Cooking breakfast sausage seems pretty easy, right?
Well, not so fast.
Don't get us wrong.
It's not rocket science, but there are some pitfalls to avoid.
Keep watching for some tips to make sure your sausage is a success.
Cooking a sausage right includes not only browning it on the outside, but warming the
middle fully.
Make any guesswork on your sausages' doneness, and you could end up with browned links with
cold centers or sausages that are dry and overcooked inside.
For best results, use a meat thermometer to make sure the innermost part of the meat is
at 160 degrees Fahrenheit for beef, pork, or lamb – and 165 for chicken or turkey,
according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Digital pen thermometers are inexpensive and easy to use, but you can also use an old-school
analog thermometer.
Other models include pens that stay inside the meat as it cooks, then beep to alarm you
when it's reached your desired temperature.
Okay, so most everything tastes better deep-fried.
But deep-frying sausages can make the meat — and its casings, if it has them — overcooked
and too dry and tough to enjoy.
Plus, even if you're careful with the heat and the sausages aren't overcooked, the oil
in the deep fryer is adding to the sausages' already high-fat content.
There is one exception to the no-deep-frying rule: breakfast sausage dipped in pancake
batter, according to the Food Network.
This breakfast take on the corn dog works because the batter protects the sausage from
becoming tough and overcooked, and just tastes downright delicious.
"Give Ron Kray your sausage."
This all begs the question, though — what about air frying?
You can definitely cook your sausages in the air fryer.
Just be careful with the heat setting, as it's easy to overcook your sausages at high
heat.
Ketofocus recommends making your sausages in the air fryer at 360 degrees Fahrenheit
and cooking sausages for 8 to 10 minutes on each side.
You might think pricking breakfast sausages with a fork while they cook is a good idea.
Turns out, according to an expert at Good Food Australia, pricking sausages with a fork
is totally not necessary and can cause the juices, which are fat, that make breakfast
sausage delicious to run out before you even get your first bite.
Also, to prevent sausages from splitting, avoid cooking them over high heat.
Keep those delicious fats inside, and let your sausages rest one to five minutes before
you dig in.
This will help the juices and flavor stay in the meat to give you an even better flavor.
It's tempting to blast your breakfast sausage with high temperatures to get them ready to
eat in as little time as possible.
But high heat can crisp up and brown — or burn — your breakfast sausages' exteriors
before the insides are fully cooked, or even warmed.
To avoid this, skip the microwave.
Heat in a microwave can get out of control in a hurry, and you won't even know your sausages
are toast until it's way too late, when you take them out of the microwave.
Likewise, it's best to avoid high heat in the skillet.
Avoid this common sausage mistake and cook them over medium heat until their innermost
portion reaches the appropriate temperature.
If you really, really want to sear your sausages, do it for a minute or two on each side over
high heat before reducing the heat to cook for another 5 minutes per side.
Another pitfall of trying to cook in a hurry?
Putting too many sausages in a pan together at one time.
Avoid the temptation to cook a whole lot of sausages at once.
Cooking in batches is the best way to get the ideal texture and doneness.
When food, including sausages, is cooked too close together, the moisture inside of it
is less able to escape, trapping steam around the food.
Squeezing as many as you can together in the skillet will steam them, according to Real
Simple.
It's important to give your sausages some space to make sure they get a nice crispy
coating.
Serious Eats explains that this browning is known as the Maillard reaction, which transforms
raw ingredients into foods with enticing aromas, complex flavors, and satisfying textures.
So next time you cook breakfast sausage, allow yourself enough time and space to cook it
in batches that brown beautifully.
Thawing breakfast sausages at room temperature is only a recipe for bacteria growth.
Bacteria that can cause foodborne illness can grow exponentially at room temperature,
doubling in bacterial growth in only 20 minutes, according to the FDA.
If you're using store-bought sausage, check the label's instructions to find out if you
can cook them directly from frozen.
If your sausage must be thawed, do it in the refrigerator where the temperature is below
the FDA's "danger zone" of 40 degrees Fahrenheit overnight.
Forgot to thaw overnight?
MasterClass suggests a slightly faster method of thawing is to seal your sausage in a zip-top
bag, and submerge the bag in a large bowl of cold water, changing the water every 30
minutes or so.
