Herb sausage – a fresh variation for the summer
- Type
- Bratwurst
- Level
- Easy
- Rating
- Rate this recipe
Today I’m going to show you how to make your own herb sausage. It’s easy and super quick to make.
The herb sausage is a nice summer alternative to the classic bratwurst. The choice of herbs is a matter of taste. You can experiment here. I use parsley, chives and cress.
If you’re interested in more great recipes, my recipe book “24 Bratwurst Recipes For A Perfect Barbecue Experience” is for you!
I also answered some general questions about making bratwurst in my post Making Bratwurst Yourself. Have a look there.
But now enough talking…
Here you can find the complete herb sausage recipe as a video or to read through.
Have fun and good luck making it!
Table of Contents
Herb sausage – What do you need to make it?
Ingredients per 1 kg
| Ingredient | Grams | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| pork shoulder | 600 g | 60 % |
| pork belly | 400 g | 40 % |
Spices per 1 kg
| Ingredient | Grams |
|---|---|
| salt | 18 g |
| fresh parsley | 10 g |
| chives fresh | 10 g |
| fresh cress | 5 g |
| dried garlic | 2.5 g |
| white pepper | 2 g |
| mace | 0.5 g |
The equipment to make herb sausage
A meat grinder cuts the meat into small pieces so it can be mixed with the seasoning. Cut the meat into pieces that fit the feed tube before grinding.
Sausage stuffer, grinder attachment or funnel
Use a sausage stuffer to fill the mixture into its casing. A stuffing attachment for your meat grinder or a hand funnel also works when you are starting out.
Natural casings / jars
The herb sausage is stuffed into natural casings. I recommend you to use sheep seedling caliber 22/24.
If you want to make herb sausage without casings, you can use jars and boil down the mixture.
Herb sausage – Step-By-Step Instructions
Cut the meat into pieces suitable for the grinder. You can vary the size depending on how big your meat grinder is.
Put the ingredients in the freezer for 1-2 hours. This will help you later when grinding and ensure that the mixture does not get too warm.
Cut your herbs into small pieces. You can decide the size yourself.
Now you can grind the meat. Depending on how coarse or fine you want your sausage, you can use different perforated disks. To be honest, this is completely a matter of taste. I personally use the fine perforated disk. But as I said … You have to like it!
Add the spices and herb to the mixture and mix the ingredients together. You can do this by hand or with a hand mixer. Make sure that you mix the sausage meat for 4-5 minutes so that it binds well.
Next, put the pre-watered casing (approx. 30 min) on the sausage stuffer. Use sheep seedling caliber 22/24. In the end, it’s up to you whether you want to make thinner or thicker sausages. As with the degree of fineness, this is a matter of taste and can be decided by you.
Fill the sausage meat into the casing. Important: Do not fill the casing too much, otherwise it will burst later during frying.
Now press your bratwurst into shape. You can decide for yourself how big your bratwurst should be. To do this, press the sausage to the desired length with two fingers on each hand and cut it apart.
You can now fry the sausage. Optionally, you can also blanch it in salted water at 75 °C for approx. 25 minutes (18 g salt per liter of water). Place the herb sausage in ice water to cool.
Your herb sausage is ready 😄. Enjoy it.
Frequently asked questions
Which herbs go into a herb sausage?
Which herbs go into a herb sausage?
Mine takes parsley, chives and cress, and all three go in fresh — that is what the spice list means by naming them that way, and it is why step 3 has you cutting them small before anything else happens. They are mixed into the sausage meat together with the dry spices in step 5 rather than earlier, so they are not ground with the meat and keep their own texture in the finished sausage. The garlic is the one thing in that list that is dried.
The choice itself is open and I would encourage you to change it. Anything you would put on a piece of grilled meat belongs in here too, and this is the recipe to experiment with, because nothing in it depends on the herbs being these three. What I would keep is the proportion: the herbs are a seasoning, not a filling, so if you swap in something with a stronger taste, take less of it rather than the same weight.
How long is the shelf life of the herb sausage ?
How long is the shelf life of the herb sausage ?
The herb sausage will keep in the refrigerator for about 3 days. You can also freeze it optimally. Then it will keep much longer. You don’t have to be afraid, it won’t lose its taste.
This sounds delicious, though I am likely to reduce the fat portion by about 10% (too much heart trouble). Also likely to use 30 caliber hog casings as that is what I have a lot of on hand.😊
Definitely going to have to try this. I have made a few different sausages from this blog and they have turned out fantastic.
One question, is it necessary to use sheep casings 22-24? Can you use natural hog casings 28-32? Or will it be too thick?
Thank you,
Steve Wright