Servings: 10 Prep: 20 min Cook: 0 min Total: 20 min
Sausages are basically an emulsified blend of fat and meat, then cooked.
Huh?
Sausages are meat, which has been blended with fat, in a cold environment (so the fat doesn’t melt). This is done in a way that combines the meat with the fat and keeps the meat moist when it cooks, rather than having the fat melt out and leak away, leaving behind a mealy mixture of cooked ground meat. A good sausage has chunks of visible meat and fat, but cooks up solid and moist!
This recipe is a “loose” sausage meat. I use it for all sorts of things, from pasta sauces, to frittata fillings, as an ingredient in my poorly cooked eggs, as stuffing, for sandwich fillings, etc. The list goes on!
Again, sausage is meat and fat. You could go strictly chicken and use the chicken skin ground as the fat. This would work. I’m a big fan of bacon, so I tend to grind raw bacon in with my chicken meat. This is also how my recipe will be written. However, if you want to substitute the bacon for chicken skin … go for it! Just make sure the skin is fairly well cut up before you grind it.
Note: For “All Chicken”, use 2 1/4 lb chicken to 3/4 lb. chicken skin, rather than the ratio shown below. The rest of the recipe is the same!
Loose and Spicy Hot Chicken Italian Sausage
Print RateIngredients
- 2 lbs chicken meat skinless and boneless (assorted)
- 1 lb bacon
- 4 each garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp fennel seed whole
- 1 tbsp fresh cracked black pepper
- 1 tbsp crushed red chili flakes
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Chill bowl large enough for mixing 3 lbs. of meat, as well as your meat grinder and any grinder attachments.
- Cut the chicken and bacon into 1-inch chunks or lengths.
- Mix in the chilled bowl, with the remainder of the ingredients.
- Grind the meat through a course grinder.
- Grind it, again! You want to grind it, twice.
- Pack in an airtight container and allow the flavors to marry, over night.
- Wrap the meat and save for later, or use in a recipe or freeze or portion into 10 patties and pan fry them!
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* Learn More: More about this recipe and nutrition …
Do you use both dark and white meat chicken or just white meat? I am looking forward to trying this. I already made my own sausage several times from pork butt and bacon. It was delicious and looking forward to trying the chicken also.
Hi Jen, it really doesn’t matter that much. To me … it’s a blend … so it’s both white and dark meats, mixed with raw bacon. I’d say … go half breasts and half thighs … I hope this helps! 🙂
Can this be done in a food processor? Also can I use the chicken fat that is on the thighs with no bacon or is more fat necessary? I do have skin on thighs (in addition to boneless, skinless) I could bone myself and use that skin possibly.
Hi Candy, I wouldn’t recommend a food processor. You COULD use it, but it would create something closer to a meat puree. It would work, but some of the texture and visuals would be gone. You could also pulse it, but this would be inconsistent with some big chunks and some portions being more or less pureed. Grinding it is more consistent. So … yes it can be done, but the results will be different.
You could definitely use skin in place of the bacon. That said, for some reason poultry skin tends to grind a bit weird. It’s a bit tough and rubbery and can clog the grinder, or create long ribbons of skin. If you chop the skin up a bit more than the muscle meat, this can also help. It can most certainly be done, but just watch it. Use very cold meat and even refrigerate the equipment. The firmer the flesh and skin, the better.
I just use bacon because I enjoy the flavor and fat, but it also grinds really well.
I hope this helps!
Thank you for the response. I have wanted a grinder so your answer will help with the purchasing of it, lol.