Texas Smoked Sausage Links
Coarse-ground beef and pork sausage stuffed into natural casing and smoked low and slow over post oak until the casing snaps.
- Prep
- 40 min
- Cook
- 180 min
- Total
- 220 min
- Servings
- 8
- Difficulty
- Hard
- Calories
- 380 kcal
Equipment
- •Meat grinder
- •Sausage stuffer
- •Offset smoker
- •Natural hog casings
Nutrition
Per serving, approximate
- Calories
- 380 kcal
- fat
- 32
- carbs
- 2
- protein
- 20
- calories
- 380
Instructions
- 1
Chill all meat and fat until nearly frozen. Grind the mixture through a coarse grinding plate.
- 2
Mix the ground meat with salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and mustard seed. Stir until sticky and well combined.
- 3
Fill the soaked hog casings with the meat mixture. Twist the casings into 6-inch links.
- 4
Let the links rest uncovered in the fridge for a few hours to firm up.
- 5
Preheat your smoker to 225°F using post oak wood.
- 6
Smoke the sausages for 2.5 to 3 hours. Cook until the center reaches 155°F and the casing is tight.
- 7
Let the sausages rest for 10 minutes before slicing so the juices settle.
Chef's tips
Keep the meat and fat very cold before grinding. Warm fat smears instead of chopping cleanly, which ruins the texture.
Storage
Refrigerate cooked links up to 5 days, or freeze up to 3 months.
Reheating
Warm gently in a low oven or steam briefly to avoid splitting the casing.
Common mistakes to avoid
- •Letting the fat warm up before grinding, causing a mushy texture.
- •Smoking at too high a temperature and melting out all the fat.
- •Overfilling the casings so they burst in the smoker.
Serving suggestions
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