No party is complete without a batch of sausage rolls, and these classic Pork & Sage Sausage Rolls will be a hit with your friends and family!
Sausage Rolls
As an Aussie, sausage rolls have been in my food memory for as long as I can remember. My parents ran a busy suburban bakery throughout my childhood, and I can still remember the sight and smell of the gigantic tray of freshly-baked sausage rolls coming out of the oven doors.
The sausage rolls were always best eaten straight from the oven; even if I wasn’t hungry at that precise moment when the sausage rolls were being made for the week, I knew it was snack time the moment I could smell the pastry baking with that distinct smell of pork and sage that one knows could only belong to a sausage roll.
What is a Sausage Roll?
A sausage roll is a meat filling, shaped like a sausage, and encased in puff pastry.
In Australia, sausage rolls are very popular as a light lunch, usually with a good serving of tomato sauce (ketchup), and almost always eaten with the hands. They are typically sold in bakeries and sandwich shops, and even school canteens will have them on the menu for the kids.
But these days, it is also common to find more posh and “gourmet” sausage rolls sold in cafés and restaurants which are typically served with a green salad, and which you can, of course, eat with a knife and fork.
Sausage Rolls Around the World
Through my travels, I have discovered that many countries have their own version of sausage rolls too.
In the UK, they love their Pigs in Blankets, which are cocktail sausages wrapped in a scone-like dough.
Here in Switzerland, many bakeries sell Wienerli im Teig, which is simply a sausage (a Wiener sausage or Frankfurter sausage) wrapped in puff pastry.
And in France, some regions make a brioche loaf wrapped around a whole sausage, like this delicious Lyonnaise Sausage Roll.
Sausage Roll Recipe
Some sausage roll recipes simply call for sausage meat, i.e. the meat removed from the sausage casings, wrapped in puff pastry. If you need a short-cut and have some good-quality pork sausages, this is a quick route to a delicious snack.
My sausage roll recipe makes the sausage meat from scratch. I like to use a fatty pork mince, or a mix or pork and veal, and I add lots of flavour through a mix of herbs and seasoning.
And as my kids love to eat sausage rolls, I always sneak in carrots, and sometimes spinach too.
Tips for Making Sausage Rolls
- Use a good-quality fatty pork mince. The fat will add flavour to the sausage rolls, as well as keep the filling moist. I like to mince my own meat and usually choose pork neck.
- Use a mix of fresh and dried herbs. I typically favour fresh herbs in cooking, but some herbs have more punch and flavour when dried. Use whichever combination you like, but remember that 1 tablespoon of fresh herbs roughly equals 1 teaspoon of dried herbs (not always, but a good general rule of thumb).
- Use good-quality puff pastry made from butter. A sausage roll has nowhere to hide, so use the best puff pastry you can find.
- Keep the pastry cold. It is easiest to work with pastry when the room is cold and the pastry itself is cold. So work with one sheet of pastry at a time, and keep the other sheets of pastry in the fridge until you need them. It also helps to work quickly so that pastry doesn’t warm up and soften.
What to Serve with Sausage Rolls
I love sausage rolls served simply with a good squirt of tomato sauce (ketchup) on top. But for something more refined, they are great with my Cherry Tomato Relish.
More Australian Recipes
For more Australian recipes, you might also like:
Pavlova with Cream & Passionfruit
PrintPork and Sage Sausage Rolls
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: Makes about 20
- Category: Snack
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Australian
No party is complete without a batch of sausage rolls, and these classic Pork & Sage Sausage Rolls will be a hit with your friends and family!
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RateIngredients
For the Sausage Rolls
- 1 large onion, roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 small carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1–2 tablespoons olive oil
- 650 g (1.5 lb) pork mince (ground pork) (or a mix of pork and veal)
- 6 sprigs of parsley
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage or 1 teaspoon ground sage
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon Herbs de Provence (optional)
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs or Panko breadcrumbs
- puff pastry (I use 2 rectangular sheets which are 25 x 42 cm/10 x 16 inch)
- sesame seeds or poppy seeds (optional)
For the Egg Wash
- 1 egg
- dash of milk
To Serve
- Cherry Tomato Relish
- tomato sauce (ketchup)
Instructions
To make the sausage roll filling
- Place the onion, garlic and carrots into a large food processor.
- Blitz until everything is finely chopped.
- Heat some olive oil in a large pan over medium heat.
- Cook the onion mixture with a good pinch of salt for 3-5 minutes, or until the mixture starts to soften.
