Pork and Fennel Sausage Rolls are super delicious and also easy to make! Combining pork sausages, pork mince and dried fennel, we whip up this savory puff pastry. With a little apple sauce these pork fennel sausage rolls are juicy on the inside with a flaky coating!
Recipes like my Chicken Sausage Rolls, Beef Mince Sausage Rolls and Mini Sausage Rolls are all about puff pastry savory delights!
My Peanut Butter Pinwheels, Nutella Puff Pastry and Pecan Pinwheels give us sweet pastry combos to die for.
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🤍 Recipe Highlights
I have summarised a few of the reasons why I think you will enjoy making this recipe (over and over again!):
- Flavour combination of ingredients: these sausage rolls are jam packed with flavour. The filling is a combination created to tantalise the taste buds and bring a sense of yum to each bite!
- Sunday Family Food: these smell amazing, taste amazing and bring a comfort to the home that the bakery cannot.
- Freezer Friendly: Simply bake, allow to cool and then place in an air tight container.
- No pre cooking: the filling gets added to the pastry raw and then gets cooked in the oven.
- Kid Friendly: sausage rolls are loved by big and little kids alike. You can even hide vegetables in them if you are trying to get them to eat more veggies!
- Better than Bourke Street Bakery: oven baked, homemade, juicy and delicious. These will rival any local baker's sausage rolls!
Top Tip 1: Get organised for unexpected guests dropping in, by making these in advance and freezing. As needed, grab from the freezer and reheat!
🥗 Ingredients
Everything you need is shown in the photo below. Please refer to the printable recipe card for exact measurements and more detailed instructions.
- Pork sausages: my preference for these is plain pork sausages. We are adding our own seasoning, so the most basic standard sausages will do the trick.
- Pork mince (ground pork): readily available in the butcher's section of the supermarket. It works well in stir fry's, rissoles and spaghetti recipes.
- Dried Fennel Seeds: this are the secret ingredient for these sausage rolls. They add a delightfully unique taste from the fennel seeds. Combined with the pork, it is a winning combination.
- Apple Sauce: this ingredient is to add both apple flavour as well as to ensure the sausage rolls have a juicy, not dry filling.
- Dried Onion Flakes: this will be found in the herbs and spices section of the supermarket. I love using it as it brings the flavour, but you save time and tears
- Salt/pepper: these 2 ingredients are used to season the sausage roll filling.
- Puff Pastry: one of the most handy ingredients you can have in your freezer. Simple to use, budget friendly and works for both sweet and savory options.
- Egg: this ingredient has multiple uses. We use it to seal the pastry, enable the pastry to turn golden brown and it helps stick the poppy seeds on top.
- Poppy Seeds: these are to decorate the top of the sausage rolls. You can also use sesame seeds or dried herbs.
Top Tip 2: The dried onion can be used in any recipe where you want the flavour of real onion, but minimal effort (chopping and crying) involved.
🍳 Instructions
Here are the step by step instructions to make the recipe. Grab the puff pastry out of the freezer to start with so it can thaw as you prepare the sausage filling.
- Remove casing from sausages and discard (Photo 1)
- Add sausage roll filling ingredients to food processor (Photo 2)
- Blitz till combined 20 to 30 seconds (Photo 3)
- Transfer sausage filling into zip lock bag (Photo 4)
👩🍳 How to Make Pork and Fennel Sausage Rolls
Start by remove the casing and discarding these as we want the raw pork sausage meat.
It doesn't matter which order you add the ingredients to the food processor, but we don't add the egg or poppy seeds. (They get added to the top before we bake the sausage rolls).
It will only take seconds to bring together the filling mixture. We want it to be consistently combined.
Top Tip 3: For consistent width sausage rolls and to be less hands on meat, transfer the sausage roll filling into zip lock bag. Pipe the filling onto the pastry. Don't push too hard as the meat might burst out a and make another hole.
- Sausage filling onto pastry (Photo 5)
- Roll pastry around sausage filling (Photo 6)
- Seal pastry with egg (Photo 7)
- Cut the filled sausage roll from the pastry sheet (Photo 8)
When you seal the sausage roll, add a little extra pastry for the base. So we are no sealing at the intersection, rather at the over lap. (This crunchy bit of pastry is the best!!).
Pull the plastic backing sheet away from the pastry sheet as you roll.
Use a pastry brush for the over lapping parts of the puff pastry.
