This easy-to-make homemade breakfast sausage recipe is so good that you’ll never want to buy pre-made store-bought ever again.
Servings: 8
Prep Time: 30 minutesminutes
Cook Time: 8 minutesminutes
Ingredients
1poundde-boned pork shoulder or pre-ground pork
1tablespoonminced fresh sage
1tablespoonminced fresh thyme
1 ½teaspoonscrushed red pepper flakes
1 ½teaspoonsground paprika
¼teaspoonground nutmeg
3finely grated garlic cloves
1 ½teaspoonspacked light brown sugar
1 ½teaspoonscoarse salt
1teaspoonground black pepper
1tablespooncooking oil
Instructions
If you’re grinding it from scratch. trim the meat of a pork shoulder away from the bone and cut it into 1-inch chunks, and place them into the freezer or refrigerator to chill for 15-20 minutes. If you have pre-ground pork, go straight to procedure number 3.
Run the cold cubed pork through the food grinder using the medium size dye into another bowl or pan.
Add the sage, thyme, red pepper flakes, paprika, freshly ground nutmeg, finely grated garlic, brown sugar, salt, and pepper to the bowl of ground pork, and mix it in until it is thoroughly combined.
Fry a small piece of the sausage and taste it to adjust any seasonings.
Form the sausage into small patties that are about 2 ½” to 3” in diameter.
Add the oil to a non-stick skillet or cast-iron skillet over medium heat and fry the sausage patties for 3 to 4 minutes per side or until browned and cooked throughout.
Immediately serve the sausage patties.
Notes
Make-Ahead: You can make this up to 3 days ahead of time. Just keep it cool in the refrigerator and cover it 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.How to Reheat: If you have precooked the sausage, re-fry them in a medium size pan with 1 teaspoon of cooking oil over medium heat until lightly browned and cooked throughout.You can also encase the breakfast sausage using sheep casing to make links. Follow my Italian sausage recipe for instructions on how to do it.There can be variations in the seasonings placed into the filling, and I encourage you to find the blend you like. Try adding onion, fennel seeds, cayenne, or maple syrup.You can use dry herbs instead. Swap out the fresh herb amount for ½ the amount of the dry version.