You can stop buying the pre-packaged stuff now.
Breakfast just got way better. This homemade breakfast sausage recipe combines fresh ground pork with sage, maple, and other herbs and spices for an easy, pan-fried treat.
This Homemade Breakfast Sausage
Like virtually all food made from scratch, homemade breakfast sausage tastes better than anything made in a factory. And this sausage recipe is so uncomplicated, you can make it before you even sip your morning coffee.
Fresh sage, generous amounts of black pepper, salt, fennel seed, and a touch of pure maple syrup combine forces for a breakfast treat that tastes better than any breakfast sausage biding its time on the supermarket shelves.
Pan fry this sausage to order, or cook it up in one batch and refrigerate or freeze it to enjoy throughout the week.
Homemade Breakfast Sausage: Recipe Notes
Again, this homemade breakfast sausage recipe is very simple, but a few technique and ingredient notes will make a difference.
- A cast-iron skillet is the ideal pan for this, because cast iron retains heat so well and cooks food evenly. You will also get a nice crust on the sausage. If cast iron is not in the cards, any good-quality stainless steel pan will do. Lightly oil the pan for the first batch.
- Cook the sausage no higher than medium heat. Pork needs to be cooked through. The heat needs to be low enough to let inside cook through while browning — not blackening — the outside.
- Do not crowd the pan with patties. Leave space so that they brown, and do not steam.
- Just like burgers, the meat will seize up a bit when cooked. Make your patties flat with an indentation in the center.
- This breakfast sausage tastes just this side of sweet. I do think that pure maple syrup is the move here (not the fake stuff). This is by no means a sweet sausage, but if you prefer a more savory version, just reduce the amount of syrup by half. You can also substitute brown sugar.
Like this pork breakfast sausage recipe? You may also enjoy:
- How to Fry Eggs Perfectly
- High-Rise Buttermilk Biscuits
- Buttermilk Cornmeal Pancakes With Blueberry Syrup
Homemade Breakfast Sausage With Sage and Maple Syrup
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground pork
- 2 tablespoons finely-chopped fresh sage
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (or less depending on your taste)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, or 1 teaspoon of table salt
- 1 teaspoon fennel seed
- 20 turns fresh-cracked black pepper (or about 1 teaspoon)
- pinch paprika (optional)
- 1 tablespoon neutral cooking oil, such as canola
Instructions
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the pork, sage, maple syrup, salt, fennel seed, pepper, and paprika. Mix gently with your hands until the ingredients are evenly distributed. Make sure not to overmix or squeeze the meat. You want it to remain tender.
- While heating a skillet on medium heat with the oil, form the pork mixture into small, flat patties with an indentation in the center. The oil should get hot without smoking. Reduce the heat to medium-low.
- Add several of the patties and cook, flipping halfway, until nicely browned and cooked through, about 3 or 4 minutes per side. If the patties start to over-brown or the oil looks too hot, reduce the burner to low.
- Drain the breakfast sausage patties on a plate or baking tray lined with paper towels. Serve hot, or let fully cool before freezing or refrigerating.
16 comments
Julie
This sounds great and I’d love to try it with ground turkey as some of the others have suggested. Do you think I would need to make any spice adjustments to account for the more bland flavor of turkey?
Also, I’d like to freeze them. Would I be able to cook them from frozen? And if so, would you suggest not fully cooking them before freezing? Thanks!
Unpeeled
Hi, Julie! Ground turkey would work just fine. Don’t get the super-lean, all-white meat, though. That will be too dry. The spice should be adequate. If you want, I sometimes take a mini-patty, fry it up, and taste it. That way I can gauge how to adjust the seasoning. For freezing, you can fully cook them, then thaw overnight in the fridge first, or defrost in the microwave before refrying in the pan. Otherwise, the outside could overcook (even burn) before the inside is fully warmed through.
Poppy in Colorado.
My first time making homemade breakfast sausage, which will now be a part of my regular special breakfast routine. This is a great recipe and I loved the flavor. Just sweet enough. Do you think this could work as a turkey sausage? Thanks!
Unpeeled
Hi, Poppy! Yes; it should work. Use ground turkey. However, I highly recommend NOT using all white meat or very low-fat ground turkey. If you can find all dark meat, that would work best. Be sure it’s cooked all the way through. Glad you like it!
Rachel M.
AMAZING. Where has this recipe been all my life!? It’s so easy, too. Fabulous, fabulous.
Rocco Spartan
This sausage was AMAZING. We had it for Fathers day…sweet, salty, wonderful!
Teal
This looks SO good! Definitely dropping a hint for my husband to make for Mother’s Day!
Julie McConnell
Hey Lisa ,
These look fabulous! My daughter is a “ non-porkitarian”, and I was wondering if ground turkey would work in this recipe.
One more question, I’m baking several of your cookie recipes for Christmas —all tried and true— are there any that don’t freeze well?
Thanks a ton and Merry Christmas !
Julie
Unpeeled
Hi, Julie! Yes. Turkey will work. I would just avoid the white meat/lean ground turkey. Get the fattier one. Re: cookies, the cookies will freeze well. I would avoid, however, freezing some of the cookie-ish things, like the pecan toffee bars and the buckeyes. The extreme temperature and moisture of the freezer will affect the sugar and chocolate, respectively. Happy Baking!!!
Unpeeled
Good plan 😉
Carol sparacio
I simply loved the sausage with maple syrup and sage it was delicious .. also I tried the roasted chickpeas … I think it’s my favorite all time food and so easy to make .. also I bought the smoked paprika which really made it pop .. thanks Lisa I love this blog esp during this time when were all trying to cope .. good food .. great friends .. and a good book is all it takes to make me happy and of course chocolate !… Carol
Unpeeled
Thank you so much for the kind words, Carol! I am glad you loved it! (And isn’t smoked paprika so good?) I do need to put more chocolate recipes on the site. It’s definitely more important than ever right now 🙂
Susan A.
This is really, really, really good. I definitely tasted the maple syrup, but I liked it because I had it with an egg and it didn’t taste too overpowering. I like the sage flavor and the pepper.
Unpeeled
Thanks, Susan!
Beth
This looks absolutely delicious. My mouth is watering just looking at this breakfast sandwich. Definitely going on my weekend breakfast menu!
Unpeeled
Thanks, Beth!! Let me know what you think. It really is very, very good.