The Jimmy Dean brand is a longtime staple of the breakfast sausage world. But in recent times, they’ve really been branching out in some rather unconventional ways. Take their pancakes “on a stick” and their French Toast Casserole Bites as examples.
Today, we’re once again dipping into the weirder side of this all-American breakfast line, with the Jimmy Dean Chicken Sausage, Egg & Cheese Breakfast Nuggets. This odd-duck appetizer attempts to cram a whole lot of breakfast into some chicken-nugget-shaped patties. We have to admit that this one really piqued our curiosity — and our appetites.
The bag includes cooking instructions for both the oven and the microwave, but we decided to go all out and use this oven for this one. If you want to read those instructions, you can scroll to the bottom of this review to check those out. We should point out that the oven instructions on the package are slightly different than the ones on the Jimmy Dean website. According to the site, you should cook these for 12 to 15 minutes, while the bag only recommends 11 to 13 minutes of cook time. We went with 15 minutes, and that seemed like the right amount of time.
Now, we have to admit that these are pretty weird. You’ve got scrambled eggs, sausage, and cheese stuffed inside of an outer layer that tastes almost like a corn dog shell. The consistency is more gravelly, like a chicken nugget, but there are hints of an almost sweet-corn flavor buried within. We weren’t expecting that, though the batter is made of corn starch, so maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised.
The scrambled eggs are quite competent. Oftentimes, scrambled eggs can end up bland and watery when crammed into a frozen food, and that’s not the case here at all. In fact, these eggs have a great consistency and more flavor than we expected.
But the real flavor king here is the chicken sausage. The portion size might not be exceedingly generous, but the flavor really comes through regardless. Jimmy Dean has long been known for their sausage, and this stuff doesn’t disappoint. There’s even a little bit of spiciness to get your blood pumping early in the morning.
And, of course, the whole thing is finished with some cheddar cheese. We don’t have a lot to say about it aside from the fact that it’s the perfect cheese to use here, complementing the other flavors very well. It was a great choice.
According to the bag, four nuggets is a serving, and you should expect to find about four servings’ worth of nuggets in your nugget bag. That means you’ll get about 16 of those little guys (our bag contained 18). If you stick with this paltry amount, you’re looking at 220 calories and 550 mg of sodium. But we have to admit, four nuggets does not a breakfast make…
The Jimmy Dean Chicken Sausage, Egg & Cheese Breakfast Nuggets might be a bit odd, but they’re also very good. They’re the perfect snack to munch on while you’re sipping your morning cup o’ Joe. You’ll just want to be careful, because we learned the hard way that it’s not difficult to chomp through an entire bag of these in a sitting…
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this frozen breakfast food, check out our package scans below.
