These classic sausage rolls are the perfect snack food for parties and celebrations. You will love how easy these are to make as the sausage filling comes together quickly in a food processor before being wrapped up in perfectly flaky puff pastry. They taste just as you would expect from your local bakery – maybe better!
Whenever there is a party or a gathering and someone brings out a plate of mini sausage rolls and party pies, people will descend. They are a classic crowd favourite, but more often than not, they will taste a little dry and flavourless which is often compensated for by a huge dunk in tomato sauce.
These are classic sausage rolls, meaning the flavours remind me of those that you get from a local bakery while on a road trip. I have eaten many different sausage rolls from around the country, and the ones that I love the most have a rich, meaty but not overly fatty sausage filling surrounded by a thin layer of flaky pastry. These achieve exactly that.
I love making homemade sausage rolls because you know exactly what goes into them. You can control the flavours and they taste so much better than anything frozen you can get at the grocery store.
Key Ingredients
One of the best things about this recipe is that it uses real ingredients so you know exactly what goes into them.
- Puff pastry – frozen puff pastry sheets make this recipe super easy.
- Onion and garlic – adding flavour.
- Carrot – not only are we sneaking a little extra veg into the filling, but also adding essential flavour!
- Bacon – enhancing the flavour of the pork and adding that extra saltiness. It’s so delicious and what helps ensure these are the BEST sausage rolls.
- Pork and beef mince – for the best flavour use a combination of both but you can certainly make these with either all pork or all beef depending on your preferences.
- Egg – helps bind the filling together.
- Worcestershire sauce and tomato sauce – adds extra flavour and richness. Do not leave this out!
- Breadcrumbs – helps absorb the fat from the meat holding all the flavour and ensures the filling stays moist (sorry).
Step-By-Step Instructions
One thing that I think separates a bakery sausage roll with a homemade one is how fine the filling is. I’ve made a lot of sausage rolls, and I’ve finally found the secret to real ingredients and the prefect texture – using a food processor!
This machine is going to chop all of your veg for you, then mix that with your meat to create the perfect filling. It just makes the whole process so much easier and less messy.
Start by getting out your sheets of puff pastry and leaving on the kitchen bench to thaw. Next make your filling by adding your onions, garlic and carrot to the food processor and chopping until fine. This step is so much easier than doing so by hand and you get a perfectly fine chop meaning you wont find any big onion chunks in your filling!
Add in your bacon, pulse to chop, followed by the pork and beef mince. Continue mixing until all combined.
Finally add in your sauces, the egg and breadcrumbs and process until your mixture has come together.
Cut each sheet of pastry in half and divide your sausage filling evenly, using your hands to shape the filling into logs down the centre of each rectangle.
Brush the edge with egg wash and tightly roll the pastry up and around the meat so that the ends seal where the egg wash is. Cut each roll into 4 even pieces and place on a baking tray a few centimetres apart.
Brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Place trays in the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.
A note if you’re not Australian, that it is a requirement to serve these with tomato sauce. Tomato sauce here is pretty much ketchup but it is also not. It can be a place of much debate in our country around brands but in my house we usually have Heinz tomato ketchup so that is what I use, but any classic Aussie tomato sauce will do the trick.
What makes this the best sausage roll recipe?
For me, the best recipes are the ones that combine the least effort for the most flavour. These sausage rolls are:
- Easy
- Not dry
- Use real meat
- Full of flavour
Recipe FAQs
You can freeze these sausage rolls either cooked or uncooked, however I like to freeze after they are cooked for a grab and go style snack. Let them defrost in the fridge first if you want, or reheat them straight from frozen in the microwave or covered in the oven. I also love to use the air fryer to easily heat these up and keep the pastry crispy.
Yes, you can prepare sausage rolls in advance. After assembling the rolls, you can cover them tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours before baking.
More party food ideas:
Pork, Sage and Pancetta Gourmet Sausage Rolls
Easy Baked Beef Meatballs
Mini Beef Pies (Party Pies)
Thai Chicken Meatballs
Classic Sausage Rolls
Ingredients
- 3 sheets frozen puff pastry thawed
- 1 onion
- 1 small or ½ large carrot
- 2 cloves garlic
- 100 grams bacon
- 250 grams lean beef mince
- 250 grams pork mince
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon tomato sauce (ketchup)
- salt and pepper to taste
- ¾ cup breadcrumbs
- 1 egg for egg wash
- sesame seeds optional
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C and line 2 baking trays with oil spray or baking paper.
- Peel onion and carrot and roughly chop into quarters. Place in the bowl of a large food processor with the chopping blade attachment fitted, with the garlic and process for a minute until finely chopped. You may need to scrape down any larger pieces from the sides with a spatula before processing again.
- Add bacon and pulse until it is chopped up as part of the mixture as well. Add in pork and beef mince and again process for about a minute until mixture is combined. Add in egg, sauces and salt and pepper before pulsing again to combine. Finally add in the breadcrumbs and process the last time for about 20 seconds until mixture just comes together.
- Crack an egg into a small bowl and whisk up to make your egg wash.
- Get your thawed puff pastry sheets and cut in half so you have 6 rectangles. Using a pastry brush, add a strip of egg wash to the long edge of the rectangle at the top. Divide the sausage filling into 6 and shape into a log in the middle of each rectangle. Roll the pastry up and around the meat so that the ends seal where the egg wash is. Cut each roll into 4 even pieces and place on a baking tray a few centimetres apart. Brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Place trays in the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. Serve with tomato sauce or ketchup.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a guide only and is calculated using automated online tools, therefore we cannot guarantee the accuracy. We encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe.
Carolyn says
I actually substituted half the 3/4 cup of fresh bread crumbs with rolled oats..ie half rolled oats, half fresh bread crumbs. My family rated them as the best ever…much, much better than bought/bakery sausage rolls…even better than Villi’s
Sally says
I love this feedback from your family! Thanks so much Carolyn!
Sylvie says
What a classic appetiser, I’d never thought of actually making them instead of buying them – but there is no way I will buy them ever again now… delicious!
Sally says
They are so much easier to make at home than you think and taste so much better!
Robyn says
These are going to be a big hit in our house! I love the fact that you can freeze them cooked too.
Sally says
Makes it so much easier when you need something quick!