October marks the first full month of fall. It’s the season of pumpkins and pumpkin spice. Friday night lights and horror nights. But let’s be real: the true reason for the season is National Sausage Month.
To celebrate properly, we’ve rounded up 31 types of sausage from around the world—one for each day of this glorious month. Narrowing it down was harder than stuffing a casing without bursting it. Honestly, we could make it National Sausage Year and still struggle to stop at 365. But in the spirit of fairness, we curated a list that spans the global sausage diaspora: classics, regional favorites, unexpected links, and of course, our own chicken sausage.
Some of these sausages can be found at your local butcher if you know where to look. Others might require a passport. And hey, if you end up in the Balkans or Southeast Asia because you wanted to try a new sausage, that feels like the right kind of pilgrimage.
As they say (starting now): a sausage a day makes us all say hooray. Happy National Sausage Month—dig in.
1. Linguiça
Where it's from: Portugal
Why we love it: Much like neighboring Spain’s chorizo, Portugal’s linguiça gets its distinctive flavor from paprika, chiles, and garlic. The biggest difference? Linguiça is thinner, lighter, and has a letter in it you probably don’t know how to pronounce—despite the best efforts of your friend who spent three days in Sintra and considers themselves to be a Portugal expert. It’s “luhng-gwee-suh,” for reference.
2. Classic Roasted Chicken Sausage
Where it’s from: USA (and, specifically, our kitchen)
Why we love it: Because it's our firstborn, obviously. But we also honestly believe that this is the best chicken sausage on the market, and this leaner, cleaner chicken’s simple blend of white/dark meat, salt, and pepper forms the basis for all of The Sausage Project’s flavors. Essentially, we’ve captured the flavor of a rotisserie chicken in a natural pork casing, and this sausage is just as versatile: Use it as the basis for a protein-packed meal, a snack board, or toss it in a bun.
3. Longganisa
Where it's from: Philippines
Why we love it: While longaniza is popular throughout Spain and Latin America, the Filipino longganisa (yep, double “g”) comes in dozens of regional styles. Some are garlicky, some sweet, and many get their signature red, yellow, or orange hue from achiote seeds. The ultimate breakfast move is long-si-log: longganisa with garlic fried rice (sinangag) and a fried egg (itlog). You might even score it at Jollibee, if you’re lucky enough to live near one.
4. Merguez
Where it's from: Maghreb (Morocco/Algeria/Tunisia)
Why we love it: In a minced-meat desert, merguez is the oasis to quench your sausage thirst. This spicy red meat from Northern Africa gets its color and punch from harissa chili paste and leans on cumin and paprika to make clear you’re in the Maghreb. Typically made of lamb, variants made with beef have become popular in France, too.
5. The Wursts
Where they’re from: Germany
Why we love them: German is basically synonymous with sausage, especially during the autumn, when lederhosen are in bloom and the whole world becomes a beer hall. Basically every town has its own special sausage, with an estimated 1,500+ varieties. To choose one would be a fool’s errand, but since we’re nothing if not fools for sausage, here’s a lightning-round mini list of the greatest hits you should seek/can probably find locally. All paired great with pretzels, beer, and polka music.
- Weisswurst (Bavaria): AKA Weißwauscht. AKA “the white one” if you don’t have an international keyboard. Veal-based, mild, and famously eaten before noon with mustard and pretzels.
- Gelbwurst (Bavaria): AKA The “yellow one.” AKA known as “children’s sausage.” Fully cooked, bologna-like in texture, and spiced lightly. Sometimes pan-fried, sometimes a cold cut.
- Leberwurst (Northern Germany): Spreadable liver sausage—basically a tube of pâté and the first sausage your foodie friend tries to get you to eat when he starts talking about his love of offal.
- Blutwurst (Everywhere): Every culture has a blood sausage; Germany’s is a classic.
- Bockwurst (Berlin): A mild, smoky sausage best paired with the beer in its name.
- Knockwurst (Holstein): Named for the literal “knock” or pop you hear when biting through its casing and get a big rush of dopamine.
- Bauernwurst (Everywhere): A farmer’s pork-and-beef sausage, once made for preservation, now celebrated for flavor.
