Air Fryer Sausages

Cooking sausages in the air fryer is hands-free, quick, and the sausages turn brown and crispy on the outside, and juicy in the middle.

When I first got my air fryer I thought I’d be using it for foods that are traditionally fried. However, it turns out that the air fryer can be used like a mini oven in which you can cook just about anything.

Video: Air Fryer Sausages

Temperature For Cooking Sausages

I’ll give more details below, but if you came here to find out what temperature to set your air fryer to when cooking sausages, I crank my air fryer all the way up to 400F. 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.

How Long To Cook Them

This depends on the size of the sausages, and when I say size, I really mean thickness. For thinner sausages, like breakfast sausages, they’ll take about 8-10 minutes to get crisp on the outside and fully cooked inside. For thicker sausages like Brats or Italian sausage, it will be 9-12 minutes.

Whatever kind of sausage you have, you should cut into one and make sure it’s not at all pink inside before serving.

Why Cook Sausages In The Air Fryer?

Now that we’ve got the basics out of the way, let’s dive in to more details. I love using my air fryer to cook the meat portion of our dinners, like over here where I show how to cook ground beef in the air fryer, and how to make salmon with crispy skin. I find that it’s a great hands-free way to cook one thing if I need to pay more attention to something else.

That’s how I discovered that sausages are amazing when cooked in the air fryer. Unlike cooking them on the stove, when you put sausages in the air fryer, you don’t need to watch them or flip them or anything. They cook and brown evenly all the way around and you don’t have to do anything.

The result is a sausage with a crisp and brown exterior that is nice and juicy on the inside.

How To Cook Sausages In The Air Fryer

First, it depends on if the sausages are frozen or not. If your sausages are frozen, defrost them like this. For thicker links like Bratwurst and Italian sausages, you can also just go ahead and cook them straight from frozen like this (even if they’re frozen in a clump). For breakfast sausages, you can defrost them, or you can cook them straight from frozen as well.

For fresh or thawed sausages, use a paring knife or a fork to poke holes in the casings. For an average Italian sausage, I poke it three times with a knife. Poking the sausage is simply so that the fat is able to escape easily from the casing.

Next, arrange the sausages in a single layer in the air fryer basket. Set the air fryer to 400°F and then cook the sausages until they’re well-browned on the outside and cooked through in the middle if you cut into them. It takes about 8-12 minutes, depending on the thickness of the sausages and how many you have in the basket. See cooking times for different kinds of sausages above.

Types Of Sausages Can You Air Fry

You can do any kind of sausages in the air fryer, thin breakfast ones, thick ones, sliced or whole fully-cooked sausages. As mentioned, you can even cook frozen sausages in there. And they always turn out so good because the high heat really crisps the skin. Whatever kind of sausage you have, you’re using high heat and you’re cooking it until the skin is crispy and brown, and the inside is no longer pink. They’ll be so juicy and perfect!

“Omg thank you! I love sausages but hate cooking them… This was so easy, 10 mins and done and I didn’t have to do a thing. I will never cook sausage any other way again!!!”

JILL, COOKTHESTORY READER

Heating Fully-Cooked Sausages In The Air Fryer

The other kinds of sausages that you can cook in your air fryer are the fully-cooked ones that just need a little color and to be heated through. For kielbasa, I slice it about 3/4 inch thick and then arrange the slices in a single layer. Cook them for 4-5 minutes at 400°F, just until lightly browned in places. For a kielbassa ring, or unsliced kielbassa link, I cook it about 7 minutes at 400F, just to get some crispy skin.

You can get other kinds of fully-cooked sausage links at the grocery store. Wieners count, as do a variety of chicken sausages that usually have other flavorings too. For these, just put the links in a single layer in the air fryer basket and cook until heated through and browned in places, 5-7 minutes at 400°F. You don’t have to poke holes in the casings of these before cooking them.

I really hope you like cooking sausages in the air fryer. I find it to be such a delicious, quick, and easy way to do it and I think you will too! -Christine xo

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This post originally appeared in June 2020 and was revised and republished in March 2021.