This recipe for sausage rolls can be adapted to include your favourite herbs and is quick to make. Party food that everyone will enjoy could not be easier!
Christmas is great because it’s when we all make the time to get together with family and friends. We catch up on what everyone has been up to, find out what they all have planned for next year and generally have a good time. Christmas parties/breakups also tend to involve lots of yummy party food. And we can get away with eating more of the “naughty” food at this time of year because well – it’s Christmas!
Generally I try to keep an eye on the calories that I am consuming but at Christmas time you have to let your hair down a bit – right? There are two good excuses for eating yummy party food – Christmas and Birthdays! I’m sure there are some healthy party foods out there but you have to be a bit naughty every now and again – right?
Anyway enough trying to justify my Christmas over indulgences! Don’t even mention what the scales have been doing these last couple of weeks!
When I think of party food I automatically think of sausage rolls. I remember every friend’s birthday party that I went to as a kid having sausage rolls, so now they are fixed in my brain as “party food”.
I don’t mind some of the frozen ones that you can buy but some of them are down-right awful. When you want really nice sausage rolls and you have a little bit of spare time available then these homemade ones will not disappoint.
I first made these sausage rolls a few years ago and this recipe has been my go-to homemade sausage roll recipe ever since. I have slightly modified a recipe that I found in The Australian Woman’s Weekly – Best Ever Recipes cookbook.
The secret ingredient in this recipe is white bread. The bread absorbs the excess fat from the sausage mince, meaning you don’t end up with fatty greasy pastry. The bread also helps to prevent the meat from shrinking away from the inside of the pastry. So you don’t end up with big holes in your sausage rolls!
The original recipe calls for the use of standard mixed herbs but I have successfully added various combinations of my favourite dried herbs. Feel free to use what flavours you like, if you have a favourite herb mix then by all means use that! I found that the original recipe didn’t have enough herb flavour so I have used more herbs than originally suggested.
Plus I have also added some breadcrumbs to the recipe because I felt that the mixture was too sloppy without them. This gave me 40 sausage rolls from the recipe even though the original states that it makes 24. I cut them to about 2 inches long. They are great on their own or you can dip them in a tangy tomato sauce – yum!
What is your favourite party food?
- 500g (1 lb.) of sausage mince
- 1 large onion
- 1 heaped teaspoon of mixed herbs (use your favourite herbs)
- ¼ cup of breadcrumbs
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 4 thick slices of white bread
- warm water
- 6 sheets of ready rolled puff pastry
- 1 egg
- Preheat oven to 200 °C (400 °F).
- Remove puff pastry sheets from freezer and thaw to room temperature.
- Peel and roughly chop the onion and then give it 2-3 pulses in the food processor (or finely chop or grate it).
- Combine the sausage mince, onion, mixed herbs, breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
- Cut the crusts off the bread and put it into another bowl and then add just enough warm water to cover the bread – stand for 5 minutes.
- Drain off the excess water from the bread and then gently squeeze the bread while tilting the bowl to remove as much water as possible.
- Add bread to sausage mince mixture and mix thoroughly.
- Use a dessertspoon to place a sausage like strip of the mince mixture along one edge of a sheet of pastry.
- Roll edge of pastry over filling and continue rolling until filling is completely enclosed in the pastry.
- Cut along the edge of the pastry to separate the roll from the remaining pastry.
- Repeat steps 8 – 10 with the remaining pastry and mince mixture.
- Lightly flatten rolls using the back of a knife at 1 cm intervals and then cut the rolls into 2 inch (5 cm) lengths.
- Put rolls onto a lined baking tray and brush with beaten egg.
- Bake rolls at 200 °C for 20 minutes and then reduce heat to 180 °C and cook for a further 10 minutes.
- Cool slightly on tray and then serve.
For more delicious party food ideas check out my Yummy Appetizers board on Pinterest!
I would like to make these in advance. Should they be frozen uncooked or baked first then simply reheated?
Thank you!
Hi Kathee, I would suggest that you bake the sausage rolls before you freeze them and then reheat them when you need them. They would probably be best if reheated and eaten within a month or two after being frozen. I hope you enjoy them!
My aunt makes them and always cooks before freezing. They stay good for at least 6 weeks in freezer probably longer, but ours have never lasted that long before we give in and eat them.
Sausage mince?
Hi Ellen, the sausage mince that I use is a seasoned ground beef mixture similar to what you would get inside a beef sausage. You could also use a pork sausage mince if you can’t get the beef one. I hope that helps!
These were absolutely delicious…They were most definitely less greasy than other recipes so yes the bread trick works. Many thanks for sharing this
Thanks for the feedback Kezz I’m so glad they were a success!
Hi these are amazing and so non greasy as the recipe says. I just had to add a bit more herbs than the recipe has called for awesome instructions. Thank you
Glad you liked them Sarah! Great to hear that they are nice with extra herbs, I’ll have to try that next time!
Is there no need to cook the sausage mince first?
Hi Pat, no there is no need to cook the sausage mince first. The meat is cooked through in the time it takes to bake and brown the sausage rolls (30 minutes all up). I hope you enjoy them!
