Keep Sausage From Exploding In The Air Fryer Without Poking Holes In It

If you've ever cooked a sausage, chances are you've watched one explode on you. They'll be sitting there frying away in hot oil, and then suddenly — pop! — they burst and send grease flying everywhere. Even in an air fryer, where you don't have to worry about oil splatters, nobody really likes to eat a sausage that's split wide open. The fix, as it turns out, is simple: Just turn down the temperature knob on your air fryer.

First, let's take a look at why exactly sausages turn into mini-explosions when you heat them. Refrigerated, perishable sausages have water inside. When you put them on high heat, the water boils into steam. Because this steam is locked inside the sausage by the casing, the internal pressure increases until it bursts. So, to prevent this, focus on keeping the internal water content from boiling into steam.

Rather than cranking the knob up to the maximum 400 degrees Fahrenheit, keep your air fryer's temperature around 350 to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and cook in 5-minute bursts until they're just crisp. Apart from turning down the heat, there's nothing you need to do. Don't bother pricking holes in your sausages, which could be a mistake leaving you with dried-out sausages when all the flavorful juices leak out.

For a package of frozen sausages, there are a couple of extra things you'll need to do to keep it from bursting. If you've ever placed a frozen sausage directly into hot oil, you know it'll sizzle like crazy from all the ice on its skin. This can easily cause the sausage to burst, too, because there is still water inside the sausages. While you'll still want to follow the same low-temperature cooking technique to prevent splitting, the sausages also need to be thawed first. 

To eliminate external ice, soak sausages in cold water about 20 or 30 minutes before you're set to cook them. Change the water every 10 minutes to keep the water cold to avoid bacteria growth throughout the defrosting period. Once thawed, the air fryer can cook the sausages more evenly. Combined with a low cooking temperature and careful thawing, you should be able to keep frozen sausages from bursting just like you would refrigerated sausages.

With a simple trick for perfectly air-fried sausages, you're ready to turn it into a complete meal. For a Greek-inspired dinner, serve them up with some hasselback feta potatoes. Alternatively, make chicken sausage and bell pepper pasta for a hearty, simple dish.