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Homemade British Pork Sausages

Homemade sausages recipe for the perfect British pork banger, whether it is for a toad in the hole or bangers and mash you need these!

Making sausages at home is not difficult, it is all about technique, budget about an hour for your first try, but as you gain experience it gets much quicker.

Homemade British linked pork sausages with sage and black pepper.

Homemade British Bangers

It does not matter where you are in the world, no one makes sausages quite like your homeland. It is just one of the rules of being a migrant.

I love sausages, whether they are stuffed in a sausage sandwich, part of a full English fry up (pictured below), bangers and mash with onion gravy, or any of the countless dishes where they are the start, they are one of my favourite things to eat.

As you can see, my quest to make my own bangers led to perfect-looking British Bangers, they taste perfect too!

You may be surprised to find out that, sausage skins aside, the ingredients in a classic sausage are really very common. You probably have most of them at home.

And despite what you have seen on the Generation Game, making homemade sausages is really not that difficult.

Although you do need to shop for a couple of things.

Overhead close-up of a full English breakfast or the ultimate fry up.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use store-bought minced pork?

Yes, but you want a good bit of fat in the meat, you want around 30% fat to make the best sausages.

Most high-fat minced pork in supermarkets is really cheap stuff and doesn’t make the best bangers in my experience.

Can I make beef or chicken sausages?

Yes absolutely, especially if you have a meat grinder!

The techniques here will hold for all types of sausage, then all you need to do is add your seasoning. The best way to do this is to season your mix, then fry off a little pattie and have a taste.

Is it easy to make sausages?

Yes, but it is very much technique based and it is a skill that you have to learn. But learning that skill is great fun and an opportunity to make loads of childish jokes.

I have a recipe for a Cumberland sausage ring that features a video (below) which demonstrates 90% of the technique.

It covers all aspects except the twisting of the sausages, so this should help a lot!

What sausage skins do you use?

I always use natural sausage skins, and when I lived in Hungary, they were readily available everywhere from supermarkets to small convenience stores.

Since returning to the UK, I’ve had to switch to online shopping. I use a company called Weschenfelder and opt for hog casing for nice girthy bangers.

You may also be able to sweet-talk your butcher into selling you some!

Onion gravy being poured over a single serving toad in the hole.

Serving Suggestions

You can use your homemade sausages everywhere you would use storebought sausages, you can also add any flavourings you want.

I’ll not list all of my sausage recipes, but I will mention a few favourites. First and foremost you have the majesty that is toad in the hole (pictured above), bangers cooked in a Yorkshire pudding batter.

Next up would be a spicy take on banger and mash, I make devilled sausages (pictured below) in a spicy gravy. I would double or even triple the amount of black pepper in this recipe to make those sausages.

Finally, how about a salad? Sausages may be stodgy comfort food most of the time, but they are awesome in this delicious sausage, new potato and apple salad!

Devilled sausages in a spicy onion gravy with mashed potato and peas.

Equipment Used

The main bit of kit that you need to make homemade sausages is a meat grinder with some form of sausage stuffing attachment.

Whilst that may sound all very expensive nothing could be further from the truth.

I have a generic branded meat grinder and it came with all of the attachments for making sausages and kofte, at my last look (2024) they will cost about £40-50. You can get manual grinders and stuffing machines, but I have never been satisfied with them.

Full Equipment list:

  • Meat grinder/sausage stuffer.
  • Mixing bowl and a small bowl to soak the sausage skins.
  • Chopping board.
  • Kitchen knife.
  • Weighing scales and or measuring cups and spoons.
Homemade British pork and sage sausages.
Yield: 2 Kg

Perfect Homemade Sausages Recipe

Prep Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour

This homemade sausages recipe makes the perfect pork banger, whether it is for toad in the hole, as fry up or bangers and mash you need these!

Ingredients

  • 5m Natural Sausage Casings
  • 750g (26oz) Pork Blade
  • 750g (26oz) Pork Shoulder
  • 400g (14oz) Pork Belly Fat
  • 125g (1¼ Cups) Dry Breadcrumbs
  • 3 Tbsp Dried Sage
  • 1-1½ Tbsp Salt
  • 1½ Tbsp Ground Mace
  • 1 Tsp Sweet Paprika
  • 2 Tbsp Powdered Mustard
  • 2 Tbsp Black Pepper

