Chicken Apple Sausage (No Added Sugar!)

plate full of chicken apple sausage patties with a fork for serving them.

Chicken Apple Sausage (No Added Sugar!)

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chicken apple sausage

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 15

Total Time: 25

Servings:

Calories: 136kcal

Author: Megan Gilmore

This Chicken Apple Sausage is my favorite way to add protein to breakfast, without using eggs. It's made with ground chicken, apples, and simple pantry spices, but it tastes much more decadent. This recipe is ready to eat in as little as 20 minutes and packs 13 grams of protein into 2 patties, making it the perfect option to meal prep for the week ahead.

Print Recipe Add to Collection

US Customary - Metric

Ingredients

2 small apples (about 1 cup shredded)
1 pound ground chicken
1 ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon ground sage
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Instructions

Use the largest holes on a box grater to shred the apples, avoiding the core and seeds in the center. Transfer the shredded apples to a measuring cup; you should get about 1 tightly packed cup. It's okay to leave some juice on the cutting board!
Add the ground chicken to a large mixing bowl, then add the shredded apple, salt, sage, garlic powder, cinnamon, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Use a spatula to mix until the mixture is evenly distributed, with no visible chunks of spices.
Heat a large skillet (10 to 12 inches) over medium heat. Once the surface is hot, mist it with cooking spray. Use a tablespoon-sized cookie scoop to scoop the chicken mixture directly into the pan. I like to work with 2 tablespoon-sized scoops at a time for each breakfast sausage patty.
Once you've piled 2 scoops on the pan, wet your fingers (or use the back of a greased spoon) and carefully flatten the sausage into a patty. It will be about ½-inch thick, so your fingers shouldn't get anywhere near the hot surface of the pan. Repeat, scooping and flattening about 4 patties at a time. By the time you flatten the last one, the first one you made should be ready to flip.
Cook the sausage patties for 2 to 3 minutes per side. Test with a meat thermometer to make sure they reach 165ºF in the center; that's when you'll know they are done. Repeat the process with the remaining mixture, cooking about 12 sausage patties total. (Using the 2-tablespoon scoop size.)

Breakfast sausage becomes golden on the sides when you cook it undisturbed for 2 to 3 minutes. If you get distracted, the sugars in the apple can start to look burnt, but don't worry! I've made a batch that is darker, and it's still just as delicious.

Transfer the cooked sausages to a plate and serve warm. You can keep these in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Notes

Nutrition information is for 2 sausage patties, assuming you get 12 total from this recipe. This is automatically calculated using an online ingredient database, so it's just an estimate, not a guarantee.

Apple Note: I like the flavor that comes from using 1 tightly packed cup of shredded apple, but if you don't get quite that much, this recipe will still work. If you use LESS than 1 cup of apple, you might want to reduce the salt to only 1 teaspoon, so it doesn't end up tasting "too salty." Sweetness + salt balance each other out, so if you use less sweetness (apple) you also want to use less salt.

Nutrition