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I often find myself making a sauce or a garnish for pasta using sausage meat that I am really just using more as a cured/seasoned ground meat - I remove the casing, then break up the sausage in a skillet until it returns to the formless chuck from whence it came.

Lately however, I've had huge amounts of trouble with the de-casing - it shreds, sticks to the meat, and just is a pain in general to remove.

I realize that this technique is easier with uncooked sausage than with pre-cooked, but does anybody have any overall tricks or tips for an easy way to de-case the sausages without broiling or cooking them first?

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  • 1
    I wonder if blanching might work, like you'd do for a tomato.
    – zanlok
    Commented Feb 2, 2011 at 1:12
  • I'd worry about the sausage getting cooked if I went with that, any experience?
    – Matt Enright
    Commented Feb 2, 2011 at 21:03
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    Quite often companies use artificial casings for their sausage rather than lamb or pork casings. If the casings are real I don't think that you would having this problem.
    – Adam S
    Commented Feb 3, 2011 at 2:45

8 Answers 8

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I usually just slice down the whole length with the tip of a sharp knife, and peel the casing back in one piece.

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  • that's how I do it, too ... before cooking the sausages.
    – Joe
    Commented Feb 2, 2011 at 2:11
  • @Joe Why would you cook the sausage?
    – user1271772
    Commented Feb 25, 2021 at 20:59
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Take the sausage when it is still frozen, run a few seconds under hot water, take the end and start sliding casing down. Perfect sausage and ready to go. If the sausage is thawed out it will break. Works and sausage is so much easier to eat.

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  • You can also make sausage patties after casing is removed and thawed out. Fran
    – Frances H.
    Commented Nov 8, 2013 at 19:32
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Running it under hot water for a few seconds an then start at one end with a small cut and pull the rest off. works for me every time

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  • This is nearly identical to an answer given a year earlier.
    – Sobachatina
    Commented Jun 21, 2018 at 14:46
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Kitchen Scissors work best for me. I do the same thing when making my version of Chili. Instead of using ground beef , I go and get the spicy Italian Sausage and take it out of the casing.

Or as the other guy said, a paring knife should do the trick.

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I freeze the sausage then peel it with a vegetable peeler. Some of the sausage is wasted but not as much as when you peel it after it is cooked. lots of the meat is wasted if you peel it after cooking - a lot of meat sticks to the casing and is very difficult to seperate.

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I saw a video where a guy wrapped the sausage in a wet paper towel for several minutes, then sliced the casing open lengthwise, then peeled it off. Looked like a snap1

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I wondered if it would be easier with the sausage frozen so I bought frozen sausages and it was an absolute doddle! Just peeled the skin off like a banana, brilliant!

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  • Please do not repeat earlier answers
    – user34961
    Commented Jun 21, 2018 at 14:53
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I have been buying some kielbasa that is notoriously hard to peel. What works best is freezing the links for about 15 - 20 minutes, then peeling the casing off cold.

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