Blood sausage is a delicious piece of charcuterie with a rich tradition. In this post, I'm sharing my favorite blood sausage recipe I've worked on for years. My recipe is a Creole hybrid. It's mildly spicy, flecked with onions and a bit of meat for structure. It goes without saying you're in for a bloody good time.
What is blood sausage?
Also known as black pudding, blood pudding, mutura, kaszanka, boudin noir, zungenwurst, blutvurst, biroldo, morcilla, sanguinaccio. Blood sausage is a sausage made from blood, or blood and meat, mixed with rice, oats, barley or another starch, herbs and seasonings.
There's many different traditions of making blood sausage around the world: some use mostly blood, some, like this recipe, use a combination of blood and meat. Any type of blood can be used, and I've used goat, lamb, pork and chicken in the past.
Most traditional recipes include a grain or starch to help give body to the sausage. I like to use rice or wild rice. Scandinavian recipes call for oatmeal, barley or other grains while others use breadcrumbs. French, Spanish and Italian recipes usually call for rice. My recipe also includes meat to make it easier to handle.
What does blood sausage taste like?
Black sausage isn't gamey or strong tasting. Blood has a mild, lightly salty flavor and is very different from sausage made from liver or kidneys. In short, blood sausage tastes like mild meat sausage, just tell people what it is after they enjoy it. The particular flavor of the sausage will depend on the culinary tradition used to make it, and your personal preference for seasonings. I like mine spicy, with lots of herbs, onions and garlic.
How to Make Blood Sausage
This sausage comes together easily, but there's a few components and it's definitely a project. First you cut up lots of parsley or other herbs, onions, garlic and scallions. The onions are cooked before adding to the sausage.
In this recipe fresh or frozen blood, rice, herbs and cooked onions and garlic are mixed together. If your blood is frozen, you'll want to puree it before using. You'll also want to use gloves to do this.
Once the sausage mixture is combined, you'll want to cook test batches to double check the seasoning. Adjust the seasoning until the mixture tastes good to you, then pack the sausage into casings.
After the sausage is packed into casings, it can be vacuum sealed and frozen, or cooked as-is. It is usually par-cooked to hold its shape, then cut into pieces and fried.
How to cook blood sausage
Traditionally blood sausage is par cooked by simmering in water. Do not cook blood sausage in a pan like a regular sausage or it may break open. After par-cooking the sausages are cut into pieces and fried cut side down. You can also sous-vide your sausage and that works very well.
Above: sous vide blood sausage to par cook it before cutting into pieces and frying.
Different cultures may serve blood sausage in different ways. In the U.K. black pudding is part of a full English breakfast. In Scandinavia, blood pancakes (palt) may be served with sauteed apples.
I like to fry the sausages up for breakfast myself.
If you make the recipe as is, you'll love it. If you want to use it as a template, shoot me a message and I'll help you trouble shoot as best I can.
Other Recipes Using Blood
I have a few other recipes that use blood you might like. Creole Blood Cake is fantastic. Chicken Boudin Noir is similar to this one but with Scandinavian flavors. Scandinavian Blood Bread is the most interesting, and probably the oldest recipe I have.
Blood Sausage
Equipment
- Sausage stuffer
- Meat Grinder
- Sheet trays or cookie sheets
- Large mixing bowls with 2-3 gallon capacity
Ingredients
- 4 lbs ground pork lamb or chicken
- 2.5 lbs (5 cups) blood lamb or chicken
- 1 lb (4 cups) finely diced yellow onion
- 1 lb (4 cups) sliced green onion
- ¼ cup minced garlic
- 40 grams (1.5 tablespoons) kosher salt plus more to taste (see note)
- natural hog casings, as needed 37 mm size
- 6 cups cooked rice drained and preferably day old
- 1 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley roughly 2 bunches
- 3 tablespoons smoked paprika
- 1 Tablespoon cayenne pepper or to taste
- ½ cup rice flour *see note
Instructions
Wild rice
- Cook the rice the night before, it's better if it's dried out a bit.
Onion mixture
- Saute the yellow onions and garlic lightly in the oil with the paprika and cayenne and cook in the lard for 15 minutes on medium-low, until the onions are completely cooked. Stir in the green onions off the heat and allow them to wilt.
- Cool the onions and reserve.
Blend the sausage and adjust the seasoning
- Combine the onion mixture with the ground pork, blood, and remaining ingredients.
- Cook a little of the mixture to double check the seasoning and adjust as needed, then pack into casings. Chill overnight to hydrate the flour and make it easier to case (optional).
- I like to keep the blood sausages around 2 feet, so they can fit easily into a pot of simmering water.
Poach, portion and store
- Poach the sausages in simmering, lightly salted water until hot throughout, and firm, about 10-15 minutes, then dry, portion, vacuum seal and freeze.
- To serve the sausages, saute or roast them until browned, then cut into thick coins and fry crisp. Nothing could be better with eggs.
