The Best Way To Heat Up A Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sandwich

Jimmy Dean has been a pillar of the breakfast table since 1969. A huge part of its product line is the extensive line of breakfast sandwiches — 26 on offer as of this writing. Tossing one of these perfectly assembled stacks in the microwave makes for an easy morning repast, but is the microwave the best way to heat up this handheld meal? Let's relive this writer's childhood and eat a bunch of Jimmy Dean sandwiches to find out.

Our kitchen has four commonly used heating appliances available: microwave, air fryer, oven, and stovetop. Based on adept research, we decided to test these four different heating methods using the Jimmy Dean Croissant sandwich with Sausage, Egg & Cheese. Upon opening the package, it was clear why this sandwich has received such praise. All the ingredients look authentic and not overly processed, especially the croissant buns.

Jimmy Dean sandwiches are optimized for the microwave, and this method delivered a perfectly cromulent sandwich, as great as I remembered — but the microwave ultimately didn't deliver the best tasting bite. Our favorite method of heating up a Jimmy Dean sandwich is on the stovetop, followed by microwave, air fryer, and in dead last, the oven.

For the stovetop method, we separated all the frozen sandwich's components and added them in shifts into a skillet lightly coated with canola oil spray. We kept the heat on medium-low and closely observed the cook, turning and removing elements from the pan after a minute or two. First was the sausage patty and the buns, as we figured they would take the longest to heat. The last item to reach the pan was the cheese; upon flipping the egg, the cheese was layered on top, giving it just enough time to appealingly melt. This whole procedure took about 10 minutes.

Somehow, this sandwich tasted lighter, perhaps because it was cooked in canola oil. Most impressively, the flavors of bread, meat, cheese, and egg noticeably interacted better with the stovetop, resulting in the most balanced bite of the day. So, while the microwaved sandwich is totally acceptable, if you have a few extra minutes to spare in the morning, we recommend that you break out the frying pan and give a little extra attention to heating up your Jimmy Dean sandwich this way. You'll feel like you crafted a homemade breakfast with a ton of flavor.

In second place is microwave heating. We were instructed to take the sandwich out of its plastic wrapper, rewrap it in a paper towel, defrost for 90 seconds, then cook on high for another 50 seconds. The resulting sandwich was evenly warmed, with the sausage flavor taking center stage in every bite. Impressively, the croissant tasted like fresh bread.

Third place, the air fryer. Set the air fryer at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for half the time you would cook this food in the oven. However, after five minutes, the top bun was already overcooked and melded with the cheese while the egg and sausage patty were still frozen, so we warmed those individually. The half-cooked, half-burnt sandwich wasn't worth the extra time. Plus, the top bun became overly flaky, making a mess. We'll just go back to reheating leftover chicken wings in the air fryer.

Finally, the oven. Jimmy Dean suggests that we thaw the sandwich completely before heating it in the oven. You then separate the egg from the sausage, wrapping both halves in aluminum foil. The halves cooked for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Alas, wrapping the sandwich in foil compressed it as it cooked, making the cheese a molten blob. The croissant buns were squished, losing their flaky, soft texture. And the sausage, perhaps because it had more time to release its juices in the oven, totally overpowered the flavor of the other ingredients. Even after five minutes of cooling time, it was still almost too hot to eat.