Sausage doesn’t have to mean “bad.”
Neither does bacon, but that’s another post.
This sausage is 100% competition approved and 100% delicious. I actually like it better than “normal” sausage because it isn’t all processed and loaded with salt. And this strange spin still tastes good.
What I love about this dish is that it takes a fairly bland meat – ground turkey – and makes it full-flavored. It has all the spice of sausage, depth from the liquid smoke, and adds some extra with the fresh herbs. Note: You could always use dried herbs if you don’t have fresh on-hand.
I enjoyed this with a side of cinnamon oatmeal and a #strangebutgood salad – tomato, pear, raspberries, cilantro, and TVP Smoked Bacon Bits.
If you don’t eat meat, I’m thinking this would be a great place to use a bean-based patty!
Turkey Breakfast Sausage
- 1/2 lb ground turkey
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp fenugreek
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1 T fresh sage, finely cut
- 1 T fresh rosemary, finely cut
- 1/2 tsp maple extract
- 10-12 drops liquid smoke
- 5-6 drops lemon liquid stevia
- Red pepper flakes, to taste
Mix all ingredients together with your hands and form small patties.
Warm a pan over medium-high heat on the stove top. Spray with PAM (olive oil or coconut oil work too) and place patties into pan.
Saute patties until just cooked through, about 3 mins on each side (this will vary depending on thickness of your patties).
Makes 3-4 servings.
How have you enjoyed making co-workers, friends, or family stare with strange but good creations this week?
The link up rules can be found here or by clicking on “Strange But Good” in the menu bar above. In short, I want to see what concoctions have earned you weird looks from co-workers, family and friends!
Post your Strange But Good creations, grab the logo below for your blog, and link up here.
Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂
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As of the time of publication, I am just 6 servings of asparagus away from my competition. Woo hooooo!!!
Do you like meat at breakfast? It’s grown on me!
Are you doing anything strange or exciting this weekend?
FIRST! WOOP WOOP!
Turkey makes me so happy. It reminds me of Thanksgiving. Man, I love that holiday. Your next “Strange But Good” recipe should be Turkey Burgers mixed with butternut squash! Dedicate them to me 🙂
LOL! I totally should have served this with cranberry sauce.
Me likey! I’ll have to share with my strange but good, competition friendly (well depending how far out you are) turkey and brown rice (or sometimes oats) meatballs!!
Depending on what diet you’re on… I was still atinc carbs! Those balls sound delish. 🙂
I don’t eat much meat and I’m lucky if I get breakfast, which is sad because I love breakfast. So excited for you that you are so close to competition time!
I know a lot of people find turkey bland but I love it…possibly even more so than chicken! Doctor it up with a bit of hummus or avocado and that’s a winning meal right there :)!
Right?! Light proteins are so good because you can make them taste like anything!
Daaaaaaaaaa-ude!! Didn’t I JUST tell you I needed more ways to use my fenugreek?! I love you…love love LOVE you! And seriously…I want to lick that meat! Oh yeah, she said THAT! 😉
me too!!! fenugreek is so underrated!
Fenugreek is my jam!!! Actually, I bet you could put it in jam… then you wouldn’t have to lick random meat, Heather. 😉
Bahahaha!
THIS looks so good. Now I’m craving me some sausage…I’m so thankful I’m not a vegan anymore, haha.
I think that every time I have eggs or bacon… 😉
Ooooh, you’re so close!! Do you already feel the nutbutter texture in your mouth? 🙂 so excited for you and can’t wait to hear how it went!!
This sausage sounds SO good. Too sad, liquid smoke is totally unknown here in Switzerland. I will still try them, maybe add in some smoked ham! Hmmmmmmm….
Smoked ham is a great idea! You could also use smoked paprika. Or grill them!
I don’t eat meat but I like your suggestion of bean based. I really love breakfast but rarely have time to make anything more than oats or a smoothie so I do a lot of brinners. These look delicious!
Thank you! Let me know if you try it – I’d love to feedback .:)
You are going to KILL this competition! I cannot wait to see how it all turns out. 🙂
Love this idea. After the rousing success that was my TVP sausage crumbles, I’ve been thinking about different flavor combinations I can use, I had been focused on chorizo, but I do like this maple idea. I cannot figure out how to get it to be a sausage patty, however, but I’ve been OK with that since I tend to crumble up everything anyway.
I made seitan chorizo once… now I must make seitan maple sausage!!!
I like fake breakfast meat, does that count?! Soysage.
Kick ass at your competition!
That sounds so good! I love turkey sausage, so making it at home would be awesome. I usually buy mine from the farmer’s market, so they’re a lot better with sodium content than the stuff at grocery stores.
You’re gonna kick ass this weekend! 😉
I love your use of fenugreek in this sausage. This looks like something I could make for the hubs and he would have no idea it was healthy. muaahahahahaha. I want to wish the the best of luck for your competition. Seriously, you look absolutely amazing and pumped and ready to win!!!! You got this 🙂
For sure! I was suprised everytime I ate one.
