These homemade Shortcrust Pastry Mini Sausage Rolls are a delicious combination of flaky and buttery shop-bought pastry with perfectly seasoned hearty sausage meat. They are the perfect appetizer or finger food for your Christmas parties and are also great for lunch boxes, picnics, or snacks. All you need is a handful of ingredients and 30 minutes to make these delicious Mini Sausage Rolls.
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These Shortcrust Pastry Mini Sausage Rolls are extremely easy to make and taste simply amazing. They are best when served fresh out of the oven while still warm with some homemade Tartar Sauce on the side. However, you can also enjoy them at room temperature or cold straight from the fridge.
Why This Recipe Works?
- It is easy and quick to make these hearty and buttery homemade Shortcrust Pastry Mini Sausage Rolls.
- They taste much better than shop-bought sausage rolls.
- These Mini Sausage Rolls freeze beautifully! You can either freeze them before or after baking and keep them for up to 3 months in the freezer.
- Sausage Rolls are a crowd-pleaser, they are loved by everyone including fussy eaters and kids.
- If you don't want to use ready-made shortcrust pastry, you can make your own in no time. Check out my Steak Pie recipe if you want to learn how to make a deliciously buttery shortcrust pastry from scratch!
Ingredients and Substitutes
Shortcrust Pastry
I use a ready-rolled pastry the size of 35 cm x 25 cm (14" x 10"). They are sold either fresh or frozen in large supermarkets. If using frozen pastry, defrost it completely in the fridge overnight and then leave it for 10 minutes at room temperature before using it.
You can use block shortcrust pastry if that's what is available and roll it out into a rectangle with similar dimensions.
Ready-made puff pastry also works great with this recipe.
Sausage Meat
They are usually sold next to bacon or sausages in the chiller section of supermarkets. Alternatively, you can use your favorite sausages to make mini sausage rolls. Simply remove the skin or squeeze the meat out in a bowl.
Other ingredients you will need for making Mini Sausage Rolls are:
- Shallots - You can also use a small onion for flavoring the sausage meat. Finely chop it and lightly sauté with garlic to bring the sweetness out of it.
- Egg - Egg white is used to bind the sausage meat and the egg yolk is used for brushing the pastry for a nice browning.
- Herbs - I use chopped parsley and thyme but you can also use rosemary, sage, or oregano.
Step-by-step Instructions
Making these delicious Mini Sausage Rolls is very easy and straightforward. However, to achieve the best results you need to follow a few simple steps:
Prepare the Filling
Place a pan on low heat, add olive oil and gently sauté shallots along with the garlic until soft and slightly caramelized.
Add the fennel seeds to the pan, sauté for another minute, and place them in a large bowl. When the sautéed shallots are slightly cooled down, add the sausage meat, egg white, chopped herbs, freshly ground black pepper, and salt.
Mix them until they are nicely combined, without overmixing.
Build the Sausage Rolls
Preheat the oven to 180° C (360° F). Unroll the shortcrust pastry on a lightly floured surface and cut it in half lengthwise to create two long rectangular pastries.
Divide the sausage mixture into 2, and lay them along the length of each of the pastry rectangles about 2 cm - 1" in from the edge.
Lightly brush the edge of both pastries with egg yolk and fold the pastry over the meat to create the sausage roll shape.
Cut each sausage roll into 8 with a sharp knife, making 16 mini sausage rolls in total.
Place the mini sausage rolls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Eggwash them with a pastry brush, and sprinkle on some sesame seeds and nigella seeds.
Bake them in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until the pastry is crispy and golden, and the filling is cooked through. You can check the doneness of the meat by using a cooking thermometer which is until the core temperature reaches 74° C (165° F).
Scroll down to the recipe card for the full, printable recipe!
How to Serve Shortcrust Pastry Mini Sausage Rolls?
These crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside mini sausage rolls are best when eaten fresh out of the oven, when still warm. However, they are still delicious when eaten at room temperature or even cold out of the fridge.
You can serve Mini Sausage Rolls during festive periods such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter as finger food along with Italian Rice Balls (Arancini), Crispy Duck Spring Rolls, Lebanese Falafel, and Pacanga Boregi.
