Why we love this recipe
It all comes together in one bowl. I measured and re-measured the sage, salt, and pepper until the ratio tasted like the sausage I grew up on. There’s no resting step and nothing to chop, so you simply mix, shape, and cook.
What others are saying about it
This recipe has great flavor and is so easy to mix up!! It’s great for breakfast for two as patties. I like to fry it up as crumbles in five pound batches and freeze it in one pound containers. Then it’s perfect to add to an egg bake at the holidays or a lazy Saturday, or toss it into a batch of biscuits with shredded cheese. So yummy!! Thanks!!!
Jan
Related ->> Check out this post with 10 Easy DIY Spice Blends
How to make breakfast sausage (step-by-step)
What makes this breakfast sausage work
The sage is the main thing. It’s what makes ground pork taste like breakfast sausage instead of a plain pork patty, so it gets the biggest amount in the mix. The garlic, onion, oregano, and pepper round it out without being overpowering.
Fat keeps these juicy. We use regular ground pork, not lean, so the patties stay moist and brown well in the pan. A lean pork or a poultry swap will cook up drier, so pull them a little sooner if you are subbing meats.
The base is mild on purpose. This is your standard, old fashioned country breakfast sausage recipe. From there it goes where you want: a pinch of cayenne or red pepper flakes for heat, or a little maple syrup for the sweet-and-savory version. Mix it up how you like it.
Testing notes from our kitchen
- Stir the seasonings first: Combine all the spices in a small bowl before they go in, so they spread evenly instead of clumping in one patty.
- Freeze them raw or cooked: Raw patties freeze well between sheets of parchment, and cooked ones keep up to 6 months; thaw in the fridge overnight before cooking or reheating.
- Make a batch for the week: Cook a double batch on the weekend and the patties keep in the fridge up to a week for fast breakfasts.
- Paprika is mainly for color: Leave it out if you don’t have it, it barely changes the flavor.
- Go by color, not the clock: Cooking times vary based on how thick the patties are, so cook until the center is no longer pink instead of timing it exactly.
If you want the same flavor with a lighter protein, our homemade chicken breakfast sausage uses the same sage-forward seasoning but swaps the pork for ground chicken, so it comes out leaner and a little milder.
How to use it
We plate these with eggs most mornings, usually over easy or scrambled. They are great with pancakes or waffles, or crumbled and mixed into a batch of make-ahead homemade egg muffins. Roasted potatoes or a bowl of fruit rounds out the meal.
Homemade Breakfast Sausage (Easy 15-Minute Recipe)
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1.5 tsp ground sage
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp paprika, (optional)
Instructions
- Place the ground pork in a medium sized bowl.1 lb ground pork
- Mix the seasonings together in a separate bowl or ramekin.1.5 tsp ground sage, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp paprika
- Pour the seasonings in with the pork and mix it together well with your hands. Make sure the seasonings are evenly incorporated throughout the pork but don't overmix.
- Shape the sausage into 4-6 patties.
- Heat a pan over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, add in the sausage to cook.
- Cook about 5 minutes per side, until the sausage is cooked through the center.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
- If you like spicy sausage, feel free to add cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes. And if you prefer sweeter sausage, use a little maple syrup or sugar.
- Nutrition estimates are per serving and an estimate provided for reader benefit. See our full nutrition information disclosure here.
I use this recipe to turn ground beef into sausage when family comes to visit, as my stepson is Muslim but likes my biscuits and gravy. This is the yum
It was real good. I liked it. Will keep this recipe. My husband thought it was slightly sweet. Next time I will slip hot peppers in his and fix that problem. Lol
Fantastic recipe for country sausage patties. So easy and simple to put together making the taste perfect. Thanks!!!
This was really good! Had to substitute rosemary for sage. Turned out still good! Breakfast in a pinch! Thank you!!
First time trying. Used 1 tsp of sage. LOVED it!
I added a small amount of red peppers! It was great!
Love this. I have been grinding Boston Butts for years and trying different recipes. All were good, but this has been the best one yet. I leave the fat out of mine for health reasons so I have to lightly spray oil (I have an oil sprayer, works like pam) and fry the patties slowly.
I mixed one pound at a time so I could see if I liked it. I love basil so I added a tsp to the mix. another pound I added pepper flakes. I am the only one here that likes it hot. however the one without the pepper flakes is just as hot as the one I added the pepper flakes to just a little different flavor. I will have to make some with half the pepper for the rest of the family, Thanks so much for posting this recipe. By the way they went well with my homemade yeast rolls. I have gone from paying $4.50 for packaged sausage to now just over one dollar, I purchase Boston butts when they are around one dollar a pound and grind them myself and then vacuum pack it. I just made this but I have some friends older than myself that I know will love this sausage.
