Whenever I cook sausages in the oven, they cook evenly. The issue is that sausages take about forty minutes in the oven. However, whenever I use a pan, they do not take an age to be cooked but they never seem to be cooked thoroughly (some appear to be raw in the centre as well as not being evenly brown). So, how do I cook sausages in a pan?

EDIT: Adding water with the olive oil really does work.

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  • 1
    What do you mean with evenly? Outside evenly brown, or inside evenly done? – Posipiet Apr 30 '11 at 19:06
  • Both; although I think that being cooked evenly inside is more important. – CarneyCode Apr 30 '11 at 19:09
  • I find steam be a great way to conducting heat to the "far side". Like you would pan fry an egg, you use steam to get the far side done without getting the pan side over done. Usually just a tiny amount of water can maintain some steam in the pan for a few minutes and that's long enough to bring the food to a rare. It's not big deal if you used too much water because once you remove the lid it'd be gone in no time. When you flip them a few times and brown the surface, it should be good. – user3528438 Oct 18 '17 at 3:48

Whenever I have cooked sausages in a pan, I have always added some water in the pan that way they cook through on the inside. Once they are cooked through and the water has evaporated, I keep them in the pan to crisp up the outside.

  • Does that mean I shouldn't use oil? – CarneyCode Apr 30 '11 at 19:47
  • I wouldn't use oil, they're generally chock full of the fat anyway! – Benjol Apr 30 '11 at 20:03
  • @Carnotaurus: I have never put oil in the pan when doing it this way. As long as you turn them every now and then, I have never had a problem with them sticking. (I have also always used a non-stick pan so that may be why.) – duchessofstokesay Apr 30 '11 at 20:06
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    Yes this is the ideal way to cook sausages. You want a low wet heat to cook them through, then a nice high dry heat for browning purposes. Also, use beer instead of water, yummy. Or stock. Or cider (hard or soft). Depending on the type of sausage of course. – daniel Apr 30 '11 at 20:35
  • Bratwurst loves to be cooked in beer! – SnakeDoc Oct 20 '17 at 15:20

Not 100% sure what you mean by 'evenly', but assuming you mean they brown in some parts and not others then what you need to do is pretty labor intensive. You basically have to stand there with tongs and continue to turn the sausages the entire time they are cooking. If they are not perfectly round they may want to roll over in which case you'll either need to squash them into shape or just hold them in place with the tongs so they don't roll over.

If instead you mean that some sausages cook more than others then you just need to move the sausages around, trading the under cooked ones with the ones that are cooking faster.


I've found the best way to cook sausages in a pan is to do it very slowly over a low heat, turning occasionally. This gets them nice and sticky and means it's easier to get an even browning.

Incidentally, doing sausages in the oven shouldn't take 40 minutes - about 20 mins at 200C does the job admirably.

  • I still need to pre-heat the oven :S – CarneyCode Apr 30 '11 at 20:52

The four sausages in the picture above are OVERCOOKED! In fact, I'd call 'em Arfur Sausages, like King Arthur with the cakes he burnt.

I use a ribbed griddle pan for this. Then you can rotate the sausages with tongs, and the ribs keep them on the straight and narrow.


I tend to poach them for about 10 minutes, (poach, not boil), and then fry them over a medium heat for about another 10 minutes.

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