Smoked Chicken Sausage


 
Mark Barton

Mark Barton

TVWBB Super Fan
Had a whole pack of boneless, skinless chicken thighs from Costco that had been in the freezer for months. I thought it was time to put it to good use, and sausage seemed like a great solution!

Here are 9.5 lbs of chicken thighs, thawed and ready to go.
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Sausage ingredients. Had never made sausage with dry milk powder before, but it turned out to be a great binder.
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The LEM grinder made quick work of all those thighs. (upgraded from the KitchenAid attachment a few months ago)
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Half pound of bacon fat for balance.
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Mixing the ingredients. It doesn't, look it, but this was cold!
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Chicken Sausage (continued)

I used collagen casings for these. The purist in my wants to use natural hog casings, but the collagen ones last forever, are easy to store and are easier to work with.

Using the LEM to stuff the sausage. The foot switch (not pictured) was a huge help--freed up both hands.
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Hanging up to dry. This is only half the chicken. The other half was made into breakfast sausage patties.
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After an overnight stay in the fridge, put them on the WSM! Used Cherry wood chunks for the smoke. Started the smoker at 170 degrees and let it climb gradually to around 210.
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Ready to come off with an internal meat temp of 160 degrees!
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Into the ice bath to keep the casing from getting all wrinkly and puckered
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Time to taste! Looking good...
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Eating cold with cheese and crackers.
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I really intended these to be eaten hot, in a sandwich, with some pasta, with rice, or maybe just plated with some veggies. But it is so good cold that it makes a fantastic snack sausage. Very unique flavor, has shades of summer sausage, but not as sour.

Thanks for looking!
 
Mark you make it look easy, i'll take a plate of that chicken sausage, cheese, and crackers anytime.
 
Home run Mark. You do make that look easy. It's almost midnight and I'm craving cold sausage and cheese.
 
Great looking sausage Mark. Haven't made any chicken sausage but, after seeing this, just might down the road. Agree with you on the collagen casings. They smell a lot better than hog casings too! :)
 
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