These homemade ground chicken sausage patties are incredibly easy to make and a nutritious whole food breakfast option. With apples, onions and a handful of spices, they’re full of flavor and outshine any store-bought option.
Of all the breakfast meat choices out there, nothing really beats a good sausage patty in my opinion.
And yes, I’m including bacon in that statement. I love bacon but it just doesn’t satisfy like a sausage patty. Unless maybe it’s wrapped around an egg cup.
Since I don’t eat eggs any more thanks to a food sensitivity, when I’m choosing protein for breakfast it needs to be substantial enough to fill me up.
This is where breakfast sausage comes into play.
Chicken sausage (both dinner and breakfast types) have become quite the rage lately and I’ve definitely taken the easy way out by purchasing Aidells or Bilinski brands for convenience.
But if you’re like me and prioritize quality meat sources, finding pastured chicken sausage is nearly impossible at the grocery store.
The best you can likely do is organic and while it’s better than conventional, organic chicken simply means the chicken is fed organic feed. That feed is still corn and soy based, it’s just not coming from conventional GMO sources.
Chickens, however, are not meant to eat corn and soy and when they do (even if it’s organic) it literally changes the nutrition profile of their meat and therefore what you consume when you eat it.
All this is a long way of saying, if quality matters to you like it does me, making your own ground chicken sausage patties for breakfast is pretty much the only way you can control that.
The good news is, it’s super simple to do so!
These delicious sausage patties come together with just a handful of ingredients, taste absolutely delicious rivaling any store-bought variety and lend themselves perfectly to meal prepping.
CHICKEN SAUSAGE PATTY INGREDIENTS
I personally love the breakfast sausages with apples and onions (kind of like these apple cheddar tuna patties) so I decided to go that route with this recipe.
Here’s what you’ll need to make these:
- ground chicken
- grated Granny Smith apple
- grated yellow onion
- salt
- garlic powder
- sage
- cinnamon
- nutmeg
- allspice
- ghee or other fat of choice for cooking
WHAT KIND OF GROUND CHICKEN SHOUD I USE?
I’ve been buying all my ground meat from Force of Nature Meats (I have no affiliation with them, I just love their stuff!) lately because they sell ancestral blends of many of their proteins.
These blends include organ meat (liver, heart, etc.) with the ground meat making them incredibly nutritious compared to regular ground meat.
For these chicken sausage patties, I used their pasture-raised ground chicken ancestral blend.
You can use any type of ground chicken you like or can even make your own by grinding or processing chicken thighs or breasts.
I prefer these breakfast patties made with chicken meat that contains a bit more fat (thighs vs. breasts) as it more closely mimics traditional pork sausage patties and keeps the sausage nice and moist.
HOW TO MAKE GROUND CHICKEN SAUSAGE PATTIES
Add all the ingredients to a large bowl and mix until well combined. The apple and onion pieces should be evenly distributed throughout the meat.
If you don’t have a grater or food processor, you can instead mince the apple and onion with a sharp knife.
Once combined, form the mixture into about 12 patties using your hands. Ground chicken can be a bit wet and messy to handle, lightly wetting your hands can help with this.
Place the patties on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Place the baking sheet in the freezer for about 10 minutes while you clean up and preheat the skillet. This helps set the sausage patties so they transfer more easily to the skillet.
Select your fat of choice (I chose to cook these in some pork lard I recently rendered but ghee or olive oil also work well) and add about 1/2 tablespoon to a cast iron skillet over medium heat.
Once hot, place 4-5 chicken sausage patties in the pan.
Cook the patties until browned on the bottom then flip and brown on the other side. Depending how thick each patty is, you may want to brown the sides too.
Once golden brown all around and cooked through, transfer the chicken patties to a plate and keep warm.
If you want to ensure the chicken is fully cooked, use a meat thermometer inserted in the middle of the patty. It should read 160°F for fully cooked poultry.
Repeat with the remaining uncooked patties adding more fat to the skillet as needed.
STORING, REHEATING AND FREEZING
This chicken patty recipe is excellent for meal prep or batch cooking. You can easily double (or triple) the recipe for a larger family or just to keep some in the freezer.
To store in the refrigerator, let the patties cool to room temperature and place in an air-tight glass container. They’ll keep in the fridge for about a week.
The chicken sausage patties can also be frozen and kept in the freezer for up to three months. Thaw under refrigeration before using.
Reheating can easily be done in the microwave or on the stove top in a covered skillet. A drizzle of oil or a splash of water in the pan will help keep them moist while reheating.
