Brian Nagele
The age-old adage that breakfast is the most important meal of the day rings true, and one popular choice for the first meal of the day is breakfast sausages!
It was American farmers who invented the breakfast sausage that is now a staple for country-style breakfasts nationwide. Borrowing English culinary traditions, colonial farmers in the states made sausages from leftover pork scraps so as not to waste any residual meat they couldn’t sell or process.
Breakfast sausages are full of tasty fat and protein, acting as the perfect breakfast food to fuel your day.
You don’t have to go to a diner to get breakfast sausages. There are plenty of trusted brands that sell frozen breakfast sausages at your local grocery store.
If you want to cook breakfast at home each morning, I’ve compiled a list of the best breakfast sausages to read about below.
Johnsonville Original Recipe Breakfast Sausage
Named for the friendly Wisconsin farming town where founders Ralph and Alice Stayer operated a butcher shop, Johnsonville has been a trusted household name for high-quality sausages since the 1940s.
As butchers, the Stayer family had access to the finest cuts of meat, vowing to create sausages with high-quality pork instead of scraps.
Johnsonville Original Recipe Breakfast Sausage is a 70-year-old recipe that has no artificial flavors, dairy, or trans-fat. It contains a simple yet high-quality ingredient list.
In my opinion, a small list of seasonings lets the high-quality pork speak for itself.
Banquet Brown ’N Serve Original
A pioneer of frozen dinners, Banquet’s founder F.M. Stamper began his frozen food empire by selling frozen meat pies in 1953.
Banquet has since created a line of frozen dinners, frozen fruit pies, snacks, and of course, frozen meat, including frozen chicken nuggets.
Banquet products are very affordable, fitting any budget, and they’re also available at any commercial grocers.
Banquet Brown-N Serve Original sausage links are a combination of turkey and pork.
They use turkey scraped from the bones to create a flavorful paste that adds a unique savory flavor to the pork.
I also applaud them for adhering to the waste-not-want-not approach of incorporating scraps into their sausage recipes.
Bob Evans Original Pork Sausage Links
Originating in Ohio in 1948, Bob Evans started as a sausage producer, using farm-fresh ingredients from the Bob Evans family farm.
The sausages were so popular that Bob Evans formed a production line in 1953, and later a chain of American country-style restaurants in the 1960s.
Bob Evans is one of the most popular frozen food companies in America, still sourcing ingredients from American farms and purveyors dedicated to sustainable and cruelty-free meat and dairy.
The Bob Evans Original Pork Sausage Links are the company’s oldest product and the reason they’re now a household name.
I like to fry them up with a side of their crisp and delicious Bob Evans diced home fries.
Jones Dairy Farm All Natural Pork Sausage
Named for founder Milo Jones, Jones Dairy Farm is one of Wisconsin’s oldest and most venerated sausage producers, with over 130 years as a household name.
Jones Dairy Farm All-Natural Pork Sausage still uses Jones’ original recipe and comes in various varieties.
You can get this simple yet delicious recipe as frozen links, uncooked links, patties, or uncooked sausage logs.
As the name suggests, Jones Dairy Farm products contain no MSG or artificial flavors with minimal processing.
Jones Dairy Farm is, in my opinion, the best breakfast sausage brand on my list for its all-natural and minimally processed ingredients that result in the tastiest and healthiest product.
Smithfield Hometown Original Breakfast Sausage
Smithfield Hometown is an apt name for this world-famous pork products company as it originated in Smithfield Virginia in the 1930s.
Smithfield Hometown Company has been a leading pork producer not just in the states, but in 30 different countries.
Not only can you get fine quality sausage, but Smithfield also produces country hams, bacon, ribs, and smoked pork to name a few of their products.
Since their main focus for the past 85 years has been pork, you know their Original Breakfast Sausage is going to be the gold standard of breakfast meats.
The Original Breakfast sausage comes in the following varieties:
- Sausage roll
- Sausage patties
- Sausage links
- Ground sausage
- Fully cooked sausage
I love the fresh patties, which I use in breakfast sandwiches on whole wheat toast with a fried egg and cheddar cheese.
Applegate Chicken & Maple Breakfast Sausage
Applegate is the newest company on my list, espousing new and improved guidelines and recipes that are both ecologically and sustainably responsible.
Applegate uses all-natural ingredients from non-GMO purveyors. They also ensure that all meat is organic, grass-fed, antibiotic-free, and comes from cruelty-free farms.
Their combination of ingredients and flavors makes them the most innovative and creative brand of breakfast sausage. The Applegate Chicken and Maple Breakfast sausage contains organic chicken, organic cane sugar, organic maple sugar, and seasonings.
The wealth of fresh seasoning and maple packs these chicken links with unparalleled flavor.
I also loved the recommended uses of this sausage on their website, with everything from pigs in a blanket to maple sausage cornbread stuffing.
Jimmy Dean Fully Cooked Original Pork Sausage Links
Using his celebrity status and Texas roots, famed actor, musician, producer, and heartthrob Jimmy Dean created his namesake sausage company in 1969.
After a wildly successful career in the entertainment industry, Jimmy Dean’s unparalleled success now extends to the sausage industry.
I’ve never seen a better ad campaign than Jimmy Dean sausages, which I credit the entertainment king himself for creating. Jimmy Dean Fully Cooked Original Pork Sausage Links contain pork, sugar, spices, vinegar, and natural flavors.
Because they’re fully cooked and frozen, they’re the quickest to prepare and have the longest shelf life.
I’m especially grateful for them when I’m running late for work and have only a minute to make breakfast.
I had a breakfast pork sausage in a farmer’s restaurant in Detroit MI. It was delicious. I cannot find out the brand or who makes them. If anyone has the information on where I can buy them, let me know. It was a short fat sausage.
Thanks.