We've done the little Applegate chicken sausages for years, and they're totally fine and convenient. But I kept noticing the same thing at breakfast: my boys would eat one and call it a meal. The problem with that? The sausages are thin, small, and one or two of them definitely isn't enough protein to actually carry a kid through a school morning.
So I made my own. One pound of ground chicken, a little maple and honey, spices I already had in the cabinet, and about fifteen minutes on the stove. It made nine thick patties. Big enough that two with an egg is a real breakfast for me, and one with an egg is a real breakfast for a kid. No need for me to push my boys to have multiple in order to hit enough protein I know would actually hold them over.
Why Homemade Breakfast Sausage Works
The maple and honey caramelize against the chicken as it cooks, so you get sweetness on the outside and savory spice underneath, no syrup on the side required. Smoked paprika and cinnamon are doing more together than either does alone. The paprika keeps it tasting like a sausage instead of a dessert, and the cinnamon rounds out the sweetness without making it taste like dessert for breakfast.
The other thing that makes these different from the store-bought version is thickness. And that matters for a few reasons. A thin sausage cooks quickly and dries out fast, but a thick patty gives you a real sear on the outside while allowing the inside to stay juicy. A thicker patty also holds enough protein that one or two actually adds up to a legitimate serving for a meal.
How I Serve Breakfast Sausages
The fast, low carb version is two sausages and an egg, jammy or over easy. For a jammy egg, six and a half minutes in boiling water, then straight into a cold water bath.
To make it Fab Four, keep the same plate and add greens. Sausages and a jammy egg over arugula or spinach with olive oil and lemon, or sautéed spinach served alongside. And easy green could also be leftover roasted veggies from last night. Half an avocado or a handful of berries rounds out the fiber. That gets you protein from the sausage and the egg, fat from the yolk, and fiber and greens from the rest of the plate. All four covered without a lot of effort or adding much to your plate.
The Protein Math
These numbers are estimates based on standard ground chicken and a large egg, so treat them as a starting point rather than gospel.
- 1 sausage = 9 to 10 g
- 2 sausages = 19 g
- 2 sausages + 1 egg = 25 g
- 2 sausages + 2 eggs = 31 g
- 1 sausage + 1 egg (little kid plate) = 16 g
- 2 sausages + 1 egg (bigger kid plate) = 25 g
Two sausages and two eggs gets an adult over 30 grams of protein at breakfast, which is roughly where I want most people landing to hold blood sugar steady until lunch. For the kids, one sausage and one egg comes in around 16 grams, and two sausages with an egg gets them to 25. Either options provides more protein than they were getting from a couple of the little links.
Where the Masher Comes In
This recipe is one of the many recipes outside of cooking ground beef that I actually use The Masher in my own kitchen. Ground chicken gets dense and dry the more you handle it, so instead of mixing with my hands, I use the Masher to work the maple and spices through the meat in just a few passes. It combines everything without compacting it, which is what keeps the moisture in the patties. Same tool I use for my tuna salad, different job entirely.
Bonus, the Masher is stainless steel and completely seam-free. This means you can throw it into the dishwasher, and you don’t have to worry about bacteria hiding out in any cracks or crevices.
Make a batch, or triple the recipe and stock your freezer! These homemade breakfast sausages will have you never wanting to go back to the store-bought kind.
