Hey everyone, today I’m sharing a super simple and quick recipe that I use ALL THE TIME! This Homemade Italian Sausage Seasoning Recipe is a game-changer when it comes to making all my favorite Italian meals, and I think you’ll love it!
My family loves Italian meals, and I’m guessing if you’re anything like us, you do too! I especially like Italian sausage and use it all the time in meatballs, Italian soups, casseroles, on pizza, and even in meatloaf (it takes meatloaf to a whole new level!).
In full disclosure, I used to simply buy Italian sausage – whether it was Italian pork sausage, turkey sausage or Italian sausage links. I thought it was easier to just buy it, and it was. But the more I started REALLY paying attention to the foods I was buying, I realized that buying premade sausage wasn’t the best way to go health-wise. Reading the ingredient lists on these Italian sausages told me that I wasn’t simply getting meat with added seasonings. That would be too simple, wouldn’t it? No, these sausages had ingredients I couldn’t pronounce and knew I didn’t want anyone in my family eating.
Here are some examples of mystery ingredients that you might find in packaged Italian sausage: dextrose (aka: sugar), BHA, and propyl gallate. Plus, they almost all contain sugar, whether as dextrose or corn syrup. I don’t know about you, but it’s hard enough to stay away from eating sugar in tempting treats without having to worry about it also being in the meat I buy!
So, I did what I usually do in these situations and decided to make my own, homemade, healthier version. Not only do I know exactly what ingredients I’m adding to the meat, I can use the exact type of meat that I want to use. Plus, it’s easy to adjust this homemade Italian sausage seasoning recipe to match personal taste preferences. Following a low-sodium diet? Lower the salt. Like it really spicy? Increase the cayenne pepper. You get the idea.
Now, how do I use this homemade Italian sausage seasoning recipe? It’s very simple. When a recipe I’m making calls for Italian sausage (whether sweet or hot), I use an equal amount of ground pork or turkey (or a combo of those two meats) mixed with some of the seasoning mix. You can shape the meat into patties or meatballs if you need to, or simple brown the seasoned meat in a skillet and then drain off the fat if you’re making a Bolognese sauce or something similar.
If you’re inspired to start making your own Italian sausage, you might also like my recipe for Homemade Brat Burgers, which uses a simple homemade seasoning mix that tastes so much like purchased brats. I hope you like it!
Love the idea of making your own seasoning blends? I’ve put together 13 of my favorite seasoning blend recipes. Get your FREE, printable copy of all of them right here!
Homemade Italian Sausage Seasoning Recipe How-To Photos:
Combine all the spices in a clean spice or coffee grinder. I use this type of grinder
. Grind until spices are finely ground.
Store the homemade Italian sausage seasoning recipe mix in an airtight container.
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- 2 teaspoons dried fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon coarse kosher or sea salt
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon ground white pepper
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- In a clean spice grinder or clean coffee grinder, combine all ingredients. Cover and grind until mixture is finely ground. Store in an airtight container up to 3 months.
- TO USE: Mix 2 teaspoons of the seasoning mix with 1 pound lean ground pork or lean ground turkey. Use in recipes that call for ground (or bulk) Italian sausage. You can also use it in recipes that call for Italian sausage links and that direct you to remove the casing from the links before cooking.
- 8 teaspoons (enough for 4 pounds ground meat)
Can i still use the curing salt and the meat binder powder when preparing this?
Thankyou very much
Hi Mimi, this Homemade Italian Sausage Seasoning Recipe is intended to be mixed with fresh ground meat that you would shape into patties or links and cook, or simply cooked as loose meat in a skillet. I don’t have experience using meat binder or curing salt, so I wouldn’t be able to give you a good answer about those.
Hi mimi you can but it is not necessary if you are making fresh sausage for cooking right away or for freezing.curing salts are used for curing meat .Such as dried sausages and salami.
Thanks for clarifying Simon!
I’m missing something. I don’t see the actual recipe ingredients.
Staci, I’m so sorry! I made a change to my site that affected the recipe. The recipe should be there now – toward the bottom of the page. Let me know if it doesn’t show up for you! You may need to “refresh” that web page to get it to show up. Thanks for your patience!
Great mix! I used my ninja smoothie cup with the blade since I don’t have a coffee grinder. Thank you so much for this.
Thanks for sharing that tip, Carrie! Great idea, and I’m happy you like the mix!
Hello laura, isn’t two teaspoon a bit too bland?
Hi Marco, 2 teaspoons is the amount I use for 1 pound of meat. My family likes it that way, however, you can adjust the amount you add to your preference! If you add a lot more than 2 teaspoons of the seasoning mix for 1 pound of meat, you might consider lowering the salt in the mix recipe so that the sodium level doesn’t get too high. Let me know how much you end up using!
Why is there no option to print the recipe?
Hi Brandy, at the top of the recipe there should be a gray button that says “print” next to the red “save recipe” button. Click that print button and a new browser window should open that shows the printable version of the recipe. Then you can print from that window. I hope that works for you, and if not, please let me know so I can send you the recipe another way!
Thank you, this is exactly what I was looking for!
I’m so glad you liked it! Thanks for letting me know!
I’m trying to find a pizza sausage recipe. Do you have one.
Hi Dale, I actually use this Italian Sausage Seasoning Recipe for pizza sausage. Add the seasoning to ground pork or ground turkey, cook and crumble the meat, and put it on your pizza. I think it tastes great!