Johnsonville Italian sausage in air fryer is fast with a great crispy texture on the outside. Pork is great for breakfast or dinner. You can serve whole on rolls with mustard or sliced on a bed of mashed potatoes like bangers and mash.
If you’re looking for how to cook Italian sausage in an air fryer you’re in for a treat. It’s a fast way to cook and serve whole, slice for dinner, or with potatoes. It’s a cheap meal we love, and just one of many air fryer recipes we’ve shared on the Typical Mom blog.
with Potatoes
Now if you want to make air fryer sausage AND potatoes together, follow this recipe. For that you’d need to slice into smaller pieces, cook for a few minutes and then add some seasoned red or russets. A great one pot meal I throw together often when we don’t have a lot of time for prep.
with Frozen Italian Sausage
Fresh or thawed is best but we also have instructions on how to air fry frozen sausage in air fryer too in case you forgot to take them out ahead of time.
If you keep them whole you’d need to follow the cook time and temp. shared below. As opposed to kielbasa which is precooked, these are raw. Because of that you need to make sure they cook thru and reach a safe temperature inside before consuming.
Ninja Foodi Option
Our Ninja Foodi sausage instructions use raw bratwurst seen here. If you have this dual function machine I would follow these directions. Served on a hoagie roll with spicy mustard they make for a really inexpensive meal.
Tips: My Favorite models are the Cosori or making Ninja Foodi recipes with the lid that is attached.
It is best practice to put food into a hot basket. This is how to preheat air fryer first before adding your food so it becomes as crispy as possible. For best results, here’s a printable free air fryer cooking time chart here for your fridge.
Tips
This is the way you’d typically find them in the store. You’ll get about 5-6 on a tray. Most keep the casing in tact so they keep their shape nicely but you could carefully slice down the side and remove. I generally don’t bother with that step, it’s easier to slice when done if it is left on.
I have tried a variety of brands with this and air fryer sausage links. Personally I don’t think there’s a huge difference from brand name to store brand. The biggest difference is whether you choose “regular” or spicy. I don’t like a lot of heat so rarely would I ever choose those.
There isn’t a lot to this really. I mean all you need is your tray of pork links and if you want them uber crispy on the outside you could use a bit of olive oil spray. That would be right at the end of your cook time, but isn’t entirely necessary. I have a printable recipe card at the bottom, here is a quick peek of the steps here though:
How Long to Cook Raw Sausage Links in Air Fryer
You will have to start by preheating your air fryer for 5 minutes and lay your raw links inside when done without overlapping them. Then you will need to cook for 7 minutes, flipping over for another 7 minutes = 19 minutes with the prep and all.
What Else Can You Add?
Other variations to this are that you could add air fryer peppers and onions or air fryer egg bites inside the basket at the same time. That would make a quick and easy meal all cooked together. Just put meat in a single layer, if the veggies overlap the top that is okay. Or crack 1 egg into each silicone muffin cup and add last 5 minutes.
Air Fryer Italian Sausage
Equipment
- 1 air fryer
Ingredients
- 6-8 whole Italian sausage, uncooked, links
- 1 spray olive oil spray
Instructions
- Preheat air fryer to 350 degrees for 5 minutes. Lay links inside basket without overlapping them.
- Cook for 7 minutes, flip over and cook for another 7 minutes and then check internal temperature. Should reach 160 degrees F in the thickest part to be safe to eat.
- After flipping you could spray with olive oil and sprinkle with Italian seasoning if you'd like. Spray will make outside crispier than not using it.
- Slice and serve.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
How to Make into a Meal
Then just slice and enjoy, serve in a bun with mustard, or dice and add it into a dish like our Instant Pot sausage and rice dish. Great as a fresh dish or if you have leftovers from the night before you can dice and throw it in at that time for a second meal.
You can also follow directions on how to cook bratwurst in the oven, but that takes a lot longer of course and heats up your whole house so not so great in the hot summer months.
Flipping meat in air fryer basket is vital to ensure both sides get nice and brown in the 15 minute mark. Do not add parchment paper on the bottom, you’ll inhibit the flow of hot air to get it done properly.
Ready to make a sausage or even air fried Venison Sausage Recipe? You can jump to recipe below. Refer to the package you chose for accurate nutritional information.
How to save leftovers
If you do have some left you can save them. Make sure they are completely cooled before packaging them up in a freezer bag. I would reheat in the microwave or else if you use this same method they will dry out a bit more since the outside is already crisped.
OR make a second entire meal the next day by cutting into bite size pieces and make Instant Pot Italian wedding soup with them. Or put into our pressure cooker sausage soup recipe.
Hog casing from a pig is traditionally used for this. It’s the same used with kielbasa and bologna. Thin in nature it is easy to remove and/or remove. The meat inside has a lot of seasonings mixed inside so you don’t need to add much else for flavor.
