Sheet Pan Baked Italian Sausage

I love a good sheet pan meal and I love Italian sausage, so it is no surprise that I cook them often with this method. It is my favorite way to prepare them because they come out crisp on the outside and so darn juicy when you cut into them.

Anyone can make perfectly cooked Italian sausage in the oven by making sure you follow a few simple steps (no olive oil, seasonings or anything else needed.) If you feel inclined to add some veggies to that sheet pan, I urge you to resist because it interferes with the crisping up of the sausage (more on that in the tips section below!)

These baked sausages make a great quick meal since they cook up in about 20 minutes and cleanup is a breeze. Pair them with marinara, slice them up and add them to a pasta or enjoy them on their own. Let me show you how easy they are to make!

What You Will Need

• Italian sausage links: I use the traditional pork Italian sausage but chicken or beef sausage will work too. If you are working with chicken Italian sausage, you will want to drizzle a little EVOO on top so they do not dry out. Also, if you use thin sausage links, you will need to reduce the cooking time a bit.
• Sheet Pan
• Aluminum foil: optional but it makes clean up a breeze! make sure you do not use parchment paper since it will burn in a high heat oven.

The 3 Main Types Of Italian Sausage

There are three main types of Italian sausage that are available in grocery stores. Sweet Italian sausage, mild Italian sausage, and hot Italian sausage.

You will most often come across pork sausage. Some stores carry chicken Italian sausage, beef Italian sausage and even specialty flavored Italian sausage like red wine or cheese.

This recipe is more for pork, chicken and beef Italian sausages but if you want to cook up a specialty Italian sausage go for it! Just check the sausages often and make sure to flip them every 10 minutes until they are cooked through.

If you have tried my sausage and peppers pasta or sausage broccolini pasta, you know I love using mild and hot Italian sausage for my recipes. Mild Italian sausage will have a little heat but nothing that is spicy but if you have young kids who you are serving this to, sweet and mild Italian sausage are great options.

How To Make Sheet Pan Baked Italian Sausage

• Preheat the oven: When baking sausage in the oven, you will want to make sure your oven is preheated to 400 degrees. I like to preheat my oven for a good 10 minutes if I can to make sure the oven is evenly heated.
• Prepare the baking sheet: Once the oven is pre-heated, making these is as simple as prepping a baking sheet with aluminum foil and adding the Italian sausage links to the pan.
• Bake: You will bake the Italian sausages for about 20-25 minutes depending on the thickness of the sausage. Make sure to flip the sausages about halfway through the baking. This ensures that all sides of the sausage get nice and caramelized during cooking.

Tips For Perfect Juicy Baked Italian Sausage

Here is what I learned over the years baking sausage in the oven. From the best baking temperatures to what sausage looks like when perfectly cooked.

• Baking sausage at a lower or higher temperature: My recommendation is to bake the sausage in the oven at 400 degrees because the high heat cooks it faster and it produces a crisp outside and tender and juicy inside. I have tried baking them at 350 degrees and at 375 degrees and both temperatures tend to dry them out since they need longer in the oven. When I tried it at higher temps, it burned them. 400 degrees is the magic number for baking them.
• What a perfectly cooked sausage looks like: When cooked at the right temperature (and with flipping) the baked sausages should look a little crisp on the outside with a touch of wrinkling on the skin and when you cut through them, very juicy and tender on the inside. You do not want to see pink when you cut into a cooked Italian sausage. If there is pink then the sausages need a little more time to cook. The U.S.D.A. classifies Italian sausage as a ground meat and as such recommends cooking sausage until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. You can use a meat thermometer or instant-read thermometer to test for this.
• Do not add veggies to the pan: For a perfectly crisp outside to the sausages, you do not want to add vegetables to the pan when roasting them. The veggies give off moisture which affects the caramelization of the sausages and steam cooks them instead. If you want to add peppers and onions or other veggies, cook those up in a saute pan on the stovetop while the sausage bakes.
• Checking for doneness: At a high heat and cooking regular sized Italian sausage links (like in the picture above), cooking them at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes will cook them fully. If you are unsure, I would not pierce them but instead use an instant read thermometer to check that the internal temperature is 160 degrees F.

Storing And Reheating

• Storing Leftovers: To store them, allow them to cool fully then place them in an air-tight container or wrapped in aluminum foil and refrigerate.
• Freezing: These baked sausages freeze well too. Just let them cool then place them in a freezer safe container and freeze them for up to 2 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight.
• To reheat the Italian sausages: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place sausages in aluminum foil and wrap tightly. Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the sausages are heated all the way through.

What To Pair With Baked Italian Sausage

I love serving these with a simple side of San Marzano marinara sauce. Here are some more easy dishes to pair with it:

• Angle hair pasta with tomatoes and herbs
• Italian Green Beans And Potatoes in Tomato Sauce
• Italian Roasted tomatoes
• Italian fried eggplant
• Tomato Ricotta Galette
• Baked Polenta With Meat Sauce