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Home » Charcuterie » Smoked Sausage and Meat » How to Make Pepperoni Sausage

How to Make Pepperoni Sausage

May 11, 2020 by Victor @ Taste of Artisan 29 Comments

Sliced pepperoni on a cutting board.

Making pepperoni sausage at home is extremely rewarding and is very similar to the making of Summer sausage. I made it once many years ago and it has become a staple at our home. This is not your typical store-bought pepperoni – this one has better texture, much better flavor, and it tastes like high quality sausage. This sausage is outstanding. You can even make sandwiches with it, it’s that good. Smoked pepperoni is to die for. Your pizzas will taste better than ever. Smoke greatly improves flavor and increases shelf life of sausage due to its antibacterial properties. In this article I will talk about how to make pepperoni sausage at home and share my experience.

What is pepperoni sausage?

Pepperoni sausage is an Italian-American semi-dry fermented sausage typically made of pork and beef. Pepperoni sausage made of beef or pork alone is also common. Peperoni is seasoned with paprika and aromatic herbs, has a soft texture, is slightly smoky, and bright red in color. It is a popular pizza topping in American pizzerias.

The name pepperoni implies Italian origin but it’s far from the truth. It does have some similarities to the spicy salamis of southern Italy, such as salsiccia Napoletana piccante, or Calabrese salami. Pepperoni has a finer grain though, is usually softer, and is made with artificial casings.

The meat

Pepperoni sausage is typically made of a combination of pork and beef, or pork or beef alone. The ratios of pork to beef vary from 75% pork and 25% beef to 25% pork and 75% beef. It really depends on personal preference. Sometimes all you have is pork butt, or chuck roast, and may decide to make an all pork or all beef pepperoni. My personal preference for pepperoni is 75% to 100% pork.

The taste of pepperoni sausage is very much dependent on the freshness and the quality of meat. To get the best results, buy your meat fresh and grind it yourself. Alternatively, ask your butcher to grind it for you. You want to grind the meat fairly fine, through a 3/16″ (4.5mm) plate.

Pepperoni sausage spices

The dominating spice in this sausage is paprika, which gives it a characteristic orange color. You will also find aromatic spices such as anise, allspice, fennel, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, mustard and black pepper among the commonly used spices in pepperoni sausage. Many recipes also add cayenne pepper for a little kick.

Seasonings for pepperoni sausage

The best pepperoni sausage though is the sausage made to suit your taste, so feel free to experiment to come up with your favorite spice combination. If possible, grind your spices just before adding them to the ground meat. This will help you get the most flavor out of them.

Grinding spices for pepperoni

Curing salt and cultures

As the typical pepperoni sausage is a fermented semi-dry sausage, a meat culture such as Bactoferm FL-C is used. Bactoferm F-LC meat culture with bioprotective properties is used for the production of fermented sausages with short or traditional production times. During fermentation pH of the meat drops to 5.3 which helps inhibit growth of pathogenic bacteria and gives the sausage its tangy taste. FL-C culture can be purchased from sausagemaker.com or  butcher-packer.com.

In this recipe, pepperoni sausage is fermented and then smoked at temperatures that promote growth of unwanted bacteria. To prevent that, Cure #1 (also known as pink salt) is used. Pink salt also improves flavor, prevents food poisoning, tenderizes meat, and develops the pink color widely known and associated with smoked meats. You can purchase Cure #1 from the online stores mentioned above as well as on Amazon – DQ Curing Salt #1 / Pink Salt.

Grinding meat and mixing with spices

You want to make sure that the salt and the spices are mixed well with the meat and distributed evenly. One way to ensure even seasoning distribution is to mix them with the pieces of meat before they are ground. This is my favorite method and it works very well.

Grinding pepperoni sausage with spices.

After grinding the meat, simply add the starter culture re-hydrated in 1/3 cup of water and mix well.

Mixing meat for pepperoni sausage

Sausage casings

The most common casing size used for pepperoni sausage is 1 1/2″ (38mm) in diameter. This is the size that most pepperoni produced in America uses.

That said, there is nothing wrong with making pepperoni a bit thicker, like 2″ – 2 1/2″  (50-60mm). You can use beef middles or collagen casings. I like to use collagen casings for pepperoni sausage as they are easier to use and make straight links. These casings are sold as pepperoni stick casings and can be purchased from a variety of places, e.g. your local sausage making supply store, Amazon (Non-Edible Fibrous Casings), thesausagemaker.com, or butcher-packer.com.

Pepperoni casings

Stuffing meat into casings

The most efficient and economical way to stuff the meat into casings is to use a vertical sausage stuffer, such as the LEM Products 5 Pound Sausage Stuffer or the LEM Motorized 20 lb stuffer. I own both of these stuffers, they both do a great job, though one is perfect for one-person operation.