They are also great when served as a snack, or as a picnic item as well as a light lunch when served along with some Sweet Potato Fries, Air Fryer Brussel Sprouts, Mediterranean Lentil Soup, or Cacik (Turkish Yogurt with Cucumbers).
Top Tips From The Chef
- Preheat your oven thoroughly to 180° C (360° F) before baking your mini Sausage Rolls.
- You can make these deliciously crispy and golden Sausage Rolls with ready-rolled puff pastry if you prefer.
- If using frozen shortcrust pastry, give it enough time in the fridge to defrost before using it for making Mini Sausage Rolls.
- Make sure the sausage meat is cooked until the core temperature reaches 74° C (165° F).
- You can use ground lamb or beef with a high-fat content to create these Mini Sausage Rolls for no-pork eaters.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, these Mini Sausage Rolls wrapped in shortcrust pastry freeze beautifully! You can either freeze them before or after baking and keep them for up to 3 months in the freezer.
The best way to reheat your leftover sausage rolls is to place them in a preheated oven (175° C -350° F) for 8 to 10 minutes, until they are piping hot. Alternatively, you can use your air fryer in "reheat" mode for 5 minutes. I don't suggest using a microwave as they won't crisp and you will end up with soggy sausage rolls.
Yes, you can prepare them up to 24 hours in advance, cover them with a cling film, and keep them refrigerated until you want to bake them.
You can store the leftover Mini Sausage Rolls refrigerated in airtight containers for up to 3 days.
Related Recipes
For more delicious party food recipes for the festive period why not try:
Did you make this recipe? Please let me know how it turned out! Leave a comment below and tag @cookingorgeous on Instagram and hashtag it #cookingorgeous.
I hope you enjoy the process of making these hearty and delicious Mini Sausage Rolls as much as you enjoy eating them! 🙂
Bon appétit! / Afiyet olsun!
Shortcrust Pastry Mini Sausage Rolls
Ingredients
- 320 g ready-made shortcrust pastry size of 35 cm x 25 cm (14" x 10")
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion or shallots (finely chopped)
- 1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
- ¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
- 350 g sausage meat
- 1 egg white
- ¼ cup chopped parsley
- 2 sprigs thyme (leaves only - finely chopped)
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg yolk (for the egg wash)
- 1 tablespoon nigella seeds
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Instructions
Preparing the Filling
- Place a pan on low heat, add olive oil and gently sauté shallots along with the garlic until soft and slightly caramelized.
- Add the fennel seeds to the pan, sauté for another minute, and place them in a large bowl.
- When the sautéed shallots are slightly cooled down, add the sausage meat, egg white, chopped herbs, freshly ground black pepper, and salt.
- Mix them until they are nicely combined, without overmixing.
Building the Sausage Rolls
- Preheat the oven to 180° C (360° F).
- Unroll the shortcrust pastry on a lightly floured surface and cut it in half lengthwise to create two long rectangular pastries.
- Divide the sausage mixture into 2, and lay them along the length of each of the pastry rectangles about 2 cm - 1" in from the edge.
- Lightly brush the edge of both pastries and fold the pastry over the meat to create the sausage roll shape.
- Cut each sausage roll into 8 with a sharp knife, making 16 mini sausage rolls in total.
- Place the mini sausage rolls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Eggwash them with a pastry brush, and sprinkle on some sesame seeds and nigella seeds.
- Bake them in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until the pastry is crispy and golden, and the filling is cooked through.
Notes
- Preheat your oven thoroughly to 180° C (360° F) before baking your mini Sausage Rolls.
- You can make these deliciously crispy and golden Sausage Rolls with ready-rolled puff pastry if you prefer.
- If using frozen shortcrust pastry, give it enough time in the fridge to defrost before using it for making Mini Sausage Rolls.
- Make sure the sausage meat is cooked until it reaches 74° C (165° F).
- You can use ground lamb or beef with a high-fat content to create these Mini Sausage Rolls for no-pork eaters.
- You can store the leftover Mini Sausage Rolls refrigerated in airtight containers for up to 3 days.
- These Mini Sausage Rolls wrapped in shortcrust pastry freeze beautifully! You can either freeze them before or after baking and keep them for up to 3 months in the freezer.
Nutrition
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Doreen
Love the idea of using shortcrust pastry, they’re perfect for sausage rolls. I’m looking forward to making a batch or two for Christmas!