Instructions

  1. Soak the sausage skins as per the instructions on the packet and rinse off any salt.
  2. Chop the meat and fat into large pieces and pass them through a medium plate on your meat grinder. Ensure that you alternate between fat and meat to begin the mixing process.
  3. Mix the herbs, spices and dried breadcrumbs into the minced meat.
  4. Fry off a small piece of sausage meat to test the seasoning and tweak it to your liking.
  5. Feed the sausage casings onto the sausage filling attachment for your grinder. It is OK (obligatory) to make childish jokes at this point!
  6. Set up the meat grinder into the sausage-making configuration. Begin to fill the sausage skins and as soon as you can see the pork mixture beginning to show through into the skin then turn off the grinder.
  7. Tie a knot into the end of the skin trying to eliminate as much air as you can.
  8. Then proceed with filling the sausage skins.
  9. To divide the long sausage into individual portions pinch the sausage and twist. When moving to the next sausage pinch again but be sure to twist in the opposite direction repeating always in the opposite direction to the previous sausage.
  10. You can then weave these sausages to form links, I usually link in three's rather than fours, because a serving size for me is three sausages.

Notes

A 10-12cm (4-5") sausage will likely weigh between 75-100g and this recipe will make 20 and 26 sausages.

The calorific value listed refers to a serving size of 3 sausages per person.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

1

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 681Total Fat: 48gSaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 27gCholesterol: 177mgSodium: 1534mgCarbohydrates: 13gFiber: 2gSugar: 1gProtein: 46g

Calorific details are provided by a third-party application and are to be used as indicative figures only.

Did you make this recipe?

If you made this recipe, I'd love to see what you did and what I can do better, share a picture with me on Instagram and tag me @krumplibrian and tell me how it went!

ricky nash

Thursday 18th of August 2022

I like your recipes, but with adding breadcrumbs to your sausage you need to add water other wise too dry, I'm from Gloustershire/Yorkshire and live in the Philippines

Brian Jones

Thursday 18th of August 2022

I disagree, I'm a Brummie and come from a long line of butchers ;) There are no right or wrong ways of doing things, only different ways, this way is mine (ok maybe a few generations before me) but it is now mine.

Pamela Woolley

Thursday 11th of February 2021

I am making sausage in a country other than Britain and the cuts are different. What is the difference between "blade" and "shoulder". The latter I can easily get, the former is unclear to me. Thanks for your help!

Brian Jones

Thursday 11th of February 2021

Depending on where you are blade is part of the shoulder, it is the upper part closer to the neck, it is called Boston Butt in the US I am lead to believe. It has a "harder" and more robust fat structure than the lower shoulder. It is from the end of the loin nearest the neck and above the shoulder. I hope that helps?

Steve Harford

Monday 30th of December 2019

Hi Brian I’ve been making our own sausage for quite a while now but have mostly used ready mixed seasonings from places like weschenfelder but I have decided it’s time to add my own seasoning and just happened to see a link to your Cumberland sausage, in your recent email. So I will be making the Cumberland and also this one on my next batch when I will also be able to try out my Christmas present which was a sausage stuffer. I do use collagen casings for mine as I find hog casings too chewy. But maybe I haven’t found the right brand yet. I look forward to trying your recipes and will report back. Cheers Steve

Brian Jones

Sunday 5th of January 2020

Great to hear from you Steve... I love making my own sausages, it is so addictive, the Cumberland sausage is a corker and one I love.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Brian

Basak

Thursday 22nd of August 2019

Hi Brian, Thanks for your lovely recipes. Two years now, and I'm still underwhelmed by the choice of supermarket sausages here in Berlin. I'm going to take the leap and try making my own, as I've always wanted. Whilst I appreciate you might not want to advertise any products, do you think you could recommend a) a meat grinder and b) natural sausage skins to a fellow EU dweller (online sales preferable)? You could always email me instead of posting on your site if you want to keep your choices private.

Thanks!

Brian Jones

Sunday 25th of August 2019

Hi... Thanks for taking the time to write to me although I am not sure I can really help. My meat grinder is made by Clatronic, a bit of research indicates that they do trade in Germany, mine is ancient now and does not exist on their website anymore but they do have equivalents.

As I mentioned in my post I initially went with some very well known brands and neither lasted a year. I try not to promote products because to do it with any justice I would need to compare and contrast thoroughly, sadly something that really does not happen on the web very often.

I'm afraid I can't really offer any recommendation on Natural Sausage Skins, I can buy them everywhere from the local butcher to Spar through to major supermarkets here without thinking about it. In the UK I would advise you to speak to a local butcher so I would probably advise the same in Germany. Although searching on Google I have found this https://peter-gelhard.de/en/rheingold/ they may be able to help hook you up with a distributor :)

Have fun... Making sausages is a great giggle!

Deanna

Sunday 25th of March 2018

I have always wanted to make my own sausage but never have. I know my Kitchenaide mixer does have an attachment to do this! Im bookmarking this, time for me to give the old try! Thanks for inspiring me!

Brian Jones

Monday 26th of March 2018

Give it a go, it is great fun and definitely a way to up your sausage game :o ;)

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