Are you looking for a homemade breakfast sausage recipe without the nitrates? Look no further! I’ve been on the hunt to create the best tasting, high protein, homemade breakfast sausage patties after reading an article about the association between colorectal cancer and processed meat. This recipe relies on freezing the patties as a way to preserve them and doesn’t use any carcinogenic preserving practices. I also love something quick to heat up in the morning that keeps me full late into the day. Give these a try and let me know if you do in the comments :). Enjoy!
Ingredients:
- 2 lb ground pork
- 2 lb ground chicken
- 1 Honeycrisp apple, skin peeled, and shredded
- 6 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
- 10 fresh chives, finely chopped
- 1/2 c maple syrup
- 1/2 tbsp Simply Organic Citrus Rosemary Salt (can substitute with ground rosemary & lemon/orange peel)
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 15 cracks of pepper, then season to taste – if you don’t use a pepper grinder, start out with 1 tsp of pepper
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Instructions:
- Rinse fresh chives and sage, pat dry with a towel, and roughly chop.
- In a medium-sized bowl, place the ground chicken together with the ground pork.
- Rinse apple, pat dry, peel off the skin, and shred the rest into the bowl along with the meat.
- Add remaining ingredients including sage, chives, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, citrus rosemary salt mixture, thyme, garlic powder, pepper, and salt. Mix together with your hands or with a spoon until well combined.
- Using your hands, a spoon, or a cookie-dough scooper- scoop out and shape the meat mixture into 30 symmetrical 1/2-inch thick patties, a little smaller than the size of your palm. Each should be about 2 ounces each, once made- set aside on a plate or sheet pan. See tips below for patty sizing.
- In a large skillet, over medium heat, place a small pad of butter or your preferred oil and heat for 1-2 minutes. I prefer to use a stainless steel, cast iron, or ceramic pan to achieve the golden brown crispy edges on my patties- but any pan will also work!
- Once the pan is heated, place the patties down on the skillet (you might need to do 2-3 batches depending on the size of your pan). Leave enough space around each patty so your pan isn’t over-crowded as you will need to flip each patty. Cook for 2-4 minutes, or until the bottom begins to brown. Flip patties and cook again for 2-4 minutes or until the internal temperature of the patty is at 165 degrees. Stovetop temperatures vary and if your patties are thinner, cook for less time, the thicker the patty the longer they take to cook through.
- Serve and enjoy! You can freeze any meat mixture you don’t feel like cooking, thaw it again in the future and cook same day. You can also freeze extra patties and reheat on the stove for future meal prep.
Tips:
- The sausages will shrink as they cook, so make them wider in diameter than what you want them to be once finished.
- I tried using a patty-press thinking that would be easier (hence some of the grill marks in my photo above)- it did NOT work well, best to use your hands or a spoon to form the patties.
- The cooked sausages keep in the fridge for about 3-4 days, any uncooked meat should be frozen if you plan to eat it after 4 days or after the “sell by” date on the meat package.
- Do NOT skip the pork as this gives the patties a classic breakfast taste but also provides enough fat to the mixture as to keep things moist, chicken patties on their own tend to dry out.
- To check the temperature of the meat, insert a meat thermometer in sideways into the middle of the patty, they need to reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit before consumed.
- Since the meat mixture contains maple syrup, there will be some syrup that gets browned at the bottom of your pan. The patties will NOT burn if you cook them in the time stated above. If needed, in between batches you can deglaze the plan with some water, wipe off excess liquids with paper towel, and cook again to prevent maple syrup from burning/sticking to pan.
- In order to clean your pan after, keep the heat on the stove, add 1 cup of water to your pan with some dish soap and boil for a few minutes. All remaining stuff stuck on the bottom will come off easy after boiled in water/soap.
