Chef John's Breakfast Sausage Patties

Although this tasted fine, it is not the flavor I expect in a breakfast sausage. My boys, who love sausage, didn't eat it. They were put off by the orange and fennel. I thought it tasted too much like Italian sausage. It was good, but not what I wanted in a breakfast sausage.

We really liked these and I made them into small patties and they froze well, and are great to pop in a pan on a cool weekend morning. I cut back the salt to about 3/4 of a teaspoon, and kicked up Italian herbs, and it's a very nice flavour...

I thought the orange zest was novel, but I don't think it works for a breakfast sausage. There wasn't enough flavor there, and the orange and fennel combination just wasn't what I expect to taste in breakfast sausage. I followed the recipe almost exactly, right down to grinding the pork fresh, although I used a tangerine instead of an orange for the zest (that's all I had).

I need to add about a tablespoon of maple syrup to the mix. It's a wonderful home-made sausage patty!

Made according to recipe (orange zest and slightly-crushed fennel seed, refrigerated 10 hours, lightly mixed with fork). The only exception was that I do not have recourse to a "real live butcher," and used coarsely ground pork from the case. It was good... but the flavor was more similar to Italian sausage than traditional breakfast sausage. Too much fennel? Not enough sage and black pepper? I'm not sure. I'm planning to tweak the seasonings in the future.

These turned out great. It's been a long time since I made my own sausage but these were way better than store bought. I loved the orange zest. reminded me of a good spring/summer day.

Yum. This is a great breakfast patty recipe. I followed the recipe except for the orange zest which I didn't have. I subbed orange marmalade. Will make this often.

Perfect as it is! I would suggest reducing the red pepper flakes if you have kids under 5 years old as it might be too hot for them.It is much nicer than store bought breakfast sausage!!!!

Best Recipe I have found yet. Have been making them for years now.

Still a little light for me. I added some garlic black pepper and that helped a lot I did like the sweet orange flavor and will make this again. Salt control is essential for me.

A big thanks for this recipe, it's a winner. I made it otherwise precisely but substituted lime for orange zest and doubled the red pepper flakes. Thanks again Chef John.

I omitted the orange per reviews and these were good.

After searching relentlessly for the frozen boxed (and loved) Stampede Round sausages I made this recipe. I excluded the fennel seeds, orange zest and nutmeg and was delighted with the flavour! My whole family loves this breakfast sausages with eggs, pancakes and on their "egg mcmuffins".

Wasn't bad for a sausage, but not a breakfast sausage to me. Cut the orange zest to half, and it still didn't work for us. We missed the sage in this sausage. The Italian herbs were okay, but not quite on point without a predominant sage flavor.

Great recipe as is, just want to highlight the chopping or mincing the fennel seed is key for a nicer texture in the final product. Beyond breakfast, they were nice to add into soup.

Thanks Uncle Bill and Chef John - the orange zest is a great highlight to this meaty, simple, and flavorful sausage. So much better than store bought or in a diner. Yes - make it the night before to let it rest, ideally Friday night for a nice weekend breakfast or brunch. Yes - use the orange zest. Yes- cut the fennel. Yes - I am going to make this again.

This is my favorite sausage recipe. It's really great fresh (I freeze the rest). I've put in a bit of ground sage and orange juice with the zest and that's been a nice addition. But the recipe as above is wonderful too.

Our oldest (15yrs.) twins are 1/2 Sicilian and just had to give this a try to see if it tasted like they thought it would. Yep just like Italian sausage with traditional Sicilian flavors that run right into Northern Italy's Austrian heritage as well thanks to the nutmeg. If it had any coriander, mace or other herbs and spices it would have even been more Northern Italian. We gave it 4 stars because it is indeed a good Italian Sausage but would probably only have it for breakfast if we were skiing in the Dolomite Mountains or some such. Most Americans won't find this to be Breakfast Sausage as we are used to the style handed down from our Scottish, English, Irish and Welsh ancestors that often if not usually includes Sage.

These are really good! The amount of fennel makes them a little more like Italian sausages.

Good taste, but I found them a little dry. Next time I willuse a mix of shoulder and belly

I will definitely be using this recipe again. I added granulated onion & garlic. It was delicious

I used half ground pork and half ground goose..cause... you know... hunting season and all. Turned out fab! Maybe add extra pepper for more kick.

I use this breakfast sausage recipe solely to make “biscuits and gravy” simply because where I live, breakfast sausages ain’t a thing and it’s just way way waaaaaaaaay cheaper and faster to make from scratch. Thank you Chef John!

Loved the idea of orange zest & omitting any sugars. I used marinatted red peppers & extra Fennel. My fist try was with ground lamb, next time I will try pork.

I made this with all the ingredients listed in the recipe and a few additional ingredients, garlic powder, onion powder and 1Tblspn maple syrup. We enjoyed them.

Do not omit the orange zest, it's what changes the Patty from a sedan (the boring old sausage flavor that everyone is tired of, blah) to a luxury car that kicks up the flavor to a new tasty experience. Get out of your comfort zone and live a little people.

Absolutely delicious! I will make this every Saturday morning! Very flavorful and the texture is outstanding!

I used Chef John's method to spice up some very bland wild hog breakfast sausage I had made up through a game processor. It was our fault it was bland because we asked for mild when we had it processed. It was just like ground pork! Chef John's method made it perk up considerably! Love the orange zest flavor! I have about 10 more pounds of breakfast sausage to spice up now. Well worth the effort!

These were so easy to make and were delicious. I omitted the orange zest and only refrigerated for an hour before cooking. Very flavorful, this will be my go-to sausage recipe.

This recipe is a keeper just as is! I’ve tried making a few different recipes and this is by far the best I’ve found! I dug into it so fast I didn’t take a photo! Next time!