There is a lot of bacon and sausage consumed in my house, especially if one or more of the boys has a friend sleep over. I can easily go through 2 pounds of bacon and a pound of sausage on a Saturday morning. I try to buy the uncured, reduced fat, low sodium, but still its fatty breakfast meats. And, every now and then, and I mean every now and then I will force myself to try a piece or two or three-just to make sure it’s cooked it properly.
So, I started thinking that if I am going to have to keep trying the bacon and sausage I cook, for the kids, then I need to come up with a recipe that is a bit “healthier”. And the logical choice is chicken, but I hate the typical chicken/apple sausage. I don’t know why, but I don’t like fruit in my savory sausage. The reason people put apples in chicken sausage is because it gives it some moisture. Chicken can be very dry and the apples allow you to cook the chicken through, but not dry it out. So herein lies my predicament.
After reading through tons and tons of chicken sausage recipes I came to the conclusion of the following recipe. Let me know your thoughts!
Rosemary Chicken Sausages
Makes about 10 patties
1lb. ground chicken
1/2lb. sliced pancetta (do not buy the already cubbed pancetta)
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon rosemary, chopped
1 Tablespoon fresh chives, chopped
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, more if you like it really spicy
2 Tablespoons oil (any kind will do)
Chop the pancetta into small pieces.
In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients, except oil. Using your hands is the best tool for this process. Form mixture into patties. You can do this part in advance and keep the patties in the refrigerator until ready to cook them.
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add sausage patties and cook about 3-5 minutes per side. If you see it is getting too browned on one side turn the heat down a bit. They need to cook slowly so the fat renders out in the pancetta.
Voilá home made chicken sausage.
I would love to make this recipe. However I amKosher. What do you recommend employees of pancetta, other than apples, to keep the moisture?
Hi! Thank you for your question. My husband has a very good friend that is Kosher so I am always trying to find substitutes. I would suggest turkey bacon instead of pancetta and I would sub blueberries or cranberries (dried that have been reconstituted in warm water so they are not so chewy) in place of apples. Hope this helps! Let me know what you think-take a pic for me!!