Cooking sausage in the oven is the best and easiest way to cook any sausage, like breakfast sausage patties or links, smoked sausage, Kielbasa, Italian sausage, or even brats—perfectly moist and tender results.
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👍Why you should bake your sausage
- No standing at the stove and making a mess—cook your sausage in the oven for less work, less mess, and better results. Just pop it in the oven, flip it once, and be done.
- Baking breakfast sausage patties or links only takes about 15 minutes, and they are perfectly moist and tender. Make breakfast while you get ready for your day.
- Larger tube sausages like smoked, kielbasa, Italian, or brats will take about 25 minutes to bake.
- Leftovers reheat perfectly in the microwave, so you can bake the whole package and reheat leftovers later.
🐖Ingredients
- Sausage—breakfast sausage patties or links or larger sausages like smoked sausage, Kaulbasa, Italian sausage, or brats. You can use pork, turkey, or chicken sausage.
- PAM cooking spray or parchment paper to prevent sticking. Or aluminum foil for easy cleanup.
👨🍳How to Cook Sausage in the Oven
- Preheat oven to 400° convection. Any oven temperature from 350° to 425° with or without convection will work with some time adjustment.
- Prepare a rimmed baking pan like a sheet pan with a spray of PAM or parchment paper.
- Arrange the sausage on the prepared pan in a single layer, not touching.
- If cooking sausage patties, dimple the patty center by about ¼ inch deep and ¾ inch diameter.
- For thinner sausages like breakfast patties or links, cook for about 15 minutes. For larger diameter sausage, bake for about 25 minutes.
- While baking, flip the sausage about halfway through cooking,
- Finish cooking to an internal temperature of 165°. If you want more browning, do a few minutes under a broiler.
⏲️How long does it take to bake sausage in the oven
In a 400°F convection oven, breakfast sausage patties or links take about 15 minutes, while larger sausages take about 25 minutes. Cook to a final internal temperature of 165°.
Baking time will vary by the thickness of the sausage, oven temperature, amount of preheating, and even the pan. So use an instant-read thermometer and check the temperature early.
✔️Tips
- For breakfast sausage, use either patties or links. It will cook fast, in as little as 15 minutes.
- Use pork sausage, turkey sausage, or chicken sausage. It will all cook the same.
- If you cook sausage patties, dimple the center by ¼ inch and about ¾ inch in diameter to prevent puffing.
- The same simple technique will work with time adjustments for larger sausages like smoked sausage, brats, kielbasa, or Italian sausage.
- Use a baking pan like a sheet pan with sides. Line the pan with foil for easy cleanup if doing link sausage, but if doing patties, use a spray of PAM or parchment paper since the foil will frequently rip with the spatula.
- A convection oven and a high oven temperature will both promote the browning of the sausage, so use convection if you have it and use a pan with low sides like a sheet pan. But a conventional oven will also work.
- The oven temperature can be varied to match other dishes you are cooking. I have cooked as low as 350° and as high last 450°. The time will vary but cook to 165°.
- Cook to 165° internal temperature and use a few minutes under the broiler if you want more browning.
- Add sliced bell pepper and onion to sweet Italian sausage, making a great sandwich and a complete meal.
❓FAQs
No, the casing holds the juiciness in; it may break during cooking but do not drain your moisture.
Yes, since you are cooking to a temperature endpoint, it will take longer. The thicker the sausage and the colder your freezer, the longer it will take.
According to the USDA, ground meat is safe to eat at 160°, except ground poultry should be cooked to 165°. If you are sure there is no poultry in your sausage, you can safely stop at 160°.
Most precooked sausage is safe to eat out of the package—check the package. So you usually don't have to cook it thoroughly but just heat it through.
I prefer to cook precooked sausage for moisture and texture reasons thoroughly. Try it both ways and see which you like.
❄️Storage and reheating leftovers
This is a perfect recipe to cook for leftovers by cooking a whole package at once.
To store: Seal airtight in a container or storage bag and refrigerate for 4 days. Or freeze for 3 weeks.
To reheat: If frozen, thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Microwave to reheat.
📖Breakfast Recipes
How to Cook Bacon in the Oven
Oven Baked Blueberry Pancakes
Cinnamon Roll Cake
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400°convection. Any oven temperature from 350° to 425° with or without convection will work, but you will need to adjust time and perhaps need a couple of minutes under a broiler at the end to brown up some.
