be creative in the kitchen, and coming up with your own seasonings for sausage certainly provides some great opportunities. If you already have a sausage grinder or sausage maker, you’re probably already an old hand at making sausage. If that’s the case, you might not find this article very helpful, although you might still get a couple of ideas. The sausage recipes and tips are more designed for beginning sausage makers.

I’m including a few easy tips for making sausage here. First, pay attention to how much fat is in the meat. A lot of sausage makers prefer using a meat mixture that’s two-thirds lean muscle and one-third fat. I usually go a little leaner – probably about one-fourth fat and three-fourths lean. If my sausage is very lean, I use a little oil in the frying pan so that the patties won’t stick. You can also use a non-stick pan and spray it with some Pam. You won’t get the same nice browning and crust as you’d get with an iron skillet, however.

More sausage making tips: Keep your meat chilled and work in small batches. Because ground meat has so much surface area, it’s more susceptible to bacteria. If you keep the meat extra cold, bacteria will be prevented. That’s a good reason to work with small batches at a time. It’s also easier to get all your herbs and spices distributed evenly in the meat when you use smaller amounts of meat. You can easily try out several different sausage recipes in this manner. That’s why you’ll see that all the sausage recipes included here, except for the venison sausage recipe, are for one pound of meat. If you like, you can always double or triple the recipes.

I usually like to add just a little liquid to my meat, too. Sometimes I use plain water, sometimes I use apple juice, sometimes I use beer, and sometimes I use other liquids. For a smoky flavor, I use Liquid Smoke. Whichever I decide to use when making sausage, I always add my spices, herbs, and other seasonings to the liquid before seasoning the ground meat. I think this helps release some of the flavors of the seasonings and makes them incorporate better with the pork or other flesh.

After I mix up my meat and seasonings, I like to leave the raw sausage in the fridge for a while to get nice and firm before I form it into patties. I’ve found that a covered metal or glass bowl works well for this. If I want to freeze some of the uncooked sausage to cook at another time, I usually make the patties and stack them with a small sheet of waxed paper between each one. This way, they can be stored in a large freezer bag.

How to season your homemade sausage? There are no rules when it comes to sausage seasoning – use the ones you like best! I wrote an entire article that’s pretty much devoted to this topic. If you want to see my ideas and suggestions for sausage seasoning, just click the link!

Here’s one more tip for you: When you’re making sausage into patties with your hands, it can get pretty sticky. To avoid this, try spraying your hands with cooking spray before forming the patties.

Most of the patties I made yesterday were pork sausage, although I did make one batch of chicken sausage. I’ll admit, I liked the pork version much better. The chicken sausage was okay, and it was lower in fat, but it just didn’t have the same flavor and heartiness that the pork sausage did. That might very well be because I’m more accustomed to pork sausage. Whenever we used to make venison sausage, we always added some pork or some pork fat to the deer meat.

I’m really not exactly sure why I prefer pork sausage over other types of meats used in sausage making. The natural flavor and juiciness of pork just seems to go well with the seasoning agents. When I had my sausage grinder, we often used pork shoulders for making sausage. If the cuts were too lean, we added some pork fat. We raised our own pigs, so we had an abundant supply of fresh pork. If the ground pork you buy doesn’t have enough fat, you can add some bacon or some fatback. If you use bacon, be careful not to add too much salt to your sausage recipe.

Of all the sausage recipes I made over the weekend, this was my favorite! I’ve always liked maple sausage, so I decided to give it an extra level of flavor by adding some apple. In this maple sausage recipe, I used a Granny Smith apple because I wanted some tartness to go along with the sweetness. Any tart apple varieties would work just as well, I’m sure. I didn’t bother to peel or core the apple first, and most of the peel remained on the grater. I used a whole apple, but you might want to try using just half an apple, instead. For more texture, you might want to shred your apple instead of grate it. Just be careful not to have the pieces of fruit too large, or they won’t cook, and they’ll still be crunchy.

Maple Sausage Recipe

We really like spicy foods, so it’s natural for us to prefer hot sausage. You might prefer referring to it as spicy sausage. Either way, there are several ways to add some heat to your ground meat. I’ve used cayenne, chipotle powder, chili powder, and paprika as dry sausage seasoning. I’ve also added minced or chopped jalapenos or other hot peppers. You can also try using a liquid vinegar-based hot sauce in your spicy sausage, but if you do, omit any other liquid or at least reduce the amount. You don’t want your homemade sausage to be too “soupy.”

Hot Sausage Recipe

1 pound ground pork

1 tablespoon ice water

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon rubbed sage

1 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon ground ginger

Directions: Chill meat.

Combine ice water and seasonings and mix with pork.

Cover and refrigerate for two hours.

Form into patties and fry.

This is for folks who really love the savory flavor and the pungent aroma of onion and garlic. That definitely includes me! This breakfast sausage recipe isn’t for everyone, as not everyone appreciates such bold flavors first thing in the morning.

Garlic and Onion Sausage Recipe

1 pound ground pork

½ small onion

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sage

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon dried oregano

Directions: Chill pork.

Grate onion into a mixing bowl and add garlic and remaining ingredients.

Combine with pork and chill sausage mixture until firm.

Form into patties and fry.

The grandkids love this sweet sausage. Hubby has an enormous sweet tooth, so he likes this breakfast sausage recipe, too. I like to top these patties with a slice of cheese. The creamy saltiness of the cheese is a nice complement to the sweetness of the meat.

Sweet Breakfast Sausage Recipe

1 pound ground pork

1 tablespoon water or apple juice

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon rubbed sage

½ teaspoon marjoram

½ teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon allspice

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Pinch ground cloves

Directions: Chill ground pork.

