Pumpkin sausage – a delicious autumnal variation
- Type
- Bratwurst
- Level
- Easy
- Rating
- Rate this recipe
In this post I’m going to show you how to make a pumpkin sausage. It’s easy and super quick to make.
Pumpkin bratwurst is a great change of pace for fall. It’s perfect for beginners and pumpkin lovers.
Want more great bratwurst recipes? Then 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.
I use a Hokkaido pumpkin in my recipe. You would like to use another pumpkin? No problem!
But now enough talking …
Here you can find the complete pumpkin bratwust recipe as a video or to read through.
Have fun and good luck making it! I would be happy if you leave me a comment there, whether you succeeded.
Table of Contents
Pumpkin sausage – What do you need to make it?
Ingredients per 1 kg
| Ingredient | Grams | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| lean pork shoulder | 600 g | 60 % |
| pork backfat | 250 g | 25 % |
| Hokkaido pumpkin | 150 g | 15 % |
Spices per 1 kg
| Ingredient | Grams |
|---|---|
| salt | 18 g |
| white pepper | 2 g |
| nutmeg | 0.5 g |
| ginger | 0.5 g |
| cinnamon | 0.25 g |
| cardamom | 0.25 g |
| allspice | 0.25 g |
Important: The recipe is designed for a Hokkaido pumpkin. If you use another pumpkin where you cannot eat the skin, you need to peel the pumpkin before grinding.
The spices are matched to the pumpkin. It is definitely a special sausage. I recommend you to try the spice mixture in advance in a small amount. In my experience, there are exactly two reactions to this sausage: 1. people love it or 2. people don’t like it at all.
The equipment to make pumpkin sausage
You need a meat grinder to “grind” the meat. The grinder chops the meat into small chunks which then can then be mixed.
You need a sausage stuffer to get your meat mass into the casing. If you are starting out you can also add an attachment to your grinder or use a modified plastic bottle or funnel.
Sausage casings
The pumpkin sausage is filled in natural casings. I recommend 28/30 caliber pork casing.
If you want to prepare cheese sausage without intestines, you can use jars and boil down the mass.
Make pumpkin sausage – Step-By-Step Instructions
Cut the meat, fat and the pumpkin into pieces suitable for your grinder. You can vary the size depending on how big your meat grinder is.
Put the meat pieces in the freezer for 1-2 hours. This will help you grind later and make sure the mixture doesn’t get too warm.
Grind the spices into a fine powder.
Now you can grind the meat and the pumpkin. Depending on how coarse or fine you want your pumpkin sausage, you can use different perforated discs.
Important: If you grind the pumpkin coarsely, then I recommend you to poach the sausage afterwards. This ensures that it is completely cooked through. Coarsely ground pumpkin might be too firm if you only grill it for a short amount of time. If you grind the sausage meat finely, it cooks just as quickly as the meat.
Mix the ground up meat and pumpkin with the spices. 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 gets a good binding.
Next, put the casing onto the sausage stuffer. I use 28/30 caliber pork casing for this.
In the end, it’s your decision whether you prefer to make thinner or thicker sausages. As with the fineness, this is a matter of taste and can be decided by you.
Now fill the meat into the casing. Hold the casing tightly on the filling spout and let it slowly fill up more and more. This part needs some practice. Don’t worry if it doesn’t work 100% right away. Important: Do not fill the casing too tightly, otherwise it will burst later during frying.
Now it is time to link the sausages. You can decide for yourself how big your sausage should be. To do this, press the sausage to the desired length with two fingers on each hand and rotate it forward a few times. Then leave out one sausage length and repeat the process.
Your pumpkin sausage is now ready. Enjoy them.
Frequently asked questions
Pumpkin in the sausage, or sausage in the pumpkin?
Pumpkin in the sausage, or sausage in the pumpkin?
This is the first one, and it is worth knowing before you shop. The Hokkaido in the list above is cut up with the meat and goes through the grinder with it in step 4, so what comes out of the casing is a bratwurst that tastes of pumpkin all the way through. It is not a whole pumpkin with a sausage filling baked inside it and served out of the shell. That is a good dish and this is not the recipe for it.
Reading the list from the other side shows you what the pumpkin is doing. It takes a share of the batch that would otherwise be meat or back fat, which is why this comes out lighter than a plain bratwurst, and why the spices beside it lean sweet where a bratwurst leans savoury. That also makes it a seasonal sausage in the literal sense: it is worth making while the pumpkin is worth eating.
How long is the shelf life of the pumpkin sausage?
How long is the shelf life of the pumpkin sausage?
Raw pumpkin bratwust can be kept in the refrigerator for about 1-2 days.
If you scald it directly after production at 75 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes, it can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about a week.
Alternatively, you can also freeze it raw or scalded, then it will keep for up to 6 months and will not lose any flavor.
