Sausage is generally low in carbohydrates. Most varieties contain between 0 and 6 grams of carbs per 3.5-ounce (100-gram) serving, making it one of the lower-carb protein options available. The exact amount depends on the type of sausage and what’s been added during processing.
Carb Counts by Sausage Type
Plain meat sausages made from pork or beef with minimal additives can have essentially zero carbs. As you move toward more processed or seasoned varieties, the carb count rises slightly but stays modest. Here’s how common types compare per 3.5 ounces (100 grams):
- Pork sausage: 0 grams
- Beef sausage: 0 grams
- Breakfast sausage links (pork or turkey): 1 gram
- Chorizo: 2 grams
- Vienna sausage/frankfurter: 2 grams
- Bratwurst: 3 grams
- Andouille: 3 grams
- Turkey sausage: 3 grams
- Breakfast sausage beef patties: 3 grams
- Chicken sausage: 4 grams
- Italian sausage: 4 grams
- Kielbasa (Polish sausage): 5 grams
- Salami: 6 grams
Even at the higher end, 6 grams of carbs is less than what you’d find in a single slice of bread. For most people watching their carb intake, sausage fits comfortably into a low-carb or keto eating plan without much thought.
Why Some Sausages Have More Carbs
Meat itself contains virtually no carbohydrates. The carbs in sausage come from everything else that goes into the casing. Manufacturers add binders and fillers like flour, breadcrumbs, soy flour, corn starch, and nonfat dried milk to improve texture and hold the sausage together. Each of these contributes a small amount of carbohydrate.
Seasonings and curing agents also play a role. Dextrose (a form of sugar) is commonly used in cured sausages to feed the bacteria involved in fermentation or to balance salty and smoky flavors. Corn syrup, cane syrup, and dried fruit appear in flavored varieties. Even with all of these additions, the total carb count rarely gets very high because they’re used in small amounts relative to the meat.
Sweetened and Flavored Varieties
Maple, apple, and honey-flavored breakfast sausages are the most likely to push the carb count upward. A serving of three maple-flavored breakfast sausages (about 80 grams) contains roughly 5 grams of carbs, with 4 of those grams coming from sugar. Johnsonville’s Apple Chicken Sausage, which includes dried apples, corn syrup, and cane syrup, still comes in at only about 6 grams of carbs per 3.5-ounce serving.
These numbers are higher than plain sausage but still low by any reasonable standard. If you’re following a strict keto diet (typically under 20 to 50 grams of carbs per day), even sweetened sausage is unlikely to cause problems unless you’re eating large quantities.
How to Spot Hidden Carbs on Labels
If keeping carbs as low as possible matters to you, the ingredient list is more useful than the front-of-package marketing. Watch for these common carb-contributing ingredients: wheat flour, soy flour, corn syrup, corn starch, maltodextrin, breadcrumbs, dried fruit, and sugar in any form. A sausage listing just meat, salt, and spices will have fewer carbs than one with a long ingredient panel.
Fresh sausages from a butcher counter tend to have simpler ingredient lists than pre-packaged options. A basic bratwurst or Italian sausage from the meat case typically contains pork, salt, pepper, and a few herbs. That said, even mass-produced sausages rarely exceed 5 or 6 grams of carbs per serving, so the practical difference is small.
Sausage Compared to Other Proteins
Plain grilled chicken, steak, fish, and eggs all contain zero carbs. Sausage’s 0 to 6 gram range puts it just slightly above these whole-protein sources, and the gap is small enough that it rarely matters for meal planning. Where sausage can become a carb issue is in the company it keeps: a sausage on a bun adds 20 to 30 grams of carbs from the bread alone, and ketchup or barbecue sauce adds another 4 to 8 grams per tablespoon. The sausage itself is almost always the lowest-carb part of the plate.