This recipe for oven-baked Italian sausage is easy and tastes great. It makes fresh Italian sausages that go well in a sub, on their own, or with pasta or tomato sauce. It only takes less than 30 minutes and doesn’t make a mess to roast Italian sausage until the outside is perfectly crispy and the inside is soft and tender.
There are few Italian-American ingredients that are as iconic and delicious as Italian sausage (a.k.a., salsiccia or sawseech).
There’s no doubt that Italian sausage is some of the best comfort food out there. You can eat it on a sub with peppers and onions, with pasta, covered in a thick tomato sauce and melted mozzarella, or in a big pile of mashed potatoes.
That being said, there are many ways to cook Italian sausages. This Oven Baked recipe is a quick and easy way to cook them without touching them. It keeps the natural juices inside and works with almost any type of sausage.
Ring sausage is a fun and delicious way to enjoy sausage. Shaped into a circle and seasoned just right, ring sausage makes for an impressive entree or appetizer. While it may seem intimidating to tackle, cooking ring sausage in the oven is actually quite simple. With the right techniques, you can achieve perfect results each time.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk through everything you need to know to cook ring sausage in the oven. From prep work and cook time to doneness cues and serving ideas, we’ve got you covered. With a few easy tips, you’ll be serving up tender, juicy, and flavorful ring sausage straight from your oven. So let’s get cooking!
Benefits of Cooking Ring Sausage in the Oven
Choosing to cook your ring sausage in the oven offers some great advantages
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Even heating: The hot air circulates evenly around the sausage, ensuring it cooks through without burnt or cold spots.
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Hands-off cooking Once it’s in the oven you don’t have to watch it constantly like on the stovetop.
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Great flavor: The oven’s dry heat helps intensify the sausage’s seasoning and brings out delicious flavor.
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Ease of cooking in batches: Multiple rings can cook together, perfect for feeding a crowd.
So if you want tender, juicy sausage infused with flavor, the oven is definitely the way to go. Now let’s look at how to prep and cook it to perfection.
Ingredients for Delicious Ring Sausage
The keys to amazing oven-cooked ring sausage are choosing high-quality ingredients and seasoning well. Here’s what you’ll need:
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Sausage meat: Use fresh bulk sausage meat or squeeze sausage from casings. Opt for pork, chicken, turkey, or vegetarian.
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Seasonings: Flavor with spices like garlic, onion, paprika, cayenne, sage, thyme, salt, and pepper.
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Binding agent: Adding breadcrumbs or egg helps bind the meat together.
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Sausage casing (optional): Use collagen or natural casings to shape sausage into a ring.
With quality meat and ingredients, you’ll get incredible depth of flavor in the finished sausage.
Helpful Tools for Cooking Ring Sausage
Having the right tools on hand makes shaping and cooking ring sausage much easier:
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Mixing bowl: To combine sausage meat and ingredients.
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Sausage stuffer (optional): Handy for filling casings but you can also stuff by hand.
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Kitchen shears: Cut casings and trim excess after stuffing sausages.
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Baking sheet: Provides an even cooking surface to prevent burning.
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Wire cooling rack: Allows air circulation under the sausage as it cooks.
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Instant-read thermometer: Checks doneness by testing internal temperature.
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Tongs or spatula: Helps transfer sausage without piercing or tearing.
With these tools prepped, you’ll be ready to shape and cook perfect ring sausage easily.
Preparing and Shaping Ring Sausage
Proper shaping ensures your sausage bakes into a perfect circle. Follow these simple steps:
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Mix sausage meat with seasonings, binding agents, and any other ingredients until just combined. Don’t overmix.
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Prepare sausage casing by soaking in water if using natural casings. Cut to size if using collagen.
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Stuff sausage mixture into casing, packing it tightly but taking care not to overfill. Leave 2 inches unstuffed at the end.
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Shape into ring by grasping ends together to form a circle. Press seams together tightly.
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Twist ends several times in opposite directions to seal. Trim off excess casing.
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Refrigerate 1 hour to firm up sausages for easier handling.
And that’s it! With the sausage shaped, it’s ready to hit the hot oven for delicious results.
Baking Ring Sausage to Perfection
Cooking your shaped sausage in the oven at the right temp delivers tender, flavorful results:
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Prep baking sheet by lining with foil and spraying with nonstick spray or brushing lightly with oil.
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Preheat oven to 350°F to ensure it’s fully heated when sausages go in.
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Place ring sausage on sheet. Leave space between rings if cooking more than one.
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Bake 25-30 minutes until browned on the outside. Check often to prevent burning.
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Flip sausage halfway through baking to promote even cooking on both sides.
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Test for doneness by taking internal temp with a thermometer. Minimum safe temp is 160°F.
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Allow to rest 5 minutes before serving for juicy, perfect sausage!
With this easy process, your oven-baked ring sausage will be browned, sizzling, and full of flavor.
Doneness Cues for Perfectly-Cooked Ring Sausage
How can you tell when your ring sausage is cooked to perfection? Watch for these visual cues:
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Browned exterior with a slight crispiness or snap when bitten
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Well-marked grill marks if cooked on a grill pan
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Juicy interior that is firm but not rubbery when poked
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Clear juices that run from the sausage when pricked with a fork
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Minimum internal temp of 160°F for safety and ideal doneness
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Sausage pull-away from the casing or skin when fully cooked
Checking these indicators ensures your sausage is cooked through but still tender and delicious.
