A sausage sizzle (also referred to as 'sausage in bread' or a sausage sandwich) is a grilled or barbecued food item and community event held in Australia and New Zealand. A

sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders. ...

(most commonly beef or pork) is served in

sliced bread Sliced bread is a loaf of bread that has been sliced with a machine and packaged for convenience, as opposed to the consumer cutting it with a knife. It was first sold in 1928, advertised as "the greatest forward step in the baking industry si ...

or a

hot dog bun A hot dog bun is a type of soft bun shaped specifically to contain a hot dog or another type of sausage. The side-loading bun is common in most of the United States, while the top-loading New England-style hot dog bun is popular in that regio ...

with grilled

onions An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the on ...

and various condiments, most commonly

tomato sauce Tomato sauce (also known as ''salsa roja'' in Spanish or ''salsa di pomodoro'' in Italian) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish, rather than as a condiment. Tomato sauces are ...

barbecue sauce Barbecue sauce (also abbreviated as BBQ sauce) is a sauce used as a marinade, basting, condiment, or topping for meat cooked in the barbecue cooking style, including pork or beef ribs and chicken. It is a ubiquitous condiment in the Southern ...

or mustard. Sausage sizzles are often served at community events in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

, and have become common features in the cultures of both nations. The term "sausage sizzle" came into common use in the 1980s and is used to describe either the food item itself, the

barbecuing Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke ...

technique or the nature of the event it may be served at. Sausage sizzles are generally held either as free community events or as fundraisers for charities, schools, sports clubs and other organisations. As such, ingredients and equipment are cheaply purchased or donated by suppliers. Fundraising sausage sizzles have become particularly associated with

elections in Australia Elections in Australia take place periodically to elect the legislature of the Commonwealth of Australia, as well as for each Australian state and territory and for local government councils. Elections in all jurisdictions follow similar princi ...

and the hardware chain

Bunnings Warehouse Bunnings Group Limited, trading as Bunnings Warehouse or Bunnings, is an Australian household hardware chain. The chain has been owned by Wesfarmers since 1994, and has stores in Australia and New Zealand. Bunnings was founded in Perth, Wester ...

Format

Most commonly, the main sale item at a sausage sizzle is a

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved ...

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

sausage (often colloquially referred to as a "snag"), cooked on a grill or barbecue and served on a single slice of white

sandwich bread Sandwich bread (also referred to as sandwich loaf) is bread that is prepared specifically to be used for the preparation of sandwiches. Sandwich breads are produced in many varieties, such as white, whole wheat, sourdough, rye, multigrain ...

, or a hot dog roll in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

Tomato sauce Tomato sauce (also known as ''salsa roja'' in Spanish or ''salsa di pomodoro'' in Italian) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish, rather than as a condiment. Tomato sauces are ...

is the most common accompaniment, and is usually available for no extra cost, although other condiments such as

and American mustard are regularly available. Grilled onions are often available, for free or at extra cost. Some sausage sizzles also offer the option of a white

bread roll Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made food ...

as an alternative to sliced bread.

Vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

gluten free A gluten-free diet (GFD) is a nutritional plan that strictly excludes gluten, which is a mixture of proteins found in wheat (and all of its species and hybrids, such as spelt, kamut, and triticale), as well as barley, rye, and oats. The inclu ...

options are infrequently available, but often sold at events with more extensive menus including hamburgers or complete meals. Cans of

soft drink A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common t ...

or bottled water may also be available for purchase, so as to maximise fundraising.

Prevalence

Australian elections

Sausage sizzles have become a recognised and expected addition to polling booths at Australian elections, with sausages at these stations nicknamed 'Democracy Sausages'. There was widespread media coverage of this in the 2013 and

2016 Australian Federal Election The 2016 Australian federal election was a double dissolution election held on Saturday 2 July to elect all 226 members of the 45th Parliament of Australia, after an extended eight-week official campaign period. It was the first double dissol ...

s, with the hashtag "#democracysausage" trending on Twitter. Twitter also added a sausage-in-bread emoji to the '#ausvotes'

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag that is prefaced by the hash (also known as pound or octothorpe) sign, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services such as Twitter or Instagram as a form of user-generated ...

on the day of the 2016 election, it was the most widely used emoji in relation to the election under that hashtag. During the 2016 election, the leader of the Australian Labor Party,

Bill Shorten William Richard Shorten (born 12 May 1967) is an Australian politician currently serving as Minister for Government Services and Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme since 2022. He previously served as leader of the opposition ...

, came under scrutiny for the way in which he consumed sausage in bread.

Bunnings Warehouse

Australian hardware chain Bunnings offers barbecue facilities at all of its stores for hire to community groups. Sausage sizzles at these locations usually occur on weekends and have become associated with the Bunnings brand. In 2016, when Bunnings expanded to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, it brought the sausage sizzle there as well, resulting in considerable media coverage.

References

{{Portal bar, food Australian cuisine New Zealand cuisine Sausage dishes Australian sausages New Zealand sausages

Format

Prevalence

Australian elections

Bunnings Warehouse

See also

References