Homemade Sweet Italian Sausage Recipe

We used to buy sweet Italian sausage. Not any more! With our homemade sausage recipe we’ve saving money and eating much better sausage for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  

How to Make Sweet Italian Sausage Recipe

Good sweet Italian sausage can often get pricey and then we realized long ago that homemade sausage is the way to go! This sweet italian sausage recipe is long overdue. We’ve been making homemade sausage for the past decade and enjoy it so much, it’s hard to go back to store bought sausage. First of all, Italian sausage is much more inexpensive to make at home than it is to buy it at the grocery store. Secondly, you can customize the flavors the way you want in your personal batch of homemade sweet Italian sausage. Add more spices, garlic or sweetness and every bite is customized to your personal taste. We love changing up the ratio of seasonings in each batch to see what we get.

Video: Homemade Sweet Italian Sausage Recipe :

Homemade Sweet Italian Sausage Recipe

One of the best things about making homemade sausage is adjusting the flavors to your preference and being able to choose the cuts of meat which you make the sausage out of. Our hands down preference is to make the sausage out of pork shoulder (also known as pork butt or Boston butt). It has just enough fat to keep the sausages nice and juicy when the cook, great flavor, and tends to be an inexpensive cut of meat (it’s one of our favorites period, not just for making sausage).

Customize Your Meat Mix

If you like things a little sweeter, amp up the sugar. Have a sausage making gathering and let everyone create a batch themselves and then finish off with a little taste off. If you are going to stuff the sausage in casing, make sure to first cook a little piece of sausage on a pan before stuffing to determine if you are happy with the flavor. Click Here for More of our –> BBQ and GRILLING RECIPES. 

Best Sausage Making Tools:

From the easy to the torturous, we’ve used many a sausage making tool. Here’s some of the one which help make sausage making fun and easy:

LEM 5 lb. Sausage Stuffer  – The LEM stuffer is awesome! Has an air valve to release air out the top instead of into the stuffed sausage. Is super easy to setup and clean. Holds 5 pounds worth of meat which we’ve found to be ideal for the average house use. We’ve used many which made stuffing torturous. This one is makes stuffing fun and easy.  

KitchenAid Meat Grinder – If you have a KitchenAid stand mixer, this will transform it into one of the best meat grinders for the money. We don’t like the sausage stuffer attachment, but as a grinder it does the job well.

Gourmia Meat Grinder  – If you want a stand alone meat grinder, this little beauty is a great choice. Not to bad for the wallet and grinds like a little beast.  

Check out a Few of our Favorite BBQs & Tools:

Some tools, grills, and smokers make BBQ and grilling all the more enjoyable. Here’s some of the favorites:

The Ultimate BBQ Tongs –
Avoid BBQ Tool Sets. We’ve yet to find a set where we love everything in it. Either the spatula or the tongs or the brush is wonky. Or there is stuff in there I never need. Do yourself a favor and just buy what you need a la carte. For grilling tongs, these bad boys are awesome.

Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling –
Have a grilling or BBQ question, you’ll most likely find an answer here. The most comprehensive grilling & BBQ book we’ve ever found, by far. He breaks down the science and myths, the tools, solid recipes, perfecting techniques, what’s BBQ competition tricks aren’t worth the extra time at home, and much more. You will be grill & BBQ enlightened.

Oasity BBQ Light –
Grilling should never be confined to the daylight. Love this BBQ light. Good brightness, solid magnets plus clamp option. We’ve gone through 1/2 dozen different grilling lights before falling in love with this one. Be ready to grill all night long.

Oklahoma Joe’s Reverse Flow Offset Smoker –
Love this offset smoker. Solid construction. Isn’t perfect, but with a couple easy modifications it will smoke as well as the $1k + smokers. Can use the main chamber also as a regular charcoal grill. Love using it as a regular grill using lump charcoal or briquettes. Huge cooking surface.

Charbroil 4-burner Gas Grill –
One of the best for the money. Solid gas grill! Nothing like the quick convenience of a good gas grill.

Grill Baskets –
Some days we just need to keep the little things contained on the grill. Throw them all into a basket and grill from there. Easy-peasy.

Homemade Sweet Italian Sausage

Yield: 12 servings

Prep Time: 30 minutes mins

Total Time: 30 minutes mins

If you want to go all out in making sausage, you'll need a few tools. A good sausage stuffer is a must if you want to make sausage links. Some are a struggle to work with, others are awesome. The LEM 5lb. Sausage Stuffer is one we always love. If you want to play with grinding your own cuts of meat instead of buying pre-ground meat, the KitchenAid Meat Grinder attachment and the stand alone Gourmia Meat Grinders are great choices.

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Ingredients

• 3 pounds (1.36 kg) ground Pork (ideally ground pork shoulder)
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons (22 ml) Salt
• 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) freshly cracked Black Pepper
• 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) ground Fennel
• 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) Onion Powder
• 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) Smoked Paprika
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) dried Thyme Leaves
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) dried Oregano Leaves
• 3 Tablespoons (45 ml) Red Wine - optional
• casings - optional

Equipment

• Sausage Stuffer

Instructions 

• Mix together all the seasonings in a bowl (salt, pepper, sugar, fennel, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, thyme, and oregano).
• Combine the pork, seasonings, and optional red wine in bowl and make sure all spices are blended into the ground pork.

  If unsure of flavor, heat a small skillet over medium-high heat. Cook a small patty and then taste test. Adjust seasonings if needed.
• Divide into patties, or portions for what ever you want to cook it with. You can freeze the sausage too.

To Make Sausage Links

• Fill Casing: Rinse and soak casings in warm water for about 15 minutes. Slide a casing onto your sausage stuffer tube, leaving about 4 to 5-inches of casing off the end of the tube to allow room to tie off casing. Feed the sausage in the casing, keeping the sausage in one long coil and trying to keep the sausage a consistent width. Remember to leave some extra casing after the last sausage to tie off.
• Make the links: Start with the first link and after 5-6 inches, pinch off what will become the link. Roll the link forward a few times to close the casing between links. Repeat with the next link, this time rolling backwards. Continue pinching and rolling, alternating rolling forwards and rolling backwards until all are rolled. Tie off the casing on the end sausage.
• Cook, cover or refrigerate (will keep about a week in the fridge) or divide into portions and freeze in an airtight bag (preferably in a vacuum sealed bag).

Video

Nutrition Information per Serving

Calories: 319kcal, Carbohydrates: 4g, Protein: 19g, Fat: 24g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Cholesterol: 81mg, Sodium: 937mg, Potassium: 375mg, Sugar: 2g, Vitamin A: 100IU, Vitamin C: 1.5mg, Calcium: 38mg, Iron: 1.5mg

Course: Appetizer, Main Course, Sandwiches, Side Dish

Cuisine: American, Italian

Calories: 319

Love sausage? Here’s more recipes to enjoy:

• Easy microwave sausage and eggs for breakfast
• Add your homemade sausage to these italian zucchini noodles recipe 
• Microwave sausage and eggs recipe

This recipe was published in 2017 and re-published in 2019 with updated video.