English Breakfast Recipes

Lincolnshire Sausage Recipe (Traditional Breakfast Bangers)

Lincolnshire sausages are the English Breakfast Society’s reference breakfast banger. They are coarse, properly pork-forward, and led by sage rather than a clutter of spices. That restraint matters on a fry-up plate: they brown well, stay juicy, and sit comfortably alongside bacon, eggs, beans and black pudding without dominating the whole meal.

This recipe is the Lincolnshire-style sausage our Chairman grew up with, made by his mother for more than forty years. It reflects how these sausages are actually made in practice rather than how they are often described online: cold meat, a little rusk or breadcrumb for structure, and seasoning kept deliberately honest.

Prep time: 30 minutes
Resting time: 1–2 hours
Cook time: 15–20 minutes
Yield: About 12 sausages

Ingredients

• 450 g pork shoulder, very cold
• 450 g minced pork, very cold
• 225 g pork fat, very cold
• 225 g coarse breadcrumbs or rusk
• 250 ml cold water
• 1½ teaspoons fine salt
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• 2 teaspoons dried sage (or about 10 g fresh sage, finely chopped)
• Natural hog casings, soaked and rinsed

Instructions

1. First, get everything cold. Sausage is easier when the mix stays cold, so chill the meat and fat, and if you can, chill your bowl and grinder parts too.


2. Soak the hog casings in cold water for about 30 minutes. Rinse them, then run water through the casing so it is properly clean and ready to stuff.


3. Soak the breadcrumbs or rusk in the cold water until it is fully absorbed. This is the classic British binder that gives a breakfast sausage its structure.


4. Grind the pork and fat through a medium or coarse plate. Lincolnshire sausages should have a proper bite, so do not grind them into paste.


5. Add the soaked breadcrumbs, salt, white pepper and sage, then mix it hard with your hands until it turns tacky and uniform. That tacky texture is what binds the sausage together.


6. Cover and rest the mixture in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (overnight is fine). It makes stuffing easier and the seasoning settles in properly.


7. Stuff the mix into the casings. Keep the fill firm but not so tight the casing wants to burst. Twist into links, alternating direction each time so they do not undo themselves.


8. If you see air pockets, prick them gently with a clean needle and squeeze the air out. Then leave the sausages uncovered in the fridge for 1–2 hours so the skins set slightly.


9. Cook gently until browned and cooked through. Breakfast sausages are better with patient heat than aggressive heat, and they taste best when they are properly browned without splitting.

We hope you enjoy this English breakfast sausage recipe. Lincolnshire sausages are a favourite for a reason: they taste like pork, they behave themselves in a pan, and they make sense on a traditional breakfast plate. They are not really “bangers” that go bang in the pan anymore, but the name stuck, the Americans love calling them bangers, and we love adding them to mash, so we call them bangers too.

If you are interested in the background and history of traditional English sausages, head over to our British sausage research page. If you are more interested in why they are called bangers, head over to our British bangers research page for a bit more background on the traditional English banger.

If you are interested in history, heritage and recipes of the traditional English breakfast, check out our official English Breakfast Handbook, lovingly produced by the English Breakfast Society.

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