Old-Fashioned Homemade Bologna Recipe
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Old-Fashioned Homemade Bologna is thick, meaty, and full of deep flavors. No wonder Grandpa enjoyed it with a smear of mustard and a slab of cheese on homemade bread!
This Homemade Bologna Recipe shows how radically food manufacturers have changed our taste expectations. That greasy, mushy pink stuff we’ve all eaten between slices of flat white bread is nothing like bologna used to be. Now you can enjoy it, too, with none of the guilt for eating the fatty, flavorless stuff from the store.
How to Make Homemade Bologna
It starts off simply enough, using ingredients you can pick up at any grocery store: meat, garlic powder, onion powder, liquid smoke, salt and a bit of brown sugar if you want. For equipment, you can get away with using a food processor, but a stand mixer is even easier.
Tender Quick is Optional…Sort Of.
One ingredient for this homemade bologna that you probably don’t have in the pantry (unless you cure a lot of meat at home) is Morton’s Tender Quick.
I’ve made it both with and without Tender Quick, and the flavor is much deeper when it’s used. If you’re skipping it, you may want to double the amount of garlic and onion powder, and possibly add a bit more liquid smoke.
Emulsifying is a MUST
Unlike the floppy pink slices from the store, old-fashioned homemade bologna is more like salami or summer sausage. That’s not to say it’s spicy, although you can certainly make it that way. The main difference is that homemade bologna is meaty.
That meatiness turned me off the first time because it seemed more like a burger than the smooth stuff of my childhood. A little research revealed the problem: I didn’t know to emulsify the meat by adding ice water before shaping and cooking it. That step has made a world of difference in the texture of my homemade bologna recipe.
Keep Things Chilled Throughout
Once you’ve combined the meat and ice water, you must transfer the bowl to the freezer. This step accomplishes two things:
- It allows the meat to firm back up before shaping.
- And it’s essential for food safety. Ten minutes should do it.
Wrap and Secure It
After chilling the emulsified mixture, take half of the meat out and shape it into a log. Wrap this tightly with plastic wrap and use a twist-tie to keep the ends shut, so the log maintains its shape.
Overnight Rest to Meld Flavors
Proceed with the remainder of the meat, then transfer the logs to the refrigerator to chill and rest for 24 hours. This step improves the flavor and lets the moisture in the beef move through the entire product.
After that, unwrap and cook it in the oven on a baking rack propped over a rimmed baking sheet, so excess fat can drip out without making the outside of the bologna greasy.
Why The Cooking Temperature Changes
The initial cooking time of 30 minutes at 300°F dries the exterior which helps the bologna maintain its shape. The rest of the cooking at 250°F for 2 1/2 hours cooks it all the way through, which is vital to food safety. Once cooked, let it cool completely before refrigerating or freezing for future use.
The result? A smooth yet meaty homemade bologna with a hint of smoky garlic flavor that’s perfect on homemade hamburger buns or with cheese and crackers.
Storage
If you skip the Tender Quick and use sea salt, you need to eat or freeze this homemade bologna within three days, just as you’d need to eat anything made of ground meat in that time frame. With the Tender Quick, which acts as a curing preservative, it’ll stay good for at least a month in the refrigerator.
Old-Fashioned Homemade Bologna
Equipment
- Food processor OR stand mixer
- Plastic wrap and twist ties
- Baking Rack
- Rimmed baking sheet
Ingredients
- 3 pounds ground beef no leaner than 80/20
- 1 cup water ice cold
- 1.5 teaspoon Morton's Tender Quick OR 1 tablespoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon all-natural liquid smoke flavor
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder May increase to 1 teaspoon if not using Tender Quick
- ½ teaspoon onion powder May increase to 1 teaspoon if not using Tender Quick
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor or stand mixer, combine all of the ingredients until smooth. Transfer the bowl to the freezer for 10 minutes before proceeding.
- Remove the bowl of meat from the freezer and divide the mixture in half. Using damp hands, form each half into a log. Compress it tightly as you work. Wrap each log in plastic wrap and use twist-ties to secure the ends tightly. Refrigerate flat for 24 hours.
- Preheat oven to 300° F / 150° C / gas mark 2.
- Remove plastic wrap from meat and carefully transfer both logs to a baking rack propped over a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, turning halfway through.
