What Is The Difference Between Italian Sausage And Sweet Italian Sausage?

There's a wide world of sausage; some varieties are hard to tell apart. Like, what is the difference between Italian sausage and sweet Italian sausage? How about hot and mild Italian sausage? Can you use them all interchangeably? 

Italian sausage, as it's referred to in the United States, is most often a pork sausage that is made with fennel seed or anise. It can be seasoned with fresh or dry herbs and is the sausage found in most pasta sauces or atop pizzas. As you might have guessed, there's no "Italian sausage" on the menu in Italy, only sausage (or salsiccia). However, there are many different types of actual Italian sausage. Fennel is a common flavoring, but it's not always in the mix. 

Sweet Italian sausage, or mild Italian sausage, is simply the less spicy version. "Sweet" and "mild" are used interchangeably, and what's known as hot Italian sausage contains a dash or two of hot red pepper flakes to give it some punch. As long as you like the taste of both, you can use them interchangeably in your cooking. In any recipe, you can safely substitute sweet sausage for mild sausage — and vice-versa — without concern. If you don't mind some heat, experiment with hot Italian sausage. If your recipe calls for hot Italian sausage, but all you can find is sweet or mild, add some crushed red pepper from your spice rack!

The average home cook may want to leave stuffing sausage links to the pros. However, you can still make Italian sausage with ground meat at home. If you're using bulk sausage (the kind you buy loose by the pound from the butcher), you can always buy ground pork and add seasonings. If you have Italian link sausage, remove the meat from the casings to crumble it into a dish and add herbs or spices to doctor it up to your liking. 

Homemade Italian sausage recipes commonly call for fennel, garlic, parsley, sweet paprika, and oregano, among other spices. Red wine (or red wine vinegar) frequently appears as well. Add crushed red pepper for a hot version, or try an Italian seasoning blend for a shortcut. If you don't eat pork, substitute ground chicken in your homemade sausage.

So, how do you use Italian sausage? Whether homemade or store-bought, it's a great addition to soups, stews, pasta, and pizza. If you remove it from the casing, you can crumble it and use it similarly to ground beef. It's great grilled on a bun instead of bratwurst, though it has a more pronounced flavor. And, while it's not usually recommended in place of breakfast sausage (the latter has a strong sage flavor), nothing's stopping you from trying it as a component of your breakfast hash, alongside scrambled eggs and pancakes, or in a breakfast sandwich.