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Smoking Sausage

April 14, 2020 by Lyuba 21 Comments

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Smoking sausage is probably the easiest thing that you can do on the smoker. Smoked sausage is juicy, flavorful, and filled with deep smoky flavors. There is nothing that you need to do to prepare the sausage, simply place in the smoker and give it about 3 hours. The two main decisions you need to make is the type of sausage to smoke and what kind of wood to use. If you smoke extra sausage, save it to use in many different recipes throughout the week. 

smoked sausages stacked on parchment paper

SMOKED SAUSAGE

Smoked sausage is something I make at least once a month. I only need to make it once a month because I smoke extra and then use it throughout the week. You can add it to breakfast, lunch, and dinner recipes and all will benefit from delicious smokey flavor. Cooked sausage is also easy to freeze for later.

When deciding on meats to smoke for your next barbecue, I highly recommend sausage. There are endless varieties of sausage you can choose from, it’s effortless on your part, and it’s fast. Sure ribs, brisket, and pork are very desirable meats but all take so long to smoke. You will spend at least 5 hours on ribs, and that’s the best case scenario.

Brisket is definitely an over-night smoke so it would be a busy night before the party. I like to stick with something truly easy and delicious at the same time. No matter what sausage you choose, it won’t take much longer than 3 hours to smoke. At the most, you are looking at a 4-hour smoke.

raw sausage on the baking sheet

WHAT KIND OF SAUSAGE CAN I SMOKE?

There is truly not a lot of sausage out there that will not be good after smoking. The only sausage I would probably not smoke is the one that has already been smoked in the factory and package. Some of my favorite sausage to smoke is:

Italian sausage – that includes all of them, sweet, mild, spicy, and even the cheesy one.

Bratwurst

Breakfast sausage

Kielbasa

Chorizo

Chicken sausage

Beef Sausage

Hot Dogs

QUICK SMOKING NOTES

How Long Does Sausage Take To Smoke? On average, sausage will take about 2 – 3 hours to smoke. Different types of sausage can vary in time though and that is why it’s best to use instant read thermometer to check internal temperature.

What Is The Temperature Of The Smoker? I normally don’t deviate much from the magic 225°. If using a charcoal/wood smoker, try to maintain temperature between 225°-240°.

When Is Smoked Sausage Done? Sausage should be cooked to 165° internal temperature. Use an instant read thermometer and insert it through the end, towards the center.

What Is The Best Wood For Smoking Sausage? Here is where another decision comes in. Do you want a strong flavor, or a mild one, or a fruity one? For a stronger wood flavor, go with hickory. When sausage has a strong flavor, I go with fruity wood like apple. If you want a milder wood flavor, use pecan.

cooked smoked sausage on the smoker grate

HOW TO SMOKE SAUSAGE IN A SMOKER

Take the sausage out of the refrigerator before starting to prepare the smoker so it warms up a bit. Much like all other meats, you shouldn’t smoke sausage cold straight from the fridge. 

Prepare the smoker and preheat it to 225°. Depending on the smoker, place a pan with water underneath or near the sausage. Lay sausages on the grate and make sure they are not touching each other. Close the lid and smoke it for about 3 hours.

You can insert a digital thermometer probe into the end of the sausage, towards the center, to monitor the temperature.

NOTE: It’s best to open the smoker as little as possible so it doesn’t loose heat and lower temperature. This is especially true for charcoal/wood smokers vs electric and gas. Since it’s harder to keep the temperature

WHERE TO USE SMOKED SAUSAGE

You can use leftover sausage in many recipes. Use it in:

Soups

Jambalaya

Sausage and rice dishes

Pasta and sausage dishes

Sandwiches

Breakfast dishes like frittatas, quiche, and breakfast casseroles.

whole cooked sausage and sliced sausage

STORING AND FREEZING

Store leftover cooked smoked sausage in an air-tight container, in the refrigerator. Properly stored, it should last up to 4 days.