You may also use a sausage stuffer attachment for your meat grinder, but you may be disappointed with the results. Meat grinders are not designed for stuffing sausages and, frankly, do a very poor job at it.

A cheaper alternative to a vertical sausage stuffer that would yield better results than a meat grinder attachment would be a manual sausage stuffer like the LEM Manual Sausage Stuffer. These stuffers are great for occasional use. They are hard to use and require good physical strength to operate, but can produce good results after some practice.

Stuff the meat firmly, ensuring that no air pockets remain inside. Getting all the air out is practically impossible and you will see some tiny cavities after your sausage is done. This is not a problem for semi-dry sausages. Just do your best but don’t worry if some tiny air pockets remain.

Stuffing pepperoni into casings

The cooking equipment

To smoke pepperoni sausage, you will need a smoker or a grill that is capable of maintaining low temperatures.

Electric smokers

A dedicated electric sausage smoker would be ideal, like the very popular Masterbuilt 30-Inch Smoker. Many people consider this smoker to be the best value for home sausage making needs.

Should you need a looking window to enjoy your sausage while it’s being smoked, you can get an equally popular Masterbuilt 30-Inch Electric Smoker with Window and RF Controller.

Using a propane smoker

If you like propane-fuelled smokers, the Masterbuilt XL propane smoker is a very good choice. I used one for years to make my favorite Polish kielbasa and many other smoked sausages.

Pepperoni sausage in a propane smoker.

It’s not that easy to maintain low temperatures with, but modifying it with a needle valve, like the Bayou Classic Brass Control Valve, will fix that. If you don’t feel comfortable installing a needle valve into the gas line yourself, you can buy a pre-made gas assembly, like the Bayou Classic M5HPR-1 10 PSI Hose, Regulator, Valve Assembly. You need to make sure that the regulator on the assembly you are buying matches the specs of your burner. Needle Valves for Gassers is a good resource for more information on this.

Using a smokehouse

This is the ultimate option. If you want a taste of traditional smoked sausage, smoke in a smokehouse. I don’t know what it is, the air flow, the humidity or something else, but sausages smoked in a smokehouse feel and taste a little different. I recently built a smokehouse and use it for smoking sausage. If you are a DIY type, check out Stanley Marianski’s excellent book called Meat Smoking And Smokehouse Design that talks about different smoker designs that you can build at home.

Pepperoni sausage in a smokehouse.

Other smoking equipment

If you have a Big Green Egg, it’s a viable option as well. I’ve used it for smoking sausages, like summer sausage, at low heat before building my smokehouse. It’s not too hard to start this grill at about 110F and maintain that temperature for about 1-2 hours. Eventually, the temperature will creep up but that’s exactly what you want anyway. You just have to control the airflow such that the temperature does not rise too quickly.

Pepperoni sausage on grill-smoker.

The final resort option

If none of the above works for you, don’t give up. You can cook your sausage in the kitchen oven. You won’t get the same amazing smoky flavor and the color, but it’s still better than nothing. Just make sure to cook the sausage at low temperatures to not let the fat melt out. This is very important.

Cooking temperature

Stanley Marianski in his Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages book mentions that once the temperature of the meat reaches about 100F all fat tissues become liquid. That said, there is very little fat loss between 150 – 190F or even up to the boiling point of water of 212F. Above those levels, the fat starts to leak out quite rapidly. There is a significant fat loss at temperatures over 248F. Sausages cooked at temperatures higher than 190F will have a dry, crumbly texture.

Ideally, smoke your pepperoni at 110F – 130F until the desired color is achieved, then gradually increase the temperature to 150-175F and then all the way to 190F.

If cooking in the oven, start cooking the sausage at the lowest setting (usually around 170F) and slowly increase to 190F, until the internal temperature of the sausage reaches the target temperature.

Sliced pepperoni on a cutting board.

How to Make Pepperoni Sausage

5 from 7 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Appetizer, dinner, lunch
Cuisine: American
Keyword: pepperoni, pepperoni sausage
Prep Time: 2 hours
Fermentation and smoking: 1 day 6 hours
Total Time: 1 day 8 hours
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 196kcal
Author: Victor

Ingredients

  • 700 g pork butt about 1.54 lbs; see notes
  • 300 g beef chuck about 0.66 lbs; see notes
  • 23 g salt about 4 tsp
  • 2.5 g Cure #1 about 1/2 tsp
  • 10 g dextrose or glucose; about 2 tsp
  • 5 g sugar - 5.0 g about 1 tsp
  • 3 g black pepper ground, about 1½ tsp
  • 8 g sweet paprika ground, about 4 tsp
  • 2.5 g anise seeds ground; about 1 tsp
  • 2 g allspice ground; about 1 tsp
  • 2 g cayenne pepper about 1 tsp
  • 0.24 g F-LC culture use scale
  • 80 ml distilled water about 1/3 cup

Instructions

  • Grind pork and beef through 3/16” plate (5 mm).
  • Mix all ingredients with ground meat.
  • Stuff into beef middles or fibrous casings about 60 mm in diameter.
  • Ferment at 86F (30C) and 85-90% humidity for 24 hours.
  • Place the sausage in the smoker and smoke at 110F and 70% humidity for 6 hours. Gradually increase smoke temperature until internal meat temperature reaches 140F.
  • For a drier sausage, dry for 3 days at 60-70F and 65-75% humidity or until desired weight loss is achieved.
  • Store sausages at 50-59F and 75-80% humidity.

