Southwest Green Chile Sausage

Friends and I made the following recipe below for the sausage making event I hosted. This is a great sausage with a nice southwestern kick. It’s on the spicy side and is even great to use in tacos, burritos and tamales.

When making chicken sausage, you can either use pre-packaged ground chicken or better yet, grind it yourself… without a meat grinder. All you’ll need is a food processor! In the recipe, it’s recmomended to use boneless chicken thighs with the skin on. The thighs are flavorful and the skin adds some fat to help with more flavor. I’ve also found that boneless chicken thighs are much more economical that pre-packaged ground chicken.

1 3/4 lbs boneless chicken thighs (or ground chicken)
1 3/4 lbs boneless turkey thighs (or ground turkey)
1 jalapeno chile, seeded, deveined, & finely chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
pinch of ground cinnamon
1/3 cup chile powder
1/2 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
1/4 cup amber beer (such as Dos Equis)
1 bunch cilantro, chopped

Freeze the fresh chicken and turkey thighs for 15 minutes to firm them up a bit, making it easier to dice and process. Remove the chicken/turkey thighs from the freezer and dice the chicken/turkey (meat and skin) in small cubes about 1 inch pieces.

Place the diced chicken and turkey in your food processor and pulse until the chicken/turkey is a medium to fine grind.

Place the meat into a large bowl, and add the remaining ingredients.

Knead and stir the meat with your hands until everything is well blended. Don’t overmix and warm up the sausage.

Wrap the bulk sausage into 1/2 lb packages withing aluminum foil, plastic wrap or place in a freezer bag. Refrigerate and use within 2 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

Makes seven or eight 1/2 pound packages.