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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Thanks Shanna for letting us know.
How long can you keep these in the refrigerator, and how to do warm them up?
Nina, You can freeze them and cook later. Or, make the patties, refrigerate, and cook within 3 days. If you prefer to cook and warm later, just reheat in a skillet or microwave. For the skillet, add a nonstick cooking spray or 1 tablespoon water.
the biscuit link isnt working 🙁
Jessica, Sorry about that! Here you go: https://skinnyms.com/old-fashionedbuttermilk-biscu…
This was DELICIOUS. Just made it for a breakfast celebration with my boyfriend and I don't think I'll ever go back to store bought sausage. Yum!
this is just what I needed!!
Cary, Great!
I can't wait to try this with your buttermilk biscuits! Thanks! Do you have any ideas for a lower fat country gravy to go with the sausage biscuits?
Jacki, You must be from the south? Me too. 🙂 Sure, I would recommend using almost any unrefined flour, canola oil, and 2% milk. Since the flour will act as a thickening agent, it doesn’t have to be a specific type. Here are a few choices that would taste best (although the taste won’t be exactly the same as using white flour):
White Whole Wheat
Almond Flour
Quinoa Flour
Cornstarch
You can also combine cornstarch with one of the flour types.
Thanks!! Actually I'm from Washington/Oregon!! But we sure love our sausage, biscuits and gravy for breakfast 🙂 I will experiment and see what I can come up with!
Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage. Makes excellent lower fat biscuits and gravy.
Oh, and this sausage recipe.too. just might be a little bit kind of heavy handed on the pepper flakes. LOL. I didn't mean to imply that Jimmy Dean was better. I happen to love this recipe with just a little less of each of the seasonings.
do I need oil in the pan to cook them?
Anne, I don’t use oil but you certainly can if not using a non-stick skillet. Just lightly oil the skillet with canola or coconut oil. You can also use a non-stick spray.
Can these be cooked, then frozen and reheated?
Jenifer, I suppose that would work. I freeze my patties, thaw, then cook them.
Made these today and thought they were yummy. Hubby thought they were a teeny bit too spicy, so I'll cut back to a 1/2 tsp. of crushed red pepper flakes next time. ( I like spicy so I thought they were just fine.) 😉 Made the sausage patties into breakfast sandwiches using liquid egg whites, low fat cheese and whole wheat English muffins. We each ate one, then I wrapped the rest and froze them for later. YUMMY.
Teri, Great idea! Thanks for the tip. 🙂
This can also be made "Italian" by adding crushed fennel seeds. It's really yummy.
Are we talking ground sage or rubbed? Thanks.
We used ground sage, but you can also use rubbed. Just increase the measurement to 1 1/2 teaspoons, as rubbed sage is not quite as aromatic as ground.
Thanks….trying these today.
Could I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts that I’ve grounded up in the food processor instead of the store-bought ground chicken or turkey?
Thanks for this recipe!
Great question, Carol!
Yes, you can use home ground chicken or turkey!
How much salt do you suggest?
Hi Kathy,
About 1/2 a teaspoon of Kosher or sea salt.
I am looking forward to making this. How lean should the turkey be? 93% or 99%?
Kerry, Definitely 93%. It needs a little fat for taste. 🙂
Does the ground meat have to be hormone and cage free? Thank you
Lisa, If possible but it’s not required.
How do you prevent from making dense patties?
Try not to handle the meat too much. They can become dense if you spend too long forming and reshaping them.