Homemade Italian Sausage Recipe
Published October 7, 2022. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
Learn how to make the best authentic, flavorful homemade Italian Sausage recipe from scratch that is simple to cook and delicious. I promise, you will love the flavors in this sausage and the satisfaction of making it at home.
Italian sausage adds incredible depth of flavor and a hearty dose of protein to so many dishes. I love using it in my pasta with Italian sausage recipe or in my sausage with peppers and onions for a classic, satisfying meal.
Italian Sausage
Italian sausage is ground pork often flavored with garlic and fennel seed. It comes in two different styles, sweet or hot. Hot Italian sausage usually is flavored with spicy red pepper, while the sweet version has no pepper in it. In addition, Italian sausage is a very popular pizza topping in coarse loose chunks or sliced links.
In my family, Italian sausage is always part of our holiday celebrations. Whether it’s simmering in a rich sauce or grilled and served on a bun, it’s a very popular cased protein. My recipe is a balanced approach to the sweet and hot version with ingredients that complement each other and provide a lot of flavors.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Pork – A trimmed pork shoulder or pork butt is the perfect meat cut. You can add in some pork belly for more fat and flavor.
- Spices – I use a combination of fennel, basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, paprika, nutmeg, and coriander.
- Parsley – Adding some chopped fresh parsley will add some nice flavors and freshness to the Italian sausage.
- Garlic – Finely minced cloves are traditional to use and provide outstanding flavors.
- Casing – I use natural hog casing for this.
- Wine – A good Italian white Pinot Grigio is what I used. However, you can use a red Sangiovese or Chianti in this as well.
- Orange – This is an addition to traditional Italian sausage, but it is an ingredient often used in Italy while making sausage.
- Sugar – This will help to balance out some of the spicy seasonings in this.
- Ice – Shaved ice will help keep the sausage moist when encased.
How to Make Italian Sausage
Soak: I add the hog casing to a medium-sized bowl and cover it with 4 to 5 inches of cold water. Then, I set it aside to soak while I prepare the other ingredients.
Prep the Pork: I trim the meat away from the pork shoulder bone and cut it into 1-inch chunks. Then, I place the pieces in the freezer or refrigerator to chill for 15 to 20 minutes.
Prepare: While the pork chills, I measure out the spices, grate the garlic and orange zest, chop the parsley, and portion out the shaved ice. I set everything aside until it’s time to mix, keeping the ice in the freezer so it stays cold.
Assemble: I set up my grinder, attaching the auger, blade, dye, and tightening ring, making sure everything is secure and ready for use.
Grind: I run the cold cubed pork through the food grinder fitted with a medium-size dye, letting the ground meat fall into a clean pan for easy mixing.
Season: I add all the spices, including the wine and shaved ice to the ground pork and mix thoroughly, ensuring the seasoning is evenly distributed throughout the meat.
Test: I fry a small piece of the Italian sausage mixture and taste it to check the seasoning. If needed, I adjust the flavors before placing the mixture back in the freezer or refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes to keep it chilled.
Rinse: I run water through the center of the hog casing to flush out any salt or residue. Then, I set it aside until it’s time to stuff the sausage.
Stuff: I attach the hog casing to the sausage stuffer, securing it in place. Then, I tie a knot at the end and run the sausage mixture through the attachment at low speed, carefully stuffing the casing to ensure an even fill.
Secure: I tie a knot at the end of the stuffed sausage, then continue filling the remaining casing until all the sausage mixture is used.
Shape: I hold the filled sausage casing in the middle and pinch it to create the first section for forming links.
Link: I move down about 6 inches, pinch the casing again, and twist the two sections together to form the first sausage link.
Secure: I take one of the hanging links and loop it through the center of the two twisted 6-inch links, locking them in place. Then, I repeat the process along the entire filled casing until all the links are formed and secured.
Finish: I tie a double knot at the end of the sausage links to keep them secure, then trim off any excess casing. At this point, they’re ready to store or cook.
Chef Tip + Notes
The key to making the best Italian sausage is keeping everything cold. Chilling the pork, grinder parts, and even the mixing bowl prevents the fat from breaking down too soon, which keeps the texture firm and juicy instead of greasy. I always freeze the cubed pork for 15-20 minutes before grinding and chill the sausage mixture before stuffing to lock in the best flavor and consistency.
- Casing Tip: Each hog casing is about 2 to 3 feet long, and I can load 2 to 4 casings onto the filler tube at once to keep the process smooth.
- Link Size: I like making traditional links, but if I want smaller ones, I use the method from my bangers recipe. for a tighter, more compact shape.
- Seasoning Variations: I always encourage tweaking the spices to personal taste, but garlic, fennel seeds, salt, pepper, paprika, wine, and red pepper flakes are non-negotiables for authentic flavor.
- Pork Bones: I never toss the leftover pork bones, I freeze them and save them for a rich homemade pork stock later.
- Grinding Spices: If I don’t have a spice grinder, I use a mortar and pestle to break down the fennel and coriander for the perfect texture.
