Have you been missing sausage at breakfast? With this lower sodium breakfast sausage recipe, you can enjoy a well-rounded breakfast guilt-free!
If you’ve been monitoring your salt intake, you probably know that sausage is notoriously loaded with sodium.
Personally, I love sausage patties as part of a well-rounded breakfast. So rather than buy the store-bought version that’s packed with salt and fat, I decided to do my taste buds and my heart a favor and create my own lower sodium breakfast sausage!
I tried a bunch of different spice combinations, but this one with sage, smoked paprika, salt, white pepper, thyme, and nutmeg was my favorite.
Patties are also much easier to make than links. You don’t need to bother with sausage casings, you simply form them with your hands and fry them up!
If you’ve been looking for a delicious way to start your day without all that extra sodium and fat, definitely give this recipe a try.
How to make lower sodium breakfast sausage
I love this recipe because it’s as easy as it is delicious. You can make it alongside your breakfast, or whip up a batch on a Sunday to have ready for the week!
Step 1: In a large bowl, combine the ground meat, sage, paprika, salt, white pepper, thyme, and nutmeg. Mix until the spices are evenly distributed throughout the meat.
Step 2: Using your hands, form the mixture into 8 patties and place them on a baking sheet or large plate.
Step 3: Heat a skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add a 1/2 tablespoon olive oil.
Step 4: Place 4 of the sausage patties in the pan and fry until brown on both sides.
Step 5: Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan, and allow the patties to cook all the way through.
Step 6: Transfer the patties to a plate lined with paper towels.
Step 7: Repeat with the remaining sausage patties.
If you have a large pan, you may be able to cook all the patties at once. Just make sure they all have room in the pan!
Which meat works best?
I tried a few different types of meat while working on this recipe.
The first batch was made with ground chicken, which turned out a bit dry. I moved on to ground turkey, which was much better!
I wanted to try ground pork but could only find a “meatball mix” of ground beef, pork, and veal. This version turned out a little too greasy for me.
Finally, I used a 50/50 combination of the meatball mix and ground turkey. These were the best in terms of taste, but they were much higher fat than the turkey version.
In the end, I decided to stick with the turkey version. They were very tasty, and I didn’t have to worry about a high fat-content.
I do want to try these patties again with ground pork. After all, that’s what’s used in traditional breakfast sausage. It will be a fun treat every now and then!
Customizing your flavor
For this recipe, I used a combination of sage, smoked paprika, white pepper, thyme, and nutmeg to achieve that hearty, spicy flavor you want in sausage. This was my favorite combination!
However, you can certainly play around with the spices to find your perfect flavor. I think a quarter teaspoon of crushed red pepper would be a great addition.
You could also try some grated onion, which would add flavor and a bit of extra moisture to the patties.
Feel free to have some fun with this recipe!
Storage
Any leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container. They should be eaten within 3-4 days.
You can also freeze them for longer storage. Make sure they’re in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months.
More healthy breakfast recipes
Looking for more breakfast options that you can feel good about eating? Here are a few recipes that I think you’ll enjoy:
When you’ve tried this recipe, please don’t forget to let me know how you liked it and rate the recipe in the comments below!
Lower Sodium Breakfast Sausage
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground poultry or other meat
- 1 teaspoon rubbed sage
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon thyme
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the ground meat, sage, paprika, salt, white pepper, thyme, and nutmeg. Mix until the spices are evenly distributed throughout the meat.
- Using your hands, form the mixture into 8 patties and place them on a baking sheet or large plate.
- Heat a skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add a 1/2 tablespoon olive oil.
- Place 4 of the sausage patties in the pan and fry until brown on both sides.
- Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan, and allow the patties to cook all the way through.
- Transfer the patties to a plate lined with paper towels.
- Repeat with the remaining sausage patties.
My husband is diabetic and just recently diagnosed with CHF. So now I have to watch sodium intake. Then his potassium escalated to require a hospital stay.
Now we need to be careful with that too! Going a little crazy. Hope some of your recipes help.
Hi Evelyn – I hope so too! I keep thinking I should work on more low-sodium recipes. Thanks for the reminder!
Thank you so much for this recipe. I just discovered your blog and look forward to future posts. I love foodie blogs like yours, that make eating healthy as a diabetic at home, tastier!!! I’m a Type 1 diabetic of 53 years now !
Thanks, FatCatAnna! 53 years with Type 1? Wow! I’m almost at 20 years with Type 2.
If you add grated onion to the turkey or chicken, it makes it more moist.
Great idea, Jennifer! I’ll definitely give that a try.
How is 306mg of sodium low sodium?
Hi Shandi – Thanks for your question. My friend, who I made the sausage for, said she can have 500mg sodium per meal, so I thought this would fit. My understanding is that “low sodium” would mean less than 140mg per serving. Is that the guideline you use? (That’s why I called the sausage “lower sodium” instead of “low sodium.”)
Not intending to sound as negative as I probably od, but I generally don’t use any food with more than 180 mg of sodium per serving. I’m going to try this recipe substituting 1/2 tsp of ascorbic acid (sold as “Fruit Fresh” in canning supplies) plus 1/8 tsp of KCl (Potassium Chloride, sold as “no salt”). Thank you for the idea.
David – Thanks so much for your comments. I am definitely not a low-sodium cooking expert, but my friend who eats that way limits herself to 500mg per meal. That’s what I was shooting for here. I’m glad the recipe inspired you.
Thank you so much! These sound delicious. I love sage and thyme. The touch of nutmeg will add another layer of flavor. Can’t wait to try them.
Love you BFF