If you are tired of pork and beef sausages, I welcome you to try this delicious homemade chicken sausage. The ingredients are very simple and easy to get. You will likely have most or even all of them at home.
This recipe started with the already quite good Country Chicken Sausage recipe you can find in the good ol' Sausage And Jerky Handbook—great book to own, by the way. But I wasn't quite happy with that recipe. It lacked something I like so much in fresh sausage - a touch of sweetness and that pleasant tang. It was also too salty for my taste. I also wanted to modify the flavor profile a little, as I am not necessarily a huge fan of cloves, but I liked the notes of onion and garlic.
To make a long story short, after a few iterations, this ended up being one of the best-tasting fresh sausages I've ever had, chicken or otherwise. It sounds immodest, but I am very proud of this recipe. Every time I make this sausage, I get requests for more.
If you've been reading my blog long enough, you've noticed that I like using Fermento to give my sausages a tangy taste. In this chicken sausage recipe, I decided to experiment a little and add powdered buttermilk instead. Both are very similar in the sense that they are both milk byproducts; the main difference is that powdered buttermilk is slightly less tangy. But the good news is that powdered buttermilk is way easier to find - every grocery store sells it. That said, you can choose to use Fermento or powdered buttermilk in this recipe; both will work great.
I consider this recipe a healthier chicken sausage. It has a relatively low amount of sodium compared to many sausage recipes out there, and it contains a modest amount of fat. Often, commercially made chicken sausage is loaded with fat, usually pork fat. The advantage of homemade chicken sausage is that you can make it as healthy as you want. I even like incorporating white chicken meat to make the sausage even healthier.
The best meat for homemade chicken sausage
My favorite method to get chicken meat for this sausage is to butcher whole chickens, which are less expensive than chicken parts and often go on sale, and use all harvested meat and skin. Obviously, you can't get a lot of meat from the chicken wings, so I save those for other recipes. I save all of the bones (with some meat left on them) to make various delicious soups.
The other option is to buy and debone bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. It will be more expensive to buy just chicken thighs, but the ratio of meat and skin from chicken thighs is perfect for this sausage. If desired, you can also incorporate a chicken breast or two here, with skin.
Storing chicken sausage
This sausage can be stored for 5 days in the refrigerator or frozen for up to 6 months or even longer if properly vacuum sealed.
Smoking chicken sausage at low temperatures
If you are going to smoke this sausage below 200F, similar to my smoked chicken sausage, don't forget to incorporate Cure #1. For high-heat smoking, over 200F, use this recipe as is.
Equipment requirements and options
To make this sausage, you will need a meat grinder and a sausage stuffer. Most of us have meat grinders, and those who make sausages have sausage stuffers. I've been using a LEM meat grinder for many years and love it. It's built like a tank. I also have a 5lb sausage stuffer and a 20lb motorized LEM sausage stuffer. I highly recommend them. A 5lb sausage stuffer is all most of us will ever need for home sausage making.
If you don't have a sausage stuffer, you can still enjoy this chicken sausage. Just make patties and fry them in a 50/50 mix of cooking oil and butter over medium to medium-high heat. The fresh sausage mix will be quite soft and sticky, so wet your hands before shaping the patties. You can also omit the chicken broth to make the mix less soft. This can also be accomplished by refrigerating the sausage mix for a few hours. During refrigeration, the meat mix will absorb the liquid and become stiffer and easier to shape.
Cooking homemade chicken sausage
Like any fresh sausage, it's best cooked quickly over high heat to ensure optimal browning and juiciness. I like this sausage grilled or broiled. If you own an Air Fryer, get them air-fried. Air-fried chicken sausage is fantastic with minimum mess and effort. Pan-fried, similar to my favorite pan-fried brats, is also a great cooking option for this sausage.
Homemade Chicken Sausage
Ingredients
- 5 lbs chicken meat with skins Meat from whole chickens, deboned, with skins or boneless skin-on chicken thighs/legs.
