# A New Chicken Sausage



## couger78 (Jun 25, 2012)

I picked up something like 20 lbs of boned chicken thighs at the local market (89¢ a pound!). So now its time for some chicken sausage! The boys aren't crazy about chicken thighs (nor am I), so making sausage with the chicken is a good deal.

I'll be making a 5-pound batch of the Thai-style chicken sausage I've made several times before ( a big favorite in our house), but I wanted to try something NEW as well. I read several chicken recipes and decided to create a version with some of the 'italian' ingredients I had on hand. so here's my go at...

*"Chicken Sausage with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Basil & Parmesan Cheese"*  
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






First the ingredients. I took the sun-dried tomatoes and soaked/marinated them for about 3 days in a good italian olive oil. The oil will pick up an orange hue & some of the 'tang' from the tomatoes. The tomatoes soften nicely.

Heres all the stuff:







Oh, and the chicken....

I ground up about 8.5 pound of the thighs; half of them had skin so in went the skin as well...







I separated the ground chicken into two bowls and added the ingredients to each. Hand-mixed both until a sticky paste formed. For the Thai-style sausage, I'm using 22mm natural sheep casings; for the other: 32mm pork casings.

All stuffed & ready to go:







Nice color on the NEW sausages...







I warmed up the poacher as I prefer to pre-cook all my chicken sausage. 165° and into the bath goes the larger links. These will cook for about 25 minutes until an IT of 165° is reached. 







The thai-style took about 15 minutes due to the smaller diameter







*SAMPLE time for the NEW sausage:*

A nicely-spiced, juicy, flavorful chicken sausage.

These would go great with pasta & good marinara sauce. Garlicky, with an nice herbal basil flavor and the tang of the SD tomatoes is terrific! I'm very happy with these! My wife likes them _better_ than the Thai-style—which used to be her favorite.

Here's a slice shot: the overall color should or would be a bit darker when these are grilled or browned in a pan. As they are pictured, they've only been lightly poached. A very tasty sausage, none-the-less!







Kevin


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## fpnmf (Jun 25, 2012)

Looks delicious!!


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## rdknb (Jun 25, 2012)

They look Great!! Well Done


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## boykjo (Jun 25, 2012)

Awesome Cougar................... They look great......................
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Joe


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## couger78 (Jun 25, 2012)

Thanks, guys.

If you're interested in trying these, here's the recipe I used:

*Chicken Sausage*

_with Basil, Cheese & Sun-Dried tomatoes_

Makes 5 pounds

4.75 lbs Chicken thighs & skins (2150 g)

1/2 cup fresh garlic, finely-chopped (60g)

2/3 cup fresh basil, chopped (40g)

4 tsp Kosher salt (30g)

1 Tbl Black pepper (7.2g)

1 tsp Nutmeg (2.2g)

1/2 tsp Allspice (1.0g)

2/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (90g)**

2/3 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded (55g)

1/3 cup olive oil**

*_* soak sun-dried tomatoes in the olive oil for 2-3 days, room temp. Chop tomatoes into small pieces before mixing into meat_

32mm hog casings

Partially freeze then grind the chicken with skins through a medium plate.

Mix all ingredients into the ground chicken & mix well until it forms a sticky paste.

Fry a sample to adjust seasoning, if necessary. Stuff into casings; 5-inch length.

Grill, fry or poach for later use.

Hope you enjoy 'em as much as we do!

Kevin


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## gersus (Jun 25, 2012)

Looks great! Nice to some chicken sausage.


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## thoseguys26 (Jun 26, 2012)

Thanks for the pics and recipe. I've been meaning to try some turkey or chicken sausage so I think I will start here. Look fantastic!! Are you happy with the results? Would you change anything? How did the basil flavor come out?

Thanks for sharing!


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## sam3 (Jun 26, 2012)

Oh yea....


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## couger78 (Jun 26, 2012)

thoseguys26 said:


> Are you happy with the results? Would you change anything? How did the basil flavor come out?


I'm very pleased with how the flavors came out in this sausage. Chicken makes a pretty 'bland' sausage, so its a perfect platform for trying bolder ingredient combinations. The basil is very prominent, but not overwhelming, and balances out nicely with the 'perfumey-ness' of the nutmeg/allspice combo. The garlic is obviously present, but the kicker is the SD tomatoes—those really shine in this recipe, adding a nice 'tang' or tartness. The parmesan brings a subtle bit of 'nuttiness' and salt.

