These orange fennel chicken breakfast sausages are sweetened with chopped dates and caramelized fennel and flavored with a hint of orange and nutmeg. They are the perfect healthy start to a fall or winter morning. . .
Why make your own chicken breakfast sausages?
Let’s ask the obvious question here. Why on earth would I bother with a chicken breakfast sausage recipe when you can buy pretty good sausages in the store already?
In our family, we most often get frozen chicken sausages. I’m a huge fan of the Applegate Chicken & Maple sausages. They taste delicious, and if you defrost them and then cook them in a bit of butter at low heat, the outside gets nice and crisp. They’re fairly healthy (as sausages go), although they are most definitely in the processed food category. Unfortunately, our grocery store doesn’t carry very good fresh chicken sausages which are always the best. You can’t compete with the crispiness of freshly cooked sausage.
When I’m not trying to be healthy, I’m an even bigger fan of the Jimmy Dean Maple pork sausages (frustratingly, but perhaps fortunately, we can’t get these at our grocery store either). Although you can buy them fresh, they’re a little less healthy for you than the Applegate ones. But they get a really nice crunchy crisp layer on the outside and are full of delicious maple flavor.
So I wanted savory, crispy, delicious, and slightly sweet chicken sausages. I also wondered if I could make a chicken sausage recipe that was a bit healthier so I didn’t need to worry about mystery ingredients. Although I was a bit worried about how time consuming it might be to make sausages (who in the world makes their own sausages?!) But most of all, I just wanted a really good chicken sausage. Sweet, crispy, and melt-in-your mouth yummy.
Finding a Good Chicken Breakfast Sausage Recipe
So I decided to run some trials to find the perfect chicken breakfast sausage recipe. I love fennel in my sausages, so I decided to go with fresh, cooked fennel along with fennel seeds. I also liked the little pockets of sweetness provided by chopped dates. And this is fall, so we needed a little nutmeg and orange zest! I also played around with the sweetness and saltiness levels quite a bit and think we came out in a good place.
I have to say, I’m a big fan of how these turned out. And, they’re actually quite simple and quick to make. The biggest time issue is cooking the fennel first for about 10 minutes, and then cleaning up the bowl / spatula / scoop that has raw chicken on it. I really don’t like cleaning raw chicken. But with a dishwasher, it’s really not so bad.
Breakfast for Dinner?
The other idea I’ll raise, in case you’re like really not into cooking anything from scratch first thing in the morning — our kids are fans of the “breakfast for dinner” concept. These orange fennel chicken breakfast sausages are a very simple and healthy protein if you’re going the breakfast for dinner route! I like to do our version with a Dutch Baby (looks impressive for the kiddos and shockingly simple. Basically mix up your ingredients, pop it in the oven, and ignore for 25 minutes while you cook your sausages).
In our house, mom and dad have some of the Dutch baby with arugula salad and sausages (you can kind of make a little delicious sandwich). Maybe a fried egg thrown in there too for dad. Our kids have it with sausages, scrambled eggs, and avocados. Maybe some strawberries on the table as well. A popular and quick dinner! (Here are some other breakfast food ideas in case you’re inspired to have breakfast this evening.)
Sweetness Preferences
My husband prefers these chicken breakfast sausages with only dates as sweetener (no maple syrup). They truly don’t need much more than that.
However, if you (like me) prefer your sausages on the sweeter side and with a little maple maple flavor, you should add the 1 tablespoon of maple syrup (listed as optional in the chicken breakfast sausage recipe below). That will give you a bit of a maple flavor, but it will also make the outside of the sausage a bit sticky (like, deliciously crispy and sticky at the same time which I am into).
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Orange Fennel Chicken Breakfast Sausages
These orange fennel chicken breakfast sausages are sweetened with chopped dates and caramelized fennel and flavored with a hint of orange and nutmeg. I’ve included an option for maple syrup in case you (like me) prefer your breakfast sausages a little sweeter. Either way, they are the perfect healthy start to a fall or winter morning.
- Total Time: 21 min
- Yield: 10 sausages 1x
Ingredients
1 medium fennel bulb (about 1 cup finely chopped fennel)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/4 cup chopped dates (about 3 dates, pitted and chopped into approximately 1/4 inch cubes)
1 1/2 tsp orange zest
1 tbsp fresh sage (other fresh herbs such as rosemary or thyme would also work!)
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 lb ground chicken
1 tbsp maple syrup (optional, but recommended if you like more of a sweet maple flavor)
Instructions
1. Cook the fennel bulb.
Chop the fennel bulb fairly. You can do it fairly quickly by slicing it in half lengthwise, and then cutting through almost to the base in lines about 1/2 inch apart. Then make very thin slices. See how I sliced the first half of my fennel bulb below below:
It doesn’t have to be perfectly fine, but you don’t want huge chunks. You can see that mine was not perfect.
Heat a nonstick pan over medium-low heat and add about 1 tbsp of olive oil. Add the fennel and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of ground pepper.
Cook for 10 minutes over low heat taking care not to burn the fennel. You want to hear it gently sizzling. After some time, the fennel will begin to look more translucent and will take on a subtle brown, caramelized color. (Note: The color change will not be as obvious as it is if you were doing this with onions.)
2. Prepare the fennel mixture.
Once your fennel has caramelized a bit (after about 10 minutes of cook time), add to the frying pan and cook for about 2 more minutes:
- 1 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1/4 cup dates (the dates will want to stick together but try to break them up as much as possible as they cook — if very difficult, you can add a bit of olive oil as you try to break them apart with your cooking spatula).
Once finished cooking, turn off the heat and add:
- 1 tablespoon chopped sage (or other herbs)
Then set aside for a couple of minutes to cool.
3. Finish making the sausage mixture.
To a mixing bowl add:
- 1 1/2 teaspoons orange zest (this is about 2 mandarins / satsumas for me – and I use this micro planer)
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 pound of chicken
- 1 tbsp maple syrup (if using)
- the fennel mixture you just prepared in the frying pan.
Mix thoroughly. I use a spatula spoon for this part, but you could also use your hands or a large spoon.
4. Cook the sausages!
Add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a frying pan and preheat for about a minute over medium heat. Using two spoons or a cookie dough scoop, scoop out balls of the sausage mixture and get them in the pan. Then flatten them using the back of a spoon (I use my spatula spoon for this again). The oil should be actively sizzling around the sausages if it is hot enough.
Once flattened, cook the sausages for about 3 minutes on each side (I literally set a timer for this). Once they’re cooked, I sometimes place them on a paper towel to absorb any extra oil. BUT don’t do this if you used maple syrup in your recipe — the sausages will stick to the paper!
5. Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 6 min
