Hot Italian Sausage

Hot Italian sausage is a fresh pork sausage typically sold in plump links or loose bulk. It tastes fennel-forward with chile heat and a juicy, coarse grind, and browns well in a skillet or on the grill; common uses include crumbling into sauces and pastas, topping pizzas, or grilling whole for sandwiches.

Rooted in southern Italian styles seasoned with peperoncino and fennel, the hot variant became a staple of Italian-American cooking. It is produced as a fresh sausage (not cured), packed in natural or collagen casings and sold raw or par-cooked.