While sausages aren’t the healthiest food in the world, there are ways in which you can prepare them that reduce the heavy fattiness which they produce. It is important, then, if you are choosing to boil your sausages that you cook them for the correct time. This is crucial to ensure the flavor is not impacted. This is your full guide to boiling sausages with an easy-to-follow recipe below. Keep reading to find out more!
Table of Contents
- Why Should You Boil Sausage?
- How Long To Boil Sausage?
- How to Boil Sausages
- FAQs
- How To Boil A Sausage – Answered!
Why Should You Boil Sausage?
Sausage is always a family favorite and while it is super tasty, it is not a type of meat you can have every day. Knowing alternative ways of cooking your meat that reduces the fat content is super helpful and can be a healthier way of cooking your sausages.
While boiling does not provide you with a crispy exterior, it can help to preserve the fats and moisture within the contents of your sausage. This makes it a great cooking method for emulsified sausages.
Emulsified sausages include those that are filled with smooth and finely ground meat, water, and fat. Some examples include hotdogs, bratwursts, weisswurst, Serdelki, and frankfurters. These sausages are traditionally boiled because these sausages do not require browning.
How Long To Boil Sausage?
Boiling or poaching your sausage is a great way of ensuring that your meat is cooked throughout and evenly. This is particularly handy if you are preparing for a big occasion ahead of time and want to pre-cook your sausages. You can easily reheat them on the grill afterwards to give them a smoky, chargrilled flavor.
Whether you are only boiling your sausages or even if you are using it as a pre-cooking method, different sausages will need different lengths of cooking time. Pre-cooked sausages such as hotdogs will only need about 10 minutes.
Contrastingly, raw fresh sausages will probably need about 30 minutes. This allows the internal temperature of the meat to reach 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
How Long To Boil Italian Sausage On The Stove
Italian sausage should take between 15 to 20 minutes to boil.
Just put your Italian sausage in a pot and cover them with water. Make sure you add enough water so the sausages are submerged about 1 inch below the water level. Bring your water to a boil over high heat and then reduce the pot to a simmer for another 10 minutes, or until the internal temperature has reached 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
How Long To Boil Chicken Sausage?
Chicken sausage will have a similar cooking time to pork sausages. It will generally take between 10 to 15 minutes of boiling for your chicken sausages to be cooked through.
Make sure to check the internal temperature of your chicken sausage. Raw chicken is much more dangerous than pork and can give you salmonella if eaten when raw. Meat thermometers are a super useful tool to ensure that your meat is cooked the whole way through.
Make sure that you use your meat thermometer through the end of your sausage. If you pierce the casing of the sausage, you will risk the contents spilling out of the casing while it is boiling.
How Long To Boil Chinese Sausage
If you are making Chinese sausages, there are two different ways in which I recommend that you cook them.
Firstly, you can steam your Chinese sausages. This can be done in a steaming pot. Or you can place the links on a heatproof plate and place this over a pot of boiling water with a lid on the plate.
This can be left for 20 to 30 minutes or until you see the sausages have turned a little translucent. This is a sign that your sausages are cooked the whole way through.
You can also cook your Chinese sausages in a pot of simmering water, which should take about 12 minutes, or until you see the fat rise to the top of the water.
How to Boil Sausages
Boiling Sausages Instructions
Total Time: 20 minutes
Prepare Your Water
Pour 1l of water into your pot. Bring your water to a boil.
Once your water is boiling, remove it from the heat. Then, you can add your sausages. It is best to add your sausages while they are off the heat as this prevents the water from splashing everywhere while you are adding your sausages.
Don’t Prick The Skin!
Make sure you do not prick the skin of your sausages before adding them in. This is especially important if they are high quality sausages because it will cause lots of the fat to leak out of the casing and even split, causing your sausage to completely dissipate into the water.
Add and Simmer
Add your sausages to the pot quite slowly, then place your pot back on the burner, boiling your sausages for about 10 minutes. The boiling time of your sausages may depend on the size of the sausages, but you can check if they have cooked through completely with a meat thermometer. Make sure to stick your meat thermometer into the end of the sausage to avoid fat spilling out of the casing. The internal temperature must be at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit for the meat to be cooked the whole way through.
Remove From Water
Once you are happy the sausages are cooked through thoroughly, you can remove the pot from the heat and remove your sausages from the water using a fork.
Fry Off
Finally, pop your sausages into a hot skillet with a small bit of oil. This will help to caramelize the casing of your sausages and add an extra hint of flavor.
How To Poach Your Sausage
I have written a separate blog post outlining a full guide on how to poach your sausages. This is another great method to follow if you are preparing for an occasion. The sausages can be poached ahead of time, saving yourself time on the day. Make sure to check it out!
Alternatively, you can check out this video below which has a great visual description. It outlines the best way to boil your sausages.
FAQs
How To Tell If Boiled Sausage Is Done?
The best way to tell if your sausage is cooked is by using an internal meat thermometer. The meat is cooked if the internal temperature has reached 155 – 165 degrees Fahrenheit (68-74 degrees Celcius). Insert your meat thermometer into the end of the sausage to avoid splitting the casing.
How To Cook Sausages?
The best method to cooking sausages is making sure that they are at room temperature before cooking. Make sure to never prick them.
How To Boil A Sausage – Answered!
The average time it takes for you to boil your sausage will vary depending on the size of your sausage. On average, it should take about 10 to 15 minutes to boil your sausages. Raw sausages will take some time longer to cook completely through, so make sure to use a meat thermometer when cooking raw sausages.
If you enjoyed this post, let me know in the comments, or even if you have any questions. Thanks for reading, and make sure to check out some of my other pages!
