How to Cook Breakfast Sausage + 5 Recipes

Are you one of those people who love a hearty breakfast? Whether it’s a lazy weekend morning or a busy workday, breakfast sausages are easy to prepare. There are many ways to cook breakfast sausages, but we’ve narrowed it down to the following five.

How to cook breakfast sausage in five different ways

Breakfast sausages are easy to cook. You can panfry both breakfast sausage links and patties or stick either in the oven to bake or in the air fryer. Breakfast sausage must cook until its internal temperature reaches 160 degrees and it’s not pink inside. If you don’t own a meat thermometer, cut one to check the color.

Pan-frying breakfast sausage

1. Preheat a nonstick skillet over medium heat for one to two minutes.
2. Add the sausage links or patties in a single layer to the pan, so each one cooks evenly.
3. Cook the sausages for 12 to 16 minutes. Frozen links or patties will take a few minutes more. Leave the sausage alone, so it doesn’t break, except to turn it once halfway through.
4. Line a plate with a paper towel and place the sausage there so the grease can drain off. After two minutes, they’re ready to eat.

Stove-top breakfast sausage

1. Add sausages to a saucepan with enough water to cover them. Add a ¼ cup extra for thicker links.
2. Cook the sausages over medium heat.  Bring the water to a boil, cover them, and cook for 10 minutes.
3. Take off the lid and continue cooking, turning the links every two minutes.
4. Panfry the links after parboiling if you prefer a crispier skin.

Baking breakfast sausage

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and layer sausage patties on it in a single layer.
2. Cook the sausages for around 20 minutes, flipping halfway through.
3. Remove the sausages from the oven, and let them drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Serve hot with other breakfast items.

Broiling breakfast sausage

1. Preheat the broiler to low for five minutes.
2. Stick the sausages on a broiler pan and place them inside the oven at least four inches from the top.
3. Broil the sausages for six minutes, turning them at three minutes.
4. Cook them until they are brown and crispy, and then drain the grease off on paper towels.

Air-frying breakfast sausage

1. Place the sausage links or sausage patties on the air fryer tray. Air-frying lets you cook sausages quickly with less grease than pan-frying.
2. Preheat the air fryer to 390 degrees.
3. Add the sausages to the air fryer when it’s preheated. Cook the links for 10 minutes, turning once halfway through.
4. Cook frozen sausages the same way but cook them for 12 minutes long.
5. Check to make sure the sausages are done by analyzing if there is no pink inside. A meat thermometer should read 160 degrees.

How to make homemade breakfast sausage patties

It’s easy to make homemade breakfast sausage patties using these simple steps. You can even freeze them after they are cooked.

• Combine ground pork, fresh sage, fresh thyme, fresh rosemary, minced garlic, and brown sugar. Use a hand mixer to combine.
• Form two-ounce balls and shape them into patties, pressing down gently in the center.
• Preheat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook the patties in a single layer for two minutes per a side until they are cooked through.
• Freeze leftover patties in a resealable bag.

How to tell if the sausage went bad

If the sausage links are grey and not pinkish, they’re spoiled. Additionally, if it’s slimy or smells funky after cooking the sausage, even if it looks fine, it has spoiled, and you should throw it away.

How to store breakfast sausage

Unopened raw breakfast sausages will stay good in the fridge for up to two days. Remember to check the sell-by date. You can prolong the life of these by freezing these. They’ll last a month or two in the freezer, especially if they’re double wrapped in foil or a sturdy freezer bag.

Cooked breakfast sausages should be put away within two hours after breakfast. They can be stored in an airtight container, and they will last for up to four days in the fridge. Cooked sausages can be stored safely in the freezer for up to three months.

How to use breakfast sausage

Breakfast sausage tastes hearty and satisfying and can be used in both savory and sweet breakfast dishes. Here are a few of our favorites.

• Sausage gravy and biscuits are a breakfast favorite. It’s hearty enough that some people enjoy it all Made out of a sausage roll, flour, whole milk, and spices, some people enjoy this hearty dish all day long.
• Pancake on a stick is similar to a corndog.  It’s a fun dish that involves attaching the sausages to pancake skewers and frying up the pancake dough around them.
• Sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwiches are the best, and adding softened butter and maple syrup to the toasted English muffin adds extra flavor.
• Sausage crescent rolls are pigs in a blanket made with sausage links.  Divide the crescent roll dough into eight triangles. Place a sausage at the wide end and roll it tightly up.  Add an egg wash and sesame seeds.
• Bread pudding is an elegant weekend breakfast. Sausage and maple pair beautifully together, so using brioche bread with breakfast sausages tastes like baked French toast. Adding melted ice cream improves the custard layer of the bread pudding.

Final thoughts on cooking with breakfast sausage

Many people enjoy eating breakfast sausages as part of a hearty breakfast. They are easy to cook, as long as you have a skillet or a baking sheet. Some people prefer cooking breakfast sausages in the air-fryer to avoid grease on their pans. Many recipes feature breakfast sausages, including the infamous sausage gravy and biscuits, to sweet options like a pancake on a stick. You can find many varieties of breakfast sausage and other ingredients in these recipes via Instacart.

Instacart

Instacart is the leading grocery technology company in North America, partnering with more than 1,400 national, regional, and local retail banners to deliver from more than 80,000 stores across more than 14,000 cities in North America. To read more Instacart posts, you can browse the company blog or search by keyword using the search bar at the top of the page.