When I was first married, one of my favorite breakfast sandwiches to eat on a car trip was an egg, cheese and sausage sandwich. However, the last few years, I’ve almost completely cut sausage from my diet, since it’s hard not to wonder sometimes what’s in it, but since some of the best casserole and sandwich recipes, breakfast and otherwise, contain sausage, I’ve tried seasoning ground turkey to taste like sausage.
In the past, I’ve just thrown in sage and called it done, but after searching a bit, I’ve found a great combination of spices on All Recipes.com that you can add to ground turkey to make “sausage” patties, and I adjusted it a bit to add to loose ground turkey that I can add to beans, eggs, or casseroles which call for cooked sausage. I reduced the sugar and salt to suit our family’s tastes, and also the pepper because it was too hot for me.
For 1 pound of ground turkey add:
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 3/4 teaspoon ground sage
- 3/4 teaspoon thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon marjoram
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- optional: pinch of ginger, clove of minced garlic

Flavor Ground Turkey to Taste Like Sausage
Ingredients
- For 1 pound of ground turkey:
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 3/4 teaspoon ground sage
- 3/4 teaspoon thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon marjoram
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- optional:
- pinch of ginger
- clove of minced garlic
Instructions
- Add to ground turkey and mix well.
- Cook according to recipe.
After adding it to my ground turkey and cooking it, I made a quick egg and “sausage” scramble for dinner.
It was scrumptious, and I served it with our favorite banana bread recipe:
Best Banana Bread EVER!!!
Click on the link to see my secret. π
Enjoy!
Carrie Groneman says
I really like this idea of how to spice up ground turkey. Thanks for linking up this and your amazing looking cinnamon rolls to Wonderful Wed Blog Hop. Carrie, A Mother’s Shadow
Andi @ The Weary Chef says
I love this recipe!! We (my kids especially) eat a lot of breakfast sausage, but the pre-made turkey sausage I usually find has so many additives and preservatives. I’m going to try making my own this way. Thank you!
Margo says
Yay! I want to try the patties too!
Lydia says
This is a great tip. I don’t like to spend a lot on meat and so if I can’t get sausage for a good price, we just don’t eat sausage. π But, I do get hungry for it sometimes when I’m out of it and this would be a perfect, less expensive way to get the taste! Thanks!
kare says
I tried this because I don’t really like the taste of ground turkey and it works! Delicious. I followed the recipe (w/o adding optional ginger and garlic), browned the turkey with some chopped onions and baked the turkey as a filling for Turkey Turnovers (simply buy ready made crescent rolls and roll out two, put in filling, fold over, and bake per instructions). Kids loved them. Slight sausage taste without being too rich or greasy.
Margo says
Sounds yummy! Aren’t crescent rolls so multi purpose when it comes to baking!? π
KC says
Great recipe! Thank you for sharing. Since you cook a lot of ground turkey, do you have recommendations for cooking it so it stays moist when you are just Browning it in the skillet for later use?
Margo says
You could add a dab of water or broth. π