Thank you!! 🙂
That’s something I could make for Ralph and feel like I was helping him be healthier. Thanks, Laura! Good luck, Sweetie, I’ll be thinking of you this weekend!~
Thank you so much, Fran!!
I love ground turkey. It has to be probably one of my favorite proteins to cook for myself. I always make them in meatball form
Sounds delish 🙂 What’s liquid smoke?
Erm… liquid dops that taste like smoke. 🙂
WE MOVE THIS WEEKEND!!! I’m excited and a little stressed because half our apartment still looks like we live here. I don’t know what’s wrong with me but my craziness hasn’t kicked in yet. I think by tonight I’ll be running around in a frenzy. Poor Vishnu!
This sounds so good! I used to love sausage when I was little but it has started to upset my stomach. I would love to try this clean version. I am not a fan of liquid smoke though, is there something else you think may work in place of that?
I’d just leave it out, or use smoke paprika if you like that!
Not too strange to me. I agree with you though; ground turkey is incredibly bland… which is why I like to add a bunch of jerk seasoning to my turkey burgers. Mmmmmm! 🙂 Happy Friday, and good luck this weekend!
looks fantastic! I was just about to buy ground turkey at the store, damn, I need to go back so I can make some turkey sausage 🙂
Oh yum- homemade sausage is definitely the way to go. I used to love sausage but now am scared off by the processed/packaged kind… thanks for this awesome recipe!
I’m the same way – the processed stuff is scary!
I love the fresh sage sprinkled on top. It add so much flavor to meat dishes, and it was a great idea to use it here.
Good luck this weekend. Knock ’em dead.
I’ve never used fenugreek. I have, however, made my own sausage spice blend (breakfast blend I should say) to use with tvp or seitan. Though, just as I didn’t like bacon as a kid, I didn’t like sausage either. Let’s just say I was meant to be vegetarian from the get go LOL
I love the idea of just keeping a spice blend on hand for sausage flavor! I’m going to have to borrow that idea. 🙂
I actually prefer turkey sausage over other versions. I don’t feel so weighed down after. I love the salad combo, I’m into fruit in my salads. Have a great weekend and good luck!
I make sausage biscuits every Saturday morning. I’m sure I would love this turkey sausage, what a great idea to make your own! Good luck on your competition, can’t wait to hear about it!
Thanks as always for the vegan suggestion. I might try it with regular vegan patties. It’s been so long since I’ve had sausage (long before I was veg) that I’m not sure I remember what it tastes like!
You’re welcome! There’s a great vegan place here that makes egg biscuits with pressed tofu… I bet using that idea for a tofu sausage would be good too.
There is nothing strange about this my friend…it is all good! Good luck tomorrow!!!
I’m going to see Iron Man 3 tonight. That’s probably the most exciting part of my weekend. 😉
Anyway, good luck with your competition! You’ll rock that thing!
I enjoy your use of spices. Too many Americans display a bizarro fear of spices.
They really do! No need to eat plain food, people!
Those sausages look good – I’ve never thought about putting liquid smoke in but love that idea!
Thank you! I am little hooked on the stuff. 🙂
Oh my gosh I was craving sausage this morning!! What is fenugreek?! Expanding my spice knowledge one Sprint2theTable post at a time!
You must try it!!! It’s bitter and sweet-ish… like maple! I also used it in my curry: https://www.sprint2thetable.com/2013/04/cauliflower-eggplant-curry/
OMG!!!! Good luck, good luck, good luck for tomorrow!!! Can’t wait to hear all about it 😀
This reminds me that I need more sage in my life. Love the flavor! And I’m a weirdly huge fan of cold leftover chicken for breakfast…so yeah, can’t hate on the AM meats.
Love how you used lemon stevia!!! I shall try that when making my turkey balls!
One more sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppppppppppppppppp!!!!!!!!!
Thank you! Let me know if you do it. 🙂
Now you knew I was going to love these since I make my turkey meatloaf but use extra lean for me who gains to easy! 🙂 I don’t have all your fun cooking ingredients but I do have maple syrup! 😉 Where do you buy all your fun flavored extracts & that liquid smoke?
Look so delish!!!!!!
I get most at Wole Foods… some at the farmer’s market, but just becasue they’re cheaper there. You’d die if you saw my pantry. LOL! 🙂
Competition approved sausage?! YUM!
I’m also thinking tempeh would work in this – similar to my tempeh protein muffins that I’m finally ready to share next week. After I make another batch and actually photograph, of course. 🙂 I hope you’re killing the competition today!
Tempeh protein muffins?! I will be trying that out for SURE! 🙂
I love eggs for breakfast, but I’m not a big meat eater. However, the hubby would LOVE this!
This does sound really, really good! I love a little sweet in breakfast sausage. Then again, I’m an equal opportunity breakfast sausage eater
That made me literaly laugh out loud. 🙂
Ohhh this would be perfect for a big brunch. Yum. O.