From patties tolinkstomeatballs, there are plenty of ways to get meat on your plate in the morning.
But which is best?
I sampled six of the most widely available breakfast sausages from the grocery store.
Photos: The brands. Design: Eat This, Not That!
I heated each sausage according to the package instructions and tried them hot from the skillet.
Here’s how these sausages ranked in descending order from my least favorite to the very best.
This breakfast side will also land you at 20% of your daily sodium allotment.
Lizzy Briskin/Eat This Not That
The look:These sausages are nobby and grayish, but they brown up quickly in a skillet.
They’re slick with oil and congealed fat is visible on the sausages before they’re cooked.
The taste:As expected given the oily exterior, these sausages were gushing with grease when cut.
Lizzy Briskin/Eat This Not That
They’re slick and overly salty with an odd fake maple flavor in the background.
The texture is oddly soft.
The look:As the name promises, these links browned up nicely in a hot skillet.
Lizzy Briskin/Eat This Not That
They were decidedly gray before cooking and developed distinct brown stripes where the sausage made contact with the skillet.
The taste:These sausages are meaty tasting and savory.
The look:Jones Dairy Farms sausages have a soft and juicy texture.
Lizzy Briskin/Eat This Not That
They’re bumpy and natural-looking with a sheen of grease after they’re cooked.
The taste:These sausages are rich and meaty.
They’re tasty, but slightly too heavy and greasy for breakfast.
Lizzy Briskin/Eat This Not That
you could see globs of fat dispersed in the meat, which isn’t the most appetizing.
The look:These sausages were lighter brown than others, so they might be made with leaner meat.
They took on a golden-brown crust when cooked.
Lizzy Briskin/Eat This Not That
The taste:I like the subtle sweetness in these pork sausages.
The texture is slightly chewy, which I prefer to the super soft and greasy sausages.
They’re mostly uniform with two slightly flattened sides with grill marks.
They’re lighter colored than the pork-based sausages and develop a shiny caramel crust in the skillet.
The taste:These sausage balls are sweet and slightly fruity-tasting.
They’re herby and have a firm, chewy texture.
They’re less greasy than the pork sausages, but moist and flavorful.
It has a moderate amount of fat and sodium and 11 grams of protein per serving.
The look:The beef sausages are a deeper, richer brown than the pork options I tried.
The taste:These sausages were well seasoned, juicy, and savory.
The beef is full-flavored and meaty, with a slight gaminess that likely comes from the grass feeding.
These sausages taste high-quality and you’re free to tell they’re made with little more than beef.
They might be called breakfast links, but I’d happily eat them for lunch or dinner.
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