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I’ve been cooking fennel, onion, and apple with my breakfast sausage for well over a year. It stretches the meat a little further and increases my vegetable and fruit consumption. It’s a win-win where I am concerned.
Early last year, I decided to work on my own sausage recipe. I wasn’t happy with the ingredients included in the sausage I was purchasing. I wanted a cleaner recipe so I set to work on my own concoction. After months of trial and error, I’ve finally got the right level of spice and flavor that I wanted.
This makes a very large batch of sausage. I mean, it is three pounds of meat. Enough to feed a family for breakfast for a week or even split into smaller batches. Once mixed, the sausage can be split into smaller portions and frozen. This recipe is great cooked as patties or in bulk. I’ve even cooked the patties in a muffin tin in the oven when I was trying to get the batch cooked a bit faster.
My preferred method of cooking the sausage is to cook it until it is just done and not yet well-browned. I refrigerate the leftovers and finish the cooking for breakfast each morning. During my reheat, I will brown up the sausage to give it some color. This way the meat does not overcook.
I used cup measurements for the vegetables below to help those who aren’t sure what size vegetables to buy, but I pretty much grab a bulb of fennel, an onion, and a good sized Granny Smith and use the whole thing. There is enough meat to accommodate slight differences in the measurements of the vegetables. My point is don’t stress over the measurements.
With no added sugars, this recipe is great for the Whole 30 or a 21-Day Sugar Detox.
Paleo Breakfast Sausage
Ingredients
2 pounds ground pork
1 pound ground chicken or turkey
1 bulb fennel, trimmed and diced small, about ½ to 1 cup
1 small to medium onion, peeled and diced, about ½ to 1 cup
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced, about ½ to 1 cup
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon dried sage leaves
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Cooking fat, like lard or coconut oil
Directions
Using a little cooking fat and a few pinches of salt and pepper, sauté the fennel, onion, and apple first until just translucent. Then set aside and allow them to cool a bit. You don’t want to put hot veggies in with the meat or it will start cooking the meat.
Meanwhile, place the spices in a spice grinder and pulse a few times. A spice grinder is a coffee grinder dedicated just for grinding spices. If you do not have a spice grinder, a mortar and pestle can be used. Or you can place the spices in a larger bowl and use the bottom of a mug or short glass to crush the spices a bit. I’ve also made the sausage not crushing the spices at all because I was in a hurry. Crushing the spices releases more of the oils and flavor, but don’t get too fussy about it.
Get a large platter ready on which to place your formed patties before cooking them. Have paper towels handy as well. You will probably need them.
In a very large bowl, place the meat, the mixed spices, and the cooled vegetables. With clean hands, mix the meat up well until all the vegetables and spices are fully distributed. Form the meat into 2-3 inch patties and place on the platter in preparation for cooking.
Once all the patties are formed, wash your hands thoroughly. Proceed to cooking the patties on the stove in a skillet or in the oven on a rimmed cookie sheet.
If cooking in the oven, preheat the oven to 425 degrees and cook the patties for about 15 minutes or until just done. If cooking on the stove, cook the patties in a skillet with some cooking fat over medium heat. If precooking these for breakfasts later in the week, do not brown them. Cook them until they are just done. They will brown when they reheat.
To reheat, add a some cooking fat to a skillet on medium heat. Place the patties in the pan. Cover the pan for a few minutes to help the patties warm up. Remove the lid and continue to cook until brown on both sides.