Notes

You can use a combination of pork and beef, or just beef or pork. All pork pepperoni is very, very good and is one of my favorite variations.

Nutrition

Calories: 196kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 78mg | Sodium: 1324mg | Potassium: 453mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 473IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 2mg

Recipe variations

If you want to use a different process, without fermentation, I suggest Rytek Kutases recipe which suggests using 2 Tbsp powdered dextrose, 3/4 cup fermento and 3 Tbsp corn syrup solids per 10 lbs of meat. Cook sausages to 152F internal in this case.

If you don’t have the starter culture, or Fermento, but really want to make pepperoni, you can always make it as you would a regular kielbasa. Follow my Polish kielbasa recipe process, only replace the spices and seasonings with the ones in this recipe. The sausage won’t be exactly like pepperoni but will be pretty close and will taste great nevertheless.

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  1. Mike Raether

    March 28, 2021 at 6:46 pm

    Just finished a batch of your pepperoni and it is wonderful! Thank you. Used 2/3 pork butt and 1/3 venison. Seasoning was just right for me. Smoked with hickory chips. Stuffed into 19mm edible collagen casings as I wanted as snacking sticks. I had my wife pick up a ham shank portion so I can try your Kielbasa recipe next. Or maybe I’ll try the brats . . . Or maybe . . .

    I’m like the proverbial kid in a candy store!

    Reply
    • Victor @ Taste of Artisan

      March 29, 2021 at 1:18 pm

      Hi Mike, your comment put a smile on my face;) Happy to see that you enjoy reading my blog and the recipes here. For snacking, try the kabanos recipe. My family loves it. I’ve also been playing with a chicken sausage recipe and after several batches I think it’s outstanding. The only problem is that when I make say 10lbs it’s gone in just a few days. Hard to resist. I will post the recipe on the blog when I get a chance.

      Reply
  2. Leigh Smith

    March 11, 2021 at 5:21 pm

    You can use a couple table spoons of sauerkraut juice (contains lactobacillus) and ferment as described.

    Reply
    • Victor @ Taste of Artisan

      March 15, 2021 at 11:27 pm

      Very true, but who knows what’s in that juice. Meaning it can be contaminated with spoilage bacteria, bacteria population may be too low, etc. Also, it’s very hard to find proper (fermented) sauerkraut nowadays. A lot of store-bought sauerkraut is nothing but flavored pickled cabbage so have to be careful about that. Using a culture is a sure and predictable way IMHO.

      Reply
  3. Raymond Campbell

    February 14, 2021 at 4:19 pm

    Victor,your pepperoni looks wrinkle free,did you give it an ice bath,or just hanged it at room temp?

    Reply
    • Victor @ Taste of Artisan

      March 27, 2021 at 12:48 pm

      Hi Raymond, sorry for the delayed response, yes, I gave them a bath to cool down. That sure helps keep them nice and plump. You can also smoke at low temp then poach in a hot water batch to bring the internal temperature up. I use that method often, it makes thing much easier and faster and keeps the wrinkles away.

      Reply
  4. Matt

    January 27, 2021 at 2:53 pm

    I see a lot of recipes that call for red wine. Could red wine substitute the water in this recipe?

    Thanks!

    Matt

    Reply
    • Victor @ Taste of Artisan

      January 28, 2021 at 12:35 am

      You’d need some water to activate the starter culture but it won’t hurt if you add some wine on top. For larger batches it’s easier – say if you are starting with 3 kg of meat, you can use 80 ml of water for the starter culture and add 160 ml of wine, or even more…

      Reply
      • Matt

        January 28, 2021 at 5:08 pm

        Sounds like a plan. Thanks!!

  5. Abi

    January 21, 2021 at 11:55 pm

    I just followed your recipe for pepperoni in the oven. How do I store it? Can it be hung in a cool, dry place or does it need refrigeration/freezing?
    Thanks so much!

    Reply
    • Victor @ Taste of Artisan

      January 29, 2021 at 12:16 am

      Step #7 in instructions:
      Store sausages at 50-59F and 75-80% humidity.

      This way it will be drying slowly and the shelf life will extend. In general, simply refrigerate. To store without refrigeration you’d need to prepare it a bit differently.

