Julie Clark
Posted: Updated:
Italian Sausage Seasoning
This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
Make your own Italian sausage at home with this homemade Italian sausage seasoning recipe. Add these savory spices to turkey, pork or beef and have delicious Italian sausage ready for pizzas, meatballs, spaghetti or your favorite Italian dish.
Do you like making homemade spice mixes? It can be cost effective to whip up your own seasoning blends at home with spices that you may already have in your cupboard. Italian seasoning, fajita seasoning, taco seasoning and pasta salad seasoning are 4 of our favorites.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Reader Irene says, “Thank you for this recipe. I love it. I can’t have processed foods any more as I’m a dialysis patient, so this hit the spot for me. I make sausage rolls and it works great. I use ground pork. So yummy. Thank you.”
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Reader Sandy says, “I recently used this recipe to make homemade Italian sausage. I’m very picky and my favorite store bought brand is Dinos. It’s no longer sold in my area. I can say without a doubt this recipe rivals Dinos. I let it sit in the fridge 24 hours to let the ingredients meld into the pork sausage. You must try this recipe with confidence that the flavors are just right.”
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Reader Dina says, “I made this recipe and it was amazing and flavorful! I used ground turkey and I put it in a sausage mold and it was the perfect healthy sausage! I served it with peppers and had a healthy nutritious dinner without all of the sodium.”
Why make seasoning blends at home?
When we started watching our sugar intake, we realized that so many of our favorite foods had sugar in them. Sausage was one of those things.
Now let me tell you. I love my sugar. But if I’m going to make the decision to have sugar, I’ll take a donut, please. I don’t want sugar in my sausage.
This homemade Italian sausage seasoning solves that problem and lets you know exactly what you’re putting in to your food to season it.
What is the distinctive flavor in Italian Sausage?
Italian sausage has many herbs and spices, but fennel seed is what gives it its distinct flavor. Don’t skip it. I buy whole fennel seed and crush it slightly when making this seasoning mix.
- parsley
- Italian seasoning
- black pepper
- fennel seed
- paprika
- red pepper flakes
- salt
- onion
- garlic
Pro Tip
It may seem like we’re cheating by adding in pre-mixed Italian seasoning. We find that most people have this in their spice cupboard already. If you don’t, you can use our recipe to mix up some of your own.
Sweet Italian Sausage
If you really want a sweet Italian sausage, add a touch of brown sugar to this spice mix.
How much Italian sausage seasoning to add to meat?
This homemade Italian sausage seasoning makes enough to season two pounds of ground meat. You can use more or less, depending on how flavorful you like your food. We recommend starting by using this whole recipe in two pounds of meat and adjusting from there.
What meat do you use for sausage?
Use ground pork, ground beef, ground chicken or ground turkey, which is our preference. If you’re a hunter, even venison is a great option.
Italian Sausage Recipes
I use this Italian sausage in soup, meatballs, spaghetti sauce and lasagna. Anytime you have an Italian dish, you can substitute Italian sausage for the ground beef to give it an extra zip of flavor.
It’s also great as a rub for pork shoulder.
How to Store Bulk Sausage Seasoning
I often make up a big batch of this savory sausage. You form it into sausage patties or roll it into sausage links and freeze to cook later (I actually like having an Italian sausage patty for breakfast alongside some veggies), or you can cook them right away.
You can also brown the meat and freeze it. This makes it super easy to pull out and use in sauces and all of your savory Italian dishes!
Otherwise you can store the seasoning mix in an airtight container and keep it at room temperature.
pro tip
If we make up a big batch of this, we used dried onions and garlic (or onion powder and garlic powder). If we make up a single batch, we use fresh onion and garlic. Use it in our sausage breakfast pie!
Italian Sausage Seasoning Recipe
Make your own Italian sausage at home with this homemade italian sausage seasoning recipe. Add these savory spices to turkey, pork or beef.
Servings 8
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed (we use whole, but you can crush the ½ teaspoon of whole seeds or use ground fennel if you'd like)
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic (we use fresh if not making a big batch)
- 1 teaspoon minced onions (we use fresh if not making a big batch)
- 2 pounds ground beef (or turkey, chicken or pork)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine all of the seasonings. Add the seasonings to 2 pounds of ground beef. Brown or cook as desired in a large skillet.
- Store any leftovers in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
- The seasoning mix itself can be stored at room temperature, in an airtight container in the pantry.
Notes
*If you’d like, you can use all dried seasonings and make up a big batch of seasoning to store in your pantry. Be sure not to use fresh onion and garlic if you do this. Use all dried seasonings (same amounts).
Nutrition
Calories: 292kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 80mg | Sodium: 662mg | Potassium: 322mg | Vitamin A: 145IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 32mg | Iron: 2.5mg
After using this recipe, my husband asked me to forgive him for whatever he did that made me not season his meat 😂😂🥲🥲🥲 won’t be using again
Used this with Impossible Meat and it was excellent! I really dug the balance of spic
Scaled this recipe up to 16 pounds and it worked great! Traditional Italian Sausage flavor.
This is so delicious! It is a bit spicy for me so I lower down on the red pepper flakes, but the rest of my family loves it just how it is. Thank you for a delicious recipe!
Oh my… “I-talian seasoning…” You may as well just get a sausage mix.
We make this all the time and slice for homemade pizza. Family loves it
Hey there. I’ve been using this recipe for a few years now with slight modifications for my Italian sausage here in Thailand. I use it on my pizzas and make some of the highest rated neapolitan pizzas in the country. Thank you.
I make all of my combined seasonings so that I know what is in them. I have used this combo for a long time and it is ALWAYS a huge hit. I think I stumbled on it right around the time it was originally posted. Since we don’t eat pork, I had just thrown in the towel on being successful at certain dishes. You could tell that the recipe needed a flavor I wasn’t able to get without the proper meat. As soon as I found this recipe, my cooking changed. I no longer have to eliminate recipes that call… Read more »
This is a excellent easy, great tasting recipe
This is a great recipe. I made 8 lbs. of Italian sausage last night, using just 1 tsp. of the red pepper flakes and more fennel seeds and it was very good. This recipe is a keeper for me. Thank you! And I appreciate being able to scale it up.
Our family loves this recipe! The sausage is really easy to make and tastes amazing. Thanks for another great recipe!
I guess you forgot the main ingredient, FENNEL SEED. Nonetheless, a fine recipe. I just added that!