Why spend money on something you can easily make yourself for less? Sausage patties are simple to throw together and you can avoid nasty ingredients like MSG, corn syrup, sodium nitrite and preservatives. Of course you can buy organic and handmade sausage without all that stuff, but it will cost you.
Sometimes I quadruple this recipe and freeze the raw patties. It’s a great time saver to pop them into a fry pan for a quick dinner or to have on hand if a recipe calls for sausage. I usually freeze some without the apple to use in split pea soup and the like.
While pork may come to mind when you think of sausage, any ground meat or combination of meats can be used. I’ve used beef and turkey, and I’m planning to use venison if we’re are fortunate enough to get a deer this fall. If possible, use grass fed meat. It’s healthier.
Compare prices on meat. It may be cheaper to buy ground meat, or it may be cheaper to buy a tough cut and grind it yourself if you have a meat grinder or food processor. I haven’t ground meat in a food processor but my sister tells me she grinds chicken this way.
One of the things I like about making my own sausage patties is that you can customize the spices and ingredients to your liking. That’s how I came up with these Apple Spice Sausage Patties.
I usually don’t brown them this much. I went outside to pick kale for a side dish and they got a little overdone. They were still mighty tasty, though a tad dry.
Apple Spice Sausage Patties Recipe
1 pound ground meat
1 medium apple
2 teaspoons sage
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1/4- 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1/4- 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (or 1 clove)
1/8- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne (optional)
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1 egg white
Finely dice the apple (I leave the skin on) and put it in a medium sized bowl. Add the meat. Combine the spices in a little bowl and stir them together. Dump the spices in with the meat and apple, and mix it well. Form patties and fry over medium heat 15-20 minutes, flipping to brown both sides. You probably won’t need to use oil in the pan unless your meat is very lean.
Makes 8 small or 4 large patties.
Recipe Notes:
After I had finely diced half the apple I realized it would have been much quicker to use the Vitamix to do the job. The apple pile on the left was grated in the Vitamix on #4 and the prettier looking apple pile on the right was diced by hand. Either way works fine. If I was serving it to guests I would dice it by hand.
Feel free to omit any spices you do not have in your spice cabinet. I add the cayenne for my husband, otherwise I’d leave it out. I’ve also added dried onion, but never measured how much I add, so I didn’t list it in the recipe. Personally, I think it’s the fennel in this recipe that makes it so good. Making sausage patties is the main reason I keep fennel in my spice cabinet. If you don’t have fennel, I would try adding basil. Both have a licorice flavor.
Once I stirred maple syrup into the raw sausage mixture. It added a nice maple flavor, but I thought it was too sweet.
Other options that I haven’t tried, but I think would be delicious, is to replace the apple with finely diced dried apricot, dried cherries or other dried fruit. If you are grinding your own meat, you could grind the fruit right in when you grind the meat.
I’m participating in the Iron Chef Mom Apple Recipe Contest. Click on the button below, then vote. I hope you will vote for #68 Apple Spice Sausage Patties!