Video
Notes
Salt
I suggest 40 grams as a starting point, which is just under 1% of the weight of the meat in salt. It's very important to taste the sausage before you pack it into casings. Adjust the seasoning until it tastes good to you, but remember that blood is saltier than typical meat.Rice Flour
This is not exactly traditional, but it works well. To make rice flour, grind rice in a spice grinder until fine, then sift. Spices and Herbs Fresh or dried marjoram is traditional here, but fresh oregano is a good substitute.If I don't have access to fresh herbs, I may add warm spices, especially quatre epice (equal parts cinamon, clove, nutmeg and black pepper) just a tiny amount--1-2 teaspoons for this entire batch would be fine.
Nutrition
Some butchers can order frozen blood and it will work just fine. It's legal to sell in the United States.
margarete hopkins
hi, i live in oklahoma and make german bloodsausage all the time, but it is a pork/blood/bacon sausage, no rice, but i am going to make yours, necause i like boudin and this recipie sounds great. anhow, the reason i wrote is the blood. i tried years ago to find some and found it impossible until i went to AMAZON, GB, they have freezedried blood and mail it to the us. this product is really great, easy to portion and stayes fresh as long as it is vacuum packed again (at least thats how i keep it fresh). i have it now for 5+ years and no change in looks, taste or smell. hope this helps someone who has problems getting blood in the US
Malinda Mirando
Hello I’m a professional chef I don’t really agree with the parched wild rice but you like that so I won’t judge you.
Alan Bergo
I'm so glad you commented.
Noisa
This recipe is outstanding for spring it was delicious when I tried it.
Alan Bergo
Thanks Noisa. I just made a batch myself a few weeks ago.
Noisa
That is very nice your the best Chef in the world (in my opinion).
Alan Bergo
Oh thanks that's very nice of you to say. 🙂
Noisa
Your welcome 😊
Noisa
No problem ☺️
prepper jay
i am a survivalist,and am all ways looking for things one could make in the wild with small issues but still doable. this one is making the book,but now heres my mainquestion,insted of white rice,could one do this recipe using wild rice? i ask due to my state has it everywhere, i assume one can,but figured i would ask,hell to be honest the recipe i will be using deer meat,deer blood,and foraged wild spices,like wild onion/garlic,using boiled hickory root for the salt. and deer intestines for the casings, once done i will be tossing the 50% done sausages in the smoke house to finish. whats your thought on this?
Alan Bergo
Hey Jay
Absolutely you can use wild rice, and it was actually the first rice I used to make this sausage. That said, you want to use parched, naturally harvested wild rice-the good stuff. Don't use the black paddy rice as it absorbs more water as it cooks, which will make the sausage extra heavy. The rice is an easy substitution-just switch it out. The other things you're talking about here: spices, intestines cleaned at home, deer blood, are all fine. Boiling hickory roots is a process I haven't done though, and I wouldn't do that for safety reasons. It isn't an aged sausage, and it's usually boiled and then fried, but using an alternative salt that doesn't have a known potency makes me nervous. If I was familiar with the end product made from boiling the roots I could give you a more informed opinion.
Mike Moranz
Alan, you demon of the night! Blood sausage where I grew up was an annual spring thing. They even had a festival called St Mary's Founders day/Beaverville Homecoming in Illinois where hundreds of pounds of blood sausage was devoured. I lived in St Anne IL a few miles North and ever since moving to MN in 1987 I have missed the wonderful breakfast of blood sausage and eggs. So, I appreciate your efforts, offer this article, https://www.daily-journal.com/life/food/taste-for-boudin-sausage-is-in-blood/article_6d169213-103b-5821-9951-ee0afb3e3915.html and have a question.
Your recipe says 1lb 4 cups. Is that one or the other, or is it 1 lb plus 4 cups?
By the way I have spoken with the meat man,Kelly Langellier who made the sausage for 20 years until the festival ended, and he says no fillers like rice but he does use ground pork to firm it up. If you want his phone # I can provide by private email. His recipe which I don't have is in the traditional French/ Cajun style flavored with marjoram, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, parsley and some milk.
Alan Bergo
Hey Mike, so the recipe needed some parenthesis. It's one pound or 4 cups. Obv weight is the best here but so many Americans are addicted to cups I feel like I need to add them.
Ashley Boursin
Using Rice In The Sausage Will Soak Up The Blood. Personally, I Prefer To Drink My Blood Instead Of Eat It Because That Gets The Best Vampire Juices To My Energy Cortex.
Alan Bergo
I laughed at this, but you’re a troll. I hate trolls. Leave another silly, irrelevant comment I’ll ban you faster than you can say Nosferatu. -Alan
Ashley Boursin
Dear Friend Alan. I Am Sorry That You Thought I Was A Troll. My Comment Was Relevant Because While I Liked This Recipe, I Wasn't A Big Fan Of The Rice. I Am Also Just A Tad Bit Hurt That You Find My Comment Silly. This Has Been My Life's Work For Twenty Years. Additionally, Per Your Comment, Actually, A Long Time Ago Nosferatu Was In A Rival Vampire Family From The Slade Ragar Vampire Family. I Am Alight For Cooking, So I Would Greatly Disappreciate A "Ban".