Making your own turkey sausage is one of the easiest, tastiest and healthiest things you can do for yourself.
Take a look at the typical ingredients in a popular commercial brand of breakfast sausage that I shall not name:
Turkey, Water, Contains 2% or Less: Potassium Lactate, Salt, Spices, Dextrose, Sodium Phosphates, Sodium Propionate, Sodium Diacetate, Sugar, Citric Acid, Caramel Color.
Now, compare with the clean and simple ingredients in the recipe below and you will understand immediately.
How to make turkey sausage
Take ground turkey. Preferably 93% lean as it provides a minimal amount of saturated fat with maximum flavor and juiciness. Nothing worse than tough dried out sausage, am I right? (possible exception: tough dried out steak LOL).
Add spices. Mix. Form patties if that’s what you want. Cook.
I swear there’s nothing else to it! Except a few secrets I will share with you.
The secrets to the perfect turkey sausage
Secret No 1 is in getting the right mix of spices, but I’ve done the testing for you here… And if it’s not 100% to your liking, you know what, you can always adjust it next time… Don’t blame me if we don’t have the same taste buds! For example, I like my sausage with a little heat, so red pepper flakes come and join the party. But you don’t like any heat? Fine. Omit the pepper. Your grandmother used allspice in her sausage recipe? Fine. Add some allspice. I prefer a touch of nutmeg myself…
Secret No 2: do not overmix! It is tempting to mash the meat over and over until the spices are thoroughly distributed, however overmixing will result in tough sausage patties. As long as you sprinkle your spices all over the meat then gently fold them in, their flavor will permeate through everything. Don’t worry. If you have time to make your mix and form your patties the night before, the flavors will meld even better. But I rarely remember to do that, and we’re still happy with the result every time.
Secret No 3: do not overcook! If you are making patties, depending on their thickness, 3 minutes on each side should be plenty. You just want to cook until the center is no longer pink. If you have a meat thermometer, aim for a 165F internal temperature.
How to serve turkey sausage:
This recipe can be used to make breakfast sausages, “burger” patties, or used as sausage meat in any stew, soup, chili, pasta dish, lasagna, casserole…you name it…
One of our favorites is Italian sausage “burgers” topped with sauteed onions and bell peppers. Finger licking good!
Other recipes to try:
Turkey sausage
Ingredients
- 1 lb lean ground turkey (93% lean)
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp dried sage
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 3/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1 pinch cloves
Instructions
- Measure all herbs and spices in a small bowl and whisk them together.
- Place ground turkey in a large bowl. Spread seasoning blend on top.
- Scrub your hands clean and gently incorporate the seasonings into the ground meat. Do not overmix or the patties will become tough.
- Form 8 (2 oz) patties or 4 (4 oz) patties, depending on your desired serving size.
- Patties can be cooked on a grill lightly brushed with oil, or in a skillet using a tablespoon of olive oil. Cook until no longer pink inside but slightly juicy (about 3 minutes per side, depending on thickness). Do not overcook or they will dry out.
- You can also use this sausage blend as you would any ground meat, in any stew, soup, chili, pasta dish, lasagna, casserole…
Truly delicious and a fun meal to eat!
Made this turkey sausage last night for lentil/sausage/kale soup. It was amazing! Even my husband (a real pork lover) raved about it. I used ground fennel in a smaller amount because I didn’t have fennel seed. It worked very well. Thank you Veronique!
So glad you both enjoyed it, Sandy!