This homemade Italian sausage without casings recipe is easy to make and tastes delicious. Making your own sausage gives you control over what goes in it. These sausages are spicy and bold and great to grill this summer. They are also low carb with only 0.4g net carbs.
You might also like this slow cooker sausage & peppers recipe!
We lived in England for a year and it was one of the best experiences of my life. One thing that I remember eating there was homemade sausage. Our first trip to a butcher resulted in a handful of free sausages and we were hooked. Some places had all kinds of flavors and that is something that I had been wanting to try for years.
So this is my first try and it was a success. I started with these homemade Italian sausages and it was so easy! I didn’t use casings because I’m not ready for that and may never be ready for that.
However If your family likes sausage you should try making your own so you can have total control over the ingredients and make all kinds of flavors!
I admit that these are not very attractive but I was excited to show you and to chronicle this recipe in my archives. I’m sure I will learn to make different flavors and how to make them more attractive. But if we are going on taste, this recipes has got it.
Making Sausage With A Meat Grinder Attachment
I don’t have a stand alone meat grinder but I did find this KitchenAid food grinder attachment. All you have to do is just hook onto the mixer and it does all the hard work.
They also have a sausage stuffer attachment but I’m not ready to use casing hence this post. But if you are, go check it out.
How To Make Homemade Sausages Without Casings
I wanted to grill these sausages but I needed them to stay together on the grill. To help them along I parboiled them first.
To do this I took a large saute pan and filled it half way with water. Then I brought the water to a simmer and cooked them for about a minute on each side. They will stick together and you can cook them any way you want.
Some Sausage Making Secrets I Learned:
- Use a fatty piece of meat like a pork shoulder or pork butt.
- Cut your meat into chunks and lay on a cookie sheet with plastic wrap. Freeze for 1 hour to help you grind it.
- Use the same cookie sheet to let the meat fall onto and spread it out a bit to mix in the spices. It’s easier than a big bowl to get it all mixed well.
- Take a bit of the sausage and pan fry it to test if the spices are right. I ended up using more garlic and much more fennel.
- To help these stay together on the grill, parboil them just a bit in a larger saute pan half filled with simmering water. You can see them below on the grill after I parboiled them.
I think next time I made these I might try them in some sauce with peppers and onions. My hubby likes this slow cooker recipe for that. I still think they will need to be parboiled first so they don’t dissolve in the sauce. I’ll keep you posted when I try this.
So if you grill yours, just do it for about 4 minutes per side.
Easy Side Dish To Go With Homemade Sausages
These sausages went well with a side dish of peppers, onions and potatoes that I roasted. By the way that is such a simple side dish but very tasty!
Just coat veggies with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic and roast in a 400 degree oven for 40-50 minutes until your veggies are done. Potatoes, peppers and onions go great with kielbasa dishes too!
Homemade Italian Sausage
Well if you have any interest in making your own sausage give this a try. It’s super easy with the grinder and it lets you have total control over what goes in your sausage. The nutritional information for 1 sausage is:
99 cals / 4.2g fat / 0.7g carb / 0.3g fiber / 13.7g protein = 0.4g net carbs

Homemade Italian Sausage without Casings
Ingredients
- 2 lbs pork shoulder cut into chunks
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- t teaspoon Italian seasonings
- t teaspoon cayenne
- 1 teaspoon pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoons garlic crushed
- 1 tablespoon fennel seed
Instructions
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Cut the pork into chunks and lay on a cookie sheet lined with plastic wrap.
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Set into the freezer for 1 hour.
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Meanwhile add all the seasonings to a bowl and mix well.
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Take the chunks and feed through the grinder.
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Loosely spread the ground meat on a large cookie sheet and sprinkle the spices evenly over the meat.
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Use your hands to mix the spices into the meat well.
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Form the spiced meat into a sausage shape.
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Get a large saute pan half filled with simmering water and place the sausages into the water.
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Let cook for only1 minute on each side.
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Take out of the water and grill until done to your liking.
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more things to grill!
- Grilled Banana Split Kebabs
- Apricot Orange Grilled Seafood Kebabs
- Grilled Chicken Fajita Kebabs
- Orange Ginger Pork Kebabs
Debi
Thanks for the recipe took for ever to find on Yummly but I have a very simple idea… make them into patties bang! done and you can still do them with peppers and onions. Thanks for sharing
Denise
Hi Debi, that is a great idea! I need to make these again…it’s been awhile.
Suzette
Looks totally doable. Can’t wait to try
Denise
Hi Suzette,
Making homemade sausage is doable. I have a lot of different flavors I want to try but itโs so easy.
Now I just have to figure out how to make them look more appetizing! ๐
Laura Dembowski
I saw Bobby Flay make sausage on TV awhile ago and have wanted to try it since. I love that you simplified the process.
Denise
Yes I’m not ready for the casings….someday!