- Remove the onion mixture to a large mixing bowl and let it cool completely.
- Meanwhile, add the pork, parsley, salt, pepper, dried herbs and Worcestershire sauce to the food processor.
- Pulse for just a few seconds until the meat has an almost paste-like texture. You can skip this step if you prefer your sausage roll filling to have a chunkier texture.
- Remove the meat mixture to the mixing bowl with the onion mixture, and add the breadcrumbs.
- Use your hands to mix everything together until all of the ingredients are well combined.
- If you want to check the filling for seasoning, I recommend pinching off a small piece of the filling and roll it into a small patty or meatball. Fry the patty in a small pan with some oil, and taste for seasoning.
To form the sausage rolls
- For this recipe, I use 2 rectangular sheets of puff pastry which are 25 x 42 cm/10 x 16 inches in size.
- Cut the pastry in half lengthwise so that you have two narrow strips of pastry (12.5 cm/5 inches wide).
- Use your hands to place the filling in the middle of one strip of pastry. You want to form a long sausage which is roughly one-third of the width of the pastry.
- Make the egg wash by beating the egg and milk together in a small bowl.
- Brush one side of the pastry length with some egg wash.
- Carefully lift one side of the pastry over the sausage filling, and continue until the filling is fully encased in the pastry.
- Make sure the seam is on the bottom.
- Use a sharp knife to cut the sausage roll into whatever lengths you like. For entertaining, I suggest making the sausage rolls about 4 cm/1.5 inches long. Otherwise, I typically cut my sausage rolls about 8 cm/3 inches long.
- Cut a few slits in the pastry of each sausage roll.
- Repeat the above steps with the remaining filling and pastry.
To bake the sausage rolls
- If it is quite warm in your kitchen, I recommend putting the uncooked sausage rolls into the fridge for about 30 minutes before baking. This helps to prevent the pastry from shrinking upon baking.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/390°F (without fan).
- Place the sausage rolls onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
- Brush the sausage rolls with some egg wash.
- Sprinkle the sausage rolls with some sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or just some coarse sea salt and coarsely cracked black pepper.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, or until lightly golden. Depending on how big or small your sausage rolls are, you may need to adjust the time slightly.
- Serve hot or warm with some tomato sauce (ketchup) or Cherry Tomato Relish.
Kitchen Notes
FREEZING SAUSAGE ROLLS
* Follow the recipe above until just before baking the sausage rolls.
* Place the uncooked sausage rolls on a baking tray lined with baking paper, and place the whole tray into the freezer. Once the sausage rolls are frozen, place them into zip-lock freezer bags, and keep them in the freezer.
* Once you are ready to bake, brush the frozen sausage rolls with egg wash, and bake them from frozen. You will need to add another 5-10 minutes to the baking time.
VARIATIONS
* Change the herbs to your liking.
* Substitute the thyme and sage for 1 teaspoon each of cumin seeds and coriander seeds, lightly toasted and then ground with a mortar and pestle.
* Omit the carrots for a more traditional sausage roll filling.
* Add fresh spinach (as much or as little as you like) to the onion mixture before blitzing in the food processor.
* Cook 200 g/7 ounces of chopped bacon with the onion mixture.
OVEN TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website state temperatures for a regular oven (i.e. a conventional oven without fan). If you have a convection oven with a fan, please consult the manufacturer’s handbook on how to adjust the temperature and baking time accordingly.
CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.
I’ve bookmarked this to try during the Christmas break! It looks amazing!!
Thanks, Virginia! Hope you will enjoy the recipe xx
Loved the recipe! Tastes just like the sausage rolls from the local bakery except I know what’s going in them. Thanks for the recipe.
Delicious! I added more carrots and a handful of fresh spinach. The kids did not notice!
Easier than I thought they would be and the kids loved them!!
So delicious!
Made these sausage rolls for my daughter’s birthday party on the weekend and they were a hit! I also made your tomato relish to go with – just perfect.
Great recipe! The sausage rolls were perfect.
I’ve made these several times and they are SO DELICIOUS and so more is! They beat the bakery sausage rolls every time.
I made these for a summer party and they were a hit with everyone!
Absolutely amazing recipe. This recipe has become a staple in our home. Love your recipes – always easy to follow and always delicious!
Great recipe! However, in the UK, pigs in blankets aren’t a form of sausage roll and it’s not wrapped in scone like pastry. Pigs in blankets is simply a sausage wrapped in bacon 🙂