Baked Cranberry Chicken Sausage Patties

Elizabeth Kelly

May 7

4 min read

white plate on a wood tabletop. The plate contains an English muffin bottom containing a cranberry chicken sausage patty that has a swirl of mustard on it. The top contains a lettuce leaf.

Baked Cranberry Chicken Patties are a wonderful sausage patty made from scratch, are low in fat and use ingredients that can be easily stored in the pantry. they are easy to make, and freeze and defrost extremely well in the microwave. Best of all, they don't just need to be made as a patty, they work well as meatballs.

I absolutely love sausages, they have always been one of my favourite foods, However, as I get older, I no longer want the amount of fat and salt in commercial sausages. I started making these patties from ground chicken, which are typically lower in fat, and since I don’t add any additional fat, or any salt, I'm not sure they can be called a sausage. Whatever they are, they are my replacement for high fat and sodium commercial sausages.

These were created in my quest for a quick protein, and I was looking for an interesting flavour combination, one that was not typically associated with sausages. That way, I could leave out the salt and still enjoy them.

I generally make about 4 pounds at a time and freeze the cooked meat patty. After cooking them, and they have cooled to room temperature, the pan can go straight into the freezer. Once frozen, usually 1 – 2 hours, they can be placed in freezer bags. Freezing them on the pan means they won’t stick together when freezing, making it so much easier to take out just what you need.

It doesn't take much to defrost and heat them in the microwave, making them a fast protein when you are too busy to cook.

Variations

Meatballs. That was how I Actually started making them, just small bites of protein that were great for a snack. To roll the mixture into a ball, keep a small bowl of water beside you work area and dampen your hands before forming the meatball.
Breakfast sausage patties. These are 3 inches in diameter, and about ½ and inch thick and it fits nicely onto an English muffin. To make these, I used a round cookie cutter that I placed directly onto the baking pan and just gently pressed the meat into the cookie cutter, flattening it gently with my fingers and a canning lid.

white round patty maker used for making home made meat patties.
Round red cookie cutter sitting on a grey surface, beside the cookie cutter is a canning jar lid.

Burger for the grill. I used a patty maker for this as I already had it. The patties are about 4 ½ inches in diameter, again about ½ an inch thick. In this instance, you could individually freeze the uncooked patties, layer they with some parchment in between, and take out what you need for the grill.

Meatloaf, although I have never tried this as I generally cook for one and even then I freeze most of the recipe.

Use ground chicken, turkey or pork, each will work well and I have tried all three, depending on what's available.

To keep costs down, I generally look for the ground meat that has been marked down and either make the patties as soon as I get home, or put the ground meat directly into the freezer and make them another day.

However you make them, the fun is in eating them. For a quick breakfast, toast an English muffin, add a slice of onion, lettuce, pepper slices, even some avocado. I love them with mustard but any condiment will work, I just like to keep it healthy.

You can also have them as sausage patties with home fries and a side of sauteed mushrooms and peppers, with pancakes, or baked beans.

Try the burgers on the grill, along with the usual burger toppings, and a favourite of mine is a meatball sandwich, slathered with mustard.

If you give them a try, let me know what you paired them with.