For years, I bought breakfast sausage at the store. I thought that there was some magical list of ingredients that would make it impossible to make at home. If I know how easy it was to make the recipe below at home, I would have tried years ago! Now I just whip up breakfast southern pork breakfast sausage once a month, making the batch large enough to freeze so I always have some on hand.
I never bother with stuffing my sausage into links because it's so much easier to form them into patties. The patties make excellent sides of sausage and are perfect for breakfast biscuit sandwiches. I like to add red pepper flakes because I like a sweet-and-spicy breakfast sausage, but feel free to leave those out if you're not into the spicy variety.
Southern Breakfast Sausage 
Ingredients2 pounds ground pork
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried rubbed sage
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground fennel seed
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
Directions1. In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Mix with your hands until the ingredients are well mixed.
2. Shape the sausage into 16 2-ounce patties.
3. Freeze the patties flat on a sheet pan before placing them in an airtight container or freezer bag.
4. When you are ready to cook the patties, allow them to thaw completely.
5. In a large skillet, cook the sausages over medium-high heat until well browned on both sides, about 5 minutes a side.
6. Cook until the internal temperature is at least 160 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer.
