Baked Italian Sausage

Baked Italian Sausage is quite possibly the easiest dinner ever and ensures that your sausage links are cooked completely! There are countless flavor combinations to spice up your roasting pan and make your sweet Italian, spicy Italian, beef, pork, chicken, or even turkey sausage into a one-pan meal!

Baked Italian Sausage Recipe

Those crazy, hectic family nights are made for this ridiculously easy Baked Italian Sausage dinner! It's worth having at least one package of frozen sausages stored away in the freezer for a quick dinner option that doesn't even require thawing before baking.

The choices for vegetables to spread on the baking sheet and roast simultaneously are varied. You can add potatoes or sweet potatoes, root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, and beets. Or bake your sausages up with onions and peppers.

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• Baked Italian Sausage Recipe
• Ingredients You'll Need
• How To Bake Italian Sausages
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If cooked up as seen here you can toss the sliced baked Italian sausage with buttered pasta if desired, or place on a sandwich roll with some melted mozzarella! Either way, some marinara sauce is a fantastic addition. Or, just use your marinara for dipping!

Ingredients You'll Need

There aren't many dinners that are easier than this sausage dinner! Just a few ingredients and your dinner is well on its way to being ready to enjoy!

• Italian Sausages - in your favorite flavor! Use sweet, mild, hot, or spicy flavored beef, pork, chicken, or turkey sausages. In the UK, they're called Italian recipe or Sicilian style sausages.
• Cherry Tomatoes - or your favorite grape tomatoes, vine tomatoes, or even sliced tomatoes will roast beautifully with your sausages!
• Sweet Bell Peppers - in a colorful variety of red, yellow, and orange for a vibrant meal! The mini sweet peppers are super flavorful too!
• Olive Oil - is a staple of delicious Italian-inspired flavors! Use EVOO for its great taste as well as coating all of your sheet pan ingredients.
• Italian Seasoning - is such a wonderful addition for enhancing the Italian flavor combination! Dried Italian seasoning works so well! However, if you see the freeze dried Italian herbs in the produce section at your local grocery store I highly suggest you give them a try!
• Salt & Pepper - the base seasoning spices that highlight all of your amazing ingredients!

The ingredients included below in the recipe card are for the baked Italian sausage as shown here. The cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, olive oil, and Italian seasoning are optional.

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How To Bake Italian Sausages

1. Preheat your oven to 400ºF ( 205ºC ) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
2. Place sausages on the baking sheet (with or without cherry tomatoes and peppers) in a single layer, and so that sausages are not touching each other.
3. Bake in the center rack at the middle of the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 160ºF (for pork products) and 165ºF (for chicken sausages).
4. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

*If your sausages are sticking to your baking sheet, adding a small amount of water will loosen them.

How Long To Bake Sausages in the Oven?

• Bake at 350ºF ( 175ºC ) for 25-30 minutes
• Bake at 375ºF ( 190ºC ) for 25-30 minutes
• Bake at 400ºF ( 205ºC ) for 20-25 minutes
• Bake at 425ºF ( 220ºC ) for 15-20 minutes

Your sausages are cooked when the casings have a nice golden color, the inside ground meat is no longer pink, and the juices from the meat run off clear. You should be able to see these pan juices on your baking sheet, and they should be free of any pink discoloration.

Sausages need to be cooked until they have an internal temperature of at least 160 degrees F (for pork sausages in the US) and 165 degrees F (for poultry sausages in the US).

*The temperatures shown above for 'safe' meat temperatures are noted as specific to the United States and follow the USDA food safety guidelines.

**Trichinosis in pork in the US has been greatly diminished (some claim virtually eliminated) due to the pork industry's measures taken to control trichinella in our US-based farms.

Looking for a great casserole using Italian sausage? Check out my Italian Sausage Bake!

How to Get A Crispy Skin on Your Baked Sausages

My family and I think that our oven-baked Italian sausages are perfect as they are, directly out of the oven. If you like the skin extra crispy, there are a couple of options that help to add that 'extra'!

For the first option, you can heat the baking tray in the oven during the preheating. Place a sheet of parchment paper on the baking tray, then follow the directions for baking your sausages.

The second option is to turn on the broiler to low. Finish baking the Italian sausages with the broiler on for the last 5 minutes or so.

Can I Bake Sausages That Are Frozen?

Yes, definitely! Of course, check the package instructions for any directions to the contrary. Overall, however, you should be able to cook sausage from frozen without defrosting or thawing. This will typically work with any brand or variety of sausage.

When starting with frozen sausages, add 10-15 minutes of cooking time. Also, rinse in warm water to separate the sausages that may be frozen together.

Should I Pierce The Casings?

This is a debate about whether or not the casings will 'pop' or burst, spraying the sausage juices all over your oven.

I do not prefer to pierce the casings. This allows the juices out of the casing, which means it loses flavor. Also, the juices inside the casing help to cook the ground sausage meat thoroughly. However, it is just a personal preference and you can do whatever works best for you!

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