Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sausage Seasoning Recipe

This copycat Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sausage Seasoning recipe will soon become a firm favorite in your household. Quick and easy to make with just a few ingredients, everyone will be asking you for them at breakfast time!

Jimmy Dean began his sausage business in the early 1970s after a career as a country music artist and TV host. He left all of this behind to create America’s No 1 selling breakfast sausage.

He founded the Jimmy Dean Sausage Co. in 1969. The first plant was in Plainview, Texas, and Jimmy was often seen as a key spokesman for his products, well-liked and trusted by many in the US.

The company was sold in 1984 to Consolidated Foods. But Jimmy continued on in a managerial capacity.

Jimmy Dean grew up on a farm in Texas, where he first learned to make sausage patties with his grandfather. This began his love of the food and so he was determined to sell high-quality, breakfast sausage.

All About The Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sausage Seasoning Ingredients

Ground Pork

Pork shoulder or pork butt (often called Boston butt) is used to make ground pork. Packages you buy in the supermarket might also contain trimmed ends from the loin area.

Ground pork is available to buy in lots of stores already pre-ground and packaged. However, you might not see the fat and lean percentages listed on the packet as you would for ground beef – as a general rule this type of meat is probably about 15% fat.

Varieties classed as sausage-grade will contain more fat than regular ground pork, as this type will have some bits of loin fat added to it. So sausage-grade could be as much as 25 to 30% fat.

You can easily ground your own pork at home. Use a meat grinder, a stand mixer that has a grinding attachment, or a food processor for the best results.

My Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage seasoning recipe suggests that you buy pork butt and grind it at home in a meat grinder. However, an alternative is to purchase some already ground pork from the butcher.

Spices

Spices have a variety of aromatic tastes and come from lots of different plant parts including bark, fruits, seeds, and rhizomes.

My Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage recipe here uses spices to add tasty flavors:

• Coriander seeds or ground coriander have floral and citrus-like flavor.


• The black pepper vine (piper nigrum) provides the fruit which can produce different types of pepper including green, white, and black. The latter is often used to add heat to many recipes as black pepper is the strongest in flavor.


• Another spice you might want to add to your Jimmy Dean sausage recipe is fennel, which compliments the taste of pork well.

Herbs

For your homemade Jimmy Dean sausage recipe, you’ll use 3 different dried herbs to give your dish a great flavor.

The first herb, parsley, has a taste that’s slightly bitter, but that will also bring out the flavors of other ingredients.
The second herb, thyme, has small, pale green leaves and quite a pungent aroma.
The final herb used in this breakfast sausage recipe is a perennial. Sage has a flavor best described as both sweet and savory with a little bit of a peppery kick.

MSG

MSG or monosodium glutamate is the sodium salt that comes from glutamic acid, a common amino acid.

For many years, many people across the world have eaten foods that are rich in glutamate. And MSG is made today using a fermentation method that’s similar to how we make wine, vinegar, and yogurt – although it’s produced by fermenting starch, sugar cane or beets, or molasses.
You’ll see that MSG is often used in canned veg and soups, deli meats, and restaurant dishes to enhance the flavor of food. The FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) has classified MSG as generally safe to consume.

Method

1. Prepare the Ground Pork

   First, grind your meat in the meat grinder if using fresh pork butt. Or use prepared ground pork from the butcher.

   Add the dried parsley, dried thyme, dried sage, coriander, black pepper, red pepper, salt, and MSG seasoning to the mixing bowl. Add the ground pork and mix thoroughly until the herbs and spices blend is combined well with the meat.

   Put your breakfast sausage mixture into an airtight container. Place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
   

2. Fry the Sausage Patties

   Once the recipe is chilled, take pieces of the ground pork mix and form sausage patties with your hands, wetting them a little first to help you shape the sausages. Each patty should be around ½ inch in thickness.

   Next, put your frying pan on a medium heat on your stove. Fry each pork sausage for around 5 minutes on either side, using the spatula to flip them.

   Finally, remove your Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage from the heat. Serve and enjoy the delicious flavors!
   

Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sausage Seasoning Variations

• For those of you who love spicy foods, I’d recommend swapping out the dried parsley and dried thyme for ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper. This will give you a delicious spicy sausage dish!


• Make this Jimmy Dean’s breakfast sausage recipe sweeter by adding some maple syrup. You’ll need about 3 tablespoons of the syrup along with salt, MSG, and ground coriander for this version of the sausage patties – leave out the other herbs and spices.


• Or, if you’re not so keen on pork sausage, you can also make these Jimmy Dean breakfast sausages with ground turkey instead.

Serving Suggestions

• This Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage recipe is ideal for breakfast time as it goes well with other foods you’ll like to eat at the start of the day. Think eggs, cheese, potatoes, and roasted veggies.


• And try eating these breakfast sausages with pancakes and maple syrup, different types of omelets, fried potatoes, or baked potato wedges.


• Or, if you prefer a more traditional Southern breakfast meal, you can serve your Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage with some biscuits and gravy.


• Another great meal option is to use these regular breakfast sausage patties instead of burgers in rolls, or in a sandwich. They go really well with some nice grilled cheese!

How To Store And Freeze Jimmy Dean’s Breakfast Sausage Seasoning

The FDA advises that raw sausage can be kept in your refrigerator for up to two days. And that they can be frozen for up to two months if frozen on the day you purchased or made your own sausage.

For cooked sausage patties, the refrigeration time can be increased to 4 days. To store the sausages correctly, allow them to cool completely, and place them in plastic wrap and in an airtight container before putting them in your fridge.

Plus, the shelf life of your Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage is also extended by the fact that they have added seasoning from the spices, salt, and MSG.

The USDA (US Department of Agriculture) suggests that food kept consistently frozen will last for longer than the recommended 1 to 2 months. They also recommend that your fridge should be at 40oF or below.

But, although after 2 months the breakfast sausage might still be safe to eat, the quality of the meat might have deteriorated by then.