Eight down, 1,492 to go!
6. Lap Cheong
Where it's from: China
Why we love it: China has an immense variety of regional cuisines, and this Cantonese dried sausage combines sweet and savory flavors by combining sugar, soy sauce, and rice wine with pork. Rehydrate one and slice it, or use it like pancetta to add a Chinese twist to any recipe, including our take on classic fried rice, where lap cheong plays beautifully with our Classic Roasted Chicken Sausage.
7. Nduja
Where it's from: Calabria, Italy
Why we love it: Toast: It’s fine. But imagine toast with spreadable sausage smeared across it. Actually, you don’t need to imagine it: Nduja does that job. This spicy Southern Italian spackling will add a kick to any sandwich, pasta, or carb thanks to the fact that it’s positively packed with Calabrian chilis. In a culture overflowing with delicious sausages, Nduja is having a global moment. And like most sausages from Italy, it pairs wonderfully with wine and cheese.
8. Hot Link
Where it's from: Southern USA
Why we love it: “Hot link” isn’t just using a direct URL to a video or image asset on a website; it’s a direct line to Emeril Lagasse’s heart, and likely what fills his arterial walls. Born in Louisiana and essential to Cajun and Creole cuisine across the South—as well in Texas pits and on Chicago BBQ plates— this blend of pork and beef hits with a dash of red pepper flakes or cayenne. Bam!
9. Black Pudding
Where it's from: UK/Ireland
Why we love it: How much cooler would lunchtime have been in elementary school if you pulled a pudding cup out of that brown bag and the pudding was sausage?! Well, in fact, this essential component to an English full breakfast has little to do with the dessert treat, other than it contains a melange of ingredients, including (usually pork) blood, fat and some type of grain, like oatmeal or barley flour. Way better than vanilla! In a sausage culture where bangers reign supreme, black pudding is a sneaky MVP.
10. Chistorra
Where it's from: Navarre/Basque Country, Spain
Why we love it: Chistorra can probably take most of the credit for Northern Spain owning most of the country’s winners of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Right? Right? Well, even if that’s misattributing sausage culture, this smoky, paprika-forward link often finds itself pinned to pintxos—Northern Spain’s equivalent of tapas—much to the delight of anyone who’s ever wanted to eat a tiny, open-faced sausage sandwich while standing up in a bar and mispronouncing words they learned in high school.
11. Pepperoni
Where it’s from: USA
Why we love it: October 11 is National Sausage Pizza Day (did you forget to get a card for your mom?!). And while we adore a pizza topped with our Italian Herb Chicken Sausage, we have to give a nod to the humble pepperoni. Contrary to popular belief, this isn’t exactly an old-world sausage. It was invented by Italian immigrants in 1920s New York, where it somehow became more synonymous with pizza slices than third degree burns on the roof of your mouth. Will a traditional pizzaiolo scoff at its use abroad? Sometimes. But hey, more cup & char for us.
12. Taiwanese Sweet Sausage
Where it's from: Taiwan
Why we love it: Sure, you could eat fruit or fried chicken at the Raohe Street Night Market in Taipei, but the snap of the casing and that sweet, fatty, salty flavor when you bite into a sausage on a stick will make you wonder: What’s better than Taiwanese sweet sausage on a stick?
Two Taiwanese sweet sausages on a stick. That’s the only real answer.
13. Barbados Black Pudding
Where it’s from: Barbados
Why we love it: A fantastic blood sausage straight out of Barbados, this classic gets its heft from shredded sweet potatoes and onions and its kick from bajan seasonings. A browning sauce makes its name slightly misleading, but who cares about semantics when it’s this delicious. THe black pudding is one of two key ingredients in a national dish called pudding and souse, which also sounds like it could be deep cut on a Rhianna album.
14. Makanek
Where it’s from: Lebanon and Syria
Why we love it: Long before enterprising sausagemakers started studding their links with apples, Lebanese butchers found magic in packing lamb and beef sausages with aromatics like cumin, cinnamon, and cloves. The resulting bite-sized sausages bring some serious flavor to a mezze plate, especially when they’re punched up with pomegranate molasses.
