Rabbit is an impressively versatile meat. You'll find that it shines in all sorts of dishes.
It especially shines in spiced and flavored dishes because the meat blends and absorbs flavor, really like no other meat I’ve ever eaten. From tacos to chili, rabbit meat makes a truly impressive and flavorful dish. It seems to become one with the spice (if that’s not too odd to say)!
For this reason, ground rabbit makes some truly stellar sausage. My household has just gone through 35 pounds of rabbit sausage in two months!
And so, it’s only right that I share some rabbit sausage recipes with you so that you (and others) can enjoy this flavorful, healthy meat more, too.
Let’s start with a versatile classic: Sweet Italian Rabbit Sausage. This one is mild and will be appreciated by all. We will do Hot Sweet Italian Rabbit Sausage on another day!
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Mild Sweet Italian Rabbit Sausage Recipe
Makes about 20 pounds of sausage.
Ingredients
- 18 pounds of trimmed rabbit meat (leave the fat with the meat if there is any!)
- 2 pounds pork fat, cut into chunks* (optional – see below)
- 4 cups ice water
- ½ cup salt
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 12 cloves fresh garlic (or ¼ cup dry garlic, minced or powdered if you don’t have fresh garlic)
- 2 tablespoons fennel seed
- 1 tablespoon white pepper (or black if preferred)
- 1 tablespoon basil
- 1 tablespoon marjoram
- 1 tablespoon oregano
Directions
- Chill the meat and fat-trim pieces until very cold (mildly frozen works well).
- Chill grinder parts while the meat and trim are chilling for easier grinding and to help keep the meat cold.
- Mix the chunks of fat and meat together in a fairly uniform distribution.
- Grind all the meat and fat through a large or coarse grinder plate.
- Return the ground to the refrigerator or freezer for one to two hours (or overnight) to let it cool thoroughly through (you want this very cold but not frozen, so don’t leave the meat in the freezer overnight – the freezer is good for an hour or two to cool the meat through more quickly and get it colder than the fridge can). Do not try to work with meat that is even a little bit warm – it gets very sticky and hard to work with!
- Mix the spices and ice water into the ground meat. Mix through so that it is evenly distributed.
- Grind the meat and spice mixture through your grinder with a medium to fine plate.
- If you are making patties or loose sausage, you can stop now and form and/or package your sausage. If you want to make links, you’ll need to stuff your sausage.
- If you plan to stuff your sausage, return the sausage mixture to the refrigerator for several hours so that it gets cold all the way through. Again, you do not want to try and stuff warmed sausage meat!
How to make rabbit sausage links (stuff the sausage)
You will need sausage casings. For this sausage, I prefer hog middles. These are edible natural casings, so you can cook and eat the sausage and don’t have to worry about removing casings when the time comes!
- First, rinse or prepare your sausage casings according to the package's instructions.
- Soak the casings for 30 minutes before stuffing (they can stay in water in the refrigerator, too, if you’re not ready for them; it’s fine to keep them in water in the fridge overnight if you need to).
- Set up your sausage stuffer or grinder with a stuffing attachment.
- Work in batches small enough to keep the meat mixture cold.
- Put the casings on the stuffing tube.
- It helps to rub some olive oil, lard, or coconut oil on the shaft of the stuffing tube before you thread the casings on. This helps the casings slide as they are filled. It also helps to keep the casings moist – dribble water with your fingertips or set a wet paper towel over the top of the casings while you work as needed.
- Tie the end of the casing before you start stuffing. Prick the end with a knife point to let out excess air.
- Stuff the sausage through the Ginder using a stuffing plate.
- Twist the casings to the desired length of the sausage links.
- Let the casings dry a bit, then cut apart at the twists and package.
Find tips for boning out and grinding rabbits here: How to Grind Rabbit Meat + Tips for Boning and Grinding
*A Note About Pork Fat (To Use or Not to Use?)
*If you do not want to use pork fat, you do not have to. If you have another fat, such as schmaltz or chicken fat, you could use that, too. The extra fat is primarily a binder and moistening agent since the rabbit meat is so lean, and rabbits have little fat on them. It can easily be left out; your sausage will simply be a little denser and drier.
I have made plenty of rabbit sausage and I prefer to leave the pork fat out. Depending on the pig, it does have some flavor that you may be able to taste. This is all personal preference, of course, but I do find that rabbit all by itself makes a nice sausage without the added fat. After all, sometimes you don’t want to muddle up your lean, clean rabbit meat with another fat or flavor.
Pork is the easiest for most people to get ahold of, and the flavor is mild enough that it doesn't overpower the sausage too much. However, if you want a 100% all-rabbit sausage, skip the pork fat and use 20 pounds of rabbit trim instead. Do try to trim and use as much rabbit fat as you can (in other words, don’t throw it away if you’re making rabbit sausage!).
Enjoy Your Fresh, Homemade, Sweet Italian Rabbit Sausage!
That is all there is to make your own fresh, Sweet Italian Rabbit Sausage. It’s now ready to eat or freeze for later.
Use this Italian Rabbit Sausage anywhere you would use Italian sausage. It’s excellent in pasta, as a main course served with mashed potatoes and a vegetable, in a tomato sauce, or on the grill – there's just no bad way to serve this delicious rabbit sausage! Enjoy!
Eleanor Kane
I made this with 5lbs of trimmed rabbit meat, no pork fat. Didn't have marjoram so left it out. Came out great! Thank you for the recipe!
Mary Ward
So glad to hear it! I love this sausage -- so tasty, and so versatile! I like marjoram, probably a bit more than oregano (because it's milder in my opinion). But it's similar to oregano so I'm not surprised that the sausage was good even without it. You could bump up the oregano in that case, too, but I'm always careful because I think oregano can easily overpower things. That may be my childhood trauma showing up, though. I remember a sister making spaghetti for dinner one night who really stubbed her toe on the oregano, and to this day I can get that out of my head. LOL