To freeze smoked sausage, wrap it air-tight in plastic wrap and place them into a freezer zip-lock bag. Get all the air out, label, and freeze for up to 2 months.

MORE RECIPES TO TRY

Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Marinated Grilled Pork Chops

Carolina Style Smoked Pulled Pork

Teriyaki Pork Kebabs

horizontal image of sliced smoked sausage

If you made any of my recipes and shared them on Instagram, make sure to tag me @grillingsmokingliving and #grillingsmokingliving so I can see all the things you tried!

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Smoking Sausage

Smoking sausage is probably the easiest thing that you can do on the smoker. Smoked sausage is juicy, flavorful, and filled with deep smoky flavors.
Print Recipe
CourseMain Course
CuisineAmerican
Keywordsausage, smoked sausage
Prep Time20 minutes minutes
Cook Time3 hours hours
Total Time3 hours hours 20 minutes minutes
Servings4
Calories785kcal

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs sausage of choice or as much sausage as you wish
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Choose your wood:

  • Stronger flavor: hickory
    Milder flavor: pecan
    Fruity flavor: apple

Smoke Sausage:

  • Prepare the smoker and get it to steady 225F°. (If using gas or or electric smoker, set it to 225F° and preheat for about 20 minutes.) Depending on the smoker, place the water pan underneath or near the meat.
  • Place sausages on the grate and make sure they're not touching each other. (You can insert a digital thermometer probe into one of the sausages through the end, towards the center. Or, simply take a temperature reading after 2-3 hours.)
  • Keep the smoker lid closed and cook for about 3 hours. Sausage will be done once it reaches 165F° internal temperature.
    Note: smoking time will depend on type and size of sausage so make sure to check internal temperature.

Notes

Nutritional notes: each sausage will have it's own nutritional value. This nutritional value is calculated for Italian sausage. 
Take the sausage out of the refrigerator before starting to prepare the smoker so it warms up a bit. Much like all other meats, you shouldn't smoke sausage cold straight from the fridge. 

Nutrition

Calories: 785kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 71g | Saturated Fat: 26g | Cholesterol: 172mg | Sodium: 1658mg | Potassium: 574mg | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 41mg | Iron: 3mg

collage or two photos. on top is sausage cooked and stacked and on the bottom is sliced cooked sausage

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Filed Under: Chicken, Pork

Comments

  1. Keith Lipp says

    April 21, 2021 at 3:57 am

    dO YOU HAVE AN ACTUAL RECIPE OF THE MARAGADE USED ON THIS WEBSITE. iF SO WHERE. tHANKS

    Reply
    • Lyuba says

      May 1, 2021 at 2:06 pm

      Hi Keith! I’m sorry, I don’t think I understand what you are asking. Could you clarify?

      Reply
    • Hasibullah says

      June 2, 2021 at 11:33 am

      Hello
      I am looking for learning that how to smoke sausage in the steamer…?

      Reply
      • Lyuba says

        June 29, 2021 at 1:43 pm

        Hi! I’m not sure what you meat. Do you mean you want to steam the sausage?

        Reply
  2. Bob Gray says

    May 11, 2021 at 1:22 pm

    How did you make the maragade?

    Reply
    • Lyuba says

      May 11, 2021 at 2:57 pm

      Hello, Bob! Do you mean a marinade? There is no marinade on the sausage, are you thinking of another recipe?

      Reply
  3. Jan Sossar says

    May 13, 2021 at 10:44 am

    I presume the temperatures are in F, not C? Should be specified

    Reply
    • Lyuba says

      May 13, 2021 at 1:45 pm

      Yes, Jan, it is in F. It would be quite hot in Celsius to cook for this long 🙂 I will make sure to add it to the recipe!

