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Homemade sausage is the ideal way to start your morning. Learn how to make breakfast sausage patties that give store-bought a run for its money! They are surprisingly easy, and you can customize them exactly to your liking.
Breakfast sausage is one of my go-to ways to add some protein to our meals in the morning.
I love making freshly milled banana bread or strawberry sweet rolls and a big plate of sausage for a tasty and satiating meal!
I’ve already shared my wild game sausage recipes: maple moose sausages and venison breakfast sausages. I figured it was time I finally shared my pork breakfast sausage recipe!
These sausages are savory, juicy, and so easy to make. They are delicious on their own, and they can be added to a variety of tasty breakfast dishes (like English muffin egg sandwiches).
You can skip the store-bought sausage meat and frozen patties, because now you’ll know how to make your own with simple ingredients and a seasoning you love!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Choose your own ingredients: When you make your own breakfast sausage, you get to choose what goes in it! That means simple, wholesome ingredients and customizing the flavor to your preferences.
- Filling breakfast: Breakfast sausage is a delicious way to add protein to a meal. It can be used as a filling side or added to egg dishes to keep you full a little longer.
- Great for meal prep: If you love the convenience of freezer sausages, you can still opt for homemade! In this post, I’ll share how to freeze your sausage patties, raw or cooked, for a convenient breakfast later.
Ingredients
- Ground pork: Make sure you use unseasoned pork, or you’ll be overloaded with seasoning!
- Seasoning: I share a really yummy seasoning blend in the recipe card, and you can tweak it to suit your preference. Check out the variations below for some ideas!
- Sugar: Just a touch of sugar balances the flavor and helps the sausage brown.
Find the ingredient measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of this page!
Variations
- Italian sausage: Add a teaspoon of fennel!
- Hot Italian sausage: Take the red pepper flakes to ½ teaspoon and add ¼ teaspoon of cayenne.
- Bulk sausage instead of patties: Skip the shaping and brown it loose for pasta sauce, spaghetti, pizza, lasagna, or soup.
- Add coriander: ½ teaspoon of ground coriander is traditional and adds a warm citrus note.
- Tangy version: Add 1 teaspoon of red wine vinegar with the water.
- Breakfast-style: Add 1 teaspoon of brown sugar.
- Sausage meatballs: Roll into 1-inch balls, brown them in the skillet, then finish in sauce.
How to Make Breakfast Sausage Patties
Step 1. Stir all of the seasonings together in a small bowl.
Step 2. Place the ground pork in a large bowl. Sprinkle the seasoning over the top and add the cold water. Mix with your hands until evenly combined, about 30 seconds.
Step 3. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or overnight for the best flavor.
Step 4. Divide into 6-8 portions and shape into patties about ½-inch thick. Press a shallow dimple into the center of each.
Step 5. Heat a 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat. Cook the patties for 4 to 5 minutes per side, until browned and cooked through to 160°F. Serve hot.
Tips + Notes
- This recipe is for unseasoned ground pork. Don’t substitute anything with seasoning, because we will be adding plenty of our own spices.
- If your ground pork does not have a lot of fat, add a light layer of oil to the skillet.
- Do not overwork the meat. Mix only until the seasoning disappears into the pork.
- You don’t necessarily have to add water, but it’s easy enough, and just two tablespoons keeps them juicy and spreads the seasoning evenly. It cooks out when you fry them, so don’t worry about too much moisture.
- Rest the sausage mixture overnight if you can. It is good after an hour and noticeably better the next morning.
- Dimple the centers. Patties puff up in the middle, especially if they have a lot of fat, so a shallow thumbprint keeps them flat.
- Rather than patties, you can add the cooked sausage crumbles to another dish, such as sausage breakfast skillet or egg muffins with sausage.
How to Freeze Homemade Sausage Patties
Homemade breakfast sausage patties can be frozen, raw or cooked, to preserve them longer and enjoy a convenient breakfast later on.
Lay the sausage patties out on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and freeze them for a few hours, then transfer to a sealed container. Sausage can be frozen for up to 6 months.
Raw frozen breakfast sausage can be cooked straight from the freezer without thawing, or thawed in the fridge overnight first. Cooked patties can be reheated in the microwave or in a cast iron skillet on the stove.
I prefer freezing them cooked because it is much easier, but both options can work well!
Recipe FAQs
Once your sausages have a nice golden-brown exterior and the internal temperature is 160°F, they are ready to eat. I suggest using an instant-read digital thermometer in the center of the sausages to know exactly when to take them off the heat.
Yes, you can use ground chicken in place of the ground pork. Make sure the sausages are cooked to 165°F in the center. I recommend using a little oil to cook the sausages because chicken is leaner than pork.
You can store it in the fridge in a sealed container for about 3 days or freeze it for longer-term storage. To enjoy later, reheat the sausage in a cast iron skillet or crumble it into a breakfast casserole or homemade quiche!
Looking for more easy and delicious breakfast inspiration? Check out all of my best cast iron breakfast recipes, or find a few reader favorites below!
Related Recipes
If you tried these Homemade Breakfast Sausage Patties or any other recipe on my website, please leave a star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Homemade Breakfast Sausage Patties
Equipment
- 12-inch cast iron skillet
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground pork*
- 1 teaspoon rubbed sage
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons cold water
Instructions
- Stir all of the seasonings together in a small bowl.
- Place the ground pork in a large bowl. Sprinkle the seasoning over the top and add the cold water. Mix with your hands until evenly combined, about 30 seconds.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or overnight for the best flavor.
- Divide into 6-8 portions and shape into patties about ½ inch thick. Press a shallow dimple into the center of each.
- Heat a 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat. Cook the patties for 4 to 5 minutes per side, until browned and cooked through to 160°F. Serve hot.
Notes
- *This recipe is for unseasoned ground pork. Don’t substitute anything with seasoning, because we will be adding plenty of our own spices.
- If your ground pork does not have a lot of fat, add a light layer of oil to the skillet.
- Do not overwork the meat. Mix only until the seasoning disappears into the pork.
- You don’t necessarily have to add water, but it’s easy enough, and just two tablespoons keeps them juicy and spreads the seasoning evenly. It cooks out when you fry them, so don’t worry about too much moisture.
- Rest the sausage mixture overnight if you can. It is good after an hour and noticeably better the next morning.
- Dimple the centers. Patties puff up in the middle, especially if they have a lot of fat, so a shallow thumbprint keeps them flat.
- Rather than patties, you can add the cooked sausage crumbles to another dish, such as sausage breakfast skillet or egg muffins with sausage.