- 5 tsp kosher salt heaping
- 1 tsp sugar heaping
- 1/2 cup powdered buttermilk or fermento
- 1 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 2 tsp granulated onion
- 2 tsp granulated garlic
- 1/4 cup fresh finely chopped sage or 1.5 Tbsp rubbed sage
- 1/4 cup fresh finely chopped parsley
- 1/2 cup fresh finely chopped or thinly sliced green onion
- 1/2 cup chicken broth cold
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper optional; add more to taste if desired
Sausage casings
- 10-12 feet hog casings 28-32 mm; see notes
Instructions
- Grind the chicken with the skins through a 1/4" (6 mm) plate.
- In a large bowl, mix the ground chicken with the rest of the ingredients very well.
- Stuff the sausage mix into hog casings. Do not stuff too tightly.
- Twist the sausage into about 18 6-inch links.
- Refrigerate for up to 5 days. Freeze for up to 6 months. After a few days in the fridge, the (uncooked) sausage develops a slightly stronger but pleasant tangy taste.
- Cook by pan-frying over medium heat, air-frying, grilling, broiling or baking until the internal temperature reaches 165F.
Special Equipment
- Meat grinder
- Sausage Stuffer
Adam Sahlin says
I will be making a large batch of these sausages soon--I am curious as to whether you would recommend (or not recommend) lightly poaching prior to freezing? My thoughts are that this will help maintain shape when vaccuum-sealing and will reduce cook time on the back end. I'd merely pull them out of of the freezer, thaw, and brown in a pan or cook on a grill. This will be my first batch of sausage, and as I'm sure you're aware, there are a myriad of opinions regarding this topic, so I just wanted to hear your thoughts if you had any! Thank you!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Adam, if by poaching 'lightly' you mean partially cooking, i.e. reaching internal temperature below 165F, sure you can do that, but it won't reduce the cooking time on the back end, as you said. You would still need to cook it to full doneness, i.e. 165F... Well, 163F... or lower, depending on how long your keep it at that temperature, but that's a different story.
Personally, I just lay them out on a large baking sheet and freeze for 24 hours. After that, I package them and vacuum seal. Perfectly shaped, no pre-cooking needed for that. Hope this helps.
Benedek Gábor says
Üdvözlet.
Magam az egész csirke húsához, 30% bőrös kacsahájat vagy libahájat adok.
A kolbászt, serpenyőben, lassú tűzön, gyakran forgatva sütöm vagy grillezem: 82°C-os maghőmérsékletig.
Jóétvágyat kívánok.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Translation:
Greetings.
I add 30% duck fat or goose fat with skin to the whole chicken.
I fry or grill the sausage in a pan, over low heat, turning frequently: to a core temperature of 82°C.
Enjoy your meal.
Hello Benedek,
Thank you for sharing your recipe. I'd love to try it, though I will need to find duck or goose fat and skin, which isn't going to be easy where I live. But sounds quite interesting. Thanks again for sharing.
Victor
Leah says
I made these as patties and am just so impressed with how they turned out!!! I will never be buying pork sausage again. We are trying to cut out the additives wherever possible and if you read some of these food labels your jaw will hit the floor!! This is a clean, DELICIOUS breakfast sausage …better than anything you can find in the store!! My only problem is it takes me a long time to butcher all the meat off the bones! 10/10 I am wondering though if I buy Azure’s powdered buttermilk how much different will it taste than the cultured buttermilk blend powder that comes in the little tub
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Glad to hear it, Leah. You are right, too many additives in modern supermarket sausage. At home, you can make it as healthy as you want.
Butchering gets much easier over time. I buy a dozen or so when they go on sale at my local store and butcher right away. It used to be a chore, now it's pretty quick. It helps if you have someone to help you too. I've also learned no to care about stripping every last bit of meat off the bones as I save the bones to make chicken stock or chicken soup. For chicken soup, I leave more meat on the bones, which means I won't have to add any extra meat to the soup. Works out very well for me.
