If you don’t have olive oil, it’s fine to use butter or vegetable oil.

Feel free to cut the sausages into even smaller pieces. Cutting the sausages increases their surface area so more of the sausage caramelizes in the skillet. This translates to amazing flavor!

If the sausages don’t sizzle when they hit the skillet, turn up the heat to medium-high. If you’d like to cook a lot of sausages, use a large skillet or cook them in batches.

Keep in mind that if you’re cooking small sausages, like breakfast sausages, they may only need 5 to 10 minutes to finish cooking. Remove the lid carefully so steam doesn’t rush into your face. Rest the sausages for a few minutes before you serve them. Resting helps redistribute juices within the meat so it won’t spill out when you cut the sausages.

Don’t prick the sausages before you cook them since this causes the juices to run out faster, making the sausages dry. For an easy sheet-pan dinner, spread chopped root vegetables like onions, potatoes, and peppers alongside the sausages. Drizzle the vegetables with a little olive oil and season them with salt and pepper.

Smaller or narrow sausages take less time to cook, so check them earlier.

Resting the sausages for a few minutes helps them reabsorb juices. This way, they won’t leak all over your serving platter when you cut into them.

For an easy way to add flavor, replace the water with broth, stock, beer, wine, or tomato sauce. [10] X Research source Simmering is a great way to gently cook sausages like brats, hot dogs, or knockwurst because it’s really hard to dry them out. If you tend to overcook sausages, try simmering them.

If the water is boiling too vigorously, turn the heat down a little so the water bubbles gently. Don’t use forks to turn the sausages, or you might accidentally prick them and release all their flavorful juices.

If you’ve got your grill going, sear the sausages on the grill instead of in a skillet. You’ll add wonderful smoky flavor to the meat.

This creates a 2-zone fire, which gives you a lot of control when grilling the sausages.

Oiling the grates prevents the sausages from sticking so it’s really easy to turn them. Leave space between each sausage so they grill evenly. If your sausages are connected by casing, separate them before you toss the sausages on the grill.

The sausages are less likely to burn when you cook them over indirect heat—the side that’s turned to low or doesn’t have briquettes.

Serve the sausages right away or loosely cover them with a piece of aluminum foil to keep warm until you’re ready to eat.