The Best Air Fryer Sausages from Frozen

Name: The Best Air Fryer Sausages from Frozen
Prep time: 2 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 14 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 5 Frozen Sausages; 5 Hot Dog Buns; Condiments

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Air fryer sausages is a simple, quick, and hearty meal that cooks up in minutes from frozen so you can put dinner on the table fast.

Serves: 5 Time: 10-15 minutes Cookbook: Johnsonville Brats Online

German food is the stuff legends are made out of. I may only be 11% German heritage but my food-loving self will claim every little bit there is. It may just explain why I love mustard, potatoes, and sausages so much.

I’m a fan of utilizing different kinds of sausages for different meals. A super fancy applewood smoked gouda sausage is perfect to mix in with pasta. Cheddar sausage can get topped with chili to make a delicious chili dog. Breakfast sausages are in a league of their own and go perfectly alongside pancakes, french toast, and hashbrowns.

This air fryer sausage recipe can be used with any type of sausage you have on hand. The perk to using this particular recipe is that you can go from frozen to cooked and on your plate in minutes.

Air frying has got to be the easiest way to prepare a meal in less time than it takes to decide what you’re eating. Now, let’s get air frying with this recipe straight from the Johnsonville sausage folks!

Jump Ahead:

❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
🌭 Ingredients Needed to Make Sausage in the Air Fryer
🍴 Equipment You’ll Need in the Kitchen
🥄 How to Make Air Fryer Sausages
♾️ Air Fryer Sausage Variations
❓ Air Fryer Sausages: Tips, Tricks, and FAQs

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Easy: Once you air fry sausages you might never go back to your old way of cooking them up again. This is the best way we’ve found to make a fuss-free, simple, easy air fryer sausage recipe.

Fast: Whether this is your first time or tenth time making air fryer sausages, you’ll be blown away by how fast these sausages get cooked up. If you want to seriously cut down on the amount of time it takes to prep for your weeknight meal, you can’t do better than air frying this easy meal.

Kid Friendly: If you have kids that like to help, air frying is an easy way to get the kids involved in the cooking process. With your supervision, they can flip the sausages over and check the internal temperature. They’ll also love getting to eat the final product.

Ingredients Needed to Make Air Fryer Sausages

Sausages: You can use any type of sausage for this recipe. It cooks them from frozen, so you’ll go from raw sausages to dinner on the plate in minutes. Breakfast link sausages require less time since they’re smaller, but the principles remain the same.
Condiments: Get out your favorite sausage condiments such as mustard, ketchup, cheese, sauerkraut… you get the idea.
Buns: If serving as a hot dog, get sturdy buns to place them in. Hoagie rolls are excellent for this.

Equipment Needed In the Kitchen

Air Fryer

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Tongs

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Instant Read Thermometer (w/ extendable probe)

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Air Fryer: We have the Ninja Foodi Air Fryer and absolutely love it. It air fries, dehydrates, bakes, and roasts. Best par to fall – the inserts are non-stick and dishwasher safe.
Tongs: You’ll want a pair of tongs handy to load the sausages into the air fryer, to flip them over, and to remove them from the fryer.
Instant Read Thermometer: We have an instant-read with an extendable probe and love using it for air frying. We can keep the probe in the meat and close the lid, allowing us to read the temperature without having to open the air fryer lid each time to check.

How to Make Air Fryer Sausages

Cooking frozen sausage links is easier than you’d dream thanks to the air fryer. Follow these simple steps and you’re just minutes away from putting juicy air fryer sausage on your dinner plate.

Preheat the air fryer

First up, you’ll want to set your fryer to run for 20 minutes at 390 degrees F. You might only need 10-12 minutes of cooking time, but by setting it to run longer, you won’t run the risk of your machine shutting off when you need it to keep running.

Optional: Before the air fryer preheats, remove the inner basket and line with aluminum foil or parchment paper. This will keep juices and fat from sticking to the bottom. Make sure you only line the bottom basket, as the top basket should be left unlined so air can circulate properly.

Air fry those babies!

Place frozen sausage in air fryer basket

As soon as the air fryer preheats, it’s time to get air frying! That’s right, from frozen.

Take your frozen, uncooked sausages and place them directly into the air fryer basket in a single layer. Then, shut the lid and let them begin cooking.

Cook sausages for 5 minutes, then flip them all over. After 8-10 minutes, check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer or instant-read thermometer. When the temperature reaches 160 degrees F, you’ll have perfectly cooked, juicy sausages.

Note: Depending on your unit and the thickness of the sausages, you might find you need to add a minute or two more to the total cooking time for best results.

Enjoy

Remove the sausages from the air fryer and place them on a plate lined with a paper towel to soak up excess grease.

After the sausages have cooked, you can serve them right away or let them cool slightly. Serve them in hot dog buns, with sauerkraut and potatoes, or mixed in with pasta. However you do it, dinner will be delicious.

Variations on Air Fryer Sausages

Plain sausages go well with a wide variety of dishes. Here are a few we love.

Sausage and bell peppers: A classic meal, you sautee pepper and onion strips and serve them alongside your cooked sausage. You can also cut up the sausage and mix it with the pepper and onions.

Pasta with sausage and red pepper flakes: Make the sausage according to this recipe, and the pasta according to package directions. Then, when ready, slice up your sausage and add it to the pasta with your preferred amount of red pepper flakes.

Sausage Mac and Cheese: Make your favorite mac and cheese recipe. Slice the cooked sausage into thin rounds, then mix into your mac and cheese.

Air Fryer Sausages: Tips, Tricks, and FAQs

What’s the best way to store the sausages when they’re cooked?

Store these in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a couple of days. If you won’t eat them soon, let them cool in the refrigerator, then put them back into the freezer in a freezer bag.

Will this recipe work for all types of sausages?

Yep! The internal temperature remains the same for pork sausage, chicken sausage, turkey sausage, and beef sausage.
As long as the size of the sausages is similar this recipe should work no matter what kind of sausages you have. If you’re talking about breakfast sausages or air fryer sausage patties, you’ll need to shorten the cook time since thin sausages will take less time to cook than thicker ones.

My air fryer basket isn’t very non-stick. How can I cut down on cleanup?

Line the inside of the basket with a layer of aluminum foil. Be sure that this is in the bottom of the solid basket, not the grate basket, so air will still flow properly.

More Air Fryer Recipes

Now that you’ve got your air fryer out, why not give other air fryer recipes a go? Try these!

Air Fryer Cheddar Brats: Delicious cheddar brats on the table in minutes.
Air Fryer Chicken Strips: Chicken strips in three ways for kids and adults.
Air Fryer Smashed Potatoes: A fun side dish for your next get-together.
Air Fryer Zucchini: The perfect side to any meal.