Have you looked at the ingredients in breakfast sausage? I took a peek last year and I was shocked. The one we had been purchasing for years contained pork, corn syrup, salt, natural flavor, sugar, pork broth, and MSG. I was determined to make it myself, with actual real ingredients, and I think I’ve done a pretty satisfactory job! This is husband and kid approved; let me know if you try it!

Ingredients

1.5 pounds of ground pork (this is the way my grocery store sells it most often)

2 T maple syrup

1 tsp fennel seeds, squished (I stick them under a cutting board and press down to smash them a little)

1 tsp ground sage

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

Directions

Mix the maple syrup, fennel seeds, sage, salt, and pepper. Place the raw ground pork in a bowl and dump the seasoning mix/syrup on top. Using your hands (there’s no way around it), mix the seasonings into the meat. Thats it! Now you have breakfast sausage ready to use and you know the quality of every ingredient. We like our breakfast sausage pretty sweet, but you could reduce the amount of maple syrup and experiment with things like red chili flakes to add heat. I most often use this to make simple patties, but the possibilities are endless.