Turkey Sausage

If you don’t know this already, I don’t eat pork (except pepperoni). I cook it sometimes, for my family, but I hate doing that (smell) so I’ll look for an alternative first. In comes this Easy Turkey Sausage!

Turkey Sausage Ingredients

_{Before we get to the full recipe below, here are some quick call-outs about some of the ingredients you’ll use to make this Easy Turkey Sausage:}

• Ground Turkey: Grab the absolute leanest ground turkey you can find. Fatty turkey = greasy sausage. Don’t worry: as long as you don’t overcook it, it won’t dry out.
• Seasoned salt: I use Lawry’s. You can use whatever you like. Regular ol’ kosher salt will work, but it won’t be the same.
• Minced garlic: use the dehydrated kind from the spice aisle, not fresh or jarred. This is important.
• Dried herbs: I was after a very specific taste when I was developing this recipe, and these are key to that flavor.
• Cayenne pepper: I truly don’t think this turkey sausage is even the slightest bit spicy, but I’ve also admitted before that I’m not the best judge of ‘heat’ so you might disagree. I recommend cutting in half before you omit it completely, tho. Just try it out.

How to Make Turkey Sausage

_{Full instructions are included in the recipe below, but here is a basic overview of what you’ll need to do, along with some important tidbits to help you make the most of this.}

• Mix everything together. You want to really make sure you work the seasonings evenly throughout the turkey so that each patty is equally flavorful. There shouldn’t be any large swaths of unseasoned meat, or any clumps of seasoning either.
• Form the turkey mixture into balls. I like to use a 2 tbsp cookie scoop to make extra sure they’re evenly sized, pressing the scoop into the sides of the bowl as I remove it to pack it in.
• Flatten into patties. Doing this between sheets of parchment paper with an appetizer plate is a great way to keep your hands clean. It also helps keep them all an even thickness. Or, just use your palms to smush ’em. Whatever works.
• Fry ’em up. Preheat your pan ’til hot, then drizzle in some oil. Let it sear for a few minutes, then flip. If you’re not happy with the level of color when you flip initially, you can always cook on that side again at the end. Drain on paper towels or a wire rack.

Variations

_{Patties are just one way to enjoy this turkey sausage. Below are a few more.}

• Crumble up a half-pound of it and make my Sausage Gravy recipe.
• Making lasagna? Need a pizza topping? Substitute it for ground beef or Italian sausage.

Here’s a graphic for Pinterest. Follow me there if you don’t already! I’ve got lots of yummy ideas saved.

Looking for another turkey recipe? I don’t have that many but try out the Eastern NC BBQ Pulled Turkey. It’s really good.

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