Prepare a sheet pan baking tray with a coat of PAM cooking spray, aluminum foil, or parchment paper.
Make breakfast sausage patties ¾ inch thick, then dimple the patty center by about ¼ inch deep and ¾ inch diameter. This will prevent the puffing of the meat during cooking.
Spread sausage on the prepared baking pan, so they don't touch.
If cooking breakfast sausage patties, flip in 8 minutes. Links or round sausage should be rotated halfway through the estimated cooking time.
The cooking time for breakfast sausage is about 15 minutes, and for thicker sausage, about 25 minutes. Cook to an internal temp of 165°. You can do a few minutes under the broiler if you want more browning.
📖 Recipe
How To Cook Sausage in the Oven
Ingredients
- 1 pound sausage
- PAM or Parchment Paper - to prevent sticking
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°convection. Any oven temperature from 350° to 425° with or without convection will work, but you will need to adjust time and perhaps need a couple of minutes under a broiler at the end to brown up some.
- Prepare a sheet pan baking tray with a coat of PAM cooking spray, aluminum foil, or parchment paper.
- For breakfast sausage patties, make them ¾ inch thick, then dimple the patty center by about ¼ inch deep and ¾ inch diameter. This will prevent the puffing of the meat during cooking.
- Spread sausage on the prepared baking pan, so they don't touch.
- If cooking breakfast sausage patties, flip in 8 minutes. Links or round sausage should be rotated halfway through the estimated cooking time.
- The cooking time for breakfast sausage is about 15 minutes, and for thicker sausage, about 25 minutes. Cook to an internal temp of 165°. You can do a few minutes under the broiler if you want more browning.
Your Own Private Notes
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- Use the sausage you want, breakfast links or patties, or larger sausage. Use pork or other ground meat like turkey or chicken.
- You can use uncooked or cooked sausage.
- Cooks well with other dishes since you can use different oven temperatures
- Using a sheet pan works very well. You need a pan with some sides.
- If you have sticking, use some parchment paper.
- Be sure to dimple if using patties.
- Be sure to flip or rotate about halfway through cooking.
- The only really important thing is an internal temperature of 165°. Bigger sausages like brats will take longer.
- A few minutes of the broiler may be needed at the end to get the browning you want.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Originally Published February 14, 2015. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Kari Hartley
Breakfast made easy! Thank you for the instructions, this worked great! I used 3 lbs. of ground pork (added sage, marjoram, nutmeg, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and maple syrup) and made 10 large patties. Cooked at 400 for 8 minutes then flipped like you said, then 2 minutes under a broiler on high. SO delicious!
Helene
Could you flatten the roll so it's like a long oval patty?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Helene,
Sure, the only caution I have is the edges may cook before the center is cooked well, and be sure to check the temperature in multiple places. I usually cut the roll with a sharp knife into 3/4 inch disks—super easy,.
Dan
Judy
Question about reducing puffing of baked patties.
I understand the 1/4 “ dimple in the centre but what do you mean about 3/4” in diameter? Diameter is the measure from edge to edge of the pattie, this would make the pattie about the size of a quarter!
Is the 3/4 inch the thickness of the pattie?
TIA
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Judy,
Welcome to the blog.
The "dimple" is just a shallow depression to prevent buffing when cooking a pattie like a burger or these sausage patties. So use a finger or two and make the depression about 1/4 inch deep in the center of the pattie on one side only. The diameter is how big around that dimple should be—about 3/4 to an inch. That is the size of the dimple, not the pattie.
The thickness of the patties is about 3/4 inch.
I hope that helps.
Dan
Kari Hartley
I had the same question....3/4 inch patty?
Thanks for answering Dan!
Kp
Found your recipe tonight when needing to cook 2 lbs of sausage patties for my 93 year old Dad. I’m not a sausage fan and hardly ever cook it. This saved me and they came out great. Thanks for your detailed instructions.
Ann Smith
Which level should I place the rack? I didn't know if there would be a better way to deal with any grease that may splatter.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Ann,
Welcome to the blog.
