Our homemade Italian Sausage Recipe is wholesome and savory with fragrant herbs and spices. An easy, freezer-friendly recipe that comes together in just 20 minutes.
Why You’ll Love This Homemade Italian Sausage
As a former restauranteur and caterer, I get a lot of pleasure from taking the time to create wholesome recipes from scratch for my family, like this homemade Italian Sausage recipe. This staple is a favorite at our house and it’s easy to make, with simple ingredients, ready in just 20 minutes!
What I love about this recipe is that you can use your choice of ground meat, adapt the heat level to your liking, and make the sausage into crumbles or sausage patties. Either way you make these, the Italian sausage is freezer-friendly, which makes busy weeknights stress-free! This high-protein meal is great for feeding the family too!
Italian Sausage Recipe Ingredients
- Ground meat: Use ground beef, ground turkey, ground pork, ground lamb, or a plant-based alternative like Beyond Burger.
- Spices: The secret to the best Italian sausage! Onion granules (or onion powder), red pepper flakes, fennel seeds, and smoked paprika for aromatic, savory, spicy, and smoky flavor. Anise will work as a substitute for the fennel seeds or a mix of both is nice!
- Dried herbs: Sage and oregano for an earthy, floral taste.
- Salt and pepper: Enhance the flavors, while adding a peppery kick!
How to Make Homemade Italian Sausage
1. Prepare the spices. Combine the spices and use a mortar and pestle to grind them coarsely.
2. Combine the spice mix and ground meat. Mix the spices and ground meat together in a large bowl using your hands until well distributed. You can stop here and wrap tightly in plastic wrap until ready to cook if meal prepping. We prefer using hands as opposed to a stand mixer with paddle attachment or a meat grinder to distribute the spices more evenly and to prevent toughening the meat by overmixing.
3. Refrigerate. For optimal flavor, refrigerate the sausage for 4 to 24 hours. If you need to cook right away you can—the flavor will still be good! Shape into patties or cook as crumbles.
4. Cook the sausage. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage in large chunks, leaving them for a few minutes to develop a brown crust. Turn over and brown the other side, then use a spatula to chop into smaller chunks if desired.
Italian sausage Variations
- Give it a kick: Add cayenne pepper or more red pepper flakes to make a spicy Italian sausage.
- Add more aromatic flavor: Cook the sausage crumbles with garlic cloves for a more pungent taste. Garlic powder works nicely too.
- Turn it into a sauce: Cook the crumbles with tomato sauce to make your spaghetti sauce. Garnish with grated parmesan cheese!
- Make Sweet Italian Sausage! Add 1-2 teaspoons of brown sugar.
Chef’s Tips
- Cook in a large cast iron skillet. A cast iron skillet helps the sausage brown and develop rich flavor. A large pan prevents over crowding yielding more brown crispy pieces.
- Don’t disturb the sausage while cooking. Avoid tossing the sausage while cooking, this will help it brown and develop ideal texture.
- Avoid over-cooking. Over-cooking the sausage will dry it out.
Storing Italian Sausage
Store leftovers in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 3-4 days. Reheat on the stovetop in a warm skillet.
How to Freeze Italian Sausage
- To freeze the crumbles: spread the crumbled meat on a sheet pan. Place it in the freezer for at least 1-2 hours. Then, transfer it to a sealed container or ziplock bag.
- To freeze sausage patties: Shape the mixture into 1 ½ – 2 ounce patties. Freeze them on a sheet pan for 2 hours, then move to a sealed container or ziplock bag.
Serving Suggestions
There are so many ways to enjoy Italian sausage as crumbles or patties. It is incredibly versatile!
We love mixing these Italian sausage crumbles into our Baked Gnocchi or Cornbread Stuffing, Thanksgiving Stuffing Muffins, Lentil Sausage Soup , Bolognese Sauce, or Minestrone Soup. We also enjoy this sprinkled over pizza using our sourdough pizza crust, mixed into our Baked Ziti, or served with Scrambled Eggs.
Use the patties with our Sourdough Biscuits to make a breakfast sandwich! Or serve them with slices of Grilled Polenta.
FAQs
The seasoning makes all the difference! What usually sets Italian sausage apart is the fennel. We also use Italian seasonings like oregano.
Italian sausage pairs well with vegetables like bell peppers and beans, or with dishes like pasta, eggs, and pizza. The possibilities are endless!
You can use ground beef, ground turkey, ground pork, or use a plant-based meat alternative like Beyond Burger.
Hope you enjoy this recipe for homemade Italian Sausage as much as we do! Let me know in the comments below!
More Favorite Recipes!
Homemade Italian Sausage Recipe
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
- Total Time: 23 minutes
- Yield: 2 cups
- Category: side dish, cooking basics
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian-American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Our homemade Italian Sausage Recipe is wholesome and savory with fragrant herbs and spices. An easy, freezer-friendly recipe that comes together in just 20 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground meat (ground beef, ground turkey, ground pork, ground lamb, or plant-based meat alternative)
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon sage
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon onion granules
- 1/8–1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Instructions
- Mix the spices and grind them coarsely with a mortar and pestle. (Or add whole spices directly.)
- In a large bowl add the spice mix and ground meat mix together with your hands until the seasonings are well distributed.
- For the best flavor infusion refrigerate the sausage for 4 to 24 hours, but cooking it right away will still give good flavor. You can shape it into patties or cook it in crumbles.
- To cook, heat up a skillet to medium-high. Add the sausage in large chunks. Leave them be for a few minutes so they develop a brown crust. Turn over and brown on the other side. With the spatula chop in smaller chunks if desired.
Notes
Sweet Italian Sausage: add 1/4 teaspoon brown sugar.
Store leftovers for up to 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
To freeze crumbles: Spread the crumbled meat on a sheet pan. Place it in the freezer for at least 1 hour. Then, transfer it to a sealed container or ziplock bag.
To freeze sausage patties: Shape the mixture into 1 ½ – 2 ounce patties. Freeze them on a sheet pan for 2 hours, then move to a sealed container or ziplock bag.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4 ounces
- Calories: 144
- Sugar: 0.1 g
- Sodium: 512 mg
- Fat: 3.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 1.4 g
- Fiber: 0.7 g
- Protein: 25.1 g
- Cholesterol: 67.8 mg