      Reply
      • Matt Cosgrove

        January 31, 2021 at 3:28 pm

        After a few days in the fridge, can it be frozen?

        Thanks!

        Matt

      • Victor @ Taste of Artisan

        February 01, 2021 at 1:01 am

        I’ve frozen dry and semi-dry sausage before… it’s fine… I think the texture changes a little but still good. Make sure to defrost in a fridge though.

  6. Ray

    January 09, 2021 at 7:28 pm

    one word outstanding,followed the recipe to the letter,best I have made

    Reply
    • Victor @ Taste of Artisan

      January 10, 2021 at 7:27 pm

      Glad to hear it, Ray. Now try my other recipes;) Plenty of good ones. Enjoy!

      Reply
  7. Darlene

    November 01, 2020 at 6:48 pm

    Hi, for the oven method- is the target internal temperature 190F? Noting gradual temp increase from 170-190F- just not clear if that is the target internal temperature as well.

    Reply
    • Victor @ Taste of Artisan

      November 02, 2020 at 12:24 am

      Darlene, the target internal temp of the pepperoni is 140F.

      Reply
  8. Paula

    October 28, 2020 at 10:05 pm

    Can I use honey or sugar in place of the dextrose? In what ratio, if so?

    Reply
    • Victor @ Taste of Artisan

      October 31, 2020 at 5:29 pm

      Sugar will do just fine, I’ve substituted dextrose for sugar without any obvious effects.

      Reply
  9. Lee

    September 19, 2020 at 6:16 am

    Hi, I’m not new to making salami but this is the first time making pepperoni. Using 65mm casings and smoking them in the pizza over 6 hrs turned out brilliant. Have ended up with nearly 3kg for $30 ish (AUS).
    Thanks for the recipe.

    Reply
    • Victor @ Taste of Artisan

      September 22, 2020 at 4:50 am

      Glad to hear that, Lee. You are very welcome.

      Reply
  10. Ginger

    August 02, 2020 at 7:53 am

    Instead of an oven, would a dehydrator work to dry the pepperoni?

    Reply
    • Victor @ Taste of Artisan

      August 02, 2020 at 10:58 pm

      You need to cook it 140F internal first then dry. I suppose a dehydrator might work but I haven’t tried myself.

      Reply
  11. William

    July 24, 2020 at 4:34 pm

    First off, great website – thanks you for sharing the information – very inspiring!!!!!

    I am assembling all of the equipment and materials for my 1st shot at homemade pepperoni. In your instructions for making pepperoni you state “Ferment at 86F (30C) and 85-90% humidity for 24 hours”

    How do you achieve and monitor this step?

    Reply
    • Victor @ Taste of Artisan

      July 24, 2020 at 4:56 pm

      Hi William, welcome to my blog and to this exciting hobby. I am sure you will love it.

      As for how these fermentation conditions can be achieved – there are a few options. One is a curing chamber. I use mine for both fermentation and maturing salumi. Now, this is not a trivial solution and, frankly, not needed unless you want to immerse yourself into the beautifully tasty world of salumi making.

      The simplest and cheapest option is a good old oven. Turn the light on, shut the door, close the vents, and you will have a perfect 80F-90F temperature, depending on your oven, and the humidity will be around 90F because of the moisture released by the sausage itself. Super simple and works like a charm. I also use the oven with the light on to ferment dough.

      For monitoring, you can get a hygrometer with a probe like the Extech here which I own and like for certain uses, or the Inkbird hygrometer with a data logger paired with a smartphone. But honestly, I checked the temperature once or twice in my oven and it was about 85F and ever since then I’ve never checked again. I don’t worry about humidity when fermenting this type of sausage, it will be perfectly fine for making this type of sausage, even with some deviation. Humidity is far more critical when making dry-cured meats and sausages.

      Reply
      • William

        July 24, 2020 at 6:20 pm

        Thanks for the great advice!!!!

  12. Philip S

    June 07, 2020 at 9:58 pm

    I love your website. I have made several of your sausage recipes and they all turned out great. My family loves homemade sausage and I can’t make enough. With three boys in the house it’s gone in no time. I just made the pepperoni and summer sausage but used encapsulated citric acid and the results were perfect. My wife is big into baking so she is going to try your sour dough cinnamon buns soon. Can’t wait to try them

    Reply
    • Victor @ Taste of Artisan

      June 08, 2020 at 2:30 am

      Good to hear it Philip. Thank you for the compliment. Try my kabanos sausage – my kids love it the most. I sometimes stuff it in regular hog casings still outstanding.

      Reply
  13. James K

    May 30, 2020 at 9:26 am

    Outstanding! Followed the recipe exactly and smoked on my BGE at about 175F as I couldn’t keep the temperature lower. The pepperoni sausage still turned out excellent.

    Reply

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