Sounds awesome, thanks for the review and details 🙂
I’ve historically bought Jimmy Dean Sage sausage rolls a couple of times a year when I catch them on sale. Been transitioning to a healthier lifestyle and recently found a local source of affordable ground Duroc pork. Googled a breakfast sausage recipe and here I am! I substituted dried sage with fresh sage and used a convertor to get the correct amount. Turned out incredible using the smash burger method. Thanks for this super simple yet super flavorful recipe!
You’re welcome, glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Justin, I gave you 5 stars for your recipe. I love the flavors in the sausage patties. It has a wonderful peppery flavor. It’s my new favorite. Thank you so much for sharing.
Perfect, glad you found our recipe and it’s a keeper!
The best breakfast sausage I have ever made. Well…it’s really the only breakfast sausage I’ve ever made and we loved it! Over time I’ve increased the amount of paprika I’ve used and def love the cayenne in ours. Hands down easy, affordable and just darn tasty!
Delicious and my family loved it. A recipe I will keep. Saved me money making this at home.
Happy to hear that Rhonda! Thanks for coming back to leave a review, we appreciate it 🙂
Great! Exactly what I was looking for! Just a tad salty for me, so I will use less salt when I make it again. Thank you’
You’re welcome, glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Thank you! Exactly what I was looking for. Making lasagna and wanted an american style breakfast tupe sausage., but with real and healthy ingredients
Great recipe and like mom used to make. Using beef as my niece cannot eat pork. Good for diabetics as fat can be controlled.
Fantastic recipe! Loved the peppery bite. Due to religious reasons I used ground turkey instead of the pork. Still turned out delicious. Thinking maybe next time I’ll make it using ground beef. Tip: Poultry seasoning is a good substitute for ground sage if you don’t have it on hand. Use 1 teaspoon of the poultry seasoning instead of 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground sage, as poultry seasoning has other seasonings in it (marjoram, thyme, nutmeg).
i would like to try this and was wondering, can i use a little bacon fat to the mix. someone mentioned a little dry.
If you need more fat, yes you can add bacon fat.
We now have ground pork from our own hogs and were wanting to make our own pork sausage patties. Your recipe looks great so we will give it a try and then pressure can the patties for future meals instead of freezing. Blessings and Thank you!
You’re very welcome, enjoy!
I like fennel seed and thyme in mine.
I love getting your recipes. They are easy to follow and I don’t have to search high and low for ingredients; they are common and can be found easily.
Thanks Joy! We try and make our recipes as approachable and easy as possible. We appreciate you coming over to leave a rating and review 🙂
Amazing With Wild Boar!
I made this recipe using 1lb ground wild boar. I added about 1 thick slice of fatty bacon, chopped into about 1/8” dice (as the ground boar has a tendency to be a little dry). I also modified the recipe slightly with the addition of about 1/4tsp or so of red pepper flakes (add to taste) and about a scant tablespoon of maple syrup. The result was OUTSTANDING!
This is a simple yet delicious recipe for amazing breakfast sausage! Yes the maple syrup kind of defeats the low carb idea for this recipe, but it sure expands the flavor when you include the red pepper flakes to offset the slight sweetness of the syrup. Also the little bit of bacon fat adds a slight hint of smoke. This is my new go-to for wild boar breakfast sausage. I may try stuffing into links sometime too!
Thank you for an amazing recipe!
– Kevin S
You’re welcome Kevin. Thanks for coming back to share your version and a review, it sounds amazing!
Very good recipe. I substituted adobo for the salt to cut down on sodium. Easy and tasty.
Glad you liked it Roger! Thanks for coming back to leave a review, we appreciate it.
I made this with a 60/40 deer to pork ground meat. It was fabulous!!! Thank you for sharing this recipie. You wouldn’t by chance have a chorizo this good up your sleeve? Thanks again
Glad you enjoyed the recipe! We don’t have a chorizo recipe, but enjoy the Mulay’s brand for a clean store-bought option.
If I make 10lbs of sausage do I multiply the ingredients by 10?
Hi Nick – Yes, you would scale it exactly. If you type in 60 servings instead of 6 in the recipe card it will automatically update the amounts for you.
I made these this morning the flavour were amazing. Unfortunately they were really dry. Do you have any ideas.
If it was dry they were likely overcooked. Or, the pork mixture used didn’t have much fat in it (but that’s unlikely). Try cooking them a little less next time to keep them just brown in the middle but still juicy.
Thank you for the information. I will try it the next time I have them. The flavour was so good.
I got some pigs butchered and the sausage meat had a funky flavor. Whatever seasoning they used was garbage. Used this recipe to make it better and it worked! Yummy!!!
