Chicken sausage

Put raw chicken sausages in a lightly oiled pan over medium heat and turn them regularly for about 15–20 minutes, until browned and cooked through. Check the thickest one reaches 75 °C in the centre; don’t prick the casings, or the juices can escape.

Bake raw chicken sausages at 200 °C (180 °C fan) for about 20–25 minutes, turning them halfway through. They should be browned and reach 75 °C in the centre.

Treat fresh chicken sausages as raw poultry and cook them fully, even if they look ready to eat. Only eat one cold if its packaging specifically says it is cooked and ready to eat.

Keep raw chicken sausages covered in the fridge, separate from ready-to-eat foods, and use them within a day or two. Freeze them if you won’t cook them in that time; thaw them in the fridge, not on the worktop.

Serve them with mashed potato and onion gravy, or roast them with peppers, onions and potatoes on one tray. They also work sliced into tomato pasta sauce or a bean casserole.

Yes: use them in the same way in casseroles, pasta sauces and sausage rolls, but cook them through and check the centre reaches 75 °C. Their seasoning and texture can differ, so taste the filling before adding extra salt or herbs.

Not necessarily: this chicken sausage has 28 g of fat per 100 g, compared with 8.08 g in turkey sausage. Chicken sausages can vary considerably, so the name alone doesn’t tell you how lean one is.