You've Been Thawing Breakfast Sausage Wrong This Entire Time

Starting the morning with the savory, meaty taste of breakfast sausage is a treat countless people enjoy every day. Though it's simple to cook, many folks make a key mistake long before their links or patties hit the pan: thawing sausage incorrectly. If you've been letting it sit at room temperature overnight or for several hours, you've been making a potentially dangerous error.

To be sure, there are many mistakes (nearly) everyone makes with breakfast sausage, including pricking them before cooking. Still, improper thawing could be one of the most consequential. Letting sausage (or any other frozen meat) defrost on the counter allows significantly more bacteria to multiply. That's because room-temperature thawing falls squarely in the "danger zone" between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit, the ideal range for rapid bacterial growth that can lead to foodborne illness.

The alternative is simple if you have a bit of forethought the night before. Just thaw your breakfast sausage in the fridge, gently defrosting it at a safe temperature. For those in a rush, frozen sausages in their sealed package can also be defrosted in a bowl of cold (never hot) water that's changed every half hour to an hour. You can even use your microwave's defrost setting to safely thaw sausage in a serious time crunch. However, you should immediately cook all sausages defrosted this way, as the process can warm or partially cook some of the meat.

Don't think you can ignore the "danger zone" just because you're opting for precooked breakfast sausage. Even cooked food should only sit at these temperatures for a maximum of two hours, meaning you should keep your sausage in the fridge until you're ready to heat it up.

Breakfast sausage defrosted the wrong way or left out too long might not show any visible issues or other signs that dangerous bacterial growth has occurred, but the threat it poses should be taken seriously. Raw pork left in the danger zone is an ideal host for nasty organisms like Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella, and the dreaded E. coli. If allowed to multiply (or if not fully eradicated), these germs can cause a host of unpleasant symptoms such as stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and more. In serious cases, these may even require medical attention. This is also why it's vital to cook pork or beef sausages to 160 degrees Fahrenheit before eating (other meats, like turkey and chicken, need an additional 5 degrees Fahrenheit).

Though the correct thawing process might require a bit more planning or work, it's vital to keep these safety tips in mind, whether you're frying up the best breakfast sausage you can buy at the store or enjoying a homemade version with our easy breakfast sausage recipe. Safe thawing affects more than just the quality of your breakfast; It impacts your health, too!