As for the buttermilk powder, I am not familiar with both of those brands, but I am going to say that they should have a nearly identical effect in the sausage. Good luck!
Ruth says
Thank you for the great idea I am new to meet grinding. I’m very interested in making sausage.
I have a KitchenAid stand mixer with the grinding attachment and a sausage stuffer
I am eager to try it out
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Good luck! I'd would love to hear how it turns out for you.
Linda M says
I am using my own chickens and have more breast meat than thighs. Pasture raised so not much fat after I de bobed everything. I do have rendered chicken fat should I add some and how much?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Linda, the general rule of thumb for me is 20-25% of fat for smoked chicken sausage. That's about how much you'd typically get when you'd use a whole chicken that's not too lean and not too fatty, with all the meat, fat and skins and without adding additional fat. A typical chicken contains about 15% fat and skin (mostly fat), and the meat yield from a chicken is about 68% to the total weight, so that's gives us 22% fat ratio, which I find gives a perfect texture and flavor. Hope this helps. Good luck!
James says
I know you posted this recipe a while back, but I tried chicken sausages today. I basically mixed up chicken breast in a food processor and threw in some herbs, then rolled them in clingfilm and boiled them. I ended up with really chewy and dry not very nice chicken. I like the idea of chicken sausages so will try this version, you’ve posted
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Yeah, boiling doesn't work. High heat makes meat fibers contract and release water, and the fat will melt and come to the surface, leaving dry meat behind. What you did though is very similar to my garlic chicken roll, but I cook mine in a sous vide bath low and slow.
Cat says
Is there anything I can substitute for chicken skin in this recipe? When we process, we skin the birds instead of plucking them so the skins are not available. I'm afraid leaving them out would upset the meat to fat ratio.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Chicken skin provides fat, which you can substitute with chicken fatty byproducts or pork fat, and gelatin, which is a must as it provides viscosity, fat binding capacity, water holding capacity, and emulsifying stability, which you can replicate by adding commercial gelatin. I've never made chicken sausage this way, so I can't provide more details on this, unfortunately.
Donna Gurney says
Is the nutrition information per link or for the entire 5 lb recipe? Normally I wouldn't care but newly diagnosed with stage 3 kidney disease, I need to keep better track of what I'm eating on a per meal basis.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Donna, sorry to hear about your health issues. Nutrition is calculated based on one link, which is 1/18th of the total recipe. Hope this helps. Good luck!
Suzanne says
Absolutely loved it! My grandson Timmy asked for seconds 😹
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Glad to hear it, Suzanne. Enjoy!
Shari Andersen says
Would I be able to use Liquid buttermilk instead of powdered?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
That would not work as it has too much water in it.
olga rubio says
Hi. Should you refrigerate them for a few days and then cook them or can you cook them immediately after stuffing the casings?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
You can cook them right away. Every time I make sausage, everyone is asking to fry some up on a pan asap. It's delicious.
Toby A. says
Google brought me to your recipe last week so I just wanted to stop in and say thank you for sharing this fantastic recipe! It will be my starting point for chicken going forward. I made 2-5 pound batches this weekend. Added some of my smoked Gouda to each batch and added dried apples to one batch. Both batches came out great!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Glad to hear it, Toby. Enjoy!
Beth franzese says
How can I store/freeze these if I make as patties?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Here is what I do:
1 - shape as patties, place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper and pre-freeze overnight.
2 - stack with pieces of parchment inbetween, or arrange side by side in a freezer bag and vacuum seal.
These will keep well for up to a year.
