I love breakfast sausage, links, patties, or browned and crumbled in biscuits and gravy or to use in breakfast burritos. But even when combining sales and coupons sometimes it is hard to find a stellar deal on it. Average price where I live for breakfast sausage is about $1.50-$2.00 a lb. after sale & coupon. Of course, prices can vary greatly based on where you live, but this is just not an item that I ever can get super cheap.
Plus the ingredient list on most store bought sausages contain things like high fructose corn syrup, MSG, sodium nitrate and other artificial flavorings and preservatives. I am also a firm believer in grinding your own meat. Mass ground beef, pork, chicken and turkey come from multiple animals so the risk of contamination is higher for things like E. Coli, salmonella and other funky bugs that can really make you sick. When you grind your own there is just a little less risk.
Plus homemade sausage just TASTES better and it really is not hard to make at all. You just take some pork and some seasonings and grind it up and voila! You have breakfast sausage! Once you taste this sausage I think you will be hard pressed to go back to the store bought version and the money savings is just an added bonus.
But let’s touch base on how this recipe saves you money because it does, at least for me it does. Like I mentioned above, even after sale and coupon the cheapest I can usually get breakfast sausage is $1.50-$2.00 per pound. Pork makes up the bulk of the cost of your sausage and if I watch the sales prices I can usually get a nice pork butt or shoulder roast for under a $1.00 per pound. Then you have the cost of spices. Now the spices and herbs used in this sausage recipe are all spices I usually already have on hand but if you have to go buy spices then that is going to be a bit more expensive as an initial outlay of cost but keep in mind you are using very little in the way of spices and herbs so a jar is going to last you a long time. I figure that if I watch for good prices on pork and factor in the cost for spices I end up paying about $1.10 per pound. Which is pretty good and considering I know exactly what is in my sausage and that this sausage tastes so very yummy I think it is a keeper!
Special Equipment
To grind your meat you are going to need a meat grinder. I personally use a meat grinder attachment for my Kitchen-Aid stand mixer. But you can also use a hand cranked meat grinder or a stand-alone electric meat grinder. This can be a bit of an investment but if you plan on making your own breakfast sausage or grinding your own hamburger, turkey, etc. it is worth the investment and you will eventually save the money spent on your meat grinder purchase. Also keep your eyes out at yard sales, thrift stores and consignment stores for a bargain on a used one. Where I live there are a lot of hunters so we often see meat grinders’ second hand.
Homemade Breakfast Sausage
Cut your pork into about 1 inch cubes. While it is tempting to remove all of the fat from your pork, don’t. The fat is crucial to a good tasting sausage. It looks like a lot of fat in the picture but when you cook it, it is actually leaner than store bought.
Next, gather your spices. herbs, brown sugar and salt. Those little red packets are red pepper flakes from when we order pizza at Papa Johns. I only used some from one packet..but if you like it spicy go for it!
In a small bowl mix your spices.
Mix your spice mixture with your cubed pork, cover and refrigerated for 4 hours or overnight.
Grind your seasoned pork to your desired coarseness. We prefer a coarse grind on our sausage but if you like it finer, go ahead!
Your final ground sausage!
At this point your sausage is done. You can either cook it up and use it right away or package it up for storage in your freezer. I put it up in 1 lb. packages in Foodsaver bags. Frozen this way you can expect it to last at least 1 year in the freezer. But I promise, you will eat it well before then it is that tasty!
Don’t forget to look for coupons for these ingredients in our Coupon Database!
Homemade Beakfast Sausage Recipe
This recipe is for 2 lbs of pork. Go ahead and double it, triple it etc based on how much pork you have. We had 6 lbs. of pork so we tripled it.
Ingredients
- 2 pound of pork (shoulder or rump roast works nicely, do not remove the fat)
- 1 tablespoon ground sage
- 1 teaspoons dried marjoram
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (depending on personal taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 pinch of ground cloves
Instructions
- Cut your pork into about 1 inch cubes and place in a large bowl.
- In a small bowl combine all of your spices, herbs, brown sugar, salt & pepper and mix well.
- Pour spice mixture over your cubed meat and mix well with your hands.
- Cover bowl and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight to allow the flavors to meld.
- Using a meat grinder grind your seasoned pork cubes at your desired coarsness.
- Cook or package your finished sausage for the freezer and store in the freezer for up to 1 year if well packaged.
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My next goal is to do the whole stuffed sausages so I can make sausage links for breakfast….
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