Everyone loves a pizza night, but if your family’s getting tired of having plain old cheese pizza each week, it may be time to switch things up. Incorporating more exciting toppings like sausage is the perfect way to spice up pizza night and keep your family coming back for slice after slice. Sprinkling some sausage on top of your pizza will also up its protein content — a nice bonus!
Before you sit down and enjoy a sweet and spicy bite of sausage pizza, there’s some work to do. Let’s look at some strategies and options to make your next pizza night unforgettable.
The kind most of us know from pizza is coarsely ground pork (and sometimes beef) with fennel, also known as “mild” Italian sausage. The “hot” variety adds spicy peppers, while “sweet” Italian sausage includes sweet basil. It can be sliced or loose, and prepared in different ways or with different spices.
Types of Sausage You Can Use For Pizza Toppings
Sausage comes in all shapes and sizes, complete with countless flavorings and spice levels to construct the perfect pizza for your preferences. Here are the most popular types of sausage for pizza toppings — try some for your next homemade pizza night:
- Hot: If you like sprinkling red pepper flakes on your pizza, you’ll love using slices or crumbles of hot Italian sausage to top off your pie.
- Sweet: On the other hand, if you enjoy balancing out your salty ingredients with a touch of sweetness, adding sweet Italian sausage to your pizza will make your taste buds sing.
- Mild: For those who don’t like their meat too spicy or overly sweet, mild Italian sausage is the perfect pizza topping compromise.
- Patties: Hot or sweet Italian sausage patties can be broken apart in a skillet like sausage crumbles or kept in larger pieces to act like mouth-watering meatballs atop your pie.
- Links: Breakfast pizza, anyone? Breakfast sausage links and a runny egg are the perfect toppings for a savory brunch delight.
- Ground meat: Ground sausage is great for when you’re in a pinch and need a quick-cooking solution. Save yourself some time by skipping the slicing or de-casing and just dumping some sweet or hot Italian ground sausage into a skillet.
- Chicken sausage: Not a fan of red meat? You can still pack your pizza with protein and flavor by making chicken sausage your go-to topping.
How to Successfully Cook Sausage Links
While many people believe cooking sausage is a challenge, we think it’s quite the opposite. There are three popular ways to prepare your Premio sausage links, including on the stovetop, in the oven and on the grill. Whichever method you choose, cook your pork sausage to an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit and your chicken sausage to 165 degrees Fahrenheit to ensure they’re safe to eat. Stick to the following steps to cook your Premio sausage properly:
- Heat a pan filled with 6 tablespoons of water on medium heat.
- Place sausage links in the skillet.
- Cover the pan and cook for 10 to 12 minutes.
- Rotate links often.
- Remove the top and continue cooking for another five to seven minutes.
- Enjoy!
- Place links on a foil-lined baking sheet.
- Put the sheet into a cold oven 7 to 9 inches below the heating element and turn the heat to the broil setting.
- Broil for 13 to 15 minutes on each side.
- Serve and enjoy.
- Preheat your grill with medium flames.
- Place links on racks and cook for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Turn sausage routinely for even browning.
- Serve as desired.
Recipe: Easy Sausage Pizza
FAQ
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