Chicken Breakfast Sausage Recipe

This maple chicken breakfast sausage recipe is an easy pork-free, healthier alternative to bacon and pork sausage for breakfast. They require just a few simple ingredients, then you can turn them into a breakfast chicken sausage patty or link. Enjoy these golden brown homemade chicken sausage patties with my Keto Pancakes or a side of eggs.

Why Make Homemade Chicken Breakfast Sausage

• Control ingredients: As with anything homemade, when you make your own chicken breakfast sausage patties, you have complete control over what goes into it.
• Cut calories and fat: Besides knowing exactly what you’re eating, by using ground chicken and not ground pork, this breakfast favorite is also an easy way to cut a few extra calories. You’ll notice it also has a fraction of the fat compared to my air fryer pork sausage patties.  
• Flexible: whether you are keto, low carb or paleo, or just want an easy breakfast chicken patties recipe with basic ingredients, this recipe will work for you.

Ingredients Needed

My chicken breakfast sausage uses simple ingredients and spices.

• Ground Chicken: I use ground dark-meat chicken. I found that if you use ground chicken breast meat, the sausages turned out very dry and a bit tough. So ground dark meat is the way to go for the best flavor and texture.
• Herbs: Breakfast sausage usually has a ton of different herbs and spices. Collecting each of them can be challenging and costly. Some of them you just don’t use much unless you make sausage frequently. So instead of individual spices, I use Herbes de Provence. It is a great blend that makes seasoning the chicken sausage much, much easier.
• Maple Syrup: For a little bit of sweetness, I use keto maple flavor syrup or keto pancake syrup. This gives maple flavor without added sugar. If you are paleo, feel free to use regular maple syrup.
• Spices and Seasonings: To give the sausage patties a bit of a kick, I use black pepper and red pepper flakes. You’ll also need garlic powder and some Natural Sea Salt to help bring out even more flavor.
• Olive Oil: To cook the patties, I use some olive oil, but you could substitute a different oil if you want to. 

How to Make Chicken Sausage for Breakfast

Making your own breakfast sausage is actually quite easy.

1. Gather your ingredients
2. Dump all of the spices in a large mixing bowl
3. Mix the ingredients well
4. Form sausage patties and cook in your favorite nonstick skillet

Top Cooking Tips & FAQs

• Use a non-stick skillet: to prevent sticking and get a nice brown sear, use a non-stick skillet or a seasoned cast iron pan.
• Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days

Choosing Ground Chicken

Ground chicken often comes in different varieties. The leaner cut, ground chicken breast, is not the best option for sausage. Because it has less fat, it makes tougher, drier sausage patties. So instead of ground breast meat, get ground dark meat. In some stores, you may need to ask the butcher. 

Homemade Breakfast Sausage Variations

You can make my breakfast sausage patty recipe using ground dark meat chicken, or you could use a different type of ground meat. Some of my favorite substitutes include ground pork, beef, or turkey. The more fat in the meat, the juicer your sausage patties will be. You could also use combinations of meats to make the patties if you want.

If you are following a specific diet, you can tweak my homemade breakfast sausages to meet your needs. Here is a quick breakdown of changes you can make based on a few ways of eating:

• For keto: I use keto maple syrup or keto pancake syrup. This is a low-carb syrup solution that gives you all the maple flavor at one 1-2 g net carbs per serving.
• For paleo or clean eating: People who follow clean eating or Paleo diet can substitute Keto Syrup for regular maple syrup.
• For Whole30: People who follow Whole30 should just remove the sweetener altogether.

More Chicken Breakfast Recipes:

Chicken breakfast sausage pairs well with a lot of different breakfast foods. You could do a simple pairing with almond flour pancakes, keto maple cinnamon rolls, or my keto almond flour waffles.

If breakfast sandwiches are more your speed, you could pair these sausages with low-carb bread or my fathead dough bagels, an egg, and cheese. Or, you could make a really deluxe and delicious sandwich by also adding air fryer bacon and a few slices of avocado!

Chicken sausage also goes great with my cheesy cauliflower grits or cauliflower hash browns. 

And for you omelet lovers, you could substitute these sausages into this keto omelet recipe.

If you try this recipe, please stop back and leave it a star rating and/or a review in the comments. Stay connected & share photos of your creations with me & others on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!