How to Make Chicken Italian Sausage

Sausage is a favorite meat of many and can be so versatile in its preparations. One of the drawbacks with most sausages is their high level of fat, making them by general definition a high calorie food. Using chicken as your meat can be a healthy alternative to pork, and it is relatively easy to make. It is about half the price of store-bought sausage and you can control the flavor. This recipe calls for chicken breast, but turkey can be substituted just fine. Have your butcher grind the chicken breasts for you or grind it yourself in a meat grinder or kitchen food processor. This is an Italian spiced sausage, but you can adjust the spices as you like.

Things You'll Need

• 2 lbs. chicken breasts (boneless and skinless)
• 1 tbs. salt
• 2 tbs. ground fresh sage
• 1 tbs. paprika
• 1 tbs. dried oregano
• 1 tbs. minced garlic
• 1 tbs. crushed fennel seeds
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp. liquid smoke (optional)
• 2 tbs. cooking oil

Instructions

1. Place the ground meat into a large mixing bowl. Add all the ingredients and mix well with your hands, working the spices into the meat.

2. Place the mixture into a sealable container or freezer bag and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight. Alternatively, at this point, you can put the meat into casings for link sausages and refrigerate or freeze.

3. Form the mixture into patties and saute like a burger, only cook thoroughly until firm. They can then be used for a sausage sandwich. Another idea is to saute the sausage without forming it into a patty and use it in spaghetti sauces or as a pizza topping or however else you wish to use sausage. It can be formed into balls and used as sausage meatballs.

Tips & Warnings

• This sausage can be dry without the extra fat so cook slowly.