How to Cook Italian Sausage

Sausage forms an important part of Italian cooking. It is important to get to know safe handling tips about Italian sausage before we see how to cook Italian sausage. Sausage should not be left outside, it should be stored in the refrigerator as soon as it is got from the store or after preparing it at home. It is recommended to use sausage within 2 days of preparing or purchasing it. In case you are not going to cook it immediately, then keep it frozen in a freezer in a vacuum seal bag. Sausage should never be defrosted on the counter. It can either be defrosted slowly in the refrigerator or in the microwave using the defrost setting. However, make sure you cook the sausage as soon as you have defrosted it. Now let's turn towards the methods which you can use for cooking Italian sausage.

How to Cook Italian Sausage in the Oven
Not always are we able to grill Italian sausage on hardwood or coals, but you should not be dejected, you can also cook your Italian sausage in the oven and have it taste delicious. Read on sausage and peppers recipe.

Ingredients

• Bay Leaf 1
• Chicken Bouillon Granules 1 cube
• Beer (your favorite) 1 can
• Italian Sausage 1 pound
• Water 1 cup

Method

• Defrost the Italian sausage either in the refrigerator or in the microwave.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Place the sausage in a baking pan.
• Dilute the chicken bouillon in ½ cup water.
• Add beer, chicken bouillon diluted in water and bay leaf to the sausage.
• Cover the baking pan with aluminum foil and it bake for 40 minutes.
• If you feel the sausage is drying in between the cooking process, add another cup of water to it.
• Now to brown the sausage, uncover the baking pan and cook the sausage for 7 minutes on either side.
• You can now add any sauce you want to the sausage.
• To make the sauce taste better, it is recommended to let the sausage simmer in the sauce for some time.

How to Cook Italian Sausage in a Pan
One of the methods to cook Italian sausage is to fry it in the pan. It is one of the simplest and widely used method to cook Italian sausage. To cook sausage in a pan, it is always better to use a nonstick skillet to avoid the sausage from sticking.

• Coat the skillet lightly with cooking spray.
• Break the sausage into pieces and put them in the skillet over medium to low heat. The less heat the better.
• High heat will cook the sausage too quickly on the outside, but the meat inside will not be cooked.
• Add ½ cup of water for per pound of sausage.
• To cook the sausage on low heat it will take anywhere between 45 to 60 minutes.
• Cut the sausage into half and check the center for pinkness. Using a meat thermometer is the safest method. The internal temperature should at least be 165 degrees Fahrenheit for the sausage to be cooked to perfection.

How to Cook Italian Sausage in Sauce
This is my favorite method of cooking Italian sausage. If you are wondering how to cook Italian sausage for spaghetti, then the answer is by using the same recipe. Only after cooking Italian sausage thoroughly, you should add cooked spaghetti to the sausage. You may want to read on sausage gravy recipe.

Ingredients

• Olive Oil 2 tablespoons
• Onion (chopped) 1
• Garlic (minced) 1 tablespoon
• Tomatoes (diced) 2 cans
• Tomato Paste 2 cans
• Dried Basil 1 tablespoon
• Dried Parsley 1 tablespoon
• Italian Sausage 4 to 5 links
• Water ½ cup

Method

• Add olive oil to a saucepan heated over medium high heat.
• Then add the onion, reduce the heat, and let the onions cook till they are translucent.
• Now add the garlic and cook for a minute.
• Then add the tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs and water and let the sauce simmer.
• While the sauce is simmering, remove the sausage from the casing and separate it with a fork and brown it in a skillet, drain any fat.
• Now add the sausage to the sauce and let it simmer in the sauce for 45 to 60 minutes.
• If you are making the sausage for spaghetti, now is the time to add cooked spaghetti. Stir well and serve.

For more information, read

• Sausage Ball Recipe
• German Sausage Recipes

A tip I would like to give at the end of this article on how to cook Italian sausage is to prick the sausage three or four times either with a fork or with a toothpick,when you are cooking Italian sausage to keep them from bursting during the cooking process.