FAQS
WHAT IS CHICKEN SAUSAGE MADE OF?
Whether made into links or patties, chicken sausage is typically made of ground chicken and spices.
If stuffed into links, it’s usually bound by a type of casing to keep its shape. Store-bought brands can contain other fillers and preservatives.
Patties are the easiest version to make at home since they don’t require casing and no fillers are needed.
IS CHICKEN SAUSAGE HEALTHY?
It absolutely can be! Many people choose chicken over pork sausage for the lower fat content but in reality, fat is not necessarily unhealthy for us if it’s the right kind.
What’s great about homemade chicken sausage patties is that you control the ingredients. There’s no added preservatives, nitrates, fillers or binders in this recipe, just real food, wholesome ingredients that taste delicious and provide a nutritious start to your day!
Each chicken sausage patty is about 110 calories with 9g of protein. I find two or three to be a nice serving amount for a meal.
And that doesn’t even touch on all the micro-nutrients from the organ meat (if you choose to use a blend like I did) in the ground chicken or apples and onions.
HOW TO SERVE CHICKEN BREAKFAST SAUSAGE PATTIES
In a previous life, I would’ve topped this plate of arugula, sweet potatoes and chicken sausage patties with a nice runny egg.
And if you eat eggs, I suggest you do just that! Or maybe a poached egg like in these open faced burger eggs benedict.
But really, you can enjoy these chicken sausage patties any way you like for breakfast. Maybe that’s with some eggs and potatoes for a “traditional” breakfast or, maybe it’s more unconventional.
I’ve seen a trend of “breakfast salads” emerging and as someone who can’t eat eggs any longer, I’m down with it!
A bed of baby greens, some skillet potatoes and these chicken sausage patties makes a great start to the day.
I would then top it with some fermented red cabbage, some sliced avocado and maybe some nuts and seeds before digging in and enjoying with a bowl of berries on the side and maybe even a microwave paleo English muffin (I now make that recipe with a flax egg).
You can also eat these alongside a sweeter type breakfast for some protein.
I like to enjoy them with some cassava flour pancakes or a bowl of apple cinnamon oatmeal to balance out the carbs in those meals.
While these chicken sausage patties definitely have a breakfast vibe to them with the apples, onions and specific seasonings used, it’s not overwhelmingly a breakfast food.
Most store-bought breakfast sausage patties use sugar or maple syrup in their ingredient list to sweeten the sausage and give it that distinct breakfast taste. This recipe does not.
So, you can really enjoy these chicken sausage patties for any meal of the day, not just breakfast if you’d like!
EASY SUBSTITUTIONS
Here are a few ways to switch up the recipe if desired:
Ground meat – use ground turkey or pork in place of the chicken.
Apple – feel free to omit the apple or use another fruit like pear (best if it’s still a bit on the unripe side) instead.
Spices – change these up as desired. If you don’t want the breakfast approach, swap out sage for fennel seeds and use thyme or other Italian like seasonings instead of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.
MORE SAVORY BREAKFASTS LIKE THIS:
Chicken Sausage Cheese Grits
Chicken Sausage Breakfast Tostadas
Cheesy Potato Breakfast Casserole with Turkey Sausage and Eggs
Mini Ham Cheese and Spinach Breakfast Pies
Homemade Ground Chicken Sausage Patties
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 small Granny smith apple, grated
- 1 small yellow onion, grated
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sage
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons ghee, tallow, lard or fat of choice for cooking
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to a large bowl and mix until well combined.
- Form into 12 patties using your hands and place a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Place in the refrigerator (or freezer) for 10 minutes while you clean up and pre-heat the skillet.
- Place a 12" cast iron skillet over medium heat with about 1/2 tablespoon of ghee or fat of your choosing.
- Once hot, add 4-5 patties to the skillet. Cook until browned on the bottom, about 3 minutes, then flip and cook on the other side. If you've made the patties smaller and thicker, you may want to brown the edges as well. Transfer to a plate and repeat with the remaining patties adding ghee as necessary between batches.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
Been on the hunt for the perfect chicken sausage recipe. This one has way too much onion, that’s all we could taste unfortunately. The onion was small in size. My husband loves onion too, but it masked entire flavor. That’s all I tasted all day long after eating for breakfast lol. I want to try again but will only use 1/4 of an onion. I do love the concept of the apple!
We love these! So easy and tasty.
I made these sausage patties for dinner the other night and the whole family loved them! I’ll definitely be making them often!
Such an amazing day starter! SO good and easy to make!
Such an amazing day starter! SO good and easy to make!