If you don't have a vacuum sealer or you don't need to store for a very long time, pre-freeze, then tighly wrap in red butcher's paper. This will keep well for about 3-4 months. You may git s bit of freezer burn but nothing bad.
wayne tomaszewski says
Hi, I know the kids will love these even before they try them. Out of curiosity, have you ever used dried parsley, and if so, how much for this weight? Thanks again for all your fantastic posts and recipes.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Hi Wayne, you are very welcome. I typically use 3 to 1 conversion for most of my dried herbs. So, 3 grams fresh converts to 1 gram dried. Yes, I've used dried parsley and other dried herbs when I don't have fresh on hand, usually in winter when my garden is frozen.
wayne tomaszewski says
Thanks for such a quick reply. So on the rubbed sage, it'd be about 5.6-5.7 grams then, for your weight here then. Thanks for the conversion ratio on fresh to dried. So on the rubbed sage, it'd be about 5.6-57 grams then, for your weight here then. I'll remember to start here when converting and adjust for taste as I go then. Once again thanks.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
You are welcome. Sounds like a good approach. Fineturning to taste is what I do all the time. Nothing tastes better than when it's made to your taste.
Kate says
I don’t have the equipment to turn this into sausage, so I used this recipe to make chicken patties with store bought ground chicken. It turned out great and I will definitely be making it more!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Glad to hear it, Kate. Enjoy!
Holy Segbedzi says
Perfect
Greg F says
Helo. Thank you for this fabulous recipe! This is the first chicken sausage recipe I have tried and I don't plan on loking for any other chicken sausage recipes.
I used three whole chickens. I deboned them and used everything but the bones and cartilege. I also added one jalapeño.
Using the skin and fat from the birds made a perfectly juicy sausage with the right mouth feel.
If anyone is interested, the 3 birds weighed 5 kg together and I got just over 3 kg of meat after deboning.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Hello Greg, I am very happy that you liked my recipe. This sausage truly shines when made from whole chickens including skin fat, as you mentioned. This is a good news too as buying whole chickens and butchering them yourself will save you a good chunk of change. Enjoy!
vey says
any sub for the buttermilk/fermento that is non dairy ? lactose intolerance demands an alternative - but DO want the tang
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Vey, other than fermento/buttermilk, you can try natural fermentation using a starter culture or citric acid. Here is a good resource for that - https://www.sausagemakersupplies.com/critric-acid/.
James says
I'm going to try this recipe today using skin on chicken thighs and skinless breast - 50/50 mix. But here is my question. Can you substitute beef fat for the chicken fat/skin? I can readily get fresh (or frozen) beef fat from my local butcher, and it would be a whole bunch easier and quicker to use boneless skinless thighs and breasts rather that to de- bone the chicken (no matter what cuts you use.) What do you think?
Thanks 🙂
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
James, I tried making this sausage with just pre-butchered chicken thighs and breasts, and I also used boneless chicken thigh/drumstick meat - a local Asian store sells them like that - with pork fat. I think the sausage shines when you combine dark and white meat from the whole chicken with all the skin and chicken fat. Nothing can replicate that texture and taste. However, those other sausages tasted pretty good to me too. I always tell people that there is more than one way to make excellent anything - sausage, bread, etc. I'd say go for it. I am not fan of beef fat in sausage, I'd rather use pork fat but if that's what's readily available, use that. It can be just as excellent, only different. Nothing wrong with that. Good luck!
Barb says
Is buttermilk essential? Could I use home dried whey as an alternative or leave it out. As I am unable to aquire it.
Thank you
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Barb, this is not essential but it adds a nice tang that many people like in sausage, myself included. Without it, the sausage will have a slightly different flavor profile but will be just as tasty.
Karen says
Hi Barb, Just add 2 tsp to a 1/2 cup measuring cup and fill with any milk. Leave for 10 minutes or so and you have buttermilk! It really makes a difference in this!!
Rick Newman says
the absolute best first try!
Of Al the recipe’s out there, this one was a grand slam!
