Air Fryer Italian Sausage

Perfectly cooked Italian sausages, done quick and easy right in the air fryer! This simple method for cooking Italian sausage makes them nice and juicy with a tender-crisp casing, ready to eat in less than 15 minutes. Once you learn how to cook Italian sausage in the air fryer, I promise you’ll never cook them any other way!

🌭 What Makes This Recipe So Good

• The air fryer is maybe the best way to cook Italian sausage. The sausages are deliciously juicy inside, with a crisp outer casing that gives them that beautiful bite. Plus they’re ready to eat in less than 15 minutes, so you don’t have to put any significant effort into lunch or dinner.
• Air frying sausages is just generally easier and less frustrating than cooking them in a pan. For one thing, any grease is contained inside the air fryer, not splattering all over your countertops and stove. For another, you don’t have to constantly flip them over to keep them from burning. You also don’t have to fight to get those two stubborn sides crisped up. You know what I’m talking about. Once you know how to cook Italian sausages in the air fryer, I promise you’ll never use the stovetop method again.
• Serve your air fried sausage links in pasta, with sautéed veggies or roasted potatoes, or in a bun with all your favorite toppings for a next-level hot dog. If you end up with leftover sausages, refrigerate them overnight, then cut them up and mix them into scrambled eggs with peppers and onions the next morning. Thank me later.

👩🏼‍🍳 Chef’s Tips

• All air fryers are not created equal – even the same brand and same model bought at the same time and used in the same kitchen. Because of that, total cook times can vary based on a number of factors. Our Italian sausages were ready after 13 minutes total. Yours may take 10 minutes or they may take 15 minutes or they may take 12 minutes and 48 seconds.
• I encourage you to gauge the doneness of the sausages by their internal temperature and not by the clock or by visual cues! Take them out of the air fryer when they reach 158° Fahrenheit internally, then let them rest for a few minutes. Resting gives them time to reabsorb and redistribute their juices so they won’t be dry or tough. It also lets them finish cooking residually, bringing them up to their food safe temp of 160° Fahrenheit by the time you serve them.
• Sausages are juicy and have a high fat content, which means they drip while they cook, and those drippings can make your air fryer smoke a little. Don’t panic! There are some proactive steps you can take to avoid it! Adding a little water to the air fryer underneath the basket can keep it from smoking, since the drippings hit the liquid and not the hot metal directly. You can also place slices of bread in that same spot instead of water if you want. The same logic applies! If you have parchment paper that’s safe for the air fryer, you can line your basket with that, too.

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