Your Air Fryer Is A Seriously Slept-On Tool For Cooking Sausage

By now, you know that your air fryer is the unsung hero of your kitchen. Not only is air frying trendy, but it's chef-approved: You'd be surprised what your favorite celebrity chefs cook in their air fryers. Many, many foods are elevated by the convection effects of an air fryer, and sausage is no exception.

For ideal results, cook your sausages on a rack in the air fryer so that the juices can drip down and not pool under your meat, potentially ruining the texture. Cooked this way, sausage gets a gorgeous, even browning with crispy skin and sizzling snap that you just can't replicate easily with pan-frying or baking in the oven due to the need for constant turning. Sausage doesn't have to be turned in the air fryer more than once because the hot air moves around as it cooks, hitting all exposed surfaces. It can be hard to get a nice, all-around finish on sausage, but the air fryer-plus-rack combo pulls it off with aplomb. Best of all, the fat pools on the bottom of the basket for easy clean-up ... no more splattered stovetop.

Another great part about cooking sausage in your air fryer is that the process is infinitely versatile. Any of the plethora of sausage options will turn out amazing. Cook it at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and simply adjust for the size and amount of your sausage. Slices might take only four or five minutes; whole links might take up to seven.

There are so many different sausages at the store that you might need to consult a guide to buying the right kind. It's a safe bet that, no matter what sausage you chose, the air fryer's got you covered.

Breakfast sausage fries up deliciously whether you choose links or patties — no more juggling two pans as you try to prepare eggs and sausage on the same stovetop, as the air fryer can cook while your hands are occupied. The wide variety of spiced Chinese sausages sing when air fried to crispy perfection, which the air fryer achieves with less mess than stove or oven cooking. Combined with your rice cooker, you can create a rounded meal that's almost totally hands-free. 

In a similar way, plain old hot dogs get a phenomenal texture in the air fryer that you'd have to fire up the grill to replicate — by preheating your air fryer nice and hot, you can even achieve grill marks and the accompanying charred goodness without having to step outside. Pepperoni shines in the air fryer when it's sliced into crispy chips. Once you realize that there are endless possibilities for sausage in the air fryer, you won't want to cook it any other way.