Spanish is my husband’s native language, so I started looking for paella recipes. I had to make this brown rice paella four times before I got it perfect. He now expects me to prepare it every week because it is his favorite dish. We enjoy red peppers, capers, and black olives, so I modified this dish to suit our preferences. I usually add the vinegar because it’s a Spanish tradition. It’s entirely up to you whether you prefer a little broth in your paella or want the broth completely absorbed.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 12 hrs |
| Total Time: | 12 hrs 35 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 3 pounds |
Ingredients
- 3 pounds ground pork
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 ¼ tablespoons dried parsley
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
- ¾ teaspoon ground fennel seed
- ¼ teaspoon brown sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon dried oregano
- ⅛ teaspoon dried thyme
Instructions
- Place pork and red wine vinegar in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle with parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, basil, salt, black pepper, paprika, red pepper flakes, fennel seed, brown sugar, oregano, and thyme. Knead until flecks of spice are evenly distributed throughout meat.
- Divide sausage into thirds. Form each into a 3-inch diameter log, wrap securely in plastic wrap, and place in a zip-top bag. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours before cooking.
- When ready to cook, remove logs from the zip-top bags and place on a cutting board. Use a finely serrated knife to cut logs right through the plastic wrapping into 1/4- to 1/2-inch-thick patties. Carefully remove and discard any plastic.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Working in batches, cook sausage patties in the hot skillet until no longer pink in the center, 2 to 6 minutes per side, depending on thickness. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).
- You can freeze the sausage logs in Step 2 if desired. When ready to use, pull a log out of the freezer and thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then continue with Step 3.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 243 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 2 g |
| Cholesterol | 74 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 21 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 640 mg |
| Sugars | 1 g |
| Fat | 16 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Had already started cooking some ground turkey in my slow cooker, when I thought to look this up and try it. I just mixed it all into the meat. Thrilled to say it came out so much better than I hoped! I made this to be part of the “OG Zuppa ” recipe i got from here, and it will now be a permanent part of that recipe for me! Thank you!
We LOVED it! It will work good on our homemade pizza! I didn’t have any parsley, and we didn’t miss it.
I use this often and double or triple as we have a seemingly endless supply of wild pork these days. I lightly toast my fennel seeds before grinding it with a mortar and pestle; I don’t add the red pepper flakes because of heartburn. I let everything meld in the fridge overnight before freezing in 1 lb. pkgs. Love this recipe!
I use the ingredients I have on hand, and it is simple to make it “hot” or “sweet”. I have used this recipe countless times…sometime with just pork, and many times with ground pork, turkey, chicken. I LOVE it! I rarely add the brown sugar or the red wine vinegar, and it is delicious. I use it for patties, meat sauce, pizza topping…whatever! Make it YOURS!
made with ground chicken nice delicious
A quarter teaspoon of brown sugar to three pounds of ground pork? Are these measurements really as intended?
Very washed out flavour. Made this as a test batch and was very disappointed in the flavour
Cannot be beat this. So many different preferred tastes in family. This takes care of all. Plus, big money-saver if you purchase meat grinder.
not that good
I stuffed mini peppers with the sausage in my air fryer and they were fantastic. So impressed!
Loved it! Will never buy sausage from the store again.
I love this recipe. Have used it with pork, but equally good with ground turkey. I make meatballs, brown & cook them, flash freeze them, then stick them in a bag in the freezer so I can pull them out when needed for quick meals. Awesome!
very good Italian sausage base. if you want to make it a hot Italian sausage, add more red pepper flakes, if you want to make it sweet, add more brown sugar. but just as it is solid. also use less salt, I used chicken instead of pork for a healthier alternative and it came out fantastic.
I used this exactly minus the red wine vinegar and turned out great added a few more flaked chilli peppers for a little more heat. Then stuffed the sausages and smoked them . perfection!
Thanks for a great recipe! I modified the recipe allowing for my allergies, 1 pound of ground pork and our preferences. Omitted the red wine vinegar, onion powder and exchanged the black pepper for white. The brown sugar was changed to white and increased to 1/4 cup minus 1 tsp. I combined the seasonings and then sprinkled it as layers of sausage were added to the bowl. Combined and covered and let it rest in the frig for at least 30 mins. Took it out and gently stirred again. We use it on homemade pizza (guidance from Allrecipes.com) and an Italian stew from another web site. My Son was very impressed and always asks, “what else have you seen on Allrecipes.com?
Incredibly easy and flavorful recipe! I like making my own “prepared” foods (canning, etc.) so I know precisely what goes into my food. What I like about this recipe is the simplicity and the variety of options for the output… links, patties, meat balls, or bulk sausage. Since I like both, I made mine Hot AND Sweet. Since I avoid sugar, I used substitutes. it was delicious!
Without any question this is the BEST sausage I’ve ever eaten. Italian sausage is by far my favorite meat, I’ve eaten the best (highest price) store sausage, I’ve eating sausage at fine restaurants, my family made sausage. But this was my first attempt, my God this beats all of them by miles.
Grocery was out of turkey Italian sausage so I used this recipe to make my own at home. I would cut down on the salt but it tasted great in a lasagna. Thanks for making it so easy!
Reduced red pepper flakes by half & 1tsp brown sugar
Perfect recipe. I used this minus the sugar with 2lbs of ground chicken. YUMMY!
Excellent recipe! I didn’t use fennel, didn’t have any, came out great! Thanks for sharing!