Hi Kaylene, love this recipe. As our family like more flavour, I added a couple spoonfuls of homemade red pepper jelly and they were wonderful.
So glad you liked them Bernadette, I’ll have to try adding some red pepper jelly to mine! It is great that you can tweak these to suit what flavours you prefer!
Hi, I have been using this recipe for years and it is the only one my family will eat. I changed the sausage mince to Pure Pork Sausages from my local butcher and the taste is amazing.
I love the idea of using pork sausages Jacki, I’ll have to give that a try next time!
What spices do you choose and how much? I live in the States, so how would I get a meat product that is comparable?
Hi Tandra, I often use mixed dried herbs that have been blended before I buy them. They are generally a mixture of dried thyme, rosemary, marjoram, sage, and oregano. If you haven’t got pre-blended herbs you could use about a quarter of a teaspoon of 4 or 5 of your favorite herbs.
The meat I use is just ground pork or beef that has some seasoning added. You could just use some minced/ground pork or beef (not lean). I have seen some similar recipes that use ground pork shoulder. I hope this helps!
Over the years I have made so many versions of sausage Rolls. I love the addition of breadcrumbs as well bread, also liked your blurb on why you use bread and bread crumbs. Thankyou for sharing that info… I read one of your readers asked about freezing. I have great success in freezing before baking. I roll the pastry around the meat and freeze before I cut up dress with egg wash, when I need, let them sit out for about 20 mins then cut, the cut up is easy as they are firm then bake as normal.
Thanks for the tip Lindi, I’ve never tried freezing them before baking, so I’m glad to hear that it works for you! Next time I make these I might make a double batch and put some in the freezer before I bake them. Cooked or uncooked they’re a great thing to have on standby in the freezer!
I always freeze these and home made pies uncooked. They can be popped into the oven frozen after having the egg wash put on. It usually takes a couple more minutes to cook, but if you thaw them first, the puff pastry doesn’t rise well. Thank you for a great post
Your welcome Naomi and thanks for your tips on freezing and then cooking them. I haven’t made these for a while I’ll have to make a batch and pop some in the freezer!
I have a question about the soaked bread. Do I cut it up first to add to sausage mixture. I gather I cut it up into small pieces? The method on how to use the wet bread seems to be omitted.
Hi Janet, you don’t have to cut up the bread for this recipe. Once it is wet it becomes quite mushy and it easily breaks up with a spoon as it is being mixed into the sausage mince. Also because you have to gently squeeze the excess water from the bread before it’s added, it is easier to have it still in bigger pieces. I hope this helps you Janet!
Australia has a completely different sausage meat (mince). than we here in USA. Being English I love sausage rolls so I set about making my own. I use Jimmy Dean original sausage meat with a tube of Jones original sausage meat, 1 eggs. 1/2 cup or so of breadcrumbs, a splash of Worcestershire sauce. Salt and pepper. American sausage meat is more meaty hence the egg to give it moisture. It isn’t an Australian or British sausage roll but my family love them. I have some in the freezer now, I didn’t and don’t cook them first.
Thanks for sharing your recipe Gloria, I sometimes have overseas readers asking about the ingredients that I use in my recipes. Some even ask me whether they have the equivalent in their country and often I don’t know. Many people do read the comments thought, so I’m sure your suggestion for people in the USA will come in handy!
I LUV SAUSAGE ROLLS I NOTICED YOU DON’T USE EGG ALONG THE SEAM WHEN YOU WHEN YOU ROLL THEM I DO THEN PLACE SEAM DOWN ON BAKING SHEET SO THEY NEVER FALL APART I ALSO ADD A LOT OF GRATED CARROT, FRESH AND DRIED HERBS AND I USE 1 SHEET OF PASTRY FOR ONE GIANT SAUSAGE ROLL WE ALL LUV THEM ALSO SOME TIMES I WILL PUT SOME NICE CHEDDAR CHEESE IN THE MIDDLE AND COMPLETELY ROLL IT UP ENCLOSED IN THE SAUSAGE MEAT YUM YUM ps try some finely chopped ROCKET IF YOUR IN THE STATES ITS CALLED ARUGALA HAPPY BAKING THANKS FOR YOUR RECIPE ITS AWESOME
Hi Gary, thanks for your feedback. I have never needed to use eggwash along the seam of the pastry when I make these sausage rolls, but it can’t hurt to make sure the pastry sticks!
I love that you have made some yummy variations with your addition of carrot etc. Adding in some cheese sounds yummy too, I’ll have to try that next time and I’ll have to give the rocket a go too!
Hey Kaylene, this looks like a great recipe but could you please tell me which spice and herbs you used. Thank you
Hi Melody, I use a shaker jar of store bought mixed dried herbs. The label says the herbs are thyme (43%), rosemany (28%), marjoram (12%), plus basil, oregano, and sage.
If I was going to try to replicate that I would use one half teaspoon of thyme, a quarter teaspoon each of rosemary and marjoram, and a good pinch each of basil, oregano and sage. I hope that helps, and that you enjoy them if you make them!