15. Japanese Arabiki Sausage
Where it's from: Japan
Why we love it: A staple in bento boxes and konbini (convenience stores that sell food people actively want) everywhere, arabiki represents Japan's knack for improving Western concepts through obsessive attention to texture. In this case, “arabiki” means “coarsely ground,” which means full chunks of pork that burst with juice, not the homogeneous paste of lesser links. It's the sausage equivalent of Japan’s whisky beating Scotland at a game it invented.
16. Melty Cheddar Chicken Sausage
Where it’s from: USA
Why we love it: When chef Kirk Gilbert started really obsessing over The Sausage Project, he had ice cream on his mind. That’s how he came up with the idea of Flavor Studding: Basically, think of Classic Roasted as TSP’s vanilla: delicious base for new flavors. That makes our chunks of creamy cheese in Melty Cheddar sort of like chocolate chips. Except, you know, cheese. The result? All the flavors you love about roasted chicken, but punched up with cheese that makes every bite better.
17. Chorizo Verde (Toluca)
Where it's from: Mexico
Why we love it: Green sausage? Why yes, and you’ll be saying “¡Si, me gustan mucho, Juan Ramón!” (this is the equivalent of “I do! I like them, Sam-I-Am” in Spanish, just like in Green Eggs and Ham) when you bite into chorizo verde. The color comes from a combination of cilantro, poblano peppers, and tomatillo to give you a Mexican sausage that tastes as good as it looks strange.
18. Kielbasa
Where it’s from: Poland
Why we love it: Technically, kielbasa is a catch-all term to hit all the deliciousness of Poland’s sausage diaspora. But your brain is almost certainly thinking of the deliciously salty U-shaped kielbasa Polska, which is ubiquitous in blue-collar cities around the Rust Belt, where you’ll find it served alongside sauerkraut, in pierogi, and next to a chilly bomba of beer.
19. Sai Ua
Where it's from: Northern Thailand
Why we love it: Northern Thai cuisine doesn't trifle with subtlety—it kicks you in the tastebuds with lemongrass, kaffir lime, galangal, and enough herbs to make a farmers market jealous. Sai ua stuffs all that aromatic chaos into a casing, and when the outside chars, the herbs inside release their oils like a hungover American stumbling around the day after a Full Moon Party. Pair it with sticky rice and som tam, and wash it down with a cold Singha for the full Chiang Mai experience.
20. Chorizo Criollo
Where it's from: Argentina/Uruguay
Why we love it: If you’ve never had choripan, you’re living upside down: This simple sandwich of chorizo criollo on crusty bread, topped with chimichurri, is to Argentine food what Leo Messi is to soccer. Don’t confuse chorizo criollo with Spanish chorizo, either: This raw, uncured sausage plays a central role in every asado, the South American idea of a backyard barbecue, and would win the Golden Ball as the best player if grilling out were the World Cup, to take the analogy way too far for an article about sausages.
21. Boerewors
Where it’s from: South Africa
Why we love it: There’s something extra enticing about seeing a ring of sausage sizzling over coals. Luckily, if you’re in South Africa, you’ll see just that everywhere. And when somebody cuts off a big old hunk of boerewors and plops it in a roll—which they do, often at barbeques (braais) or at a street stand—the combo of juicy meat (usually beef, sometimes pork and lamb) and a spice rack’s worth of cloves, nutmeg, coriander, and allspice hits you like a wave of pure comfort.
22. Italian Herb Chicken Sausage
Where it’s from: USA (with ingredients straight from Italy)
Why we love it: All the flavors you love about classic Italian sausages are present in these juicy links, minus the fat. These chicken sausages are studded with imported Calabrian chilis, roasted garlic, basil, fennel, and other goodness that makes this link perfect for Italian-style sausage sandwiches, punching up your favorite pasta, spicing up a scramble, or creating the perfect pizza. It’s all the flavors an Italian nonna spends all day imparting in your favorite dish, minus all the questions about when you’re finally going to give her more grandchildren.