- Reduce heat to 250° F / 125° C / gas mark 1 and cook an additional 2 to 2½ hours to an internal temperature of 160° F. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Refrigerate up to 3 days. May be frozen for longer storage.
I never did like the store bought bologna that would always be in my lunch as a child. This seems like a time consuming recipe, but one I would like to try still. I’m so curious to know how real bologna tastes! Lol.
It does take a bit of time, but it’s fun and it makes really yummy sandwiches.
Hi there, glad i found your pin, however I’m looking to preserve longer. How would I do that? I make other deli meats and i water-bath them in jars, next in boily bags inside a can, to keep shape. Can I just store in vacuum bags in fridge or freezer?
Thank you😊
I haven’t tried water-bath canning this. But, as it states, if you skip the TenderQuick, eat it within 3 days or freeze it. If you use TenderQuick, it will stay good in the fridge for at least a month and you can freeze it for longer.
Except that neither liquid smoke nor tender quick are really old fashioned ingredients. At least not to the time when balogna was typically made at home. I would like an authentic traditional recipe for balogna if you find one.
Liquid Smoke has been around since 1865 and Tender Quick is simply a premeasured combination of salt, sodium nitrate, and sugar — which have all been used to cure meats for a few centuries. So exactly how old do you believe things need to be to be considered “old-fashioned”?
My mother in law used to make summer sausage using this same process. It is sooo much better (and healthier) than store bought. This sounds really good and would be so easy to make starting with 3 lbs of meat! Thanks for sharing on Busy Monday!
You’re welcome! If your mother-in-law would be willing to share her summer sausage recipe, I have a husband who absolutely loves that stuff!
I would omit the liquid smoke and put the sausage in my smoker. I would also use the sea salt, but also the amount needed for the amount meat, of curing pink salt.
An excellent suggestion, Dave. I’ve been waiting for Spring to fire up our smoker, and this is now going on my list to try. What flavor of wood chip would you recommend?
i use a standard mix of about 60 to 70% Apple, the rest is Hickory, for a good smoke flavour on everything. And waiting fro Spring????? I do mine all winter long, even with 4 feet of snow in the back yard! I keep my smoker in my shed, at the back of the property and keep the route to it shoveled out all winter. I BBQ and Smoke most every weekend, all year long.
Alas, no shed here. My mean little homeowner’s association ruins all my fun! So I’m relegated to using a Weber smoker on the deck and, well, I’m a wimp so I wait until it’s warm outside.
Thanks for the suggestion on the wood mix. I happen to have some hog casings in the fridge and think I’ll give them a try!
Can curing salt be used instead tender quick?
I’ve never tried using it in this recipe, so I can’t really answer your question.
Joe, this is rather moot since the recipe clearly states to (a) cook the meat to a proper internal temperature; then (b) eat or freeze within 3 days.
I am so glad I found your recipe. It was delicious and I received many compliments. I only changed one thing and that was cutting down on the liquid smoke just a little. I smoked the two chubs on my Traeger 300 for 30 Minute’s then 250 for about two hours. It was perfect and so juicy. This is a keeper recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Next time I may add some red pepper flakes. Yumm.
Glad you enjoyed it, Andrea! Your addition of red pepper flakes sounds like a fantastic idea — I may try that next time, too!
We just made this and the only thing we changed with the process was we placed the meat in casings.
My dad and I have made hundreds of pounds of summer sausage so we are very familiar with how to do it.
The problem we had was that while we were cooking it we had a large amount of fat tender out them, we dumped the baking sheet 4 times and today when we went to vacuum seal them they were covered with fat and to scrape it off.
Have you ever experienced something like this?
Thanks
Mike, I’m sorry that happened for you. That’s why I don’t put them in casings as you do with sausage, because the casings keep the from completely rendering and baking down to form a bologna.
I’ve got this in the fridge now for cooking tomorrow. So simple! I cannot wait to cook it and try it. My boys are already salivating for it!
Doesn’t it smell amazing?
Just took this out of the oven and it is delicious!!
Going in the recipe book for sure!
Can’t wait to fry some up later to get a nice crispy edge and have it on a sandwich!
Thanks!
I am so glad you enjoyed it! Fried on a sandwich sounds delicious.