Left over meat fried up nicely with the 50/50 mixture of oil/butter with 100% push forward and later smoking with mesquite, OMG! Once you set yourself concept that this is chicken and not pork sausage, you are golden. The flavor is fantastic, the smoke of mesquite is there, the fresh ingredients pounce forward, absolutely amazing how good this turned out with the work that went into this.
I just got done putting together packages to 8+ persons with 2 or more sausages to enjoy!
My wife and myself are sold on how good this is. The 8+ persons are folks she works with.
I have a smoker pit that I hand built that can smoke up to 50+ pounds of sausage. Enjoy doing something different and turning on folks around us.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Glad to hear it, Rick. Try my other recipes, there are plenty of good ones here. Happy smoking!
PattieC says
I was looking for a simple chicken sausage recipe and here it is!! It's absolutely delicious! I didn't make links, in fact I broke up the meat in a pan and browned it well. I added my already cooked broccoli rabe & added in sliced cooked potatoes. This was a very hearty, tasty meal and the sausage flavor is what made this dish spectacular!!
Thank you so much!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
You are very welcome. Enjoy!
Dave M says
Hi! I'm making this today and just noticed the following. Should the "or" comment be one row up to sub rubbed sage instead of fresh sage rather than parlsey?
1/4 cup fresh sage
1/4 cup fresh parsley or 1.5 Tbsp rubbed sage
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Dave, you are correct, it should have been one row up. Corrected. Thank you for pointing that out. Enjoy!
Dave M says
You're welcome. The sausage turned out great, your recipe is fantastic. We used chicken thighs and drumsticks. I won't use drumsticks again, they were a hassle to debone with all the ligaments. BTW another small correction. I was using weights and noticed the buttermilk powder was looking like a lot. I think 1/4 cup should be 32g, not 60g.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Dave, I actualy use 60g, so it should be 1/2 a cup. The recipe conversion program sometimes does not convert correctly. I personally always measure out ingredients in grams, it's more precise. Fermento and buttermilk are pretty much the same thing. Rytek Kutas, a big promoter of fermento in his sausage recipe book, recommends using 1/2 oz to 1 oz of fermento per lb of meat, so anywhere from 70g to 140g in this recipe. I stay on the lower side as I don't like too much tang in my sausage. I've stopped using fermento a while ago and just use powdered buttermilk now whenever I choose not to do actual fermentation to get some lactic acid in my sausage (highly recommend it).
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
One more thing, Dave. I've made this sausage with just dark meat and I have to be honest, I prefer the one with a combination of dark and white meat. For that I use deboned whole chickens but if I were to buy chicken parts, I'd use a combination of skin-on chicken breasts and skin-on thighs. Enjoy!
Dave M says
Thanks for all the extra info! I think next time I will try adding some breast.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
You are very welcome, Dave. Enjoy!
Colleen L. says
I made the chicken sausage for dinner tonight, and it was a big hit. It was SO flavorful and delicious. I served the sausage in patties. They were a little sticky to handle so I coated them in Panko before frying them. It added a nice crunch to the patties.
I think the sausage would be terrific as meatballs (rolled in Panko) and served with mashed potatoes and gravy.
Thank you for sharing this terrific recipe. It’s a winner.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Glad you liked them, Colleen. I slightly wet my hands when shaping patties, works perfectly well. Panko sounds like a good option too.
Steve says
Nice call on the meatballs sounds great!
Doug says
Fantastic recipe!! I did add 100g of parmesan cheese and chopped sun dried tomatoes to it. Other than that, I made the recipe as is. The smell from the herbs and spices is incredible. This is sure to become a regular recipe in my sausage book.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Our favorite sausage at the moment. I smoked three kinds recently - chicken, kabanos and Hungarian - all three in thin sheep casings. Chicken sausage was voted the best. Enjoy!
Hoss says
When adding Curing #1 salt I should use 3 Tsp of Kosher salt and 1 Tsp of Cure #1 salt?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Correct.
