What’s the best breakfast sausage? It’s a personal question. For some it’s the greasy, sweet, thin disks of ground sausage on a classic McDonald’s Sausage, Egg & Cheese Biscuit. For others, it’s the plump links reminiscent of American diner food, breakfast buffets (Shoney’s, anyone?), and hotel continental breakfasts. For others still, it’s a plant-based mix that mimics meat. Whatever the “best breakfast sausage” means to you, we tried to include it in this list.
Over the course of two separate taste tests we tasted over 25 different types of breakfast sausage to find the very best sausage for breakfast. The office smelled like a Denny’s in the best way possible. So what do we want in the best breakfast sausages? Whether it’s a patty or a link, turkey or pork or even plant-based, we’re looking for breakfast sausage with fat, bite, and a hint of sweetness. Also, it goes without saying, breakfast sausage should be juicy, if not greasy. Breakfast meat is egregious, and we’re here to get nasty with it.
So go ahead and waft the sweet and savory smell of this list right into your nose holes. Here’s the best breakfast sausage patties, vegan breakfast sausage, breakfast sausage links, and more.
- Jack & Annie’s Maple Breakfast Sausage
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The more I ate this jackfruit-based breakfast sausage, the more I liked it. It isn’t the best vegan breakfast sausage if you’re looking for something that tastes just like meat. But it does have a great, meat-like texture and tons of good maple flavor. Not all vegans want to eat fake meat that tastes like actual meat. Some are simply looking for a meat alternative that isn’t straight tofu. If that’s you or if you’re a vegan looking for a mapley meat substitute, this is the best vegan sausage for you. Just remember to add a little salt—it’s quite sweet. — Justine Sterling
Related: Best Vegan Sausage
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- Beyond Spicy Breakfast Sausage Patties
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If you want a big, honking breakfast sandwich, scroll down to our Impossible Sausage entry. But if you prefer a daintier sandwich served on a small biscuit, perhaps, these are the best plant-based breakfast sausage patties for your vegetarian breakfast sandwiches (or vegan ones made with one of our top ranked egg alternatives). They’re satisfyingly greasy and perfectly seasoned with lots of herby flavor and a good kick of heat. While you would never mistake them for fresh, high quality sausage, you still might think they’re meat. — Justine Sterling
Related: Best Vegan Hot Dogs
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- Butterball All Natural Turkey Breakfast Sausage Patties
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Butterball makes the best turkey breakfast sausage we tried. These breakfast sausage patties are a bit small, so you can’t really use them to make a breakfast sandwich (unless your breakfast sandwiches are more like breakfast sliders), but they would go nicely on the side of a breakfast plate, no doubt. It’s also astonishing just how much these taste like pork. A lot of turkey products are dry and devoid of fat, but not Butterball turkey sausage. They pack the proper amount of greasiness for breakfast sausage without overdoing it. Definitely some of the best breakfast sausage patties. But if they were bigger, they would rank higher. — Danny Palumbo
Related: Best Italian Sausage
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- Niman Ranch Pork Breakfast Sausage
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These are shockingly lean for pork breakfast sausage links. They’re delicate and about the size of my ring finger. I assume you all are well acquainted with the size of my ring finger. It’s probably about the size of yours, or maybe a little smaller or bigger. It’s peppery and zippy and shot through with sage (the sausage, not my finger). I think these are the best breakfast sausage links for a healthy-ish breakfast bowl with roasted veggies. — Justine Sterling
Related: Best Stuffed Sausage
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- Applegate Chicken & Maple Breakfast Sausage
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We tasted a lot of chicken breakfast sausage, and Applegate was the best. Their sausage achieves the perfect amount of sweet and savory flavor. The meat isn’t overly tough or tightly packed, so you get a light, fluffy bite. A lot of chicken sausage is dry and dense. Not Applegate. This sausage is juicy, flavorful, and fatty enough that you’re not overtly thinking about it being chicken. A great pork alternative. — Danny Palumbo
Related: Best Frozen Meatballs
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- Johnsonville Original Recipe Breakfast Sausage
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This is just classic breakfast sausage with an iconically sweet and salty flavor we couldn’t resist. Johnsonville breakfast sausages are plump and caramelize perfectly in a pan. Really, they nail texture and flavor, they just weren’t as memorable as the others ahead of them. Still, Johnsonville immediately conjures up images of a diner breakfast. That classic greasy-spoon meal of eggs, toast, and breakfast sausage links for $5.49 or something ridiculously cheap is a damn institution. Who doesn’t love to walk out of a diner spiraling from unlimited coffee but completely satisfied from an all-American breakfast? — Danny Palumbo
Related: 10 Best Salamis
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- Impossible Sausage Savory
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An Impossible product for the best breakfast sausage for a breakfast sandwich? You betcha. Simply put, the flavor is incredible. Everything is spiced perfectly, and the meat is meaty. It of course lacks pork flavor, but there’s still enough fat present in this sausage substitute that it feels juicy and greasy. Quite frankly, it tastes better than any turkey sausage we had. The great thing about Impossible sausage is that you get to form the patties however you want, giving you freedom to adjust the thickness. A big slab of Impossible sausage on a biscuit with egg and cheese sounds so heavenly that you won’t miss the meat at all. Impossible is far and away the best plant-based breakfast sausage we’ve ever had. — Danny Palumbo
Related: Best Frozen Breakfast Sandwiches
Credit: Ryan Martin / Instacart
- Jones Dairy Farm All Natural Pork Sausage
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Jones breakfast sausage is sweet, juicy, and a bit greasy. And while it’s not as savory as we would like, the snappy casing makes up for it. Breaking the casing with your teeth produces a lovely snap that puts it above the others on this list. It’s crispy on the outside, juicy and tender on the inside. People are sleeping on Jones. It’s really the best breakfast sausage brand out there if you demand a crispy casing. — Danny Palumbo
Related: Best Andouille Sausage
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- Jimmy Dean Fully Cooked Original Pork Sausage Links
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Jimmy Dean’s Breakfast sausage is peppery, juicy, salty, and just a bit sweet. The juiciness is borderline greasy, but, hey, we love that in a breakfast sausage. The best thing about Jimmy Dean’s sausage is its depth of flavor. This isn’t just one-note sweet breakfast sausage like some of the brands we tried. “It’s got that nice, specific fattiness, and there’s a hint of black pepper,” said Sporked editor-in-chief Justine Sterling. The texture is nice and craggy, too. We love the size, texture, and taste. After our initial taste test, this actually was our best breakfast sausage. — Danny Palumbo
Related: Who Is Jimmy Dean?
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- Farmer John Maple Pork Sausages
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Do me a favor and don’t even look at these until they’re cooked. The obviously high ratio of fat to meat might put you off. But trust me, this is the best breakfast sausage. There’s no casing, it’s all just pure meat and fat and seasonings. But they still crisp up nicely. And the flavor is out of this world. The maple coats your mouth. The fat is rich and decadent without feeling greasy. It’s filled with umami. “This is exactly what you’re looking for in a breakfast sausage,” managing editor Gwynedd Stuart said when she took a bite. Unless you’re used to eating a massively fatty meal in the morning, these aren’t the best breakfast sausage links for a weekday breakfast. But they are absolutely the best breakfast sausages to enjoy on a weekend morning before going right back to sleep. — Justine Sterling
Related: Best Bacon Brands
Best Vegan Links
Best Spicy Vegan
Best Turkey Sausage
Best Dainty
Best Chicken Sausage
Best Diner Style
Best Breakfast Sandwich
Best Snap
Best Fully Cooked
Best of the Best
