When butchering season arrives in late autumn, most of our meat goes into the freezer after being cut and wrapped. It sits there until the gardens are put to bed for winter and most of the home canning is finished. And then? It’s time to turn some of the ground meat into homemade garlic sausage patties!
How to Make Homemade Sausage Patties
While I do enjoy having actual casing-stuffed sausages on hand, this method is quick and easy. I still get the full flavor, but without having to buy casings or fiddle with a sausage stuffer. Here’s how it all works!
Step 1: Thaw Your Ground Meat the Night Before
Your ground meat needs to be fully thawed to make this recipe. Whether you’re working with pork, beef, venison or chicken, be sure to pull the goods from your freezer the night before.
Step 2: Mix In Salt, Herbs and Spices
Once your ground meat has thawed, open your packages and dump the meat into a large bowl. Quickly break the meat up with your hands, then measure out garlic, salt, herbs and spices.
Sprinkle a light layer of each over the surface of your meat, then mix the goods in with your hands. Add a bit more, and mix again. Keep sprinkling and mixing until everything has been added.
By slowly incorporating garlic, salt, herbs and spices you’ll ensure that everything is properly dispersed throughout the meat.
Step 3: Taste Test Your Meat Flavors
You should always taste test your sausage meat before forming patties. Do this by heating a skillet on the stove top and cooking up a few small lumps of meat.
Taste test and see if you are happy with the results. If you think your sausage meat needs more salt, add more. The same goes for herbs, garlic or other spices.
If the flavor is too strong for your liking, you can always add more ground meat to mellow it out. Cover the sausage meat and keep it in the refrigerator while you thaw out more.
Mix it in and adjust to your personal tastes.
Step 4: Form Your Sausage Patties
Once you’re happy with the flavor profile of your garlic sausage meat, it’s time to form small patties!
Because we primarily use these patties in breakfast meals, I like keeping mine on the smaller side. And for the sake of uniformity, I do use a mold.
To shape my patties, I have a biscuit/cookie cutter that’s about 3½ inches in diameter. The perfect size for me! You can also use a standard size canning lid and band, or lids from jars of store bought food.
Either way, all you have to do is pack the meat into your mold, until it reaches the desired thickness. I like to keep mine between 1/4-1/2 inch so they fry up quickly.
Shake each patty out of your mold and set it on a cutting board. Continue working your way through the ground meat, until it’s all used up!
Step 5: Package Your Garlic Sausage Patties
After your patties have all been formed, you need to figure out exactly how you are going to package and freeze the meat.
Personally, I usually pop my patties into ziploc bags, being sure to place parchment paper between the layers. But if you want them to keep for longer, go ahead and wrap your patties in butcher paper, being sure to place parchment between each layer.
Step 6: Use Your Patties In 4 Month’s Time
With all the added herbs, salt and spices, your patties won’t keep as long as unsalted, ground meat. For this reason, I recommend using up your patties within 4 months of putting them in the deep freeze.
And yes, in case you’re wondering, you can pop them into the pan fully frozen and cook them up in no time!
Be sure to grab your printable recipe below and enjoy your homemade garlic sausage patties!
Homemade Garlic Sausage Patties
Ingredients
- 6 lbs ground meat
- 5 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp paprika
- 1 Tbsp oregano
- 1 Tbsp thyme
- 4 crushed garlic cloves
Instructions
- Pull ground meat from the freezer the night before you plan to make patties so that it can thaw
- Open packages and break ground meat up in a large bowl
- Measure salt, herbs and paprika onto a plate
- Send garlic cloves through a press and also add it to the plate
- Slowly add the contents of the plate to your meat, mixing everything in between each addition
- Once everything has been added, heat a skillet on the stove top
- Cook and taste test a few small pieces of the meat
- Adjust according to your personal tastes
- Pack sausage meat into a lid or biscuit cutter that is about 3 1/2 inches in diameter, forming patties that are no more than 1/2 inch thick
- Lay finished patties out on a cutting board, until you've finished working your way through all the ground meat
- Place finished patties in zip lock bags or wrap them in butcher paper, placing a layer of parchment between each layer
- Label and freeze
- To cook your garlic sausage patties, you can pop frozen patties into a hot pan, cooking for about 5 minutes on each side
- Use up your supply in 4 month's time for ultimate freshness and flavor
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