Italian sausage is a type of fresh sausage sold practically in every supermarket in North America. This particular recipe kicks things up a notch with a wider bouquet of herbs and the addition of fennel pollen and white Italian wine. This isn't the kind of Italian sausage you will find in a supermarket.
The sausage bears the name 'Italian' due to the dominant flavor of fennel, which is widely used to make sausages in Italy. This name is somewhat misleading and too generic though as there are hundreds and hundreds of different types of sausages originating from Italy.
This reminds me of the silly sausage name 'kielbasa sausage', which in essence means 'sausage sausage'. Similarly, this name describes one generic type of Polish-style sausage sold in North America. All the while there are hundreds of various Polish sausages (kielbasas) in existence, such as Krakow kielbasa, Lisiecka kielbasa, swojska kielbasa, garlic kielbasa, and so on.
What is Italian sausage?
In North America, Italian sausage is a type of fresh sausage made of pork and seasoned with fennel, anise, coriander, pepper, and other spices. This sausage typically comes as one of the following three kinds: hot, mild and sweet.
The main difference between hot and mild is the addition of cayenne pepper or hot red pepper flakes. The difference between sweet and mild is the addition of sweet basil to the recipe. Fried on a hot plate with green bell peppers and onions, it is sold by street vendors in New York City and some other American cities.
How to make Italian sausage?
Making Italian sausage at home is surprisingly easy and comes with many benefits. First and foremost, homemade Italian sausage tastes way, way better than the store-bought. Why? Simply put, it's all about better ingredients and better seasonings. You have full control over the quality and freshness of meat, and you can pick just the spice mix that you like. You can change the grind size to your liking, though 3/8" (10 mm) is the standard. Finally, making sausage at home will cost you 2-3 times less.
To make Italian sausage, grab a hunk of pork shoulder and grind it up. The fresher the meat, the better. You can use other pork cuts as well but pork butt contains just the right ratio of meat to fat for this sausage. You'll need a meat grinder if you are serious about making sausages at home.
If you are a casual sausage maker, ask at the meat counter to grind the meat for you. Ask for a coarse grind. They'll be happy to do it. I do it when we travel and I want to make burgers or sausage patties for breakfast.
Next, add the spices.
One extra spice that I love in many Italian style sausages that I make is fennel pollen. Fennel pollen consists of the tiny flowers of the fennel plant. Their flavor is rich and intense, far more so than the flavor of fennel seeds. I buy mine from Craft Butchers' Pantry, it's the real deal from Italy.
Don't forget to add some cold water. The water will help loosen the meat, which will help with stuffing. It also helps distribute the spices more evenly.
Better yet, skip the water and add some white Italian wine. It will make the sausage taste even better. I use one of my favorite wines, Cavit Collection Pinot Grigio. If it's great for drinking, it's great for making sausage.
Now, mix the meat and the spices well, until the mixture becomes sticky.
Once the sausage mix is done, you can stuff it into hog casings, using a sausage stuffer. Hog casings are available at practically every grocery store, just ask for them at the meat counter.
Don't have a stuffer? In that case, simply make patties or meatballs and fry them.
Just heat up some olive oil and butter on a frying pan, add the meatballs, and some sweet and red onion, some chopped parsley, and cook until done. Garnish with some more chopped parsley and serve. These are great as an appetizer or a snack, or as a full meal with a side dish and/or a great Italian-style salad, like this rustic tomato and cucumber salad, Panzanella, or tomato, cucumber and avocado salad.
Or use them to make some of the tastiest sandwiches or sliders. I love mine made with crusty white bread or sourdough bread.
You can also use the sausage mix in many recipes that call for it, such as meatloaf, breakfast sausage patties, pizza toppings, calzone, stromboli and panzerotti stuffing, meat gravy, tortellini or dumplings, lasagna, meat sauces, stuffed vegetables, chili, cabbage rolls, casseroles and more.
Italian Sausage Recipe
Ingredients
- 2000 g pork shoulder about 4.4 lbs
- 26 g kosher salt about 1.5 Tbsp
- 4 g black pepper about 2 tsp, coarsely ground
- 4 g sugar about 1 tsp
- 6 g fennel seed about 4 tsp, coarsely crushed in a mortar
- 2 g caraway about 1 tsp, coarsely crushed in a mortar
- 2 g coriander about 1 tsp, coarsely crushed in a mortar
- 1 g fennel pollen about 1/2 tsp; omit if you don't have it
- 1 g oregano about 1.5 tsp
- 1.5 g basil about 1 heaping tsp
- 118 g dry white wine 1/2 cup; cold; or cold drinking water
Instructions
- Grind the meat through ⅜” (10 mm) plate.
- Add the spices, wine or water, and mix well, until the mixture becomes sticky.
- Stuff into 28 - 36 mm hog casings and tie into 5” (12 cm) links.
- If not cooking immediately, refrigerate, or vacuum seal and freeze for up to 3 months.
- Cook before serving. Best pan-fried, grilled or air-fried.