For a last-minute option, you can defrost breakfast sausage in the microwave.
Just check them every few minutes to make sure they're not fully cooking.
For some varieties of breakfast sausage, a successful cook definitely starts with a pot
of boiling water, according to Bon Appetít.
If your breakfast sausage has casing, or skin, get that pot ready.
Your best method for cooking them is to simmer them before browning.
Often, sausages with casing are fresh and the meat is raw, so it's extra important to
both cook them completely and brown them on the outsides.
Boil your breakfast sausage in a pot or deep skillet filled with just enough water to cover
the sausages.
After for 6 to 8 minutes, fry sausages in a skillet over medium heat for several minutes
until heated through, turning to brown all sides.
It's again important not to crowd your pot or the skillet, to get that nice and crispy
umami bite in every juicy link.
"We got pancakes, waffles, pork sausage, turkey sausage, veggie sausage, eggs Benedict, smoked
salmon omelets, hash browns…."
Walk through nearly any grocery store today and you might feel overwhelmed by the "health
food" options.
It seems there are products marketed toward every possible dietary need — and it can
be hard to keep it all straight.
Between Keto, low-carb, gluten-free, dairy-free, and plant-based diets, it can be tough to
know what's truly healthy for you and what's just a trend.
Here's what hasn't changed: with high fat and sodium content, most pre-made breakfast
sausages may be better off as a "sometimes" food than an everyday staple.
But meatless and poultry options that pack the same amount of flavor as traditional,
fatty sausages are out to change that.
You can buy frozen turkey, plant-based, chicken, or lean pork sausages that balance a healthier
nutritional profile with plenty of flavor.
You can also make your own healthier sausages, with lean ingredients such as ground chicken
breast or venison.
You're in total control of the ingredients, so you can feel good about what's gone into
your breakfast.
So, what about crumbles?
Try buying a roll of often-overlooked fresh breakfast sausage.
While these thick rolls of raw sausage are often marked for slicing into patties, you
can just as easily turn them into crumbles for biscuits and gravy.
Crumbles also lend themselves deliciously to scrambled-egg bowls, breakfast burritos,
breakfast hash, or as a side to eggs and avocado.
What's more, cooking sausage crumbles can be a lot more straightforward than cooking
links or patties: To cook, Jimmy Dean for example, remove it from the casing and break
it into crumbles in a skillet over medium-high heat, cooking for 8 to 10 minutes.
There are also pre-cooked, pre-crumbled bags of frozen sausage that are super easy and
fast to microwave.
Make sure not to overcook the sausage, and you'll be set.
"You don't want any part of this sausage not being chopped!
Isn't that right?"
If your sausage is fresh or homemade, the USDA recommends it's best to use it within
a day or two for quality and safety's sake.
Smoked sausage or vacuum-sealed sausage can last longer — just check the use-by date
on the packaging.
Even still, leftovers shouldn't be kept in the fridge for more than a day or two.
When it comes to frozen sausages, the USDA says that freezing keeps sausage safe indefinitely.
But if you want your frozen breakfast sausage to taste any better than "safe," make a point
of using it within a month or two of bringing it home.
Any more than that, and you risk freezer burn, condensation, and a loss of flavor and quality.
Some breakfast sausages come in a cardboard box or other packaging that can be difficult
to re-seal after using a portion of the meat.
For best results, freeze any unused frozen sausages in a freezer-safe zip-top bag, or
other airtight freezer container.
Be sure to label the bag or container with the date you stash it, and let it go if you
haven't used it in less than two months.
The salty/sweet combo might be the very best thing about breakfast sausage.
Whether you're having pancakes, waffles, or French toast with your sausage, you're going
to want to save some of that sweet maple syrup for the meat.
So what if the first time you tried it was by accident, when the syrup pooled around
the sausage?
It's totally acceptable, not to mention delicious, to dip your sausage in syrup entirely on purpose
from here on out.
Want to level up your syrup-sausage game?
Try making a copycat of McDonald's famous sausage McGriddle.
Some homemade sausage recipes may even include maple syrup inside the links or patties.
If you're feeling really adventurous, turn your pancake into a breakfast taco shell or
roll of sorts: fill it with sausage, fold, then drizzle with syrup and even powdered
sugar.
You can thank us later.
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