23. Falukorv
Where it’s from: Sweden
Why we love it: A Swedish smorgasbord is a wonder to behold, but that awe isn’t limited to wondering how so many different forms of pickled herring exist. Swedes also love sausage, and like neighboring Germany it seems every kommun has its own official sausage. On a more populist note, itty-bitty prinskorvs (basically cocktail weenies) are the most ubiquitous, but don’t sleep on falukorv, which sort of resembles a chunky ring bologna and is often served hasselback-style as a mid-week treat.
24. Choris
Where it’s from: Southwest India
Why we love it: Who needs a melting pot when you can mingle international flavors in a natural casing. These tasty links from Goa are a local twist on Portuguese and Spanish chorizos—spicier, fattier, and much more acidic. That makes them absolutely banging in curries, stews, or on bread.
25. Sujuk / Sucuk
Where it’s from: Turkey
Why we love it: Like a great Turkish coffee, sujuk is guaranteed to wake you up with its intensity. Packed with garlic, cumin, and red pepper, this dry, cured beef sausage is so rich it practically seasons itself (and your pan). Fry up a few slices and you’ll get a sizzling oil perfect for eggs, bread, or just mopping with your fingers.
26. Reindeer Sausage
Where it’s from: Alaska
Why we love it: Alaska’s most famous delicacy—with respect to baked Alaska, which… isn’t Alaskan—was perfected by the native population as a way to preserve wild game. It’s one of the state’s most enduring flavors for great reasons: It’s smoky, salty, and gamey in a way that hits perfectly each and every time. And in case you were wondering, yes, it’s great on a Christmas charcuterie board.
27. Boudin Blanc
Where it’s from: France
Why we love it: Boudin blanc may sound like the long-lost cousin of Daniel Craig’s detective, but it’s actually a pale, delicate sausage made with pork, veal or chicken, milk, and breadcrumbs. It’s mild, versatile, and often enjoyed around the holidays. Its cousins are impressive too: French boudins inspired Belgium’s version, and though Cajun boudin took its own path (adding rice, onions, and spice), the family resemblance is there. Either way, we’re just glad this Blanc is easier to chew on than a Southern drawl.
28. Ćevapi / Ćevapčići
Where it’s from: Balkans
Why we love it: These skinless, stubby sausages are basically the Platonic ideal of Balkan street food in Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, and other sausage-obsessed countries. Grilled over open flames, stuffed into fluffy lepinja bread, and topped with onions and kajmak (a tangy, lumpy cream), ćevapi are less about fancy spice blends and more about juicy simplicity. They’re proof that sometimes the best sausage doesn’t even need a casing to win hearts—or fuel Balkan barbecue rivalries, which are delightfully bountiful.
29. Sundae (Soondae)
Where it’s from: Korea
Why we love it: Korea’s beloved street-food sausage is a total curveball: it’s steamed blood sausage stuffed with glass noodles, perilla leaves, and aromatics. Served sliced and dipped into a mix of salt, chili powder, and sometimes gochujang, soondae is savory, chewy, and wildly comforting. You’ll find it from Seoul night markets to countryside snack stalls, proving once again that “blood sausage” is a global love language.
30. Jerk Sausage
Where it’s from: Caribbean (especially Jamaica)
Why we love it: Jerk seasoning—built on Scotch bonnets, allspice, thyme, and cloves—is already a powerhouse of Caribbean cooking. Stuff all that fire into a sausage casing and you get jerk sausage, an island-style link that balances smoky heat with aromatic spice. Will it make you sweat? Well, yeah, but that’s why you should eat it on a beach.
31. Frankfurter/Wiener
Where it's from: Vienna, Austria
Why we love it: As the story goes, once upon a time a German immigrant brought the Frankfurter, a parboiled sausage in sheep’s intestines, with him to New York. Imagine how bad his pocket smelled!
But thus was born the humble hot dog, a food that is quintessentially American in that it a.) is delicious and b.) came from somewhere else before Americans ignored its origins and claimed it as their own (see also: hamburgers). Regardless, the Frankfurter (demonym for Frankfurt, Germany) and the wiener (demonym for kids who eat glue in kindergarten and people from Vienna, Austria) have been delicious for centuries.