Notes
- For Medium Hot Italian Sausage add 4 g (2 tsp) cayenne pepper
- For Hot Italian Sausage add 8 g (4 tsp) cayenne pepper
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- Other spices such as anise and paprika
- Red or green peppers, or both
- Dehydrated or fresh onions, garlic, and parsley
Richard says
I made 5 lbs of the sausage yesterday and my wife who really doesn’t like Italian sausage (store bought)) said they are fantastic. I’m afraid I did not make enough lol. Thank you for your recipe
I’m also making your kielbasa recipe today for the 5th time
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
🙂 Glad to hear it. You are very welcome. Enjoy!
JEANETTE says
Excellent, no irrelevant introductory drivel, I actually wanted to read the introduction as opposed to jumping to recipe! Love all ingredients and as I live in the Algarve I can pick wild fennel pollen🤗. Will make this weekend and report!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Sounds like a great plan, Jeanette. Would like to see some pictures too, you can email them to me and I can attach here. Good luck!
Craig says
Do ingredients need to be mixed in after grinding? I was thinking of mixing them into my pork and refrigerate for 4 to 5 hours before grinding.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
To be honest, both methods will work. If you do it before, some of the seasonings will get stuck inside the grinder but you can scrape them off. The loss of seasonings may be minimal though. I've got used to seasoning after grinding but I think seasoning before will be fine.
Alvar says
Hi Victor,
Another classic, thanks for sharing this.
The fennel polen it's a key note in this, not easy to find in some palces, but sure, is a very fine detail in the mix.
What seems a little odd for me, or at least, for what we are accostumed here in Argentina, (With italian immigration to this country between 1870-1920, our population was duplicated or even more, so you all can at least have an idea of the inusally high italian heritage we have in here.) is that you don't mention anything about letting the mix rest, and once sausages are done, letting them rest again. Not much, about 6-to10-hours time each time, or so.
Also it's the same for Boerewors and similar.
Have you ever tried this?
Best,
Thanks again
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Hi Alvaro, it's been a long time...;)
Thank you for the kind words. I sort of let my smoked sausage rest by stuffing them and letting them dry in a cool place overnight, or 3-4 hours at room temperature before smoking... then another hour in the smoker at 110F to further dry and let the meat warm up more before raising the temp and applying smoke. Not with fresh sausages though. What is the main benefit of this 6-10 hour rest?
Alvar says
Yes, sorting things out in here, slowly coming up 😀
Always the rest time I understood it was to let flavour improve, maybe like when we let rest a meal we just finished cooking.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Good stuff, Alvaro. A new way for me of making this sausage even better is to add a bit of starter culture and let it ferment for a few days. Oh my! In Italy, many fresh sausages are fermented based on my interactions with a few sausage makers from there. That tang that fermentation adds makes a noticeable improvement to the taste/flavor.
Alvar says
Also, speaking or resting time,for example,
when we make the best-in-the-world authentic Empanada Tucumana, we let the filling rest overnight, in order to make the Empanadas the next day.
Definitely they taste much, much better this way.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
I can see how that would let the flavors develop overnight. Though, if you make fresh sausage ahead and let it rest in the fridge for a few hours/days before cooking, that would accomplish the same thing.
andrew james barnes says
Cool Beans..Thanx for the reply. Btw I was on Amazon looking for fennel pollen and the prices are all over the map for same quantities. I will purchase from the site you recommended as it is reasonably priced. I have been looking for a long time for a decent Italian sausage recipe and this one looks like a keeper and don't hate me for it but I am going to add real cheese to the mix. Hell why not. Later and thanx again.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Andrew, you won't get hate from me for that;) I love experimenting and I am known to make some crazy stuff. Let me give you a recent example: I made white sourdough bread stuffed with whole smoked jalapeno poppers aka ABTs. It was absolutely delicious. I like adding spicy Havarti or jalapeno cheddar to my fresh sausages. Which reminds me, I also add crumbled jalapeno cheddar to my burger mix. Who wouldn't like that? 😉
Andy Barnes says
I am going to make this as soon as I get some fennel pollen. How do u incorporate the 1/2tspn pollen into the grind so that is is completely mixed thru the meat? I see the pollen in the bag has stems amongst the flower petals. Do I pick those out and crush the pollen with mortar and pestle or just toss it in the mix whole?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Andy, I find that the best way is to combine all seasonings together and mix them thoroughly, then mix with the meat. Another thing that really helps with distributing the seasonings evenly is adding some water or broth.
Yes, if you see larger pieces crush them in a mortar. Good luck!
bronk says
I used the fennel pollen and and added .2% by weight Gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes with no seeds) . Plus I added 1.25% fresh garlic cloves.
Delicious.
Dave B. says
This is wonderful. I didn't have fennel pollen (ordered some but couldn't wait) so I went without, but added 2T paprika and 2t cayenne. This is really good and will be my new recipe. Expecting it to kick up a notch with the fennel pollen. I have enjoyed several of your recipes, in particular kabanosy. I make it all the time and everyone loves it. Not quite as good as that found at Celinas Polish deli in Chicago, but dang close.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Kabanos not as good as the one at the Polish deli, ha? 😉 Totally possible. The recipe that I posted is the official recipe but it can be tweaked to make it better especially if you want it to suit someone's particular taste. I often tweak my recipes to see if I caN come up with something even better. That's why I love making sausages at home.
