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Air Fryer Homemade Breakfast Sausage + VIDEO

Air fryer homemade breakfast sausage is so easy to make, you may never buy store-bought again. This homemade sausage recipe is low-carb, paleo, and whole30 compliant. The best part – it cooks in under 15 minutes!

air fryer homemade breakfast sausage

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Ingredients For Homemade Breakfast Sausage

Meat and seasonings. The ingredients for this homemade sausage recipe are very simple. The seasonings are the star of this recipe. It’s a mixture of simple seasonings that you hopefully already have in your pantry. If you don’t have a specific spice, substitute what you do have. For example, if you don’t have thyme, use rosemary or even oregano. 

  • Ground Pork: You can technically use your preferred ground meat whether it be pork, beef, turkey, etc. 
  • Seasonings: Salt, pepper, sage, thyme, onion powder, cayenne. 

close up of homemade seasonings in a white bowl

How To Make Breakfast Sausage In The Air Fryer

Making breakfast sausage is easy, especially when  you cook it using the air fryer. 

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Divide the meat mixture into even portions and flatten into patties or form into links.
  2. Add patties to the air fryer basket. Do not overlap. You may have to cook the sausage in batches depending on the size of your air fryer.
  3. Cook 380 degrees for 12-15 minutes (see note below), flipping the sausage halfway through cooking. Make sure the internal temperature is at least 145 F.
uncooked breakfast sausage in the air fryer basket

before

What Is Breakfast Sausage?

Breakfast sausage is literally sausage served at breakfast. It’s a popular American breakfast item that’s found in diners across the country. Homemade breakfast sausage is commonly made with pork and herbs like sage & thyme but it’s also one of those recipes that will vary depending on who is making it. My air fryer version uses ground pork, thyme, sage, cayenne, etc. I always encourage you to use ingredients that you like or have readily available. If you don’t eat pork then make these sausages with ground beef. If you don’t eat red meat at all, try using ground turkey. Use what works for you!

cooked breakfast sausage in the air fryer basket

How To Shape The Breakfast Sausage

The most common shape for breakfast sausage is either links or patties. I went with sausage patties because I find them to be faster & easier to shape. If you want to make breakfast links, feel free to shape your ground meat into long sausage links; the cook time will remain the same.

Adding Sweetener

I wanted this breakfast sausage recipe to be low-carb, paleo, and whole30 so the ingredients are only meat & seasonings. Some people like to put some sort of sweetener in their homemade breakfast sausages, usually maple syrup. I am not one of those people, but I get it. If you want to add a bit of sweetness to your sausage I would suggest mixing in 1 tablespoon of maple syrup to the ground meat mixture before air frying. The recipe will still be paleo but no longer low-carb or whole30. If you have another sweetener you want to use by all means use it.

Storing & Freezing Leftover Breakfast Sausage

Homemade sausages can be made ahead of time and they can be frozen. Below is a guide for how to store both uncooked and cooked breakfast sausage in both the refrigerator and freezer. Freeze the sausages by laying them flat in a single layer on a parchment paper or wax paper-lined baking sheet and freeze until solid. Once frozen, transfer the sausage to freezer baggies. This is how I do it with both patties & links.

REFRIGERATOR

  • Uncooked homemade breakfast sausage: 1 – 2 days in airtight container
  • Cooked homemade breakfast sausage: 3 – 4 days in airtight container

FREEZER

  • Uncooked frozen homemade breakfast sausage: 2 months in freezer bags
  • Cooked frozen sausage: 3 – 4 months in freezer bags

The best part about freezing any leftover air fryer breakfast sausage is that you can reheat the sausage directly from frozen in the air fryer! If you do, add an additional 2-5 minutes of cook time.

cooked homemade breakfast sausage on a white paper towelr

Tips

  • Every air fryer is different. You may find that your sausages are done in 12 minutes but they may take up to 15 minutes to cook through completely.
  • How you end up serving these breakfast sausage patties with will depend on your dietary restrictions and personal taste. I like to keep it simple and serve mine with old faithful – eggs. I also eat these sausages any time of the day not just during breakfast.
  • I used a 5.8-quart air fryer for this recipe.

Recipes With Sausage

Overnight Breakfast Casserole

Sausage, Spinach & Cheese Breakfast Casserole

Gnocchi with Sausage & Kale

cooked homemade breakfast sausage on a white paper towelr

Print
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cooked homemade breakfast sausage on a white paper towelr

Air Fryer Homemade Breakfast Sausage

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 1 review

  • Total Time: 15 mins
  • Yield: 8 patties 1x

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground sage
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon thyme
  • 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Divide the meat mixture into even portions and flatten into patties or form into links.
  2. Add patties to the air fryer basket. Do not overlap. You may have to cook the sausage in batches depending on the size of your air fryer.
  3. Cook 380 degrees for 12-15 minutes (see note below), flipping the sausage halfway through cooking. Make sure the internal temperature is at least 145 F.

Notes

Every air fryer is different. You may find that your sausages are done in 12 minutes but they may take up to 15 minutes to cook through completely.

  • Author: Shannon Epstein
  • Prep Time: 5 mins
  • Cook Time: 10 mins

Nutrition

  • Serving Size:
  • Calories: 150
  • Sugar: 0 g
  • Sodium: 322.6 mg
  • Fat: 12.1 g
  • Saturated Fat: 4.5 g
  • Carbohydrates: 0.2 g
  • Fiber: 0.1 g
  • Protein: 9.6 g
  • Cholesterol: 40.9 mg

This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on one of the product links, I’ll might receive compensation. For more about my disclosure policy see here: https://fitslowcookerqueen.com/about/disclosure-policy/.

[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”HzwLU00f” upload-date=”2021-08-31T22:53:37.000Z” name=”Air Fryer Homemade Breakfast Sausage” description=”Air fryer homemade breakfast sausage is so easy to make, you may never buy store-bought again. This healthy sausage recipe is low-carb, paleo, and whole30 compliant. The best part – it cooks in under 15 minutes!” player-type=”default” override-embed=”default”]

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

Gerald

Thursday 2nd of September 2021

Tasty and easy

Andrea

Thursday 29th of June 2017

this homemade sausages look amazing, i like that you are using paprika and cinnamon together in here. they would be great to make on Sunday and then use throughout the week.

Navi

Thursday 29th of June 2017

this looks amazing! Trying ASAP.

beautybymissl

Thursday 29th of June 2017

This looks delicious! I just needed new ideas for breakfast and this homemade sausage recipe is just perfect! Thanks!

TeeShares

Thursday 22nd of June 2017

OMG, I love sausages and the above looks so easy to make. Thanks for this - pinned for future reference.