Serving Ideas for Succulent Oven-Baked Ring Sausage
Once baked to perfection, ring sausage needs only a few simple accompaniments. Here are some easy yet delicious ways to serve it up:
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On soft sandwich rolls with sautéed peppers and onions
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Alongside roasted veggies like potatoes, carrots, Brussels sprouts
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On a sausage board with mustards, pickles, cheeses, olives
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Chopped up in pasta dishes like baked ziti or lasagna
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Added to hearty soups like minestrone, bean, or potato soup
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Sliced on a breakfast sandwich with egg and cheese
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Mixed into cheesy rice or potato bakes for easy one-pan meals
However you choose to serve it, your oven-baked ring sausage is sure be a hit. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions About Cooking Ring Sausage
If you’re new to ring sausage, you probably have some questions. Here are answers to some of the most common FAQs:
What’s the best way to stuff ring sausage?
For beginners, hand-stuffing is easiest. Use a piping bag or funnel to fill prepared casings. Pack the meat mixture in tightly but don’t overstuff.
Should I prick the sausage before baking?
Pricking with a fork or knife before baking can help release excess fat and prevent splitting. But don’t overdo it or the juices will be lost.
How do I get good color on the sausage?
Brushing with oil and cooking on lower oven racks helps promote browning. Broiling at the end also enhances color.
Can I freeze extra uncooked ring sausage?
Yes! Shape sausages then wrap well and freeze up to 2 months. Thaw in the fridge before cooking.
What if my sausage won’t hold its shape?
The mixture may be too loose. Chill it thoroughly and make sure to pack casings very tightly when stuffing.
Cooking Safety Tips for Preparing Ring Sausage
When dealing with raw meats, food safety is key. Keep these important tips in mind:
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Always wash hands, utensils, and surfaces after handling raw sausage meat.
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Don’t reuse platters or utensils that have touched raw sausage without washing first.
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Cook sausage fully to an internal temp of 160°F to eliminate bacteria. Color is not a good doneness indicator.
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Refrigerate sausage within 2 hours of cooking, and use leftover cooked sausage within 3-4 days.
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When in doubt, throw it out! Don’t risk eating sausage that smells, looks, or tastes off.
Following basic safety precautions keeps your food delicious and your family healthy.
Key Takeaways for Oven-Baked Ring Sausage Success
Cooking impressive ring sausage in the oven is easy when you follow a few guidelines:
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Use quality sausage meat mixed with complementary seasonings and binders.
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Shape sausage tightly into rings and seal ends well before baking.
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Bake at 350°F on a prepared baking sheet for 25-30 minutes, flipping once.
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Check doneness by taking the internal temperature and watching for visual cues.
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Let rest before serving with fun accompaniments to highlight the flavors.
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How to Cook Italian Sausage in the Oven, Step-by-Step!
This sausage recipe is very simple and doesn’t make a mess. To bake the Italian sausages, all you have to do is line a sheet pan with parchment paper and put the sausages on it. Here is how you can easily roast Italian sausages in the oven:
- Initialize the oven to 400F and set a rack in the middle of it. Then, line a sheet pan with parchment paper. TIP: If the sausage is in a single roll or rope instead of links, cut it into links that are about 4 inches long, or however long or short you want them to be. Also, don’t poke holes in the skin before baking. If you do, the good stuff will come out.
- Place the sausage links on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper so that there is some space between each one. TIP: You can lightly spray the links with olive oil if you want to. This will help to create a more well-browned sausage.
- In a 10 minute roast, put the sausage in the oven. Then, flip the sausages over and roast another 10-15 minutes. For even cooking, this makes sure that the sausage’s top and bottom get caramelized. TIP: The sausage is cooked at this point, but you can use a stem thermometer inserted into the middle of one of the links to make sure. The sausage is done when the temperature inside it reaches 160˚F for pork sausages and 165˚F for turkey or chicken sausages. TIP: If you like your skin extra crispy, put the sausages under the broiler for a couple of minutes on the low setting to finish cooking them. Watch them carefully so that they do not burn!.
- Take the sausage links out of the oven and use tongs to move them to a serving platter. Serve right away. That’s it! Here’s a tip for storing leftovers: let the Italian sausage cool down completely, then put it in a container that won’t let air in. You can do this for up to 5 days or freeze it for up to 3 months. You don’t have to let the sausage thaw all the way before reheating it.
If you love Italian sausage, here are a few more recipes to try out:
Sweet vs. Hot Italian Sausage
This kind of sausage is fresh pork sausage that has been seasoned with Italian herbs and spices. “Hot” Italian sausage has red pepper flakes added, whereas “sweet” does not contain any hot pepper. Italian sausage may or may not contain whole fennel seeds as well.
There is another form of Italian sausage called Italian ring sausage, or chevalatta. It is made with a sheep casing and is, therefore, much thinner than traditional Italian sausage. Parsley and Pecorino Romano cheese are often used to season it, and you can only find it at Italian butcher shops. To bake this kind of sausage, follow the steps below. It will take less time, though, because it is smaller.
For more about all the different types of Italian sausage, click here.
For a quick dinner, I like to bake Italian sausage, which is a great reason to keep some in the freezer at all times. You can use it in many recipes, like Artichoke Sausage Pasta with Lemon and Basil, to really cut down on cooking time.
Try my Homemade Pan-Fried Italian Meatball recipe. For a tasty and fragrant dinner, serve it with this Oven Baked Sausage in a Big Pot of Tomato Sauce.