Flavorful sausage is a great way to easily add lots of flavors to all sorts of dishes—in sauces, alongside eggs, or in a hash, for instance. Commercial sausages are delicious, but often contain sugar and other high-carb fillers. The recipe below turns out a delicious low-carb Italian style sausage. It gets a hint of sweetness and tons of flavor from toasted fennel seeds.
I love to use this sausage mix as a base for a hearty Italian meat sauce that I serve over zoodles (zucchini noodles) or spaghetti squash. It’s also delicious cooked into patties, as described below, and served alongside eggs, in a low-carb wrap, or as a topping for a low-carb pizza using a cauliflower-based crust. Make a double batch and stash half (uncooked) in the freezer for easy meals later on.
Low-Carb Sweet Fennel Sausage
4 to 6
10 minutes
10 minutes
20 minutes
1 ½ teaspoons fennel seeds
1 pound ground pork
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon kosher Salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add the fennel seeds and toast until fragrant and just beginning to brown, about 2 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine the ground pork, thyme, garlic, salt, pepper, and toasted fennel seeds. Mix with a fork until well combined, but be careful not to overmix.
Form the mixture into patties.
To cook the patties, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage patties, cover the pan, and cook for about 4 minutes, until the patties are browned on the bottom. Flip the patties and cook, covered, for an additional 4 minutes or so, until the second side is browned and the patties are cooked through.