Oven recipes, including on this blog, should be assumed to have the rack placed to have the cooking food approximately in the middle of the oven. I have done this recipe hundreds of times never had splattering. I use a sheet pan (like a jelly roll pan) that has a rim of a bit under one inch. But we also use lean sausage (Bob Evens) but there is still a fair amount of fat.
The point where it might splatter is near the end of you use the broiler to brown it up but the rim seems to prevent it.
I don't generally use foil for this and the pan cleans well as long as I don't let it get cold. Wipe out with a few paper towels and use hot water with soap and scrub a bit. Done. But if you wait, it is not so easy.
Hope that helps.
Dan
Vanessa Loftis
Excellent! I'd been buying the large box of Sams Club sausage, baking all the patties, laying each flat on baking sheet & quick freezing. Removed them in an hr & returned loosely to the freezer in a gallon zip lock bag. I just take out precooked patties I need & microwave for 45 to 60 sec depending on how many. Tastes just made!!! Breakfast in minutes!
Aloha Trotter
THANK YOU SEVERAL TIMES OVER! I have been looking for something easy and good for 2 weeks, then I found this!!!! I am signing up for your your recipe to come to me!!! Not very much on line for 2!
Ni
Thanks you for this post. I’ve always had trouble making ground sausage patties to my liking. The oven is the perfect hack. Not overdone. Just perfect!
JE Reading
The sausage turned out beautifully. Clean up was a snap. Looking forward to the oven baked, blueberry pancakes. Just have to clean and reseason our old, weather-worn, cast iron griddle. Thanks for the oven baked directions.
Aly
Many thanks! Worked wonders with parchment paper. :)
Susan
I'm an avid bacon in the oven gal and looked to try sausage too. Thanks for your blog, I've got 2 pounds of sausage patties in the oven now. And, I'm actually a health inspector for food safety and greatly appreciate you throwing in the repeated reminders to use a thermometer!
Mary
Hello, Dan!
Thank you very much for your detailed answer. Indeed, a deep-fryer is not the best choice, I wanted to consider a more budget option. Plus, my kitchen is not very spacious and it is difficult to fit large-sized appliances there. I think I better wait a little, save more money and choose an oven.
Many thanks for your advice and helpful articles. Inspiration to you!
Mary
Mary
Tell me, please, if a deep-fryer is suitable for such cooking technique? The manufacturer claims that it can cook not only French fries, but also battered chicken strips. So, I’m wondering if I will be able to cook sausages like in your recipe using this deep-fryer. I don't have an oven.
DrDan
Hi Mary,
Welcome to the blog.
I don't see that deep frying sausage is related to baking it but it will definitely work. Stovetop works well but is a mess for me. I can not give you an estimate on the time needed for deep frying sausage.
I don't see a deep flyer as a good substitute for an oven. If give a choice between an oven and deep fryer, the oven wins hands down for usefulness. Maybe look at a countertop convection oven.
I have lots of stories, here's one. A local restaurant was getting well know in the "health crowd" for their excellent turkey sausage. Of course they were looking for low fat. Turned out that they were deep frying it. Not really healthy or low fat.
Dan
Chris J
It would definitely give a great flavor to anything you deep fry after the sausage though.
Erik
What is the cook time/flip time if you are coking frozen sausage patties?
DrDan
Hi Erik,
Welcome to the blog.
I have never used frozen. Having said that, I believe it would work well. I will "guess" how I would do this. But my guesses are usually fairly good.
I would think you would need about 20% more time. Flip at about 11-12 minutes. Cook to 165 internal temperature and hit it with a little broiler if needed at the end to get more browning.
If you try it, please report back. Somebody else may benefit.
Dan
Pam
Have you ever baked the the sausage roll as one whole piece?
DrDan
Hi Pam,
Welcome to the blog.
Baking a whole roll of sausage intact is just not going to work. You need to get the temperature of the thickest part to 165 degrees to be safe. That will be tough without the outside being overcooked and dry.
Dan
diane senft
How do you cook link sausages in the oven?
DrDan
Hi Diane,
Welcome to the blog.
While I have never done it, I would say a definite yes but the time might be a bit less to get to the required 165 internal temperature and I think they won't brown very well so you will probably want a little broiler time at the end.
Dan
S
Thanks for the recipe. During the summer, I use my gas grill instead of the oven to help keep the house cool. I preheat the grill to 400F, place the sausage on heavy duty aluminum foil and follow your instructions.