Sausage Spice Blends

Subs in cooking. They are your friend. I love tips or workarounds that allow you to buy the basic versatile pieces of something and assemble it into whatever you need.It’s not limited to one application.

Ground meat is a good example. Buying ground turkey or pork is cheaper than buying breakfast sausage or Italian sausage. Plus it has the perk that it could become anything.  A pound of ground turkey could be tacos, meatballs, sausage, etc! Breakfast turkey sausage will only ever be that. The other perk is controlling the type of ingredients you use. Want something extra lean but the Italian sausage at your grocery is too fatty? Fixed. Want breakfast sausage but cutting sugar? Fixed.

Each recipe is mild/sweet or you can add the optional “Spicy” ingredients. If you are doing Whole 30 or just cutting out sugar, you can omit the brown sugar in the breakfast sausage.

Combine all of the spice ingredients together in a small dish, then mix into the raw meat. You can let the seasoned meat sit overnight (to develop the flavor), or use it right away if you’re in a pinch. These types of sausages are typically made with pork, but you can lighten them up by using turkey or ground chicken*. You could even go half and half with a richer fatty meat and a lean one. Or just halve the whole thing and make less. 

ITALIAN SAUSAGE

1 pound ground meat

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon parsley

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon basil

1/2 teaspoon fennel seed

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1+ teaspoon red pepper flakes (for SPICY)

BREAKFAST SAUSAGE

1 pound ground meat

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon dried sage

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2+ teaspoon cayenne pepper (for SPICY)

1/2+ teaspoon red pepper flakes (for SPICY)

Spice blend for 'Italian Sausage' all mixed up!

It looks like a lot, but trust me, it's the right amount.

Un-glamorous picture of the spice blend mixed into meat.

* You will need to use some oil while cooking if you go with a lean turkey or chicken.