Making your own chicken Italian sausage at home is easier than you might think, and doesn’t require a bunch of fancy tools! In fact, you can make this homemade sausage using chicken, seasonings, and a food processor. That’s it!
Chicken sausage is a fantastic alternative to pork sausage for many reasons. First of all, my family eats more chicken than pork. It has a milder taste than pork sausage, making it an excellent base for different dishes.
Second, I prefer the texture of chicken sausage. It typically has a slightly firmer, leaner texture, which some people prefer over the richness of pork. Depending on how it’s prepared, it can be juicy and tender or browned and slightly crispy.
Why should you make chicken Italian sausage at home?
I could name one hundred reasons (ok, maybe ten!) why you should make your own chicken sausage at home, but it boils down to these three:
- You can customize your seasoning.
- Better, and potentially cheaper, than buying commercially processed sausage.
- It’s easy!
When cooking with chicken, it absorbs seasonings and sauces really well, so you can easily customize the flavors—whether you want something spicy, herby, or smoky. Using a food processor, you can have chicken sausage ready to cook in just minutes.
Recipes you can make using homemade chicken sausage
Think of any recipe you would make using ground beef or pork, and you can likely substitute it with homemade chicken sausage. From pasta recipes to breakfast dishes, here’s how I use it:
- Bolognese with chicken Italian sausage
- Lasagna soup
- Breakfast strata
- Sausage and peppers
- English muffin breakfast sandwiches
- Sausage kebabs on the grill
Ingredients to make chicken Italian sausage
Before you start, ensure you have all the ingredients on hand. Of course, you’ll need chicken, but you’ll want to check your pantry and even refrigerator for all of the ingredients to make homemade chicken Italian sausage.
- Chicken thighs and/or breasts (I use both)
- White onion or onion powder
- Fresh garlic or garlic powder
- Fennel seed
- Paprika
- Italian seasoning
- Crushed red pepper
- Parsley, dried or fresh
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
You can absolutely use all dried seasonings for this recipe; I prefer to use fresh garlic and onion, but powder will be just fine. It’s all about personal taste!
How to make chicken Italian sausage
Alright, let’s get to making sausage! Now, this recipe does not use sausage casing and is intended for recipes that call for ground sausage. You can also mold the sausage into links using freezer bags or make kebabs on skewers.
1. Prepare and measure your ingredients
Preparation will make this recipe a breeze. Start by patting your chicken dry with a paper towel, measuring out all of your seasonings (and fresh aromatics, if using), and setting up the food processor.
2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper
You can definitely add all of your seasonings to the food processor. Still, I like to season the chicken first with some salt and pepper to ensure those baseline seasonings are evenly distributed on the chicken.
3. Grind the chicken in a food processor
If you use fresh garlic and/or onion, this is the time to roughly process before adding the chicken. You’ll also want to add the fennel seed so that it gets slightly ground.
Add your chicken to the food processor and drizzle with olive oil. Use the “pulse” setting until it becomes roughly ground. You don’t want to grind it to fine before adding your seasonings.
4. Add your seasonings
Evenly sprinkle your seasonings over the ground chicken, along with any remaining salt and pepper. Continue to pulse the food processor until all the seasonings are mixed in and you achieve your desired texture.
5. Cook or store the sausage
Congrats, you’ve made chicken Italian sausage! Now, you have to decide what to do with it. If you’re going to use it in a recipe immediately, carefully scoop it from the food processor and begin cooking. If you’re saving it for later, store it in an air-tight freezer bag.
Homemade chicken sausage recipe FAQs
Nope! All you need is a food processor. You may prefer to finely grind your fennel seed before adding it to the sausage, in which case you would need a mortar and pestle.
Absolutely! This recipe does not use casing to make chicken Italian sausage. If you want to make sausage links, you can manually form them into links or use a skewer to make kebabs.
When determining how long to keep the sausage in the refrigerator, follow the sell-by date on your chicken. If you are defrosting chicken to make this recipe, use the sausage immediately or refreeze it.
Yep! Store the sausage in an airtight freezer bag and keep it in the freezer. It will taste best if used within two months of freezing.
Homemade Chicken Italian Sausage
You only need a food processor to start making homemade chicken Italian sausage! Season to your liking using Italian seasoning and some aromatic herbs and spices.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 6
Ingredients
1 ¼ lb boneless skinless chicken thighs and/or breasts
¼ white onion (or 1 teaspoon onion powder)
3 cloves garlic (or 1 teaspoon garlic powder)
1 teaspoon fennel
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
2 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel and season with half the salt (½ tsp) and half the pepper (¼ tsp).
*If you're using garlic powder and onion powder, skip step 2. - In a food processor, add a roughly chopped onion along with the garlic cloves. Blend until the onions are coarsely chopped.
- Add the fennel seeds and blend until they are roughly minced.
- Place the chicken in the food processor and drizzle with olive oil. Using the "pulse" setting, roughly grind the chicken without overgrinding it. You want the chicken to be in small pieces.
- Evenly distribute the seasonings over the chicken and continue to pulse the food processor until the chicken is finely ground.
- Using a rubber scraper, carefully transfer the chicken sausage to a bowl or freezer bag.
For immediate use: The sausage is ready to cook.
For storage: Transfer the sausage to a freezer bag and shape it into a log or flatten it for easier freezing. Press out as much air as possible before sealing to prevent freezer burn.
Notes
Chicken sausage will keep in the refrigerator up until the sell-by or expiration date of the chicken thighs or breasts.
Always cook chicken to an internal temperature of 165º.
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