I love hearing that. It’s really easy to make your own sausage and we just get ground pork now whenever we get a pig and make our own.
Good Morning, I would like to try this recipe but I have about 12 lbs. of fresh shoulder pork. I can ad as much fat as needed . Do you see any problem areas with ingrediants using this recipe for this much pork? Thank you
Hi there – The ingredients should scale just fine. You can even adjust the servings in the recipe card and the ingredients will automatically scale for you.
My breakfast sausage tastes great now without any sugar or MSG. Love it.
It’s easy to make and better – a win win 🙂
Delicious and easy! I love breakfast sausage and this is a healthy alternative to store bought/processed sausages.
This recipe has great flavor and is so easy to mix up!! It’s great for breakfast for two as patties. I like to fry it up as crumbles in five pound batches and freeze it in one pound containers. Then it’s perfect to add to an egg bake at the holidays or a lazy Saturday, or toss it into a batch of biscuits with shredded cheese. So yummy!! Thanks!!!
Thanks for the great review Jan, we appreciate it 🙂
This is a great recipe. I used half ground pork and a half lamb. I added some red pepper flakes since we like a little zip.
Sounds delicious, thanks for coming back to leave a rating and review!
I run a prison kitchen, and we used your recipe with 50% ground beef and 50% ground turkey. Simply amazing! No Name or email, please.
OMG, This is fantastic. I will personally never go back to store bought sausage. It was easy to make, in fact it actually surprised me how easy and with no weird additives, sugar etc. My son really liked it too. I did use a high quality meat, so it was more expensive than Jimmy Dean; however, the flavor and quality is just so much better. I can really taste the oregano but still it compliments the sage very nicely. I think next time I’ll add a little more paprika for a little more smoky flavor. I think it will go great with biscuits and gravy. Again, thank you for the great recipe .
Glad you and your son enjoyed the recipe and thanks for coming back to leave a rating and review.
diabetic thank you low carb recipes going to try to make gnocchi with sausage ( gocchi malloreddus
Can I use ground beef since I don’t eat pork ? Kroger used to sell beef breakfast sausage and now doesn’t. Hoping to make my own
Hi Sandra, we haven’t personally tried this with beef but I think it would be a great option. Please report back and let us know what you think!
The spice combinations are excellent. My ground pork was on the lean side so I added a tablespoon of olive oil to the meat. My skillet test proved it to be very tasty. I also tested it as a sausage ball which was simmered for 25 min. This was also very good. Imo, this reciepe has a great appeal for a variety of dishes. Thanks.
Thanks so much Pete, I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed the recipe!
Great recipe. A bit heavy on the salt for my taste
After trying multiple other sausage recipes, (many going straight from pan to trash) yours is a keeper.
My search is over. Thanks for sharing.
This is the best review, thank you so much! I’m happy you found our recipe.
I used the 1lb mixed beef with pork sold at Walmart and it was great! My wife loved it, and she’s a picky eater! Thank you!
You’re very welcome, glad you enjoyed the recipe!
These sausages are seriously yum. I don’t eat pork, so I make with turkey. I also make the mix the night before and let sit overnight before frying up in the morning. OMG, so much flavor. I also caramelized some onions and added into the mix. Now we always add the onion, it’s so amazing.
The addition of onion sounds so good :).
Turned out very good.. reminded me of my grandmothers sausage patties. Great recipe
So glad you liked the recipe Chris, thanks for coming back to leave a comment.
Just butchered my own back yard pig did 25 lbs of your recipe useing most of the trimming froze it and It turned out amazing. best and easiest sausage recipe i have used. Will be my go to breakfast sausage for sure
Alex – Simple and easy, that’s what we’re all about. Very happy to hear that you enjoyed the recipe.
AMAZING! We just bought a commercial meat grinder and saved a lot by grinding ourselves. Fantastic recipe! Better than anything in the store.
We’re so glad you enjoyed the recipe! And that’s impressive – grinding your own meat! Justin’s mom has a meat grinder out on the farm, and it’s always nice to get fresh made sausage from her! Thanks for trying our recipe and coming back to share! 🙂
This is really good! It will be my go to breakfast sausage recipe.
So happy to hear you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for trying our recipe and coming back to share! 🙂
Perfect! And, no sugar. Thank you, thank you.
You’re welcome! We’re so glad you found us! Enjoy! 🙂
Made this today, You nailed it, Very Good, not too much seasoning or salt
Store bought pork. Pasture raised pork is $12 pound here ,and that’s for the cheapest cuts.
Thanks
Mark
So glad you enjoyed the recipe! We make this all the time, it’s such an easy (and cheap) way to have quality breakfast sausage.