Try this healthy sausage for breakfast!
Did you know it’s this easy to make your own sausage at home? Seriously! All you need is seven ingredients – ground turkey, and plenty of spices – no need for nitrates or artificial ingredients in this Skinny Breakfast Sausage recipe. Because we don’t add and excess fat or unnecessary fillers, you can have a sausage patty that only clocks in at 85 calories and 4 grams of fat per serving. How great is that?
This sausage is perfect on its own as an accompaniment to eggs in a traditional breakfast. Or, whip up a batch of our delicious homemade old-fashioned buttermilk biscuits. Pairing the two together is a great option for on-the-go breakfast sandwiches, too.
Forming Your Patties
Before we move on to the best ways to cook this Skinny Breakfast Sausage, we want to talk briefly about forming the patties. Anytime you’re handling ground meat – whether you’re making meatballs, burgers, or sausage patties – it’s always best to avoid over-handling them. Even lean meat has some fat content, and that fat can break down if it’s over worked. The end result would be dense patties, which can have an unpleasant texture.
It’s best to add all the spices to the ground turkey before mixing it all together. I like using my hands to avoid overmixing, but you can also give it a quick paddle in a stand mixer. Then, I rinse my hands under cold water before forming the patties. This reduces their temperature ever so slightly, keeping the fat from melting.
Once the patties are formed, pop them into the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes to cool them down. The colder the fat is, the better the patties will cook!
Cooking Skinny Breakfast Sausage
When it comes to cooking sausage, many people wonder if you need to add extra oil to the pan. It really depends on the type of pan you’re using. We almost always use nonstick pans or cast iron skillets because you rarely have to add any extra oil to that type of material. If your sausage does stick, you might not be preheating your pan well enough. Starting your sausage in a hot pan is always the best way to keep it from sticking.
Another option is to bake the sausage patties in the oven. I like baking them in a 400 degree F oven for 15 to 20 minutes, flipping halfway. You can bake them at a lower temperature, but they won’t brown as nicely. A quick pop under the broiler will do the trick, though, if they’re not browned enough for your liking.
Skinny Breakfast Sausage
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground turkey or chicken (hormone and cage free recommended)
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
- 1 teaspoon dried sage
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes more or less to taste
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- kosher or sea salt to taste
Instructions
Nutrition Information
Have you made this recipe?
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Hi. Could ground pork be substituted for the turkey?
Hi Tammy, Yes – you can substitute ground pork. Just keep in mind it does change the nutritional information!
I have not tried but have read that Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat pastry flour can b e used inter- changeably for all purpose flour. Jack might try using this in making gravy. I hope to do the same. My husband is from Iowa but he has learned to enjoy biscuits and gravy for breakfast. I’m looking forward to making this sausage recipe to use in some egg muffins.
I make these weekly, so good!! I started eating better about 1 1/2 years ago and have lost 85 pounds. Love this recipe!!
That’s fantastic, Mike! And we’re glad you like this recipe, too — thanks!
Hi! I would love to make this recipe but my family with the exception of my daughter does not like spicy foods. Is there something I could substitute for the crushed red pepper flakes or can I just leave them out?
Hi, Renee. It’s fine to leave out the crushed red pepper flakes. The sausage will still taste great!
Thank you so much for the reply. I was searching Pinterest for other Turkey Breakfast Sausage but they all had some kinds of carbs in them and i’m trying to loose weight so i’m on a low carb diet and I really liked the idea that yours had no carbs. I am a very happy person this morning. Thank you so very much.Have a great day.
GREAT! Emjoy, Renee. 🙂
This was great, I added some different herbs thyme and sage (no oregano) I was out, and pressed it into a 13×9 pan and baked it for 10/15 mins.
I’ve been making your recipe with slight seasoning adjustments for personal taste for years. I bake mine on an ungreased cookie sheet for 25 minutes at 350. I cool them and freeze them so I just have to microwave them when I want one. I never buy store bought ones anymore.
Hi Kimberly, I love that idea. Sometimes I make the mixture, add it to a gallon ziplock, spread evenly in the bag using my hands, close the bag, then with a butter knife I make indentions to form sausage patties, freeze, then break off one when ready to cook. 🙂
Delicious alternative to healthier sausage.
No comment haven’t tried yet or seen the recipe. Weird to ask for a comment before trying.
I tried your sausage and my family and I loved them except the sage was a little to powerful. I’m guessing my family isn’t much on the sage flavor can that also be left out or can I reduce it to 1/8 of a teaspoon so it’s not as strong? Thanks in advance for a reply.
Hi, Renee. You can certainly reduce or omit the amount of sage in the recipe. You can also try substituting the sage with either marjoram, rosemary, or thyme (equal to the amount of sage). Thank you!
These are Fantastic! I have been making them for a couple of years now. I have cooked them and froze them and they are great!
Made these today with ground chicken. They have great flavor but even with minimal handing seems a little dense. I will add a little Trader Joe’s organic frozen cauliflower rice or some shredded zucchini to lighten them up. I have had great success with doing this with meatballs, meatloaf or stuffing peppers.
Thanks for a great breakfast sausage recipe.
You’re off on your calorie count per serving there. A pound of lean turkey will have around 900 calories per 1 lb. If you make 8 patties per batch, that’s 112 calories, not 85. Please be more accurate. That’s almost 200 calories over estimate in a week.
Hi, thank you for your suggestion. We have double checked our nutritional information and it is correct. According to our calculations (and checking the labels on several brands of ground turkey) there are about 650 calories per pound, not 900.
I made this and it was wayyyyyyyyyyyy too much sage. I added another pound of meat to try and cut it down. It still wasn’t enough but I didn’t have more meat. I didn’t want to throw out , now 2 lb , of meat we ate it. My house still smells of the over powering sage. Yuck!
Hi, thanks for your feedback. If 1 teaspoon of sage is too much for your taste, please feel free to reduce to 1/2 teaspoon or adjust the amount according to your taste preference. I hope this helps! Thanks, and have a great day!
This was so good. I thought I had some sausage gravy mix-I know I know, anyway I browned the sausage starting with a sprayed cold pan-no oil necessary sprinkled a little flour on the sausage and added milk until the right consistency. It was really good. My husband said this sausage was the best he has every had. The rest I made into patties and froze individually. It is so hard to find a sugar free sausage recipe and this one is the best I have tried.
Debbie, Oh good! Thank you so much for the feedback. It’s also my husband’s favorite sausage. 🙂
We’re a household that loves biscuits & gravy. I made a batch with the 3 lb. Pack of ground turkey from Walmart…OMG! Its delicious! I also froze the extra lb. For cooking later. I also love making breakfast burritos! I’m not big on the patty making, but the “ground” sausage is just as tasty. My new goto recipe & its less than $3 a lb. Thank you!
We’re glad to hear you love the recipe!