Run the knife along the pastry sheet to remove the long sausage roll.
Top Top 4: If you roll the pastry rather tightly you will find that the sausage rolls are neater. Not so tight that the filling squeezes out!
- Cut long roll into individual pieces (Photo 9)
- Brush each sausage roll with egg (Photo 10)
- Sprinkle poppy seeds over the egg (Photo 11)
- Bake for 25 to 30 mins (Photo 12)
🍜 Pork Apple and Fennel Sausage Rolls
I make 4 sausage rolls from each 1 sheet of pastry. You can cut them into smaller portions and make 5 or 6 if you prefer. (See my Cocktail Sausage Rolls for an example).
The beaten egg helps both to ensure that the pastry will turn a lovely golden brown as well as enabling the seeds to stick to the top.
When placing the sausage rolls into the oven, use the middle rack.
Top Tip 5: Once they look done, turn the oven off and allow them to start to cool. After 5 minutes or so, use an oven mit to remove tray and transfer individual portions to baking rack.
The pastry will crisp up and become flaky as it cools.
To transfer the sausage rolls onto the wire rack, use a flat silicon turner. This is easier than tongs, as the base will stay attached.
If you make a wide variety of sausage rolls and freeze them, the topping be it seeds or dried herbs is a great way to quickly check the filling from the outside.
The sauce you can see in the photo above and throughout the post is BBQ.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
Sausage rolls are perfect to serve on their own with sauce.
If wanting to bulk them up into a meal, choose a garden salad, Air Fryer Chips or Air Fryer Party Pies.
Similar party food that works well with these is my Cheese and Bacon Pinwheels or Ham Cream Cheese Roll Ups.
👍 How to Guide
How to Store
Once the sausage rolls are cooked, allow them to cool, then store them in an air tight container.
They will last 3 days like this.
How to Freeze
To freeze the sausage rolls, allow to cool and transfer to a sealed, air tight container.
They can be frozen for up to 3 months.
How to Reheat
To reheat the sausage rolls, cook them from frozen. There is no need to thaw.
If reheating cooked, unfrozen sausage rolls, simply place in the oven or air fryer.
Reheating sausage rolls in the oven will take 15 to 20 mins. Reheating sausage rolls in the air fryer will take 10 to 15 minutes.
😉 Substitutions and Variations
There are a couple of ways to switch this up a little to your preferences, try any or each of the following:
- Use sesame seeds instead of poppy seeds on to.
- Alternatively you can use dried thyme leaves.
- Serve the sausage rolls with a combination of tomato and BBQ sauce.
- Allow some apple sauce on the side for dipping and dunking!
- Make the sausage rolls longer or shorter to increase or decrease portion size.
- Use 1 large grated apple instead of the apple sauce.
- Add some grated carrot to the mixture.
Top Tip 6: There is no harm in hiding veggies in the mix if you want to do that. Zucchini and carrot are great options!
💡 Tasty Tips
Here are my tried and tested top tips and tricks for you to succeed with the recipe:
- Grab the pastry out to start, we need it to be thawed.
- Use plain pork sausages as we add our own seasonings.
- Preheat the oven before adding the sausage rolls.
- Use a silicon baking mat over parchment/baking paper/alfoil.
- The zip lock bag helps consistency, but you can also spoon the filling on and use your finger tips to form a long sausage.
🤓 Frequently Asked Questions
Does pork sausage have fennel?
Regular pork sausages don't have fennel.
Gourmet sausages come in wide variety of flavours, some of which do include fennel.
Check the packet which will list both the flavour and ingredients.
What is a sausage roll called in America?
Pigs in a blanket are the nearest things to Australian Sausage rolls in America.
Both are terms used to describe pastry (most often puff) wrapped around a sausage.
What are Australian sausage rolls made of?
Australia sausage rolls are often made from pork, pork mince, sausages, sausage meat, bacon, cheese, herbs and spices.
The 2 key ingredients are meat and pastry.
How do you keep sausage rolls from getting soggy on the bottom?
Silicon baking mats are a better option than parchment paper or baking paper. The firm mat will ensure that the base of the sausage rolls will not go soggy.
Do you put egg in sausage roll mixture?
This recipe uses a beaten egg to seal the pastry as well as brush the top of the pastry.
Brushing the pastry with the egg will ensure the top of the sausage rolls turns a lovely golden brown.
What does fennel taste like?
Fennel has a licorice like flavour about it.
