Last Updated on January 23, 2025
It is really easy to make your own homemade Italian sausage. With a few spices and some ground pork, you’ll be eating like an Italian in no time.
My Italian sausage is usually store-bought. Jimmy Dean. Johnsonville, or a store brand. Well, these are great but, you can make your own homemade Italian sausage, using just ground pork or pork butt that is ground. (Grind your own with an attachment on your mixer or with a food processor).
If you can find pork on sale, you could make a lot of sausage and freeze portions for later use. This is super easy and very tasty.
Ingredients Needed for Italian Sausage
Ground Pork – Pork is what Italian sausage is usually made from and it’s what I use. Ideally the lean to fat ratio should be around 70% lean and 30% fat for the best flavor. Ground pork butt will give this approximate ratio. The grocery store-bought ground pork pictured is an 80%-20% lean to fat ratio.
Spices – The main spice used to give the Italian sausage it’s signature flavor is fennel. I use fennel seeds which are quickly toasted in a skillet on the stovetop. A couple minutes on medium-high heat will toast the seeds and bring out the flavor.
If you would like, the fennel seeds can be pulsed in a spice grinder to produce smaller pieces.
Additional spices needed are sweet paprika, dried parsley, oregano, garlic powder, thyme, rosemary, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.
Mixing It All Together
In a bowl, add the spices and then mix in the ground pork. I mix the pork by hand wearing rubber gloves. Without the rubber gloves, the pork will tend to stick to your fingers and be kind of messy.
Once mixed, wrap the pork with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 or 4 hours so that the flavors of the spices meld with the meat.
The sausage will keep in the refrigerator for 3 days or wrap well and freeze for up to 3 months.
Have your homemade Italian sausage with some homemade marinara sauce like this one.
Serve with pasta, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese. Your pasta meal will be yummy.
Here are some delicious recipes that use Italian sausage:
Homemade Italian Sausage Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lbs ground pork , 70% to 80% lean
- 1 tbsp fennel seed toasted
- 2 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 tsp. dried parsley
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp garlic, granulated or powder
- 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Brown the fennel seed in a skillet on medium-high heat. Stir seeds continually until they start to brown and become fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Mix the ground pork with the spices in a bowl. Using rubber gloves and hand mixing works best.
- Allow the flavors to meld by wrapping the pork in plastic wrap and refrigerating for at least 3 hours or overnight.
- Brown the Italian sausage with 1 or 2 tbsp olive oil in a skillet.
Notes
- The fennel seeds could be crushed or ground if you would like.
- Add more red pepper flakes if you like hotter sausage.
- The Italian sausage freezes well in an air-tight container for up to 3 months.
- Calorie count is based on one serving of the pork only. (No spaghetti or marinara sauce).
Nutrition
Joe
Thanks John and Flora. I think you’ve had my marinara and sausage before. Fun and tasty to make!
J.Howie
Flora and I just finnished dinner and we read your
recipe on italian sausage with picture and we got
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