The Simple Sausage Patties You've Been Waiting For

You may think that making sausage patties at home is complicated. What if it isn't? What if you could make delicious homemade sausage patties in less time than it takes you to watch an episode of your favourite network sitcom? Imagine having a sausage patty and knowing everything that's in it. Imagine that it isn't super greasy. I know that I'm building this up, but the fact is that if you can make a burger, you can make a sausage patty. After all, a sausage patty is essentially just a thin burger made of anything but beef.

Today, we are going to make breakfast sausage patties that are fantastic on breakfast sandwiches, as a side to fried eggs and toast, or with pancakes. What's more is that they freeze very well, and as they are pre-cooked, they can be taken out of the freezer and heated in the microwave in just a few minutes.

So, if you love sausage but hate the grease, prefer to know what you are eating, and love/need breakfast on the go, you've come to the right place. This is how to make...

What is a sausage patty?

First of all, I want to acknowledge that Friday is usually dedicate to Barbecue Posts. However, this week I decided to change it up a bit and share something that I have had a severe craving for and love dearly. I hope you enjoy it.

As I said in the intro to this post, a sausage patty is a thin well-seasoned burger made of anything but beef. The recipe that we are focusing on today is pork-based. However, we could easily substitute the pork with ground chicken or turkey for a lighter option. The key to this is the seasoning that we will be using, which is a combination of herbs, spices, and garlic. Our goal is to create lots of flavours, without overpowering the character of the meat, without using too much salt, and with perfect balance. That is easier said than done, but we will do our best. Let's take a look.

Getting Started

Generally, when making sausage, the meat is ground fresh. However, as I assume you do not have a meat grinder at home, I think buying ground pork from the grocery store or butcher is an excellent option. (If we were making sausage links, I would not advocate for pre-ground pork for a myriad of reasons.) In total, I used 1 lb or 454 g of ground pork. This amount of pork made six decently sized sausage patties.

To the ground pork, I added Kosher Salt, paprika, black pepper, white pepper, ground sage, cayenne pepper, ground clove, onion powder, fresh garlic, sugar, and cold water. (For measurements, see the recipe at the end of this post.) Other optional ingredients include ½ teaspoon of ground ginger, a ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon or more cayenne if you prefer a bit more heat. I didn't add ginger or cinnamon simply because they didn't come to mind until I was eating.

Mixing and Cooking

Once I had added all of the ingredients to the meat, I mixed it and formed six evenly sized balls. I pressed the meatballs into thin patties on a parchment-lined baking sheet. With all of the patties made, I put them into a 350°F oven for 12 minutes. After that, the patties are fully cooked and can be cooled, wrapped and frozen, or eaten.

Making Breakfast Sandwiches

Although the sausage patties are fully cooked and ready to eat when they come out of the oven, I prefer to brown them in a hot pan before serving them. I find that this helps to develop a little more depth to their flavour. I seared two patties while cooking a couple of eggs, added a bit of cheddar cheese then put them on a gluten-free English Miffun with lettuce and mayo. What a great way to start the day!

Conclusion

Although I'm kind of billing these as breakfast sausage patties, they would be great broken up in a pasta sauce, or as a ravioli filling. You could mix them with cheese and use them to stuff a chicken breast or as an alternative to regular hamburgers. The point is that these sausage patties are versatile, cheap, easy to make, and delicious. How could you go wrong?