It is quite unique and unmistakeable.
The seeds seem firm when dry, but blend in with the pork when cooked.
Can you prepare sausage rolls in advance?
Yes, you can make sausage rolls in advance.
Either prepare them and cook or freeze to cook at a later date.
What goes well with sausage rolls?
Sauce is the perfect accompaniment to serve the sausage rolls.
Choose either BBQ, tomato, apple sauce or relish.
What meat goes well with fennel?
Pork mince or ground pork is a great pairing with fennel.
It is often also used in pasta, beef or cooking with lamb.
What pastry is Sausage rolls made from?
Puff Pastry is the encasing that most sausage rolls are made from.
Some recipes will also use phyllo pastry.
😍More Easy Party Food Recipes
Is is the pastry or party food that drew you to this recipe? Here are a few more of each that you might like to try:
- Cheese and Tomato Pinwheels
- Easy Sausage Rolls
- Chorizo Sausage Rolls
- Easy Sausage Rolls
- Pork Mince Pasta
- Air Fryer Frozen Samosa
- Easy Air Fryer Frozen Mozzarella Sticks
- Golden Syrup Cornflake Cakes
- Coco Pop Crackles
- Christmas Sausage Rolls
The aroma when these are baking is second to none! Get your savory bake on my friends!
Adrianne xx
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📖 Recipe
Pork and Fennel Sausage Rolls
Equipment
- 1 Chopping board
- 1 Sharp Knife
- 1 Silicon Baking Mat
- 1 Baking tray
- 1 Food processor
- 1 Zip lock bag
- 1 Scissors
- 1 Small mixing bowl
- 1 Pastry Brush
- 1 Mini whisk to beat the egg
Ingredients
- 500 grams pork sausages Note 1
- 500 grams pork mince Note 2
- 1 tablespoon dried fennel seeds
- 1 tablespoon dried onion Note 3
- 3 tablespoon apple sauce Note 4
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 5 puff pastry sheets Note 5
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds Note 6
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C / 350-375°F / Gas Mark 4-5.
- Remove frozen puff pastry sheets from the freezer and allow to thaw. Note 7
- Use a sharp knife and chopping board to remove the casing from the sausages. (Discard).
- Add pork mince, pork sausages, fennel, apple sauce, dried onion, salt and pepper to the food processor (dice blade). Blitz for 20 to 30 seconds to combine.
- Working one sheet at a time, place thawed puff pastry sheet onto chopping board. Spoon pork sausage mixture into a zip lock bag, squeeze out excess air and cut a corner approximately 1.5 cm.
- Pipe the sausage mixture onto the pastry in one log line. Roll the pastry over and use the beaten egg to seal the gap with a slight over hang.
- Cut the long sausage roll into 4 even portions. Place these onto baking tray.
- Use a pastry brush to coat the top of each sausage roll with egg. Sprinkle poppy seeds over each.
- Place on the middle shelf in the oven and bake for 25 to 30 mins.
- Serve with sauce.
Notes
- Note 1 Use regular pork sausages. The plainer you can get the better. We add our own seasonings so the sausages don't need to be gourmet or have additional ingredients.
- Note 2 Drain any excess moisture from the mince before putting it in the food processor. In USA, this is also known as ground mince.
- Note 3 This saves time and tears, it involves no chopping! You will find it in the herbs and spices section of the supermarket. Dried onion and dried onion flakes are the same thing.
- Note 4 If you want to, you can use ½ cup grated apple in place of the apple sauce.
- Note 5 I find it handy to always have some of these in my freezer. They are so versatile!
- Note 6 As an alternative you can use sesame seeds or dried herbs (such as thyme).
- Note 7 Frozen Puff Pastry sheets that are not fully thawed will crack when you try and roll them. Avoid this by ensuring that the sheets are fully thawed prior to use.
- I use 5 sheets of puff pastry and make 20 sausage rolls. You can also cut them into smaller portions and make 25 sausage rolls from 5 sheets of pastry.
Nutrition
Recipe published April 2022, updated October 2022 with more tasty tips for you 😘😉💗!
Megan says
Wow these sound so good, can't wait to try them. Thanks
Adrianne says
No worries thanks Megan! I appreciate your feedback.
Phillipa Nolan says
Made these last night for the family dinner so good thank-you.
Adrianne says
Great to hear, thanks Phillipa, I hope everyone in the family loved the recipe!