Have you ever wanted to sub ground turkey for ground sausage in a recipe? Here’s how you can transform the turkey with spices already in your spice rack!
Why sub ground turkey for ground sausage, you ask?
- If you want to make a recipe that calls for sausage, but don’t have any on-hand
- If you don’t eat pork
- If ground turkey is on sale at the grocery store
- If you’re watching your diet and want to eat less fat, cholesterol, and sodium
Seasoning ground turkey like ground sausage is really easy to do! All you need is a homemade spice mix.
(Does anyone else think dried spices are incredibly beautiful?)
Here are my favorite recipes with ground sausage that would taste great with this substitution
- Sausage Stuffed Peppers
- Slow Cooker Stuffed Pepper Soup (one of my favorite recipes from Once a Month Meals)
- Stovetop Sausage, Potato, and Kale Soup
- Spicy Sausage and Veggie Soup (My favorite recipe in my No Cook Freezer Meals cookbook)
- Zucchini “Lasagna” (recipe coming soon!)
My husband and I also eat this seasoned ground turkey as a topping on homemade pizza. Delicious!
How to Season Ground Turkey like Ground Sausage
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1.5 teaspoons Italian seasoning (or equal parts dried basil, oregano, and thyme)
- 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon packed light brown sugar (optional, but recommended)
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground or whole fennel seeds
Directions
- In a small bowl, combine all spices (including brown sugar, if using) and set a aside.
- Brown ground turkey in a large pan on stovetop.
- Add red wine vinegar and stir. Add spice mix and stir to combine.
Use in place of ground sausage in your favorite recipes!
Seasoning mix adapted from allrecipes.
P.S. Don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest (@kellymcnelis) for more recipe ideas!
What can i use instead of the red wine vinegar?
I think you could substitute other types of vinegar – white, apple cider, or balsamic should work.
I thought this was for a breakfast sausage, the kind with sage. Instead I found an Italian sausage recipe. I like that, would be great to make my own Italian sausage since sometimes it is near impossible to find in my tiny rural grocery store.
Thank you so much!
We don’t eat pork or beef and I have been trying to find a way to sub in ground turkey in our Italian recipes and have it taste the same. I have used fennel seeds in the past however the flavor wasn’t the same. Thank you for the exact seasoning breakdown. I will be trying this out in my baked ziti this weekend. Thank you for sharing.
Would this work as well with ground beef?
Yes! I don’t see why not. 🙂
Thanks!
thank you for this recipe! every year, my kids and I hunt for ground turkey sausage to stuff our turkey with – sometimes we find it sometimes we don’t. with this recipe I’ll have it whenever I need it! thank you very much!
Yahli, you’re so welcome!
My child is allergic to fennel, celery and carrots. So that ground or whole fennel seeds ingredient can be replaced by anise for this recipe, can’t it?