Lamb Sausage • Best Sausage Links {Video}• Two Purple Figs

Lamb Sausage is one of the most nostalgic recipes that I make, it’s an old family recipe that reminds me of my grandma. Compared to other sausage links, lamb sausage has so much more flavor! So tender and juicy, so hearty, nutritious and filling, so simple to make, and lamb sausage could be one of the most heartwarming homemade gifts ever! Video below!

I’m honored to partner with my favorite brand of stand mixer: Ankarsrum USA and share with you one of the many delicious ways I use the grinder attachment of the stand mixer. 

So many of you guys love my old family recipes and I can’t thank you enough for making and sharing them! It means so much to me! Making lamb sausage links is one of my favorite memories I have with my grandma who passed away three years ago. She probably is one of my biggest inspiration for the Lamb Recipes you make and enjoy! 

The most popular family recipes include my grandpa’s Hot Pepper Sauce which is the perfect pair to today’s lamb sausage along with his Fried Eggplant Salad and Tahini Sauce. Another way I love using my grinder is to make Ultimate Lamb Kabab Platter, Mushroom Swiss Burger, Lamb Meatball Subs, Grandma’s Juicy Spicy Turkish Meatballs and so much more!

For today, let’s talk all about making Sausage Links!

Why Lamb Sausage

• It’s packed with flavor thanks to the lamb meat!
• There are so many different cuts that work so well to make the sausage links.
• You can grind the lamb meat to your taste and so you control the bite of the sausage links.
• It goes so well with a wide range of spices and you’ll enjoy flavoring it up to your taste!
• Once you make it at home, you’ll never go back.
• You can make so many dishes with the sausage links like sausage pizza, sausage casserole, sausage pasta and more!
• It stores so well in the freezer! Once you have the sausage links ready–divide them and store them for months in your freezer.
• You can cook sausage links in the air fryer, oven, stove top and grill! So versatile!
• Once you have the Ankarsrum machine set up, the process literally takes minutes. Minutes.

So now let’s get into it!

What is Sausage Made Of?

Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

• Meat : The sausage meat is the star of making sausage. Today’s sausage is made using lamb (note: I always choose American lamb as it is the tastiest and freshest lamb in the market!). 
• Cut of meat: Depending on the flavor you’re looking for, and the percentage of fat you’re comfortable with, chose the cut of lamb. I am making it using lamb shoulder chunks. It has relatively a lower fat content than the leg (Boneless leg of lamb recipe), yet more than the sirloin (which I use in the Lamb Gyro Recipe).

Spices: This is an old family recipe, and you can twist up the spices to your taste! To Make Merguez Lamb sausage for example, you’ll add Harissa to this recipe. Harissa is a Moroccan hot sauce that’s packed with smoky spices–I use it in this Whipped Feta and Halloumi Fries recipe.

• Salt and Pepper
• Garlic and onion powder
• Cinnamon
• All Spice
• Brown Sugar
• Nutmeg

Casings: This is the case for the sausage links which is basically the outer part of the sausages. Thankfully I can now get lamb casings at my butcher–however you may use synthetic or any type of casing you prefer. 

How to Make Sausage Links

The first step is to set up your Ankarsrum machine and attach the grinder attachment. You’ll see there are several sized to grinding the meat–I love the largest one. This produces very chewy sausage links which are my favorite!

The meat is added to the machine and you can see how beautifully it grinds into ground lamb that is rather coarse (by choice) as this produces the best sausage links in my opinion! The meat is now ready to season with the spice mix (in the above section).

Perfectly seasoned ground lamb to make homemade sausage links!

This is the sausage attachment. There are different sizes which strictly depends on the type of casing you have. Lamb casing happens to be so slim and for that I use the slimmest attachment. However, you’ll notice pork casking or synthetic casing is fairly large and will need a different size attachment.

Once you’ve attached the correct size tube with the casings, it’s time to add the seasoned meat through the feeding tube and wait for it to reach the casing end to make Perfect sausage links!

And watch the magic happen! Sausage links come out of the machine in a matter of minutes you’ll finish the whole amount! It’s a simple process and the machine does all the work for you!

Look at that beauty! Delicious flavored lamb in lamb casings to make the best lamb sausage recipe there is! 

Grab a 6 inch ling long piece of sausage and fold it into a U shape to have two 6 inch longs strips of sausages. Hold the middle of the strips(at 3 inch) and tie them around without making a knot. Tie around the top as well to make the perfect sausage links you see! Also watch the video for details.

How to Cook Sausage Links

Classically my grandma cooked her sausage links in a piping hot skillet with ghee, butter or oil or a combo. She tossed them around continuously until the sausages were golden. At that point, she lowered the heat, put a lid on the sausages and cooked them for 8 minutes until cooked through.

They come out SO JUICY! This is the exact same way you would cook the sausage links from frozen, except, you’ll add 10-12 more minutes of cooking time. 

Air fryer sausage links

Follow the exact recipe for my Air Fryer Hot Dogs to cook perfect Air fryer sausage links, but adjust the time to 8 minutes.

How to cook sausage links on the oven

You’re going to line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 440 Degrees F. Place the sausages in a single layer on the baking sheet and bake turning once for about 25 minutes until golden and cooked through.

Boiled sausage

If I could ask for one favor, it would be to not boil your sausages! Ha! If you’re not up for standing over the stove then please cook them in the air fryer, or oven. If you insist on boiling, then add the sausage to a pot of boiling water and cook them for 10 minutes or so until cooked through. This will however yield quite bland tasting sausages.

Cooking Temperature for Sausages 

If you’re making lamb, beef, or veal, the sausages should cook to a temperature of 160 degrees F. This is considered the safest and ideal temperature.

Sausage links calories 

Since every sausage link calorie will depend on the casings you’ve chosen, the cut and type of meat you’ve used, I urge you to check the nutrition table below for the accurate calorie count. On average, a half a pound of sausage link will have around 300 calories.

Sausage Recipe Tips

• Select the desired type of meat and the cut depending on the flavor profile and the amount of fat you want.
• Similarly select the casing that fits your taste the most.
• Use a quality a grinder and sausage maker–I love my Ankarsrum machine!
• When grinding the meat, the larges hole grinder will yield the chewiest sausage links which is my personal favorite. The fine grind will yield a less chewy sausage so select your favorite.
• Avoid using chunks elements in the seasoning such as minced garlic, rather use spice powders and sauces.
• Make the sausage links as small or as big as you want–follow the technique above or in the video.
• Cook the sausage links in many different ways-they each will have a different taste.
• Store the sausage links in the freezer if not using within the week. They keep in the freezer for up to 6 months.
• Remember to adjust cooking times when cooking from frozen. See section above on how to cook sausage links.