Easy Christmas Sausage Roll Wreath with Cranberries

Sausage roll wreath on a plate with cranberry sauce in the middle.

5 from 1 vote

Easy Christmas Sausage Roll Wreath with Cranberries

Meet your new stress-free holiday appetizer - a gorgeously golden, flaky Christmas sausage roll wreath filled with juicy sausage meat, festive cranberries, and crunchy pecans. It looks wildly impressive, takes just 10 minutes to prep, can be assembled ahead, and is pretty much guaranteed to steal the show at any Christmas party.

Prep Time10

Cook Time30

Total Time40

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: british

Keyword: christmas sausage roll wreath, christmas sausage rolls, easy sausage rolls, sausage roll wreath, sausage rolls, sausage wreath

Servings: servings

Calories: 317kcal

Author: Kate Phillips

Ingredients

1 lb sausages (use your favorite, good quality, free-range sausages or sausage meat - pork, chicken, or veggie all work), roughly 500g
½ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup pecans
¼ cup flaked almonds
A handful of fresh sage finely sliced (optional)
½ teaspoon salt
Black pepper
1 sheet puff pastry UK/AU/NZ: Use 1 ready-rolled sheet, approx. 35cm x 23cm or 14" x 9". US: Use 1 frozen puff-pastry sheet, thawed and gently rolled out into a larger rectangle - see notes
1 cup cranberry sauce divided
1 egg whisked
1 tablespoon sesame seeds optional

Instructions

Make the sausage mix.
Heat your oven to 400°F (200°C fan). Roughly chop the dried cranberries, pecans, and almonds, then add them to a large mixing bowl, along with the sage if you’re using it. Slice through the sausage casings and squeeze the meat into the bowl. Add ½ teaspoon of salt and a good grind of black pepper, then mix well until everything is combined.
Prepare your puff pastry.
Lay out a large piece of parchment paper on a flat surface, then place your sheet of puff pastry on it.
UK/AU/NZ: Use your puff pastry sheet as it is.
US: Roll your thawed puff pastry sheet out into a rectangle, roughly 14 x 9 inches.
Assemble the sausage roll.
Spoon 4 tablespoons of the cranberry sauce in a straight line down the middle of the puff pastry, about 2 inches wide (lengthwise). Pile the sausage meat mix onto the cranberry sauce line, and shape it into a long log. Try to keep this as equal as you can in terms of height and width.
Roll up the sausage roll.
Brush the whisked egg down one side of the pastry, next to the sausage log (this will help it seal). Fold the un-egg-washed side over the sausage log, then keep rolling the log over the egg-washed side to seal the pastry. Keep rolling, then turn over so the seam of the pastry is at the bottom of one very long sausage roll.
Form the wreath.
With the sausage roll seam side down, mark 11 roughly equal lines down the sausage roll, then cut each mark two-thirds of the way through the roll (leaving the top ⅓ uncut at the top of the rolls, so the wreath stays together). Carefully bring the two exposed ends together to form a circle.
Brush the pastry with a little more eggwash to help it stick. Gently twist each cut section over a quarter, so the exposed sausage meat is facing up. Brush the exposed pastry with the remaining egg wash, then sprinkle the top of the rolls with the sesame seeds if you’re using them.
Bake and serve.
Transfer the wreath (still on the parchment paper) to a baking sheet, then place it in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the pastry is super golden, puffed up, and the sausage meat looks firm and golden.
Serve warm, with the rest of the cranberry sauce in the middle of the wreath, for dipping.

Notes

PREP AHEAD: Form the wreath and then refrigerate it, covered, a day ahead of time, then just bake it when you're ready. You can also freeze the uncooked wreath and bake it from frozen - up the cooking time to 1 hour in this case.

SUBSTITUTIONS: Swap the dried cranberries for dried apricots, cherries, raisins, or figs, and the pecans and almonds for pistachios, walnuts, or cashews, or leave them out altogether. I like to throw in a handful of chopped sage leaves sometimes, for more festive flavor. Instead of cranberry sauce, you can use any chutney, relish, or sauce you like! A caramelized onion relish would be lovely, and I've used my favorite sweet chili jam and fig and tamarind relish before.

ALTERNATIVE DIPS: While cranberry sauce is classic, the wreath is great served with sweet chili jam, egg-free garlic aioli, spicy gochujang aioli, a drizzle of hot honey sauce, or even creamy tzatziki sauce for something fresh.

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