Do you cook with chicken sausage? It's a staple in our house, great for rounding out a casserole, topping off a pizza, or throwing into a soup. Nealey's recipe for Glazed Chicken Sausage the other day made me realize just how much I've come to rely on this in my cooking.
Over the past several years, chicken sausage seems to have gone from a newfangled semi-diet food to a respected product in its own right. I used to feel a little sheepish when I bought it — as if I were cheating on my foodie street cred by buying this non-authentic and clearly commercialized version of real European sausage. But as I started seeing more varieties appear on shelves and more references to it in food publications, I decided why fight a good thing?
The truth of the matter is that chicken sausage is super handy and a great ingredient for quick weeknight meals. It comes in a huge variety of flavors, from spicy andouille and Italian herb to apple-chardonnay and pesto. Nearly all the chicken sausage I've seen is already cooked, so it saves me the extra step of needing to cook it through before adding it to a casserole or pasta sauce. I often freeze the individual links and thaw just one or two for whatever dish I'm making that night.
We are definitely fans of chicken sausage in my house. What about yours? How do you cook with it?
Related: How to Grind Your Own Sausage
(Image: Nealey Dozier)
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My former boss introduced me to chicken sausage and I use it a lot at work, but not as much at home. Though now that I have a food processor, I'm thinking about trying Lucinda Scala Quinn's pork sausage http://www.marthastewart.com/341904/simple-homemade-sausage-patties with boneless skinless chicken thighs.
I frequently make this sausages with grapes with chicken sausage...so delicious!
We love sausage cooked in any form. But every time I have tried to cook them this way, the exterior turns all tough and rubbery. I usually use the Trader Joe's chicken or Italian sausage. Am I over cooking them?
One of our quick dinner go-tos is chicken sausage, sliced and sauteed with garlic and onions, then we give the pan a quick deglaze with chicken stock and add broccoli or asparagus and cook it through. We serve it over pasta and maybe give it a sprinkle of fresh parm.
All done in the time it takes to cook the pasta.
I like the chicken sausage I've tried, but right now I'm experimenting with making my own sausage with ground turkey--much cheaper! I like this recipe for Italian sausage: http://www.farmgirlfare.com/2010/09/recipe-homemade-italian-sausage-with.html
I'm still looking for a good breakfast sausage recipe to make with turkey. Ceblanier, could you post your link again? I'm getting a 404 error when I try it.
I was just thinking about what to do with all of the leftover cabbage I have from making sweet & sour beef & cabbage soup last night. Now I know what I'm doing!
I always keep chicken or turkey sausage around, especially sweet and hot italian varieties and andouille. Makes a quick cajun alfredo or sausage & goat cheese salad (My favorite summer / hot weather meal)
Funny! I just came up with a vegetarian version of sausage this weekend!
But I think I had a post reported as spam because of links to recipes on my blog. I thought that was okay here, because lots of people share recipes. (And I LOVE to share recipes) I'm very very sorry, if I've been annoying people all this. Promise not to do it again!
I think I have 3 different types of sausage in my freezer at the moment. I often do as Emma and just pull out a link or two at a time - since I live and cook only for myself, that's all I need. I eat them with pirogi, roasted vegetables, over pasta with marinara, etc. I love the variety that's out there now too!
a quick sautee of onions and peppers with sausage. deglaze with red wine. add jar sauce. pour over pasta. easy and delicious.
Does anyone have any suggestions for favourite sausage brands? I've been looking for a great, non-Italian, European-style sausage. A big fat banger. I'm a big fan of pork and leek, or pork and hazelnut, but most sausages I see in supermarkets in the US are sweet Italian or beef. Thanks!
I am absolutely addicted to Trader Joe's chicken pesto sausage. Every now and then I will get two packs, and eat a sausage with broccoli every night for a week and still feel awesome about it by the time I am through. SO tasty.