Thumba Sikazwe says
I really love this chicken sausage recipe, not only are the ingredients readily available, but also a much healthier option. I am a rearer of chickens in a Country called Zambia in Africa. I'd love to diversify towards chicken sausage making. I've long been trying to come up with an ideal chicken recipe seeing that to date I've never eaten any really nice chicken sausage. But just seems to be the one. Kindly share with me any added information on how I can achieve the best results. Thanking you advance.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Hi Thumba, welcome to my blog. Happy to hear that you liked my chicken sausage recipe. This happens to be my one of my family's favorite sausage recipes. I don't what else to add to be honest, everything is in the post. If you have any specific questions though, let me know. Enjoy!
Elaine Beam says
Thank you for this recipe! Can chicken sausage be pressure canned?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
You are very welcome. Yes, it can be pressure-canned. I process it the same way as I do canned pork or other canned meats. You can raw pack or hot pack and process. Or smoke then pack and process in a pressure canner.
Deana says
Can I use boneless thighs with out the skin and sub duck fat instead? I don't want to break down that much chicken and I can't find boneless skin on.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Deana, that will work just fine. I've recently made a batch of this sausage with a 50/50 mix of boneless/skinless chicken breasts and chicken thighs/legs and 15% (relative to the total weight of meat) of pork back fat. Yeah, I felt the same way as you, though those chicken bones with some meat on them make fantastic chicken soup. It turned out quite well. My wife used some of the mix to make fried sausage patties - they came out exceptionally delicious. I also used 21mm collagen casings instead of sheep casings for that batch. Overall, not bad, and much easier/quicker to prepare.
Rebecca Ugalde says
How much #1 curing salt is needed for this recipe if we plan to cold smoke the sausage?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
As per the instructions on the package, which is 5g / 1 level tsp per 5 lbs of meat. You want to substitute this in, not add on top of the salt.
Sally Qazi says
Thank you so much for these wonderful recipes. I made chicken sausage. Now I have to wait to taste it.. I didn't have parsley do I put marjoram. . The aroma is great. I am sure it will duper. Thanks
Sally
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Great! I am sure you will like it. Enjoy!
SheTriedIt says
Hi there,
Ready to try for patties. Instructions are for links. How do I store mixture for patties? Do I stuff in a ziplock for 5 days, take out, form in patties? Or form in patties w/ wax paper in between and store?
Do I freeze after 5 days?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
You can do it either way but forming patties and storing them lined with wax/parchment paper is the ideal way as it will be much easier for you on a cooking day. I'd suggest that you leave enough for a few days and freeze the rest right away to keep them as fresh as possible. I shape them into patties, lay them on a large baking sheet and freeze for a day. Then put in a vacuum-sealable bag in stacks of 4-5 one next to another and seal. Don't even line them with wax paper. If the bags are sealed properly the sausage will store a long time, a year and longer, six months at the very least. If you want to freeze right away, then line with wax paper and seal use a gentle cycle not to crush them too much. Sealed this way, I find, they tend to get a bit of a freezer burn as not all air is sucked out.
Tom Schuckman says
On your homemade chicken sausage recipe. The nutritional facts are bases on what portion size?
Thank you
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
One link or 1/18th of the total recipe.
Beatrice says
Beautiful post! Very clear instructions (including the sfety instructions). I was searching for low-fat chicken sausage to buy, but you have convinced me to try to make my own. Thank you!
victor says
You are welcome!
Natalie says
So do you smoke this before freezing or not?
I saw some info about smoking in the post but nothing in the recipe, unless I’m missing something.
I like to buy chicken sausage links, slice them up and pan fry for a quick breakfast/lunch. So I would want to cook them before freezing, right? I’m pretty sure the store bought ones are pre cooked.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Natalie, you are correct - you want to smoke it before freezing, similar to my other smoked chicken sausage recipe. It will give you exactly what you descrbed. Good luck!