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Sausages might seem simple to make, as you just need to heat them up in a pan, but they have a horrible texture and taste quite bland if you cook them in oil. It might be traditional to fry sausages, but you do not actually need to add any cooking oil, as they actually contain a lot of fat, which should render on its own to crisp up the skin.

When you add oil to the pan, it often mixes with the sausage fat, which causes the casing to cook faster, making the skin more likely to burn and split open. Using oil will often make the sausage charred on the outside, undercooked and pink on the inside, while all the flavourful juices will leak out into the pan to ruin the taste. However, Matt Rhoades from True Bites a family-run butcher’s shop, recommends making sausages in the oven instead, as it makes them juicier and much more flavourful.

Matt said: “Cooking sausages in the oven is one of the easiest ways to get them evenly cooked, nicely browned, and ready to serve without standing over a frying pan.”

Frying sausages cooks very quickly, making them more likely to burn, stick to the pan and the heat can cause oil to spit, so you are left with a lot more clean up afterwards.

Sausages will turn out better if cooked in the oven, as the heat is much gentler, which helps the fat melt out slowly so they cook at a steadier pace.

Letting the sausages cook in their own fat will take longer, but it ensures it cooks more evenly, which allows the skin to brown properly and helps all the juices stay intact.

Using the oven simply makes sausages crispier and more flavourful while also being much more convenient, so you can ensure they always come out as tasty as possible.

How to cook sausages properly in the oven

All you need to do is preheat the oven to 200°C, 180°C for a fan oven, or Gas Mark 6. Place some baking paper or foil onto a tray, as it will make cleaning up easier.

Place the sausages on the tray, and make sure to spread them so they are not touching. Do not prick them with a fork, as breaking the skin will cause all the juice to run out, which will ruin most of the taste.

Next, put the sausages in the oven once it has heated up. Most sausages need 25 to 30 minutes to cook properly, but it depends on how thick or thin they are.

After around 15 minutes of cooking, check on the sausages and turn them to ensure each side cooks properly.

When the cooking time is up, take the sausages out of the oven. They should be piping hot, crispy and look much tastier than trying to fry them.