Homemade Italian Sausage is a cinch to make at home and YOU control the ingredients. Use ground Italian Sausage in a variety of recipes.
If you’ve tried my homemade taco seasoning, homemade salsa, homemade breakfast sausage, homemade seasoned salt, homemade hamburger helper, homemade egg noodles, or homemade ranch dressing, then you know how rewarding it is to make foods that are typically store bought, at home – including homemade ground Italian sausage.
The homemade version of Italian sausage is a cinch to make with ground pork plus pantry staples including dried herbs and spices.
As the saying goes, nobody wants to see how sausage is made…except for my homemade version. Seriously, it is so easy and SO GOOD! I can’t wait for you to try it.
Spicy vs Mild Homemade Sausage
This recipe is for mild Italian Sausage, aka sweet Italian sausage, though if you want a spicy version you can simply add red chili pepper flakes to your desire.
What to Make with Italian Sausage
Use homemade ground Italian sausage in literally any recipe that calls for it. Here are some tasty ideas to get you started:
- Lasagna Soup
- Italian Rice Ball Skillet
- Italian Sausage and Peppers Cheeseburgers
- Italian Sausage and Pepper Ring Mini Meatloaves
- Cheesy Vegetable, Turkey and Sausage Rice Casserole
- Italian Sausage, Spinach and Tomato Soup
- Minute Sausage, Brussels Sprouts and Parmesan Pasta
How to Make Italian Sausage
Step 1: Make the spice and seasoning mixture.
Start by raiding your spice cupboard for the following herbs and spices:
- Dried parsley
- Sugar
- Fennel seeds, coarsely ground
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Nutmeg
- Salt and pepper
- Red chili pepper flakes, optional
I use my Curtis Stone mortar and pestle (procured during the most embarrassing 20 minutes of my life) to grind the fennel seeds.
You’ll want them coarsely ground vs a fine powder. You could also use a coffee grinder, though again, be sure not to grind them too fine.
Next, add the herbs and spices to a large bowl with extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar then whisk or stir with a fork to combine.
Step 2: Mix with ground pork.
Add the spice mixture to ground pork then use your hands to mix until just combined – being careful to avoid over mixing.
The sausage is technically ready to cook at this point, though the flavor is 1000% better after chilling in the refrigerator overnight before using. You could also freeze it at this point.
Secrets to Cooking Ground Italian Sausage
When you’re ready to cook, follow these three steps to achieve tender, sausage with a gorgeous, golden brown crust:
- Cook the sausage in a large, cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.
- Don’t disturb the meat too much while its browning, as it will prevent a golden brown crust from forming. Golden brown crust = flavor!
- Don’t overcook the sausage which could cause it to dry out.
That’s all she wrote! I hope you love this homemade version of store bought Italian sausage – enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground pork
- 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon coarse ground fennel seed, see notes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- red chili pepper flakes , if desired for spicy sausage
Directions
- Add all ingredients except ground pork into a large bowl then whisk or stir with a fork to combine.
- Crumble ground pork on top then use hands to thoroughly combine, though do not over mix. For the best flavor, refrigerate sausage in an airtight container overnight before using.
Notes
- Grind fennel seeds using a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder. You don’t want a fine powder, rather, a coarse grind.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are estimates only. Please read our full nutrition information disclaimer.
I made this yesterday for the 4th time. I really love this stuff and use it in at least 4 of YOUR recipes (our favorite is your 5-ingredient pizza casserole, although ours ends up with about 8 ingredients as we like complicated pizza!) This makes truly yummy sausage. I make 3 pounds at a time and freeze it in 1/2 pound packages. Lovely to have on hand for the two of us and always, always so good!
That is AWESOME to hear, Anne! Thanks so much for your feedback!!
This Italian Sausage dish is very tasty and spicy. Thanks for sharing this dish information with us. I like this recipe. I am so happy with this dish . Thanks a lot for sharing this dish information.
So hunting season is coming up – can you use ground venison instead of (or in addition to) ground pork?
Hi there! I’ve never cooked with venison but I want to say it is very low in fat – is that right? If so, I might add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to the mix to make sure it doesn’t dry out when cooking.
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe! I started with frozen sausage and added the spices while unthawing it in the microwave. It was perfect for the slow cooker cheese tortellini and sausage recipe I used it in! I will be making this again in the near future!!
This is a great recipe! We ended up with many 1 lb packages of ground pork and I had no idea what to do with it. Great flavor and easy to make! Thank you!
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I can’t always find Italian Sausage at our small town grocery store so this is definitely going in my box of tricks.
I’ve NEVER mowed. I tried once in junior high and my younger brother told me I was doing it wrong so I am mediately stopped and told him he could do it. My husband has always mowed because I think he secretly kind of likes it. And now I have an older son that does the mowing and two more boys that are about ready to take over the reins. Maybe when they’re out of the house I’ll learn .
This and my large batch taco seasoning are my MVPs of DIY recipes. ?? Hope you get to try mowing soon – it really has been a nice little workout and break for me!
I recently switched to the Butcher Box custom box too and find that I’m actually spending LESS money because every month I was doing add-ons to ensure I received those things that month. Looks like I’ll be adding ground pork next month so I can try this recipe! Thank you!
Yes, same!! I hope you are able to give this recipe a try!
I’m vegetarian so this one isn’t for me but man can I resonate with the lawn mowing! ? I had a similar situation growing up and never learned how to mow the lawn until a few years ago when I got my husband to teach me how. Last summer, I push mowed our hilly yard less than two days before I had my second baby! #MamaMowersUnite
Looooved the flashback to the time you went up on stage with Curtis! Augh as a fellow mega introvert I cringed all over again reading that post.
Yeahhh girl!! #fitmama Oh my gosh, I died all over again re-reading it – hadn’t thought about it in years! ?
Hi Kristin, I jump to your blog from Bobbi’s HWC post. Loved your story of learning to mow. As I guy, I guess I never thought of mowing as being all those things you checked off. You’ve given me a new outlook on mowing the grass.
Homemade sausage is the best, no preservatives and you know exactly what proteins go in it.
So glad you found your way over, Ron! I hope you are able to give this recipe a try! :)
I swear to heaven that I was just thinking LAST NIGHT that I wish I could make my own Italian seasoned ground turkey “sausage”! You’re a genius!
LOVE IT!!! Great timing – let me know what you think of the recipe! :_
What a coincidence, I also learned how to run our mower this weekend! My husband is out there living the dream while I’m stuck inside with the three kids. So he taught me how to mow and off I went. Momma is taking over the mowing now :)
Bahahaha, YES, I relate to this SO much. Hence my “alone time” check mark! ;)
My husband taught me how to mow when I was 24 and I may have cried a little from embarrassment. I later called my mom and told her she should have made me do it as a kid! She loves to mow, though, so she never asked me to do it!
I feel your pain/shame!!! I couldn’t believe I had no idea how but I just never had the opportunity! ??‍♀️
It is so funny that you posted this because I was just wondering how to turn ground sausage into Italian sausage! We won a whole pig in a raffle and have a TON of ground sausage and I keep finding recipes for ground ITALIAN sausage. Thank you! I will be using this soon! :)
YAY! I’m so glad the timing was good – and what an amazing prize!!!!