Homemade Sausage, both Breakfast and Italian

Easy, delicious and without any unwanted additives this delicious homemade sausage recipe will have you making all your sausage at home and experimenting with flavors.

Why Make Your Own Sausage from Scratch?

The sausage recipes are easy to make and use ingredients you probably already have on hand. In fact, you can switch from breakfast sausage to Italian sausage as simply as you can switch out your spices and seasonings.

This easy breakfast sausage’s savory deliciousness and pleasing aroma are great to wake up to. It easily fits into all your favorite breakfasts. It’s great as crumbles or patties, and you can even roll it into skinless links if you want.

The benefit of making Italian sausage (or breakfast sausage) on your own is really the same as any homemade recipe. You control the ingredients, and depending on the ground meat you choose, it’s more affordable than store-bought. Plus, ummmm…delicious!

What Meat Should I Use for Making Sausage?

Homemade Sausage recipes can be made with beef, pork, chicken, turkey or even lamb.

You can use all one meat or a blend of two or more. I typically opt for pork and chicken since they are more economical, but I do love beef sausage, too.

So choose the meat that makes sense for your family’s taste preferences and budget. It will taste amazing!

Two Recipes in One

Today, I’m going to share my recipes for both Breakfast Sausage and for Italian Sausage.

The Breakfast Sausage is great as patties, in meatballs or browned as crumbles. Add it to omelets, frittatas, quiches and breakfast casseroles. Shape it into skinless links and freeze a few for later. The possibilities have no limits.

I like to use Italian sausage browned as crumbles in things like Zuppa Toscana, spaghetti, baked spaghetti or lasagna. It is also great blended into meatballs. So, pull out that cast iron skillet _{[affiliate link]} and let’s fry up some scrumptious Homemade Sausage.

Whichever recipe you try, you’ll find that homemade sausage is a tremendous cost savings, tastes fantastic and is super easy to put together in your own kitchen. Give it a try. I think you’ll love it!

The Ingredients

I use apple in both recipes for a couple of different reasons. First, it’s next to impossible to find commercial sausage without refined sugar or corn syrup added.

I wanted my recipe to have a little hint of sweetness from a more healthy source.

Secondly, the meat I use is lean. The apple adds a bit of moisture and tenderness. You will never really taste the apple. Because it’s grated, it will just about melt away into your sausage, leaving that lovely touch of sweetness.

• Ground Meat (your choice of pork, chicken, beef or lamb)
• Apple
• Seasonings : Salt & pepper, plus the herbs and spices you choose for the recipe you choose.

Use the multiplier in the recipe card to make an even larger batch so you have some for the freezer.

This will save you even more time in the future. How great to be able to just pull homemade breakfast patties or links right from the freezer instead of making a trip to the store!

And by doubling or tripling the recipe, it’s easy to mix different proteins for the ultimate flavor.

How to Make Homemade Sausage

It’s so simple. Seriously, it will take me longer to write these instructions than it will for you to make the recipe.

1. Start by grating the apple into a mixing bowl.
2. Add all the seasonings, salt and pepper.
3. Stir the apple and seasonings together until they are thoroughly combined
4. Next, add the meat. You can try mixing this with a wooden spoon or a fork, but I find that the simplest way to combine everything is to just stick my hands in and mix it. You want all the ingredients distributed evenly throughout the meat, so spend a minute or two on it.
5. When everything is combined, you’re ready to cook. Shape it as needed for the dish you’re making.

Cooking and Storing the Sausage

The raw meat can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for three or four days and the raw sausage mixture can also be frozen for up to four months,

Or you can simply prepare it as soon as you’re done mixing it up. Cook it exactly as you would any store-bought sausage.

The Italian sausage almost always goes into crumbles at our house. It’s scrumptious in my Zuppa Toscana recipe, (which happens to also be Whole30 compliant.) It’s also great mixed with ground beef in lasagna, baked spaghetti or meatballs.

The breakfast sausage can be done as crumbles, too. Use them in quiche, breakfast burritos, scrambled eggs or egg casserole. The patties are DEElicious as part of your favorite breakfast and they’re crazy good in breakfast sandwiches, too.

If you want links, I find they are easier to form if you allow the meat mixture to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour. Shape them. Lay them out on a parchment lined cookie sheet or tray and stick them in the freezer to flash freeze them.

Once they’re frozen, pop the sausage links into a zip-top bag and store them in the freezer up to four months. You pull out just the number you need. Cook them from frozen in a medium hot skillet, turning to brown all sides and cook the sausage through, just as you would store-bought brands.

I hope you get a chance to try both these delicious sausage recipes! Maybe it’s time to have a breakfast for dinner night!

And if breakfast for dinner is your thing you should check out these delicious Raised Waffles over at One Hot Oven. They’ll be great with homemade sausage, an easy breakfast casserole or an Italian sausage frittata.

Enjoy!

The Recipe

Recipes to Use Homemade Sausage

Breakfast Casserole Recipe

Baked Spaghetti

Zuppa Toscana