The Popular Breakfast Sausage Brand You Should Pass On When It Comes To Links

It turns out that breakfast sausages, as we found in our ranking of 10 major brands, are not all created equal. Some are plump, springy, and juicy, while others miss the mark in completely unappealing ways. Our taste tester employed the help of a demographic of humans notoriously known for their critical eye (okay, pickiness) when it comes to food — her children — and they had absolutely brutal things to say about one brand.

Jimmy Dean Heat 'n Serve Turkey Sausage Links were the ones that dismally failed our rankings, sinking to 10th place. First off, there were some pretty harsh comments when it came to its appearance. Our taste tester wrote, "My son said it looked like our former cat's poop, while my daughter said it looked like our dog's poop. Nothing that we'd want to eat. Well said, kids."

Nothing screams delicious like a comparison to, well, you know, though breakfast sausage links are never exactly lookers.  But when the adult stepped in to speak more to the flavor, she noted that the use of turkey didn't do this product any favors. The links were neither juicy nor tender, but at least they were priced fairly at the time of writing, falling in the middle of the pack in terms of cost.

The Jimmy Dean Heat 'n Serve Turkey Sausage Links have also elicited mixed reviews online. A Reddit thread posted in the Costco subreddit, titled "I just want to say that I love Jimmy Dean turkey sausage links," starts off with the original poster extolling their virtues. But multiple commenters are quick to respond and complain that the sausages are overly salty. 

One commenter noted, "It just has waaaay too much salt for my liking. Wish they would sell a low sodium version." Another concurred, writing, "[Salt is] all I taste with these and the pork [sausages]." A third added, "Whenever I have them I find bone bits in it." If anything, these comments just go to show that the Jimmy Dean Heat 'n Serve Turkey Sausage Links aren't everyone's favorite for multiple reasons. 

The fact that they're made of poultry isn't the culprit, because our second place winner is in fact a chicken sausage — proving that alternative meats (and even some unusual choices) can still be a great base for breakfast sausage. So we think you should really steer clear of the Jimmy Dean turkey version, not just because they aren't exactly attractive (according to kids), but also because they honestly don't have enough redeeming qualities to be worth buying.