The Best Store-Bought Breakfast Sausage Is Perfectly Sweet And Salty

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"Swalty" is in, and here at Tasting Table, we're all about it. So (apparently) is Johnsonville. In our definitive ranking of nine popular store-bought sausage brands, Johnsonville's Vermont Maple Syrup Breakfast Sausage won the breakfast table blue ribbon. We've long been singing the praises of sweet-savory, maple-infused meat in the morning (i.e., our maple-sage breakfast sausage recipe). But, Johnsonville's store-bought beauty expedites the cooking process for whipping up elaborate brekky spreads and cutting down on prep time.

The official Johnsonville website describes its Vermont Maple Syrup Breakfast Sausage as, "made with only premium cuts of pork and uniquely blended with spices and real maple syrup." Happily, in execution, we found that the Vermont-inspired maple flavor profile perfectly balances sweet and salty tones, and the promised high-quality meat shines through with a bouncy yet crisp snap. As we mentioned in our review, "It tastes like real, juicy, fatty pork, with a complex, caramelized touch that comes from that maple syrup flavoring. The sweetness isn't overpowering, but it's strong enough that it can compete with the intense saltiness in the sausages." Texturally, these maple marvels continue to impress: "The exterior crisps up nicely and offers that irresistible snap you can only get from fresh sausage. The inside of the link, though, stays juicy."

We aren't the only ones digging 'em, either. In a Reddit thread asking foodies what the best store-bought breakfast sausage is, commenters answer, "I really like Johnsonville's maple sausage," and "This is it. So much better than Jimmy Dean or Tennessee Pride."

On a nutritional note, Johnsonville's maple sausage is made without any artificial colors, flavoring, or trans fats. We also appreciate these links' relatively straightforward ingredients list, praise which cannot be said of every supermarket sausage: Pork, water, and less than 2% of salt, pork broth, maple syrup, corn syrup, dextrose, dried vinegar, natural flavors (savory maple and spice extractives), citric acid, beef collagen casing, the antioxidant BHA, and the preservative propyl gallate.

Target customer reviews give these sausages an impressive 4.6 out of 5 stars overall rating, raving, "Sausage me up. Johnsonville Sausages are always great but the maple flavored ones are extra good," and Walmart shoppers seem to agree, "Fantastic sausage links. The sausage links with the syrup flavor are so good. It's hard to limit how many you eat." To further play up that sweet-salty taste, try pairing Johnsonville's Vermont maple sausages with hot coffee and raspberry jam toast, berry-topped brown sugar oatmeal, or syruppy French toast.

The price is right for such impactful flavor, too. At a Walmart in Chicago, a 12-ounce pack of 14 Johnsonville Vermont Maple Syrup Breakfast Sausage links runs for $3.97; the same package costs $4.49 at a Windy City Target. It's worth noting that, if sweet-savory breakfast meats aren't your style, then you're probably fine to skip this one. However, for fans craving a little swalty action, these powerful little links belong in your grocery cart, stat.