Ever since the introduction of the air fryer in 2010, it has speedily moved to be one of the best methods of convenient cooking; it evenly distributes heat when cooking, which is why it is the perfect equipment for making Italian sausage. It cooks the sausage properly on all sides, making the outer layers crisp while giving you time to sit back and relax.
Making an Italian sausage in an air fryer is a great way of cooking it. Still, some important factors have to be applied, especially if you aren’t familiar with an air fryer before you get the perfect result. In this article, I will cover everything, including the cooking time, cooking temperature, and many other great tips to make your cooking easy and delicious.
Sausage Nutrition Facts
Tips to Note when Cooking the Italian Sausage in an Air Fryer
Italian sausages may seem simple to make, and they are simple actually, but to get a good result, there are some tips you should note, which include:
Don’t overcrowd the air fryer- when using the air fryer, make sure not to pack too many sausages at once; try to place your sausages well, not on top of each other but with little spaces around them; placing them properly would allow the heat evenly distribute through the sausages which would cook them well to the desired doneness and texture.
Clean your air fryer before making Italian sausages- cleaning the air fryer before use is beneficial, especially when you’re making sausages; cleaning it prevents the unwanted flavor from previous meals in your current meal, but it also helps the sausages cook properly.
Sausages contain some fat, and these fats, when exposed to heat, cause smoke in the air fryer which is why It is advisable to use parchment paper at the bottom of the basket to catch any excess drippings from the sausage or even put water are the bottom of the basket.
Avoid making holes on the sausage- Sausages contain some juices and fat, which are sealed with the casing it often comes with; when you poke the Sausages, it gives these juices the chance to slip away, which may not be the best idea if you’re trying to get the best out of your sausages. This fat or juices in Sausages helps with the intense flavor we all love to taste in sausages at the end of the day, so it’s important to leave them in; plus, poking the sausages only creates a mess at the bottom of your air fryer.
However, it’s optional how you like to cook your sausage, so if you want to poke them, use some parchment paper at the bottom of your air fryer.
Preheating the air fryer first- preheating the air fryer to the required cooking temperature before cooking allows the food to cook properly from the outside, which helps in locking the moisture in; this works well with the Italian sausages too. Although, if you are using parchment paper to line your air fryer, always preheat the air fryer without them.
Use some aluminum foil when cooking many Sausages- if you have a small air fryer or plan to make a lot of sausages, you could fry them in batches. If you’re worried about whether they would keep warm for long, you could easily use aluminum foil to wrap them and place them in a warm oven until you’re ready to use them.
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Cooking Time for the Italian Sausage in an Air Fryer
The table below shows the estimated cooking time for an Italian sausage using an air fryer with two different cooking temperatures.
Cooking Method
Cooking Time
Cooking an Italian sausage in an air fryer at 350° F.
20 minutes
Cooking an Italian sausage in an air fryer at 400° F.
15 minutes
Print
Air-fried Italian sausages (4 servings)
Ingredients
- 4 Italian sausages (from any brand of your choice)
Equipment
- Air fryer
- Tongs
- Cooking spray
- Meat thermometer (optional)
- Parchment paper (optional).
Instructions
- You could either preheat the air fryer before adding your sausages or after adding your sausages, but for the best results, preheat the air fryer to 350° F.
- Remove the sausages from the packaging and place them properly without overlapping each other in the air fryer basket. (You could use some cooking spray on it before placing the Sausages, or you could choose not to).
- Place the air fryer basket back in and cook for about 25-20 minutes at 350° F.
- Half the time the sausage is put in or about 6-7 minutes after cooking, remove the air fryer basket and flip them to the other side.
- Let it cook for the remaining time and remove it when the time is up when it’s brown and crisp on the outside, it should be well cooked by now, but if you have a meat thermometer, you could check if it has gotten to a safe internal heat temperature of 160°F.
- You could serve the sausages in between buns with some veggies and mustard, or you could slice them up and serve with any topping or recipe.
Cooking in an air fryer is simple, and if you’d like more ideas or a better visual tutorial on how to cook Italian sausage in an air fryer, then you should check out this video recipe.