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Homemade Chicken Breakfast Sausage

These chicken breakfast sausage patties have all the same sausage flavor you love with a fraction of the fat and calories. Now you can have peppery, smoky breakfast sausage for just 60 calories a piece.

And if you think making your own sausage might be complicated, think again. Mix a few spices together, add to ground chicken, form patties like you’re making burgers, and throw ’em in a pan. That’s it!

chicken breakfast sausage and greek yogurt biscuits

Ingredients for Chicken Breakfast Sausage

If you’re familiar with my recipes, you know I love using reduced fat pork sausage. While it’s a great ingredient, it’s still rather high in fat and calories—even for a reduced fat version.

These chicken breakfast sausage patties use a leaner source of meat in ground chicken. Not only is ground chicken much leaner, it takes on the breakfast sausage flavors really well.

In case you have trouble finding ground chicken, you’re welcome to use ground pork or even turkey. You may also be able to have chicken breast ground for you in the butcher section of your grocery store. 

Chicken Breakfast Sausage Seasoning Recipe

brown sugar, kosher salt, allspice, smoked paprika, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and sage in a bowl

After testing SO many spice blends, I think I finally nailed the classic breakfast sausage flavor. Here’s everything you’ll need:

  • salt
  • black pepper
  • crushed red pepper
  • smoked paprika
  • allspice
  • sage
  • brown sugar

With all the testing, I’ll say that there’s plenty of wiggle room with the ingredients. I tried adding a bit of thyme, ground cloves, and sweet paprika without any failures. So, if you’re missing an ingredient, you can probably substitute something else and get pretty close.

The only ingredients I’d try to nail 100% would be the salt, black and red pepper, and brown sugar.

Side note: For another fun seasoning blend, check out my ground chicken chorizo (seasoning from scratch) or lean pork Mexican chorizo (pre-mixed chorizo seasoning option) recipes.

Tips for Cooking 

As I mention in the recipe notes below, stainless steel or cast iron will work best for creating a sear and crispy crust. Nonstick should work just fine but if you’re lacking that fatty-like sausage exterior, this could be the culprit.

ground chicken sausage patties next to a cast iron skillet with olive oil

And in case you’re wondering if the oil is necessary, it’s not, but I highly recommend using it. The olive oil provides a ton of flavor and, once again, helps create the crust on the chicken breakfast sausage. You can, however, use another type of oil if you don’t have olive oil on hand.

ground chicken sausage patties after flipping halfway through cooking

Serving Your Homemade Breakfast Sausage

These sausages are perfect with my Greek yogurt biscuits or Homemade McGriddles. But feel free to keep it simple and serve this recipe up with toast, on a biscuit, or with a side of my air fried breakfast potatoes and peppers.

homemade McGriddle with chicken sausage, egg, and cheese

That should be plenty of inspiration. If you have any recipe questions, drop a comment below. And don’t forget to snap a pic of your chicken breakfast sausage and tag me on Instagram!

chicken breakfast sausage patties in a skillet with Greek yogurt biscuits

Chicken Breakfast Sausage

Yield: 10 Sausage Patties
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

A simple recipe for homemade breakfast sausage patties made with ground chicken.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb Ground Chicken (I used 97/3)
  • 2 tsp Black Pepper
  • 1 tsp Smoked Paprika
  • 1/2-1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper
  • 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt, or 1/4 tsp table salt
  • 1/2 tsp Rubbed Sage
  • 1/4 tsp Allspice
  • 2 Tbsp (24g) Swerve Brown Sugar (or dark brown sugar)*
  • 1 Tbsp (16g) Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Instructions

Making the Sausage Patties

  1. Mix the dry spices and brown sugar in a small bowl before adding to the ground chicken. Work the chicken and spices together until evenly mixed.
  2. Divide the ground chicken into 10 pieces (about 48 grams or 1.8 ounces each) and press between your palms to flatten.

Cooking the Chicken Breakfast Sausage

  1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat with the olive oil. (I used a 12" cast iron skillet. If you're using a smaller skillet, you may need to cook in batches.)
  2. Once the oil is hot, carefully add the sausage patties to the skillet. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until the bottoms are a crispy brown. Flip each patty and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes or until the patties are cooked through and reach an internal temp of 165ºF. Transfer to a plate and let the sausage patties rest for a few minutes before serving.

Notes

*Nutrition facts do not include carbs from zero calorie Swerve Brown. If you use light brown sugar, each sausage patty will have 2g of carbs. You can also use maple syrup instead of brown sugar. Mix the chicken with the dry spices before adding the syrup. See my bison sausage for an example.

  • Each sausage patty has 0 WW SmartPoints (blue).
  • With 92/8 ground chicken, each chicken breakfast sausage patty has 80 calories, 9g protein, 0g carbs, and 5g fat
  • Check out my sausage gravy and sausage egg and cheese breakfast skillet casserole if you love the flavor of this breakfast sausage and want more ways to use it. 
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Sausage Patties Serving Size: 1 Sausage Patty
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 60Total Fat: 3gCarbohydrates: 0gProtein: 10g

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Eli Swanson

Wednesday 13th of March 2024

Excellent recipe! So easy to make using spices already on hand. I followed the recipe exactly as shown & only used 1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper. The flavor was on point for a breakfast sausage. I combined them with eggs & an English muffin for a tasty breakfast sandwich. Thank you!

Rebecca

Tuesday 9th of January 2024

Is it 2 teaspoons GROUND black pepper? Thank you!

Mason Woodruff

Tuesday 9th of January 2024

Correct. You can scale back if you're unsure about how peppery you want your sausage.

Michelle Pritchett

Monday 8th of January 2024

Can you substitute maple syrup for the brown sugar? If yes, how much?

Mason Woodruff

Tuesday 9th of January 2024

Yes, I've made it with 2 tablespoons of maple syrup instead. You'll want to mix the dry spices in before adding the maple syrup to prevent clumping.

Tracey

Saturday 30th of December 2023

Can I substitute ground turkey for the ground chicken? This is the best chicken sausage recipe I ever had! It's flavorful with just a hint of spice. I highly recommend it!

Mason Woodruff

Thursday 4th of January 2024

Thank you! Turkey should work fine. Most are packed with a bit of rosemary extract, but I doubt it's noticeable with the other seasonings here. Even if it is, I think it works.

Becca yu

Saturday 18th of November 2023

Seems like I’m the odd one out. Made this recipe and boy it was too spicy. Almost inedible. Is it the black pepper or the red crushed pepper? Not sure, but toning them down next time. I’ll prolly just crush up this batch and make an omelette because the spice need to be tamed. Flavor is there though. PS I’m Asian and used to “spice” this one hits differently.

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