The Best (And Worst) Cuts Of Beef For Sausage, According To A Pro

Making sausage at home is as fun as it is rewarding. It's a great weekend project that lets you control the quality of the meat, the amount of fat, and guarantees there are no unwanted fillers or preservatives. Plus, you can also season and flavor the meat in different ways to create a variety of sausage styles. If making sausage at home sounds too intimidating, fear not. Tasting Table has an expert on hand to explain which cuts of beef to use for making sausage and which you should avoid at all costs.

Hunter Shoults, Vice President and Plant Manager of Bear Creek Smokehouse, shared his best tips for choosing the right cuts of meat for the best homemade sausage. "Beef chuck is ideal due to its fat-to-lean ratio, with about 15-20% fat," he says. "Brisket (point end) is another great option, especially for sausage meant for grilling. The finely ground fat found in these cuts helps bind the muscle fibers to one another so your sausage doesn't crumble out of the casing after you cook it."

Of course, that's not all. "There's much more science behind these cuts than just fat percentages," Shoults points out. He explains that choosing the right meat for making sausages also has to do with the type of protein each cut contains. "The protein fibers found in these cuts, called myofibrils, are ideal for retaining water, resulting in a juicy sausage instead of a dry, shriveled-up disaster," he explains. This is definitely important, because nobody likes a dry, shriveled-up disaster coming off the grill.

Now that we know that chuck and brisket are preferred, it's important to understand why. "When selecting a beef cut, try to get a feel for a cut that has harder or firmer fat on it," Shoults notes. "Harder fat is more likely to stay emulsified within the meat mixture during cooking. This will result in a more consistent texture." Additionally, there is a clear difference between soft fat and ground fat. "Softer fat tends to melt out of the sausage more easily," Shoults explains, adding that "ground fat particles from firmer fat provide the ideal residence for the protein fibers to interweave at a molecular level during the emulsification process."

Shoults previously shared with Tasting Table his expert insights about what it means to emulsify homemade sausage. Emulsifying is essentially the science behind mixing meat and fat to the right ratio and texture to ensure the sausages hold together when sliced. Grinding the meat and fat together distributes the fat throughout the meat mixture, which helps to retain moisture and render juicy sausages that better hold their shape both during and after cooking.

The kind and amount of fat contained in the meat is also the reason why using leaner cuts for making sausage is not a very good idea. "Cuts like tenderloin, sirloin, and eye of the round are not ideal for making sausage — they're just too lean," says Shoults. These cuts of beef are best reserved for stews, steaks, or roasts. If you're looking to use a leaner cut, try beef rounds instead. "They contain the necessary protein for sausage meat, but they lack the fat content needed," the expert adds. "However, if you have access to additional beef fat, rounds can still make a great sausage!"

When it comes to cuts of beef to avoid, Shoults points out some options that are used in commercial sausages of lesser quality. "Other options, like head meat, tongue trim, and liver, have too much connective tissue," he says. "[This makes] them difficult for any meat grinder to chop and make an edible — or, how about we say, enjoyable — sausage." According to our expert, it's best to avoid these cheaper cuts and stick to the tried and true.

Of course, beef is not the only suitable meat for making sausages. Pork sausages are extremely popular around the world, in many cultures and gastronomies. So, if you want to achieve a good balance of flavor and texture, use a blend of beef and pork meats. "If you prefer to leave the heavy lifting to the butchers and go for a pre-blended pork and beef option, keep in mind that an 80/20 lean-to-fat ratio is ideal for making sausage," Shoults adds. However, if you want to try the meat blend yourself, our expert offers additional advice on how to achieve the best blend of beef and pork.

"In my opinion, the best cuts for making pork and beef sausage at home would be beef chuck and pork butt/shoulder," he says. To easily achieve the right mixture of meats, he advises us to "cut both pieces of meat into smaller chunks (size to fit down the throat of your grinder) and blend them evenly in a large mixing bowl." After ensuring that the fat is evenly distributed, he instructs us to "feed the chunks into the grinder with a 3/16" grinding plate." This size plate provides a fine to medium grind, ideal for most regular sausages.

To make grinding the meat easier, Shoults offers a pro tip: "Place your beef and pork chunks onto a cookie sheet pan that fits into the freezer prior to grinding." He continues, "Monitor the overall temperature of the cuts until you get an average internal temperature of 26 degrees Fahrenheit — this is the ideal temperature." Of course, this might be better achieved if you have one of the best meat thermometers. Also, line the baking sheet with parchment or plastic wrap to make it easy to remove the frozen meat chunks. Then, you're ready to start grinding.

Another reason folks may be intimidated to make sausages at home is due to the lack of proper equipment. However, you don't need a commercial sausage maker to be successful! There are plenty of kitchen appliances to use for grinding meat at home, including meat grinders and food processors of the electric and manual varieties. Manual meat grinders are cool in a vintage way, but an electric one would probably be best to use when grinding frozen chunks of meat.

Last but not least, Shoults offers one more tip for those planning to make a big batch of sausage meat. "If you are making a larger batch that will take longer to feed through the grinder, you should reduce the temp to 10 degrees Fahrenheit," he says. Why? Simple. "Mechanical action/movement creates heat inside the auger and between the plate and blade of the grinder," Shoults continues. "We lower the temp of the meat to offset the rise and steer clear of 'slimy' or 'gooey' sausage batter." With these tips from a sausage-making expert, you are already on your way to mastering the art yourself.