how to cook smoked sausage in the oven

Kielbasa, Bratwurst, Andouille, and Chorizo, we all know what these are. Right? Yes, you guessed it right. All these are some of the most flavorsome sausages found around the globe. Why do we love them? Because you can cook sausages quickly on the stove, oven, or grill. In addition, you can add and experiment with them in different dishes. And not only this, you can even add flavors to them later on. So today, we will discuss- how to cook smoked sausage in four different ways. Let's start then.

Using an Oven to Bake Sausage

Step 1: For oven baking, preheat the oven at 191 degrees Celcius. We suggest you read the recommended instructions on the packaging by the manufacturer for the perfect temperature.

Step 2: Using non-stick foil is a must in this process. Put the foil over the baking sheet. This action will prevent the sausages from sticking onto the sheet and juices from dripping.

Step 3: Slicing the sausages before baking them in the oven is recommended as this will help in cooking sausages evenly and quickly. Put them 1.3 cm apart so that the heat is distributed evenly. However, you can also place the links in piled-up form.

Step 4: Cook the sausage in the oven for about 12 minutes. They will turn light brown during this process and will have crispy edges.

Using A Pan to Cook Sausage

The second way you can use to cook smoked sausage is by using a pan.

Step 1: Cut the sausages to almost equal size of 1.3cm. You can cut smaller pieces as well. Cutting them into smaller pieces will allow them to be cooked evenly and have the same brown texture.

Besides cutting them in pieces, you can also slice them lengthwise.

Step 2: Now put toss the sausages in the pan, sprinkle either vegetable oil, water, or cooking spray so that they are heated evenly without sticking to the pan's surface. We suggest you heat the sausages on medium heat if the pan is already hot. However, this may lead to overcooking of sausages, affecting their taste and texture.

Step 3: Now it is time to cook the sausages for at least 5 minutes, and do not forget to keep changing their sides as evenly heating them is a must for flavor enhancement. During this process, the color of the meat will vary to brown. Once all the sausage's color has changed to a light brown color, flip them and turn off the heat after some time.

Step 4: You can serve your sausages now. You can add more ingredients as per your taste and choice. Also, don't forget to drain all the remaining liquid from the pan by holding back the sausage pieces using a spoon or spatula.

Sausage on The Grill

The most popular way to cook smoked sausage is with the grill.

People widely use grills to heat sausages, and it is a bit easy to heat them over the grill as it requires less effort than to boil them over the stove.

Step 1: Start by preheating the grill for at least 10 minutes. Then, lower the temperature and let it cool down a bit. We prefer you to use medium heat. You can manually check the heat level by holding your hands above the grill. If the grill temperature reaches medium heat, you will be able to keep your hand for at least 6 seconds.

Medium temperatures reading are around 325 to 375 F or 163 to 191 degrees in Celsius. You can use a digital thermometer to check the same.

Step 2: It is time to place the sausages on the grill. Place the sausages 'near' the center of the grill and not in the center because if you do so, they will surely burn. Place the links at an equal space between them of around 1.3cm. We suggest you not overcook the links at high temperatures as they are already precooked.

Cutting the sausages half of their length and heating them on the grill gives them a mouth-watering taste and a different texture.

Step 3: Grill the sausages until their color changes to brown. Grill them for almost 9 minutes. Grilling them more can lead to cracking skins. Keep on changing the sides of the sausages while grilling, as it is essential to examine them equally from all the sides for even taste and texture. Ensure that the outer skin has a golden brown surface, or else it will be undercooked. It is okay to see some grill marks on sausages but keep in mind not to overcook them.

Step 4: Let the sausages cool for 2 minutes. This wait is essential to keep the meat juices intact inside the sausages. Also, if you want to check if you have overcooked the links, let them cool down, and you will notice that their shape and texture have turned a bit wrinkly.

delicious smoked sausages — Photo by Pexels

Stovetop Sausage Cooking

You can also cook smoked sausage with stovetop! Let's see how:

Step 1: To begin with, you will need a large cooking pot filled with water. Remember, the cookware should have enough space to hold all the sausages.

If all the sausages do not fit in a single pot, try to use multiple pots or cook the sausages in different batches.

Tip: For boiling the sausages, you can use beer or tomato sauce as liquids to cook the sausages apart from using water. It will add more flavor to the sausages.

Step 2: While boiling the sausages, adding seasonings will give more flavor to them. You can add pepper, lemon, salt, or bay leaves as a seasoning to it.

Step 3: To speed up the process, cover and seal the pot, and let the water boil. After some time, you will see water bubbles forming robustly. The rising of the bubble during the process is known as a rolling boil.

Step 4: Without burning yourself, carefully add the sausages to the boiling water in the pot and submerge them fully with the help of a spoon or spatula.

Step 5: Now again, seal the pot with the lid and boil the sausage for about 10 to 15 minutes. After the prescribed time, your sausages will be are ready. Carefully drain the water and serve the sausages in your way.

Wrapping Up

We hope that you enjoyed learning our easy-to-cook sausage methods. We show these four ways of cooking sausages as we think they are the best for your convenience. It is all up to you which way you want to make the sausages for your next dish. I hope you will make the best out of your smoked sausages! Thanks for reading! Happy eating!