Aaron A says
My go too recipe Everyone who tries it says it’s the best I’ve ever had. Fennel pollen is the key ingredient you definitely want to add it makes all the difference. I also grind the fennel seed and a mortar (personal preference). I think biting into a fennel seed can be over powering.
Once I fire roasted sweet peppers and onions puréed them and ground them into the sausages it was excellent but I find the original recipe to be so good that it’s not worth the extra effort however it did take it up a notch.
once I was low on white wine so I substituted half red (dry) wine half white wine and I did not notice a difference.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Enjoy! Thank you for your feedback.
Steve says
Do you think I can use red wine instead of white? Or would they come out ugly?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
That's a good question, Steve. I don't know if I have a good answer for you as I've never made this type of sausage with red wine. I use red wine to make salami all the time, it works great, nice color. In this sausage, I think maybe just fine too. The wine will impart some color but shouldn't be ugly. You can always test with one sausage/meatball and see how it looks to you.
HC says
I am wondering if the use of red pepper in place of cayenne for the spicy version will use the same measurements.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
It's hard to say. Red pepper is a generic name used for all hot peppers and as far as I know, what you buy at a local grocery store as 'red pepper' would rank lower on the Scoville scale compared to cayenne pepper. Cayenne by the way also falls in the 'red pepper' category. If you can figure out what specific pepper(s) it is then you can check the Scoville scale rating and compare to cayenne. If not, assume it's as hot as cayenne or lower.
Albert Hall says
Italian Chicken sausage. Most recipes seem to use CHICKEN BREAST and add PORK FAT. . I've only ever uses BONELESS SKIN -ON thighs. Remove sking from thigh chop and and FREEZE.. When grinding take half of the mix add the frozen chopped skin and mince through medium plate. Mince rest through coarse plate and combine.
When adding spices etc. Add to the original chop before mincing and allow to stand for a couple of hours in the fridge or overnight. If adding liquids like Wine Vinegar or wine mix in well before final mince. .
Mike Y says
The recipe worked well shot the sausage this evening to try in the morning. The left over meat from the sausage stuffer was tasty as a patty.
Looking forward to sausages in the morning! Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Mike, glad to hear it and thank you for the feedback. Enjoy! And try my other sausage recipe, plenty of really good ones here... beef sticks, kabanos, swojska, chicken...
Adrian says
After deciding I was going to try and make my own sausages I scoured the web to see if I could find a recipe that resembled the Italian Sausages I typically buy from the deli and this recipe was the one I tried. All I can say is absolutely delicious and much better than the shop. Now I look forward to making some hot ones. Thanks!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Hi Adrian, glad to hear that you liked my Italian sausage recipe. I hope you can try other recipes from my blog, plenty of good ones here.
Dave says
Delicious recipe! Did 70/30 venison/pork butt, added paprika and garlic. Fantastic thank you!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
You are very welcome, Dave. Enjoy!
Danielle says
This seems so easy
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
As easy as mixing some ground pork with spices;)
John says
Is okay to add paprika to the Italian hot sausage?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Paprika is one of the more commonly used spices for making sausages in Italy. You can definitely add it if you like it. In sausage making there is no right or wrong as far as spices go. What spices you use and how much is driven by your taste. In Italy, the same style of sausage will have different spices and amount from region to region, even city to city and family to family.
john says
You do not add any pork fat to the Italian sausage recipe or paprika ?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
There is enough fat in the pork butt, no need to add more.
Albert Hall says
Entering the world of sausage making is entering the world of EXPERIMENTATION. I startred sausage making way back inthe 1950's using a handed down SUSSEX VSAUSAGE RECIPOE that consisted of only four ingrediants, WHOLE body pork from a well fatted hog [ usually from a maiden sow that would not breed I'm told ] , Salt White Pepper and Sage WE had a small farm based PIG SLAUGHTER HOUSE and even made our own casings [ that's one job I never repeated god the bloodsy smell!!]
Strange as it may seem the sausage making was a great boon for us down oinn the farm during WW2 because sausages were classified as OFFAL and not rationed and a small industry developed around the COTTAGERS PIG [ war regulations allowed the keeping of a pig for personal consumption as as long as you gave up a portion of your OFFICIAL MEAT/BACON Ration. Amazing how the allowed single pigs muliplied. Whole bloody villiages were involved! The arrangement was that my Dad and Uncle did the slaughtering and butchering and took saty 25% of the meat to make sausages etc. Our Sausages were fried, boiled dried, smoked you name it.
Since then sausage making has been a continuing 'not for profit' hobby and I've made them to recipes from around the world including various types of preserved sausages as in Salamis [ a lot easier than you might think!] and BOUDIN NOIR. However ths ENGLISH FOVOURITE remains the plain old Breakfast Sausage with Pork and Leek a close second. The difference today is that I mostly use a permitted PRESERVATIVE.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
I agree, experimentation is and should be the key part of sausage making. That's how I developed most of my best sausage recipes. No need to sell me on the ease of salami making, I've been making them for many years and some of the recipes are on my blog. Cheers!