If I'd change anything, I'd consider adding some t*oasted pine nuts *to add another textural component.

Kevin


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## jrod62 (Jun 26, 2012)

Looks good. 
Copy this to evernotes file .


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## ironhorse07 (Jun 26, 2012)

Those look good, thanks for the recipe, will have to look around for a sale on chicken.


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## jack07 (Jun 26, 2012)

Looks great...thanks for sharing!


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## johnnie walker (Jun 26, 2012)

Kevin, those look great! I'll have to look for some chicken now too!


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## billyj571 (Jul 5, 2012)

Thanks for sharing I'm going to try chicken breast this weekend got it on sale for $ 1.25 lb


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## couger78 (Jul 5, 2012)

billyj571 said:


> Thanks for sharing I'm going to try chicken breast this weekend got it on sale for $ 1.25 lb


You many need to add a bit more fat as chicken breasts are quite lean.

Kevin


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## scarbelly (Jul 5, 2012)

Looks like those came out awesome - congrats


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## mds51 (Jul 5, 2012)

This recipe looks great with a lot of flavors. Would you please share the Thai recipe that you mentioned . Thank You for a great post. mds51


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## billyj571 (Jul 5, 2012)

I have some pork fat I'll be adding any other ideas are welcome or comments hate to spoil all that meat.


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## 1finder (Jul 5, 2012)

Tried the chix recipe w/ minor tweaks, they turned out great... Never
did a chix sausage before, the sun dried tomatoes and fresh basil make these along
w/ getting a good sear or caramelization on them. Made some into patties after 
trying test patty (was so good) and linked up the rest.
Thank you for the recipe, Thai does sound intriguing also.

Rick


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## couger78 (Jul 5, 2012)

billyj571 said:


> I have some pork fat I'll be adding any other ideas are welcome or comments hate to spoil all that meat.


Pork fat will work just fine; so will chicken fat (and chicken skins as well). The key is getting the sausage fat content up to approximately 17-20% range by weight.

Lean, skinless chicken breast is only 3% fat; with skins, about 10-12%.

Kevin


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## couger78 (Jul 5, 2012)

mds51 said:


> Would you please share the Thai recipe that you mentioned . Thank You for a great post. mds51


Original thread from last August: http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/110013/something-different-thai-chicken-sausage-with-pics

and a follow-up thread (bigger batch) in September:

 http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/111085/thai-chicken-revisited

Taken from the second thread:

Here's the recipe for 5.5lbs of sausage. I recommend weighing dry ingredients whenever possible to ensure consistent results versus set measurements (i.e. tablespoon of salt). This is particularly important when using cures, spices or salt _(1 tbl table salt differs considerably from 1 tbl of kosher salt, for example. but 30g = 30g, no matter what salt is used)._

*Thai Chicken Sausage*

3.5lbs chicken thighs with skin

1.5 cups salted & roasted peanuts

1 cup Sticky, short-grain rice

3/4 cup Coconut milk

3 Tbs green onions, finely chopped (45g)

1/4 cup Chopped Garlic (36g)

1 cup Chopped Cilantro (35g)

30g Kosher Salt

22g Brown Sugar

6 tsp Hot Chili-garlic sauce ('Rooster'-brand)-_add more if *HOT*  is desired_

1 Tbs Sesame oil

6g fresh ground black pepper

5.5g Ground Galangal (option: ground ginger)

24mm or 28mm sheep casings

Cook & cool rice first.

Bone chicken, reserving all meat, fat AND skin. Chill until partially frozen.

Grind chicken with rice and peanuts through medium plate (4.5mm).

Add salt, coconut milk & green onions to mixture; mix well.

Add remaining ingredients & mix thoroughly until sticky paste is formed.

Stuff into casings; tie off into 4.0" links. Air dry until casing are dry to touch. *Lightly poach in 160°water until the internal temp of 165° is reached. Dry & put in fridge or freezer. These can be quickly re-heated or grilled.

