The One-Ingredient Upgrade For Better Pan-Fried Breakfast Sausage

From crisp patties sizzling away next to your morning fried eggs to adding a rich pop of salty goodness to the ultimate breakfast burrito that'll keep you fueled all day, breakfast sausage is the star of many of our most beloved morning meals. Though sausage in and of itself is basically just ground meat mixed with seasonings, its simplicity is part of why we love it so much. After all, sausage has graced the tables of the elite and working classes alike, serving as a tasty way to preserve and easily transport proteins long before it ever saw the inside of a Jimmy Dean sandwich.

Though many types of sausage are smoked or dried and thus fully cooked, the big thing that sets breakfast sausage apart from other varieties is that it's fresh. While it's perfectly okay to simply sear and eat the pre-cooked varieties, breakfast sausage needs a little more time and attention to ensure it's not raw in the middle — which is why it's so often associated with that delectable brown, crispy crust. On the flip side, this difference is also why breakfast sausage may sometimes taste a bit bland, as it hasn't been smoked or otherwise infused with flavor.

Fortunately, it's easy enough to remedy this by simply folding seasonings into the meat — particularly fennel seed. These hard, crisp little seeds of the fennel plant have a slightly spicy, licorice-like flavor that infuses sausages of all types with a rich, deep, mildly sweet flavor from naturally occurring oils.

If you're trying your hand at making homemade sausage — whether you're using pork or another ground meat, such as turkey — and it lacks that distinctive "sausage" flavor no matter what you do, toasted fennel seeds are likely the answer you're looking for. Eaten on their own, fennel seeds are floral, astringent, and a little sweet. However, when toasted and ground into a seasoning, the seeds take on a beautifully complex fruity nuttiness that infuses basically any ground meat with sausage-y goodness.

While salt, freshly cracked pepper, and ground fennel add plenty of flavor to breakfast sausage, there are also many other traditional seasonings that will complement the aromatic meatiness of this classic combo. Chopped, toasted sage is a given, as it's another essential sausage seasoning, along with garlic and paprika. Fans of sweet Italian sausage (which is different than regular Italian sausage) may prefer sweet, mild paprika, while those who love a little spice might opt for the spicy, smoked Spanish version called pimenton.

Knowing your seasonings is particularly valuable to anyone making homemade breakfast sausage patties with ground turkey or chicken due to a pork allergy or a personal preference. Poultry is generally less flavorful than pork, meaning it needs a little more help to achieve that distinctive flavor. To mimic pork's sweetness, you might also add a pinch or two of brown sugar or a drizzle of maple syrup to the mix, as this will mingle beautifully with the fennel's licorice notes.