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
- How Long To Cook Them
- Why Cook Sausages In The Air Fryer?
- How To Cook Sausages In The Air Fryer
- Types Of Sausages Can You Air Fry
- Heating Fully-Cooked Sausages In The Air Fryer
- Podcast Episode: Cooking Air Fryer Sausages
- Air Fryer Sausages Recipe
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!
Podcast Episode: Cooking Air Fryer Sausages
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make these sausages, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
Print
Air Fryer Sausages Recipe
- Prep Time: 1 minute
- Cook Time: 9 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 3 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Air Fryer
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
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.
Ingredients
- 6 Italian sausages
Instructions
- Poke the sausages in 3 places each with a sharp knife, breaking through the casing.
- Arrange the sausages in a single non-overlapping layer in the air fryer.
- Cook at 400°F until well browned and no longer pink inside, 9-12 minutes.
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This post originally appeared in June 2020 and was revised and republished in March 2021.
Came out awesome
Thanks for the comment and rating, and for letting me know you liked it, Michael. I appreciate it!
Thank you. They came out perfect at 400 12 minutes. I could never tell when sausages were done and had a tendency to over cook them.
Nan, You’re welcome. I’m glad this helped you out. I used to have a similar problem where they’d be too dark and dry on the outside before cooking through. The air fryer is such a game-changer. Thank you for the comment and rating. I appreciate it!
Do not prick the sausages before cooking. Drains important juices!
Air fryer sausages are great. Except for charcoal grill, best way.
It’s so easy and they turn out great! Thanks for visiting, Rick.
thank you for the information
Air fryer cooking new to me. I should be able to cook the sausages as suggested. what I need to know about cooking is do i need to use cooking oil for any other food I may want to cook?
It will depend on the recipe, James. I will let you know that it’s best to oil the food before it goes in and not to directly spray cooking oil into the air fryer.
I was a bit doubtful, as sausages can burst, but tried this way anyhow. The results were amazing! I like pure pork sausages, and these were delicious. Thanks for the info.
You’re welcome, Del! I’m so glad you gave it a chance.
I tried this with Italian sausages. They were the most perfect sausages I’ve ever made! So brown and crunchy. I can’t imagine ever cooking them a different way again. Thank you!
Cheryl, I know, right? I still can’t get over how well it works!
Really cool recipe. Especially keen time is short
Yes, makes things so much easier. Enjoy, Terisha!
How do I get my air fryer to 400? Mine only goes to 200. On air fryer.
All air fryers should go to at least 400°F, which would be about 200°C. Is it possible yours is in Celsius, Carol? If not, let me know what brand and model you have and I can try to help you with the settings.
Omg thank you! I love sausages but hate cooking them. I’m always afraid of not cooking them all the way inside. 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!!!
You’re welcome, Jill! I love being able to give easy solutions.
Hi, Celius temperature would be nice, it’s used all over the world.
That would be about 200°C, Terry. Most of my readers are in the US, but I’ll take that into consideration, thank you.
great, simple recipe. it worked perfectly.
Wonderful! Thanks, GC.
Thank you so much! This was as quick and easy as it gets!
You’re welcome, De!
Thank
These came out perfectly! Thanks so much for this quick and easy method. Can’t see myself frying sausaage ever again.
You’re so welcome, Mary!
Are your cooking times with preheating or without? Thank you.
For the sausages, I don’t actually bother preheating and it doesn’t seem to affect the amount of the final cooking time, John. A good way to do it is to turn the air fryer on (thus, essentially pre-heating it) and then get your sausages out of the fridge and out of the package. By that time, it’s ready enough to put the sausages in.
Oh my goodness, this will forever change the way I make sausages! I’m always paranoid about them not being fully cooked so when I fry I hover over them turning very frequently to get both even browning and fully cooked. Never did I think I could get the same results virtually hands-free!! 15 mins in the air fryer and I only turned them once and they came out beautifully!! Thanks so much for sharing this!!
You’re welcome, Priscilla! Always happy to make someone’s life easier.
Do you cook it on air fry or bake?
The air fryer we used for this recipe has temperature options, not different cooking options. As long as you can set it to air fry at 400°F, that’s the option you want.
I love this how you cook them 9 to 12 minutes I actually put them in for 13 minutes at 400 for Italian sausage and that would be the hot Italian sausage
Thank you for sharing what timing worked for you, James.
Thank you. I have the air fryer lid for the IP and always used the broil function for sausages but now I see the air fry function works better. Mine were pretty big and crammed in there so they took 15 minutes but came out perfectly. Everything I try from your site turns out so well. You’re becoming my go-to gal when I need to get something new right on the first try.
Hope you and yours are safe and well.
That’s so sweet, Diane! So happy you’re loving all the recipes, I’ll keep them coming!