Sausages are a crucial element of many dishes, from a full English breakfast to a classic bangers and mash dinner. They can be enjoyed at any time and paired with many other ingredients and side dishes. Most people would typically cook sausages in a frying pan with some oil. However, many can agree that using a pan can result in a messy cooking area and, even worse, sausages that are not cooked evenly.
According to Christine Pittman, recipe developer and founder of cooking website, Cook the Story, there is a better method when it comes to cooking sausages. One that’s “hands-free, quick” and results in sausages that “turn brown and crispy on the outside, and juicy in the middle.”
The method in question is using an air fryer.
She wrote: “My favourite thing to cook in the air fryer is sausages. Truly. They turn out well-browned on the outside, juicy inside, and the fat drains away so the sausages don’t cook in it.”
You can cook whatever kind of sausages you like in the air fryer, including thin breakfast sausages, thicker Italian ones, and even sausages that are already cooked, to give them a bit more of a crisp.
The best thing about cooking sausages in the air fryer is that regardless of what kind of sausage you pop in they can all be cooked at the same temperature. Ms Pittman says she likes to “crank [her] air fryer all the way to 400F when cooking sausages” which is equivalent to about 200C.
She added: “That makes sure that they get a nice crispy brown crust on the outside. It also means that they won’t be in there as long, so they’re less likely to dry out.”
When it comes to how long you should cook your sausages, it really depends on the size.
Thinner sausages, like breakfast ones, will only need between eight and 10 minutes in the air fryer for them to come out crispy on the outside and fully cooked on the inside. To cook thicker sausages, only a few extra minutes are needed, and they can be cooked for between nine and 12 minutes.
It is always recommended to cut into one of the sausages before serving to ensure it is not pink inside.