Good base recipe. We thought it definitely needed more salt and a little bit more of a “kick”. I will add 1 1/2 T. of the salt next time and add some pepper and maybe double the spices. Also, when the meat and water are in the mixer, I beat it on high for around 8 minutes and the texture seemed right to us. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing your tip on the time needed for mixing it! Glad you were able to tailor it to your tastes. 🙂
I am on a very low sodium diet and I miss my bologna sandwiches. Can I use potassium chloride instead of the salt and nitrites?
Hi Tammie,
Unfortunately, substitution isn’t safe in this recipe since the salt and nitrites act as preservatives.
Could you put this into a casing instead of plastic wrap and then smoke them?
You sure could, just make sure it hits the proper internal temperature.
I made this and it’s wonderful!
I made it with 81% ground beef and then canned it in wide-mouth pints for 90 minutes.
I’m so glad you liked it, Cheryl! Canning it sounds like a fantastic idea. Enjoy!
I can’t find the internal temperature anywhere in recipe or comments. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance.
Hi Lyn,
Ground beef products like this homemade bologna recipe should always be cooked to an internal temperature of 160. The times provided in the recipe will get you there. Enjoy!
Katie
I am excited to try this—smoking it shall be for the first batch! Does the fat content of the meat factor in much? I
Unfortunately, it does. The fat keeps it from drying out too much during the long cooking process and is essential for emulsifying.
What would you say if I wanted to add some peppercorns to the recipe. I too, would smoke in my Traeger.
I could see doing that, making it more like salami than bologna. Let me know how it turns out!
Some folks roll the bologna rollin pepper.
Really looking forward to making this. I don’t see what kind of beef to use(what fat percentage)
Hi Gary,
I’ve updated the recipe to reflect an 80/20 mixture is the leanest you should use.
Could you use a combination of pork and beef?
I haven’t tried it using pork. If you do, let me know how it turns out!
I had that same question.
We have started to add 1 # of ground pork and 2 #”s of 80% burger& black pepper and really enjoy eating it made this way.
That sounds good.
It does sound good, doesn’t it? I’ve had to stop eating pork due to an allergy, but please let me know how it turns out if you try it!
Gary,I have always added 1 # of ground pork and black pepper to this and we like it better this way.
Hello Katie,
I may have caught an error. One of the temperatures (250 degrees F) I worked out to 121 degrees C.
Hi Daniel,
Thank you so much for catching that. It’s fixed now. 🙂
Santa got a stand mixer for the family for X-mas and I just completed my first batch of homemade summer sausage. It was awesome. Now I want to try this bologna recipe. My ultimate goal is to make a homemade “Spiced Pork Loaf” for my wife. She was raised in Zanesville Ohio and grew up eating this local lunch meat. There are only two brands, Mattingly’s and Rittburger’s. You can’t get it anywhere else in the area. I think Mattingly’s may be out of business. If any one out there has a comparable recipe for this Zanesville delicacy I am dying to surprise my wife with a taste of her home town and her childhood.
only 1.5 teaspoons of the tender quick? also can you freeze one of the logs before baking it?
Hi Jack,
1.5 teaspoons of Tender Quick is correct. It’s there more for flavor than for curing.
As far as freezing before baking, I haven’t tried doing that but I’d be reluctant to do so. For one thing, I’d be concerned that freezing and defrosting would change the texture of the emulsified mixture. Also, I’d be worried that the flavor would get lost in the defrosting process. If you’re thinking of freezing because the recipe makes too much, you can halve it using the serving size option field. Or bake both and freeze one. Enjoy!
Hello Katie.
Would there be a problem with making have of the recipe for only one log?
Hi Jack. I’ve successfully halved the recipe, but it was more difficult to get the mixture emulsified due to the smaller amount of meat compared to the size of my food processor. It works fine in the mixer, though.
Hi Katie, i came across your Bologna recipe and decided to give it a try. I followed the steps exactly, only that I used 1 LB of beef instead of 3 and thirded the measurements.
Is the meat supposed to be pink before baking or after? It came out more like a meatloaf
Hi Rob,
Sometimes it does come out darker than others, depending on the type of liquid smoke used and whether you use Tender Quick or not. TQ helps it remain pink, and some liquid smokes have coloring agents to make things dark.