recipes

57 Comforting Sausage Recipes, for When You Want Big Flavor Fast

We've got a lotta love for links.
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Alex Lau

This list of sausage recipes is your year-round answer to, “What’s for dinner?” The case: (1) Sausages are super easy to make; whether packaged and cured or fresh from the butcher counter, they’re cooked through in 30 minutes or fewer. 2) They defy the seasons, feeling as at home on the grill in summer as they are bathed in a hearty, winter stew. 3). Each link is packed with flavor, blessing anything it touches with salty-meaty-smokiness. We’re talking about the mustardy, swiss-chard salad featuring chunks of kielbasa(!), cheddar cheese, and a scattering of pretzel bits. The vibrant and aromatic Thai sai ua samun phrai amped up by an umami-chile dipping sauce. And the cozy, sausage-laced weeknight beans on toast that’ll make enough for breakfast the next day, too. When dinnertime comes a-knockin,’ these sausage recipes will have you rockin’.

  • Shrimp and Okra with Sausage
    Photo by Emma Fishman, food styling by D'Myrtrek Brown
    1/57

    Shrimp and Okra With Sausage

    Creole seasoning is the key to adding a spice cabinet’s worth of flavor in just a few shakes in this one-pot dinner.

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  • Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Mieko Takahashi
    2/57

    Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

    Repeatedly folding and rolling the biscuit dough yields lots of flaky, individuated layers that pull apart neatly when you eat them.

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  • Photo by Heami Lee, food styling by Judy Haubert, prop styling by Rebecca Bartoshesky
    3/57

    Swiss Chard Beer Garden Salad

    Silky Swiss chard, briny pops of mustard-macerated onions, sharp cheddar, chunks of sausage, and crushed pretzels mingle in this ode to the flavors found at beer gardens. 

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  • Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by Pearl Jones
    4/57

    Crispy Black Rice and Chinese Sausage Dressing

    A riot of textures and sweet-and-savory flavors, this dish is anything but your typical Thanksgiving wild rice salad. 

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  • Peden + Munk
    5/57

    Queso Fundido

    If you can find Chihuahua cheese for this, use it! If not, Monterey Jack can be subbed. Not the same, but still crazy good!

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  • Photo by Emma Fishman
    6/57

    Sai Ua Samun Phrai

    A vibrant Thai sausage made with ground chicken, plus its spicy chile dip, from chef Parnass Savang of Atlanta’s Talat Market.

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  • Photo by David Malosh, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Cindy Diprima
    9/57

    Lentil Kielbassoulet

    All the satisfaction of a hearty, rich, bean-based cassoulet with none of the painstaking hours of cooking.

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  • Photo by Alex Lau, food styling by Susie Theodorou, prop styling by Heather Greene
    10/57

    Sausage and Ricotta Baked Cannelloni

    Here's our compromise: You can use a good store-bought marinara, but don't skip the homemade béchamel—there's no substitute.

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  • Photo by Alex Lau, food styling by Sue Li, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski
    13/57

    Weeknight Beans on Toast

    This recipe will make more ragù than you need, but the leftovers can be repurposed as a quick topper for pasta on another night.

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  • Photo by Chelsie Craig
    14/57

    Low-Commitment Wedding Soup

    This recipe takes all the right shortcuts and none of the wrong ones.

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  • Alex Lau
    19/57

    Rigatoni with Sausage, Beans, and Greens

    Our favorite and best method of making pasta—the same one the pros use in restaurants—is one in which the pasta finishes cooking in a glossy sauce made by emulsifying cheese into the pasta cooking liquid. It’s so easy and good it might change your life (or if not your entire life, then definitely your weeknight pasta game).

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  • Alex Lau
    20/57

    Sausage and Escarole Over Toast

    Be sure to get heavy color on the bread and sausage. Thank us later.

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  • Michael Graydon & Nikole Herriott
    25/57

    Sausage, Greens, and Beans Pasta

    The genius of this pasta recipe is in the contrast of the textures and flavors. If spicy isn’t your thing, sub in any fresh sausage you like.

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  • We Are the Rhoads
    26/57

    Sausage and Broccoli Rabe Frittata

    The frittata will be easier to remove from the skillet if it sits for a few minutes—the top will deflate and the edges will pull away from the pan.

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  • Photo by Laura Murray, food styling by Susie Theodorou
    55/57

    Kielbasa-Cabbage Stir-Fry

    The key to stress-free stir-frying is all in the prep work. Be sure to chop, slice, and grate everything before even thinking about turning on the stove. Top this dish with fried eggs to put it over the top, but it’s also great without them.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Jennifer Ophir
    56/57

    Kielbasa and Lentil Soup with Lots of Basil

    Exactly the kind of hearty-but-not-too-hearty soup you want on a rainy spring day.

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  • Photo by Chelsie Craig, Food Styling by Kate Buckens
    57/57

    Bigos (Hunter’s Stew)

    This Polish hunter’s stew features kielbasa, smoky bacon, melty cabbage, and lots of delicious broth that can be sopped up with bread.

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