Combine water or juice with remaining ingredients and add meat. Mix well.

Refrigerate until mixture is firm.

Form into patties and fry.

Smoked sausage is normally exposed to real smoke from a real fire. This isn’t really very feasible with pan sausage, but you can make easy smoked sausage with a great liquid ingredient called Liquid Smoke. We use it all the time and always keep a large bottle of it in the pantry. We add it to barbecue sauces and marinades, and we often use it as a condiment on beef and pork. Heck, I sprinkle it on grilled steaks! It’s perfect for adding real smoky flavor to your sausage recipes, too. We’ve tried several different brands, and we prefer Colgin Liquid Smoke. It comes in four different flavors: apple, hickory, mesquite, and pecan. Try them all to see which one you like best!

Easy Smoked Sausage Recipe

1 pound ground pork

1 tablespoon Liquid Smoke (any flavor, but I like hickory for this recipe)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon sage

½ teaspoon cayenne

½ teaspoon dried fennel

½ teaspoon onion powder

Directions: Chill pork.

Combine Liquid Smoke with remaining ingredients. Add meat and mix well.

Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

Make pork sausage into patties and fry.

I wish I had a dollar for every venison sausage patty I’ve ever made. I’d be set for life! The ex and I were avid hunters, and making sausage was a great way to use the deer meat we had. Sometimes we’d use most of the meat for venison sausage and venison burgers. Of course, we wouldn’t use the choice backstraps in the sausage grinder, but we would often grind up the shoulders and hams, along with any meat scraps. As I said before, you have to add some fat to the deer sausage. I’ve tried beef fat, but it didn’t work out nearly as well as pork fat.

Easy Venison Sausage Recipe

1 pound ground venison

½ pound ground pork

¼ pound ground pork fat or fatback

2 tablespoons ice water

1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke

2 teaspoons rubbed sage

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon onion salt

½ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon mace

Directions: Chill ground venison, pork, and pork fat.

Stir together ice water and Liquid Smoke. Add remaining ingredients.

Mix meats and fat with liquid and seasonings.

Cover and chill until mixture is firm. Form into patties and fry.

I’ve never completely understood the term Breakfast Sausage. I mean, can’t any type be used as breakfast sausage? Supposedly, it’s fresh instead of cured or smoked, but we’ve eaten smoked sausage plenty of times for breakfast! By the way, if you’re not in the United States, this type is sometimes called Country Sausage. The following is a good basic breakfast sausage recipe. You can easily add other sausage seasoning - whatever you like!

Breakfast Sausage Recipe

1 pound ground pork

1 tablespoon cold apple juice

1 teaspoon rubbed sage

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon cayenne

Directions: Chill pork in fridge or freezer.

Combine apple juice and sausage seasoning.

Mix meat with juice and spices. Cover and leave in fridge for an hour or so.

Form into patties and fry.

You’ve probably eaten chicken sausage before, perhaps without realizing it. A lot of commercial sausage makers in the U.S. add chicken to their sausages, along with pork and/or beef. You know that hot dogs, for example, are a type of sausages, right? Okay, look at the label on a few brands of wieners, and you’ll probably find that they contain chicken flesh. Chicken sausage can be very lean, and it can be dry, too. because of this, it might tend to stick to the cooking surface. Remember to use nonstick cooking spray or a little oil when frying chicken sausage.

Chicken Sausage Recipe

1 pound ground chicken

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon apple juice

½ teaspoon Liquid Smoke (apple flavor is best here)

2 teaspoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon sage

½ teaspoon dried rosemary

½ teaspoon dried thyme

½ teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon cayenne

Directions: Chill ground chicken.

Whisk together oil, apple juice, and Liquid Smoke. Add sausage seasoning agents and refrigerate mixture for about 15 minutes.

Combine chicken with seasonings and liquids.

Place in refrigerator until mixture is firm.

Form into patties and fry in a nonstick skillet that has been sprayed with Pam or some other cooking spray.

I was on a ground turkey kick for a while, and I never did really warm up to turkey burgers, but I thought turkey sausage was better. I guess all the sausage seasoning I used made a huge difference. I also found that if I used flesh from the thighs, the sausage was more flavorful and juicier. It tasted more like pork sausage. I guess that’s because turkey thighs have more fat and a more pronounced flavor that the breast meat has.

Turkey Sausage Recipe

1 pound ground turkey

1 tablespoon ice water

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sage

1 teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

½ teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon sugar

¼ teaspoon ground coriander

1 egg, beaten

Directions: Chill ground turkey.

Combine ice water with salt, sage, black pepper, red pepper flakes, onion powder, sugar, and coriander. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour.

Remove meat mixture from fridge and combine with egg.

Make into patties and fry turkey sausage in a drizzle of oil.

I don’t know how you make potato cakes, but around here, we make them with leftover mashed potatoes. We usually add an egg, some chopped onion, and sometimes a little flour. When I was making sausage yesterday, I remembered that I had some cold mashed potatoes in the fridge. I knew that sausage makers around the world sometimes use rice, oats, bread, breadcrumbs, and barley in their sausage recipes, so why not taters? I gave it a try, and it was pretty darn good! Here’s the recipe for potato cakes that I used:

Recipe for Potato Cakes – with sausage

1 pound ground pork

1 egg

½ teaspoon Liquid Smoke

2 tablespoons minced onion

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon rubbed sage

1 teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon chili powder

½ teaspoon dried thyme

1 cup cold mashed potatoes

Directions: Chill meat.

Whisk together egg and Liquid Smoke in a large bowl. Add onion and sausage seasoning ingredients.

Add mashed potatoes and meat and mix well.

Firm mixture in refrigerator.

Oil an iron skillet and fry patties on medium heat.