Chicago-Style Italian Sausage

By J. Kenji López-Alt

Chicago-Style Italian Sausage
David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
Total Time
10 minutes
Rating
4(78)
Notes
Read community notes

Chicago-style Italian sausage is a true regional specialty, but thankfully it’s simple to make at home. This version, meant for topping a Chicago thin-crust pizza, uses whole fennel seeds toasted in a skillet, then roughly cracked with a mortar and pestle — a spice grinder, food processor, blender or the bottom of a heavy pan will work. It gets mixed into fatty ground pork seasoned with salt, black pepper, fresh and granulated garlic, a bit of dried herbs, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. The key is to knead the mixture (whether by hand or in a stand mixture fitted with a paddle) until the proteins begin to unravel and cross-link, giving it a tacky texture that turns springy and juicy as the sausage cooks, releasing its flavorful fat to mingle with the sauce and cheese as the pizza bakes.

This recipe is part of our complete recipe for a Chicago thin-crust pizza. View the recipe for the finished pizza, as well as recipes for the dough and accompanying sauce.

Featured in: Kenji López-Alt Spent 5 Months Studying Chicago Thin-Crust Pizza. Here’s What He Learned.

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Ingredients

Yield:1 pound
  • 1tablespoon whole dried fennel seeds
  • 1pound ground pork shoulder
  • 4medium garlic cloves, finely minced
  • 7grams salt (about 2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt, 1½ teaspoons Morton’s coarse kosher salt or 1 teaspoon table salt)
  • 2teaspoons garlic powder
  • 2teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1teaspoon dried marjoram
  • ½teaspoon ground black pepper
  • Large pinch of red-pepper flakes
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

190 calories; 14 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 6 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 2 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 14 grams protein; 187 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Prepare the sausage: Heat the fennel seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until lightly toasted and very aromatic. Transfer to a mortar and pestle or spice grinder and lightly crush.

  2. Step 2

    Combine the pork, fresh garlic, salt, garlic powder, oregano, marjoram, black pepper, pepper flakes, and toasted fennel in a large bowl. Knead aggressively with your hands until the mixture turns tacky and leaves a film behind on the bowl, a couple of minutes. (Alternatively, make the sausage in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Knead the mixture at low speed until it forms a film on the inside of the bowl as instructed in Step 2.) Transfer to a sealed container and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week until ready to use. You will have enough for 2 pizzas.

Ratings

4 out of 5
78 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

stefanie

Pork turns quickly, I wouldn’t keep for a week in the fridge. Portion out and freeze what you won’t use in a day.

Lance

@Rachael Kenji has mentioned in previous pork sausage recipes that you can use store-bought ground pork. You need a good fat ratio in pork sausage, something like 80% lean at most. I imagine store-bought ground pork varies in fat content from store to store, so some experimentation may be necessary. When I make his Food Lab sausage, I grind a pork shoulder and add some pork belly for extra fat. There's a big difference in taste and feel with the extra fat.

Antonine

My father, a Chicago Italian with a mother born in Italy, said NEVER put garlic in your Italian sausage. We always used fennel, salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes - nothing else. We ground pork shoulder (multiples sometimes) and kneaded it for quite a while in a big stainless bowl until it got that sticky texture adding a few dribbles of ice water to assist the mix. The rest of the process was pretty much the same. Relatives conveniently stopped by to get a share!

Sharon J

The sausage was fantastic. Will make my own Italian sausage from now on. Why are any of us buying prepared sausage when it is this easy and sooo good?! And we know what is in it!

Made this Ex-Chicago Girl Happy

Since moving away from Chicago, I have really missed sausage tavern style pizza. This really scratches the itch. The texture is perfect. Although it is very tasty as it is written, I would agree that the addition of garlic is not necessary. Next time, I will reduce the cloves to 1/2 or leave out all together.

gwen

This was fantastic sausage for the tavern pizza. One of the people eating this doesn’t normally like sausage on their pizza and they loved this version. I used half this recipe for one of the pizzas and then just cooked off the rest in a pan (fried little pieces in a bit of oil). Great on its own too.

Chris M

Johnsonville mild pork sausage links (just take it out of the casing) is also just like Chicago Italian sausage. I have no idea if it has garlic, but it has fennel. The stuff that isn’t in links doesn’t taste the same.

Pasquale

I'd have to agree with Antonine' s comments. Being in Chicago the standard for pizza sausage is as he stated just fennel, salt, black pepper and red pepper. That said, I did make this recipe and it was quite tasty but I just can't see all those flavors going well with pizza; there's just too much going on. I'm sure it would work well fried up with some peppers or made into a patty and served on a nice Italian roll.

Antonine

My father, a Chicago Italian with a mother born in Italy, said NEVER put garlic in your Italian sausage. We always used fennel, salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes - nothing else. We ground pork shoulder (multiples sometimes) and kneaded it for quite a while in a big stainless bowl until it got that sticky texture adding a few dribbles of ice water to assist the mix. The rest of the process was pretty much the same. Relatives conveniently stopped by to get a share!

Sharon J

The sausage was fantastic. Will make my own Italian sausage from now on. Why are any of us buying prepared sausage when it is this easy and sooo good?! And we know what is in it!

Sam

This is everything I've been searching for ever since I left Chicago...

stefanie

Pork turns quickly, I wouldn’t keep for a week in the fridge. Portion out and freeze what you won’t use in a day.

Upstate Central NY Hobby Farmer

Agree 100%. The prepared sausage should sit in the fridge overnight to let the spices merge with the meat, then either use it or freeze it right away.

Luciana Barbosa

@Neal, the recipe for the pizza says 1/2 recipe of the pork mixture.

Neal

A pound of meat for two pizzas? Seems like it would completely cover the pizza in a very thick layer if not have leftovers?

Rachael

Which cut(s) of pork are typically used in sausage (if not the shoulder)?

Lance

@Rachael Kenji has mentioned in previous pork sausage recipes that you can use store-bought ground pork. You need a good fat ratio in pork sausage, something like 80% lean at most. I imagine store-bought ground pork varies in fat content from store to store, so some experimentation may be necessary. When I make his Food Lab sausage, I grind a pork shoulder and add some pork belly for extra fat. There's a big difference in taste and feel with the extra fat.

Upstate Central NY Hobby Farmer

Pork butt is another option. I use the same cuts used for pulled pork. I've even made sausage from a picnic that was on sale - had to trim the skin and it was much leaner than usual, but it came out ok.

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