How to Cook Sausage in the Oven
Follow our straight-from-culinary school method for Cooking Sausage in the Oven, and it’ll turn out perfectly browned every single time, without any splatters of grease on your stovetop!
Cooking Sausage In The Oven Is The Easiest Way To Do It!
With over a million page views, my bacon in the oven and oven turkey bacon posts are among the most popular posts on this site. It turns out that the oven technique I learned in culinary school for cooking breakfast meats has resonated with a lot of home chefs!
You might have guessed that we also made breakfast sausage in the oven in culinary school, too! With stoves that were already full of all kinds of pots and skillets for the huge breakfast buffet the students would put on every morning, the oven was just the easier, cleaner way to go.
And it’s the easier, cleaner way to go at home, too. Once you’ve tried cooking your sausage links in the oven, you’ll never go back to the splattery mess of cooking them in a skillet.
Why You Will Love Sausage In The Oven
- No stovetop splatters. Sausage in the oven doesn’t splatter nearly as much as skillet sausage does, and even if it does, the splatters are inside your oven and not all over your counters.
- Leaves your free stovetop space for a griddle. Plenty of room to make pancakes or fried eggs without having to jostle a bunch of pans around between burners.
- The best way to prepare large quantities. You can fit much more sausage on a rimmed baking pan than you can in a skillet.
- Great when you’re preparing a brunch menu for a crowd (think Easter or Mother’s Day). The sausage can just cook away, mostly unattended to, while you’re finishing up the rest of the meal.
What You’ll Need for Sausage in Oven
- Breakfast sausage links – 12 links for 4 servings, or as many as desired. This recipe has been tested with Bob Evans Original Pork Sausage Links and comparable store brands.
- Rimmed baking pan(s) – Use multiple pans if you are cooking a large amount of sausage.
- Tongs or a pancake turner – for handling the cooked sausage, because it will be hot.
How to Cook Sausage in Oven
1. ARRANGE. Place the sausage links on a rimmed baking pan. Links should be evenly spread out, with enough space around each link to encourage browning. If the links are close enough that they are almost touching, the sausage will steam and not brown. In this case, use two or more pans.
2. COOK. Transfer pan to oven and cook until sausage is fully cooked through and nicely browned, flipping the sausage halfway through cooking.
How Long To Cook Sausage In Oven
In a 400 degree F oven, sausage takes about 15 to 20 minutes to get fully cooked and be nice and browned. I’ve found that 16 minutes is just about perfect.
Home Chef Tip for Cooking Sausage in the Oven
While normally I am the world’s biggest proponent of using an instant read thermometer for just about everything in the kitchen, it doesn’t work that well for sausage.
The reason being is that sausage is technically safe to eat once it’s cooked to 165 degrees F. But to be honest, sausage cooked to only 165 degrees F normally looks pale gray and not very appetizing.
You need to keep cooking sausage a bit longer for it to truly be browned and delicious. Don’t worry, sausage has enough fat that it won’t dry out!
If you do still want to use your thermometer, the internal temperature of nicely browned sausage is usually about 195 to 200 degrees F.
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Sausage Links in Oven: Favorite Ways to Use
Some of my favorite recipes using cooked breakfast sausage include:
Sausage in Oven: How to Store Leftover Sausage
If you have leftover cooked sausage links, transfer them to a storage container and place them in the fridge uncovered for a few hours until they are fully chilled, then cover them with the lid and keep in the refrierator up to 3 days.
Sausage Links in the Oven FAQs
This comes down to personal preference, and both methods have their merits.
Cooking sausage in the oven is great for larger quantities, and keeps the stovetop clean. It’s also a more hands-off method, allowing you to accomplish other kitchen tasks as it cooks.
On the other hand, cooking sausage in a pan allows more control over its exact level of browning, as you’re standing right over it watching it, and is quicker when you want to cook a small amount.
I almost always choose to go the oven route, but feel free to experiment with both methods and choose the one you like best!
Be sure to leave your sausage uncovered when cooking it in the oven. This allows the air to circulate around the sausage and make it nice and brown! If you cover the sausage in oven, it will steam and not brown at all.
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Sausage in the Oven
Ingredients
- 12 links breakfast sausage
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place sausage links on rimmed baking pan. Links should be evenly spread out, with enough space around each link to encourage browning. If you are making a double or triple batch, and the links are close enough that they are almost touching, the sausage will steam and not brown. In this case, use two or more pans.
- Transfer pan to oven and cook 16 minutes or until sausage is fully cooked through and nicely browned, flipping the sausage halfway through cooking.
