Learn how to cook sausage in the oven with this easy oven "fried" method. Make great breakfast sausage, but the same method works just as well for larger sausages like brats, Italian, kielbasa, and other sausages.
Introduction
Why are you standing at the stove and making a mess? I have been cooking bacon in the oven for several years, but everybody still stands at the stove and makes a mess with sausage.
Well, let's put a stop to that now. Just pop it in the oven, flip once, and done. That is a recipe?
My Rating
I love sausage.
🐖The Sausage
For breakfast sausage, I use patties or links, and both work fine. We love Bob Evans but use your favorite brand, but I digress.
With minor cooking time adjustments, the same simple technique that works for breakfast sausage will work for any ground meat like larger sausage like Italian sausage, brats, kielbasa, or other larger sausage.
If you are cooking patties, dimple the center by ¼ inch and about ¾ inch diameter to prevent puffing.
The Pan
Almost any over-safe pan will do, but a ¼ sheet pan works great. Whatever pan you use, it needs some sides to prevent a mess.
I would try to avoid something with high sides that might interfere with the cooking. A larger sheet pan would be preferred to a cake pan.
There is no need for a rack, and I don't use foil since it cleans up well.
While my sheet pan is "non-stick" and there is minimal sticking, if you have sticking on your chosen pan, then a piece of parchment paper would be a good idea.
🌡️Oven Temperature
If I'm just doing the sausage by itself, I use 400° convection or 425° in a conventional oven. But I have done this as low as 350° conventional and as high as 425° convection. Just adjust the time and use your thermometer.
So use the temperature you are using for your other dishes. I frequently do this with my Oven Baked Blueberry Pancakes to may my wife's favorite breakfast for special days.
A lower temperature will take a few minutes more, and of course, higher will cook a little faster.
⏰Time
Cooking time is generally about 18-20 minutes for breakfast sausage. But it is dependent on the oven temperature you choose and the thickness of the sausage.
If you are cooking bigger sausage, cooking time may be closer to 30-40 minutes, like a brat. But always check the internal temperature, never by time only.
Like any ground meat, the minimum safe internal temperature is 165°. Please use a meat thermometer to tell. Do not cook by color or time, please. Use that thermometer for safety.
Due to oven temperature variables and sausage variables, they may not be nicely brown. If you want, turn on the broiler for a few minutes at the endpoint to get the color you want if needed.
✔️Three Tips
- If cooking patties, dimple the center to prevent puffing. A depression of ¼ inch and ¾ inch diameter will prevent puffing up of the meat as it cooks and will help more even cooking.
- Flip patties or rotate links every 10 minutes through cooking.
- Cook to 165° internal temperature and use a few minutes under the broiler if you want more color. Secret tip—the bottom of the sausage is browner when you reach 165°.
📖Breakfast Recipes
How to Cook Bacon in the Oven
Oven Baked Blueberry Pancakes
Cinnamon Roll Cake
🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Preheat the oven at 400°convection. Anything from 350° to 425° with or without convection should be fine, but you will need to adjust time and perhaps need a couple of minutes under a broiler at the end to brown up some.
If cooking patties of sausage, dimple the patty center by about ¼ inch deep and ¾ inch diameter. This will prevent puffing of the meat during cooking.
Spread sausage over a rimmed baking tray, so they don't touch. I'm using a non-stick baking pan. A spray of PAM doesn't hurt. You could use parchment paper or non-stick foil also.
Bake for 10 minutes then flip the sausage. If using links, rotate them.
Finish cooking 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 oven at 400°convection. Anything from 350° to 425° with or without convection should be fine, but you will need to adjust time and perhaps need a couple of minutes under a broiler at the end to brown up some.
- If cooking sausage patties, dimple the patty center by about ¼ inch deep and ¾ inch diameter. This will prevent puffing of the meat during cooking.
- Spread sausage over a rimmed baking tray, so they don't touch. I'm using a non-stick baking pan. A spray of PAM doesn't hurt. You could use parchment paper or non-stick foil also.
- Bake for 10 minutes, then flip the sausage. If doing links of sausage, rotate them.
- Finish cooking to an internal temperature of 165°. If you want more browning, do a few minutes under a broiler.
My Private Notes
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- Use the sausage you want, links or patties.
- 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. This has never happened to me.
- Be sure to dimple if using patties. Be sure to flip or rotate about every 10 minutes while cooking.
- The only really important thing is an internal temperature of 165°. Bigger sausage 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.
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.