Serving Suggestions
I often slice this Italian sausage and toss it into a rustic sausage and lentil soup for a comforting, protein-packed dish.
If I’m firing up the grill, I serve it with a side of roasted garlic potatoes and a crisp Italian salad for a balanced meal.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: You can make this up to 3 days ahead of time. Just keep cool in the refrigerator and cover until ready to cook.
How to Store: Cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. The Italian sausage will freeze well for up to 6 months, either raw or cooked. Thaw in the refrigerator for 1 day before cooking or reheating.
Recipes Using Italian Sausage
Video
Homemade Italian Sausage Recipe
Ingredients
- 15 to 18 feet natural hog casing
- 9 pounds bone-in pork shoulder
- 2 tablespoons fennel seeds
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
- 1 tablespoon dry basil
- 1 tablespoon dry oregano
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 3 tablespoons sea salt
- 1 tablespoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon Paprika
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons grated garlic
- Zest of 1 orange
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1/3 cup chopped Parsley
- 1 1/2 cups crushed shaved ice
Instructions
- Add the hog casing to a medium-sized bowl and cover by 4 to 5 inches with cold water, and set it aside.
- Trim away the meat of the pork shoulder away from the bone and cut it into 1-inch chunks and place them into a bowl, cover them, and put them in the freezer or refrigerator to chill for 15-20 minutes.
- In the meantime, add the fennel, coriander, basil, oregano, basil, oregano, nutmeg, pepper flakes, black pepper, salt, paprika, and sugar to a spice grinder and pulse 10 to 15 times to break down the fennel and coriander a bit. This does not have to be perfect.
- Run the cold cubed pork through the food grinder using the medium size dye into another pan.
- Add in all the spices, garlic, orange zest, white wine, parsley, and shaved ice, and mix thoroughly.
- Fry a small piece of the Italian sausage and taste it to adjust any seasonings, and then place it again in the freezer or refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.
- Run some water through the center of the hog casing to rinse everything out.
- Attach the hog casing around the sausage filler, tie a knot at the end, run the chilled sausage through the attachment at low speed, and stuff the hog casing. Watch the video.
- Tie a knot around the end of the sausage and continue stuffing until all the ingredients have been used.
- Hold one filled casing in the middle and pinch it.
- Next, go down about 6” inches and pinch again and twist them together.
- Use one of the hanging remaining links through the whole of the two 6” links twisted together, and then repeat the process until the filled casing is tied.
- Tie a double not at the end of the links and cut off any excess. Store or cook.
I just got everything needed to do this. The attention to detail in this recipe is just perfect for a novice. Thanks so much Billy, another great recipe! Can’t wait to make these. I am hoping you will go the thin spiral sausage with parsley and cheese next.
It’s my pleasure!
Can I use ground pork instead of a shoulder? I could run the ground pork thru the meat grinder if it is not ground finely enough….
In most cases, ground pork is ground pork shoulder 🙂
Thanks for these lessons.. my question is if I use beef instead of pork which part of it will be the best to use .
Thanks
Beef will have a completely different flavor and I do not recommend.
Thank you chef for all your wonderful recipes. I have made this sausage recipe twice. I make it in 1 lb bulk packaging and vacuum seal them and cook it up for biscuits and gravy. Some of the second batch I am going to send to my kids. Thank you again!
Best Italian sausage ever!! So balanced, tasty, and great texture. It is now my permanent recipe for Italian sausage.
I made this yesterday and froze most of it except for what we ate for supper. I didn’t use casings because I like it loose so I can saute it and add it to soups and stews. This came out pretty good. I forgot to add the red pepper flakes but did add in a couple shakes of ground cayenne pepper. Came out great! Thanks for the recipe. I’ll be making it again.
Chef – first, thank you for taking the time to put your recipe and process on this page as it helped me tremendously. I had never made sausage before but have wanted to try for quite some time. I have a KitchenAid Pro mixer and I recently bought a grinder attachment and sausage stuffer. Thanks to your instruction (and recipe), the entire process went smoothly and I was able to bang[er] out a few dozen sausages from a pork shoulder. I fried up a small patty (before stuffing the rest!) and it was excellent. I am looking forward to playing around with the seasonings and trying different types of sausages. Maybe some brats next…
I don’t have a grinder, and don’t want to invest in one right now. Can I process the pork in a food processor? I did that with the salmon for your salmon patties, worked great. And one more question, would it work to freeze this in bulk rather than links, so the sausage can be used in pasta sauces or made into patties? Thanks so much, I can’t wait to try this!
It would be better if you finely chopped it. If you place it in a food processor, it may get too fine.
Chef, I am curious, if you defrost a pork butt to use to make these sausages, can you freeze the sausages since the meat was previously frozen. Thanks
Yes
Thank you for the quick response. Can’t wait to make the sausages and bangers….
Can this be made into a patty instead of links, not using the casings? Thks
of course
I love all your videos. This is a real cooking show for real people. I watch every video on utube but am unable to make a comment to let you know how I appreciate every one I watch.
Thank you so kindly!!