_* poaching is an option. You can skip this step & simply refrigerate uncooked links. Cook to proper IT before serving._


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## dward51 (Jan 19, 2013)

Kevin,

Did you put the 1/3 cup of olive oil from the sun dried tomatoes in the sausage or was it just used to soften the tomatoes?

I see it in your ingredients photo, but in the recipe it sort of sounds like it was just used to soak the tomatoes.  Since it was in the ingredients photo, I take it the olive oil made it into the sausage for additional fat since chicken is so lean.  Just wanted to clarify.

I'm going to make some up and the wife is insisting not to put any ground bacon or chicken skin (fat) in them (Yep, it's after new years diet time for both of us).  Not sure how they will come out, but I'm thinking of using the olive oil and adding some NFDM to help as a binder and for moisture retention.  I even thought about running some instant rolled oats through the spice grinder and boiling them up to add also after they cool down (in the oatmeal mush phase as additional binder and for some moisture).

Looking at a 3 pound run right now.  She bought 5 pounds of ground chicken breast that was marked way down so I already have the meat pre-ground. We used 2 pounds for chicken meatballs last night.  I checked the nutritional label on the meat and it is showing to be about 1.75% fat so it's about as lean as it comes. This is why I asked about the olive oil.

I'm also thinking about adding 1/4 cup NFDM and 1/4 cup ground rolled oats hydrated with around 1/3 cup water to your base recipe (quantities adjusted for 3 pounds of course).


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## couger78 (Jan 19, 2013)

dward51 said:


> Kevin,
> 
> Did you put the 1/3 cup of olive oil from the sun dried tomatoes in the sausage or was it just used to soften the tomatoes?
> 
> ...


Yep, the olive oil in which the SD tomatoes soaked, goes into the sausage.

Chicken breast is soooooo lean that you'll wind up with a dry, possibly mealy textured, end result unless fat is added. Adding _additional_ oil will help a bit. The NFDM & oats may also help retain some of the moisture, but it will certainly alter the texture. Give it a try & see how it turns out. Fat content is so critical for flavor, texture and mouth-feel. The challenge comes from, when removing a substantial amount of fat from mix, playing with additional elements until one makes the results mimic fat or, at the very least, palatable.

Or you can simply add the chicken fat & make smaller links....
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






Kevin


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## jnorth (Jul 7, 2013)

Just made this (actually made 5x recipes this weekend).  Awesome sausage, better then the similar one in Charcuterie.  I'll have to try smoking some of them this week.


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## couger78 (Jul 7, 2013)

JNorth said:


> Just made this (actually made 5x recipes this weekend).  Awesome sausage, better then the similar one in Charcuterie.  I'll have to try smoking some of them this week.


Excellent! It's still one of our family favorites!

If you decide to smoke them, be sure to *HOT* smoke (over 190°F) as there's no CURE in the original recipe.

Kevin


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## snorkelinggirl (Jul 8, 2013)

JNorth said:


> Just made this (actually made 5x recipes this weekend).  Awesome sausage, better then the similar one in Charcuterie.  I'll have to try smoking some of them this week.


x2

I've also made both, and greatly prefer Kevin's recipe.  Thanks Kevin, for sharing such a great recipe.

Hope VBS is going well for you and that you are having a great summer!

Clarissa


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## redwood carlos (Nov 7, 2013)

I made these last weekend, they were a huge hit. Gone before I could have more than one. These will be made again at my house.

Thank you very much for sharing.


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## fished (Nov 7, 2013)

Those look really good.  Could you substitute dried basil?  If so would you add more or less?  My wife would like the chicken sausages.


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## couger78 (Nov 8, 2013)

Yes, dried basil can be substituted for fresh, but only use about 1/4 _or less_ of the fresh amount. Dried basil can become bitter if too much is used. 

Kevin


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## frankbe (Nov 9, 2013)

Awesome !


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## darwin101 (Nov 10, 2013)

Those sound great, I will have to try them once I get setup.  

thanks


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## jeff iskierka (Jan 9, 2015)

Yum, I will be trying this one.  I think I will use my smoked tomatoes.


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## mike w (Sep 29, 2016)

IMG_20160929_132506.jpg



__ mike w
__ Sep 29, 2016






Great recipe that i made today!
I substituted roasted garlic for fresh and left out allspice as i didn't have any ground. And I used kraft parmesan/romano cheese blend.


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