      Reply
  4. Diane Meyerink says

    June 28, 2021 at 8:09 am

    I make smoked sausage but I find that the casing is very tough.What can I do?Diane

    Reply
    • Lyuba says

      June 29, 2021 at 1:42 pm

      Hi Diane! So the casing can be tough because of the kind of sausage it in, the kind of casing they used, the amount of salt in the sausage, if the sausage was left of the fridge without air-tight covering, and a few other factors. Most likely, it is the type of sausage you got that had tough casing. If you want to keep smoking this sausage, make sure to let the sausage warm up a little before placing it on the smoker. So pull it from the fridge about 30-45 minutes before placing it on the smoker. I really hope this helps!

      Reply
      • Robert Steen says

        July 25, 2021 at 4:38 pm

        My neighbor just cut down a huge maple tree and l plan on using some of this wood to smoke ltalian sausage, is this a good wood to use. By

        Reply
        • Lyuba says

          August 7, 2021 at 2:26 pm

          Hi Robert, yes, maple would be good to use. You will just need to make sure the wood is seasoned (nice and dry) before using it for smoking. You don’t want to use freshly cut wood. The drying could take 6-12 months.

          Reply
    • Vic says

      March 27, 2022 at 4:28 am

      Yes… the last hr(of the 2.5-3 hrs) of smoking at 225 -250, I’ll put the sausage on a cookie grate … put a small amount of water(8th of a cup) in a pan… put the sausage/grate in the pan… seal it off with aluminum foil and put back in the cooker or your oven(so you can begin smoking more sausages on your smoker) lol ! This will assist you in your casing dilemma, plus give your sausage a more juicy and still adequately smoked.

      Reply
      • Lyuba says

        April 9, 2022 at 2:13 pm

        I will definitely try this next time, Vic! Thank you!!

        Reply
    • Brent says

      October 1, 2022 at 9:02 pm

      I cut the casings off of the pork sausage links before putting them in the smoker. This allows more smoke to enter the meat and for more fat to drip out. Not a fan of eating casings even if not tough.

      Reply
      • Lyuba says

        October 16, 2022 at 10:43 pm

        That’s a great tip, thank you!

        Reply
  5. Robert says

    August 22, 2021 at 6:02 am

    What is the process for double smoke sausage…is it just smoking it for a longer period of time?

    Reply
    • Lyuba says

      August 28, 2021 at 2:31 pm

      Hey Robert! I’m assuming that when companies label their sausage as double smoked, it might be a marketing term because they never actually say what is the process they follow to get more smoked flavor. Personally, I wouldn’t attempt to just smoke longer because it will start to dry out and might get dry and chewy, depending on the sausage. One way that you can double smoke sausage, and I’d only recommend it for homemade sausage, is to do a cold smoke first and then do a hot smoke.

      Reply
  6. Billy Vic says

    March 27, 2022 at 4:48 am

    Too much smoking could make your meats bitter. So on sausage 1.5 to 2 hrs of smoking works nicely. Never cold smoked, so have no idea about cold smoking prior to hotter smoked meats. Competition cooked for 12 years, with 4 invites to the Jack Daniels World Championship BBQ invitational… and this is the 1st I’ve heard of ‘double smoked’. So I would have to agree, that it is most likely a marketing ploy. Cheers !

    Reply
    • Lyuba says

      April 9, 2022 at 2:17 pm

      Yes, I’m leaning towards a marketing tactic.
      Vic, cold smoking is basically curing the meat and then exposing it to smoke but only at low temperatures, usually below 90°. It’s usually done either or though, like cold smoking or hot smoking. I was just trying to think of what the company could possibly mean by “double smoked.”

      Reply
  7. Alicia Cantwell says

    November 18, 2024 at 7:56 pm

    It sounds like you are using a trigger grill? I use a green egg so I can control the smoke but if using a trigger I would just have it smoke for the first hour.

    Reply

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Let's get grilling!

Welcome, everyone! I’m Lyuba Brooke, come in, grab a beer, and head to the backyard. Here, I love to grill, barbecue, and share everything I make. You will find a ton of recipes for grilling, smoking, and the sauces to dip it in.

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