The Absolute Best Cut Of Chicken For Flavorful Sausage
Sausage is a type of processed meat prized for its rich, fatty taste and delightfully crispy exterior when grilled. Yet for those who abstain from pork, there is also chicken sausage, which can deliver a similarly delicious flavor — if you use the right cut of meat, that is.
As one of the fattiest cuts of chicken, thighs are the ideal piece of the bird to use for homemade chicken sausage. The roughly 8% fat content is far less than the ideal 80/20 blend of meat and fat for pork sausage, but that's where the chicken skin comes in.
Chicken skin is notably high in fat, and including it on the thigh boosts each cut's fat content to about 15%, depending on the bird. A good meat-to-fat ratio is why pork shoulder is the best cut for pork sausage and the same reason why chicken thighs with the skin on are best for chicken sausage.
How to make great chicken sausage
With the popularity of pork, chicken can seem like an afterthought protein for sausage, but it's a common part of some of the most popular sausages around the world. Filipino longganisa and Hawaiian laulau, a leaf-wrapped sausage that also incorporates fish, both often use chicken instead of or in addition to pork.
Making cased sausage requires equipment like a meat grinder and sausage stuffer, which one probably doesn't own without already knowing how to make sausage. But you can still make uncased chicken sausage without these tools in the same fashion as this pork sausage recipe. Just use a food processor instead of a meat grinder.
Seasoning will depend on what the sausage is used for; oregano, basil, and parsley go well with Italian-inspired dishes, poultry seasoning and maple syrup can make for a hearty breakfast, and lemon and thyme can make a fresh, herbal protein for anything. If cooking the sausage loose, consider using it for biscuits and gravy. This is one of the best ways to upgrade store-bought chicken sausage as well as homemade. But uncased chicken sausage can also be formed into sausage patties for breakfast platters, sandwiches, and more.