Air Fryer Breakfast: Making Sausage Links The Easy Way

Cooking breakfast sausages in an air fryer is a convenient, quick, and easy way to make a hearty breakfast with minimal cleanup. Here's a step-by-step guide to making delicious, juicy, and evenly browned breakfast sausage links in an air fryer.

Preheat the air fryer to 380-400°F

Preheating your air fryer is an important step in the process of making breakfast sausage links. By preheating your air fryer to between 380-400°F, you ensure that your sausages cook evenly and develop a desirable crispy skin. This step should take around 3-5 minutes, depending on your air fryer model.

During preheating, you can prepare your sausage links. Place the links in a single layer in the air fryer basket, ensuring they are not touching. This arrangement allows hot air to circulate freely around each sausage, cooking them evenly and preventing them from sticking together. If your air fryer basket is small, you may need to cook the sausages in batches.

Once your air fryer has preheated to the desired temperature, you can proceed to the cooking stage. Place the basket of sausages into the air fryer and follow the recommended cooking instructions for a delicious, crispy breakfast.

Place the sausage links in the air fryer basket

Now that you've gathered your ingredients and set up your air fryer, it's time to place the sausage links in the air fryer basket. This step is crucial to achieving evenly cooked and appetizing sausage links.

First, remove the sausage links from their packaging. Then, arrange them in a single layer in the air fryer basket, ensuring they are not touching each other. This step is important because it allows hot air to circulate freely around each sausage, cooking them evenly and preventing them from sticking together. Depending on the size of your air fryer basket, you may need to cook the sausage links in batches.

If you're using a basket-style air fryer and are unable to space out the sausage links with ample breathing room, consider flipping them halfway through the cooking process. This will ensure even browning on both sides of the sausage links.

Once you've arranged the sausage links in the air fryer basket, you're ready to move on to the next step of cooking your delicious breakfast!

Remember, air fryer models vary, so keep a close eye on your sausage links the first time you use this cooking method. Adjust the cooking time as needed to achieve your desired level of doneness.

Cook for 8-12 minutes

Now, it's time to cook your breakfast sausages! Place the sausages in the air fryer basket, ensuring they are in a single layer and not overlapping. This will help them cook evenly. Close the lid and set the timer for 8-12 minutes.

The exact cooking time will depend on the type of sausage you are using and your preferred level of doneness. For example, chicken sausages may take less time to cook than pork sausages, and if you like your sausages extra crispy, you might want to add a minute or two to the cooking time.

If you are using a basket-style air fryer, you may need to flip the sausages halfway through the cooking process to ensure even browning. However, with most air fryers, there is no need to flip the sausages, and you can simply let them cook until the timer goes off.

While the sausages are cooking, you can prepare the rest of your breakfast or go about your morning routine. When the timer goes off, check that the sausages have reached the desired level of doneness. They should be browned and crispy on the outside, with no pink remaining on the inside.

Once they are cooked to your liking, remove the sausages from the air fryer and serve them immediately. Enjoy your delicious and hassle-free breakfast!

Flip the sausages halfway through

Flipping your sausages is an important step in the cooking process. While some recipes suggest that flipping is unnecessary, doing so halfway through the cooking time will ensure your sausages brown evenly on all sides. This is especially important if you're cooking in a basket-style air fryer, where the sausages may be crowded together. Flipping them over will also prevent them from sticking to the basket.

To flip your sausages, you can either shake the basket to roll the links or use tongs or another utensil to turn them over. This is also a good opportunity to check that your sausages are cooking evenly and aren't burning. If you're cooking thicker sausages or different types of sausages (e.g. pork vs. chicken), you may need to adjust the timing accordingly.

For frozen sausage links, it's important to separate them before placing them in the air fryer. This will ensure they cook evenly. You may need to cook frozen sausages for a little longer, around 12-15 minutes in total, and remember to flip them halfway through.

Serve with eggs, toast, or hash browns

There are many ways to serve breakfast sausage links cooked in an air fryer. Here are some ideas:

Eggs

You can serve the sausage links with any style of eggs, from scrambled to poached. This combination provides a protein-packed breakfast.

Toast

Try serving the sausages with some buttered toast or an English muffin. You can even make a simple breakfast sandwich by slicing two sausages lengthways and placing them on a buttered slice of bread, drizzling ketchup over them, and topping with another slice of buttered bread.

Hash Browns

Hash browns or breakfast potatoes are another classic breakfast option to serve with sausages. They add a comforting, crispy element to your meal.

Pancakes or Waffles

For a sweet and savoury combination, serve your sausage links with fluffy pancakes or waffles. Drizzle with maple syrup for an extra treat.

Bagels

A toasted bagel with cream cheese is another hearty breakfast option to pair with sausage links.

Fruit

For a lighter, refreshing side, add some fresh fruit to your plate. Berries, melon, or citrus fruits are excellent choices to balance the richness of the sausages.

Vegetable Stir-Fry

Prepare a quick vegetable stir-fry with bell peppers, onions, and spinach for a healthier option that adds fibre and nutrients to your meal.

Omelette

You can also add the sausages to an omelette with bell peppers and onions for a hearty breakfast option.

Frequently asked questions