For Freezer Meal Frenzy regulars, today’s review might seem a bit familiar. See, not long ago we reviewed the Chicken Sausage, Egg & Cheese Breakfast Nuggets by Jimmy Dean. If you look close at the product we’re reviewing today, you’ll notice that the word Chicken is missing from the title. Yes, the Jimmy Dean Sausage, Egg & Cheese Breakfast Nuggets are a slightly different take on these breakfast bites.
Okay, so the only real difference is that these ones contain a more traditional pork-based sausage, whereas the other ones use a chicken sausage to reduce that calorie count a bit. So before we ever took these out of the bag, we were pretty confident we were going to love them.
But there’s only one way to be sure, right?
Before we taste these, we’re going to have to cook them. Thankfully, that’s easy enough. Simply preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, place some nuggets on a baking sheet, then stick these in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes. The bag also contains microwave instructions, but we decided to go with the oven today, since that’s the preferred cooking method. (If you want to read the full cooking instructions straight off the bag, check out the package scans at the bottom of this review.)
If you didn’t read our previous review, then you might be asking yourself, “What on Earth is a breakfast nugget?” Well, these are basically what would happen if you took some chicken nuggets, then removed the chicken and replaced it with breakfast sausage, scrambled egg, and just a little bit of cheddar cheese. It’s a combo that really works for us.
While the breading is nothing special on its own, it’s also not bad either. When you cook these in the oven, the outer edges end up just a little bit crispy, which is perfect. We’re not sure how these would turn out in the microwave, but we’re guessing the breading would be a bit soggier.
The big difference in flavor between these and the chicken sausage version is that these have just a little bit more of a spicy taste than the chicken version. We’re not saying these are spicy at all, because they really aren’t, but there is just a little bit of bite to them.
The scrambled eggs are really just here for the texture — and to make these more breakfast-y — but we have no complaints. And the cheese is something you’ll hardly even notice, though the cheese flavor does sort of surface now and again. This is a mild cheddar, and we think it’s a pretty good fit for this batch of nuggets.
As we mentioned in the intro to this review, these contain a bit more calories than their chicken-based counterparts, with 270 calories per four-nugget serving instead of 220. On the other hand, these ones are ever-so-slightly-lower in sodium, with 490 mg per serving instead of 510 mg. If those numbers seem kind of low, keep in mind that that’s only four nuggets. Our bag contained 15, so there are almost four servings per bag. And yes, you can certainly eat a whole bag in a sitting (though we don’t recommend it).
The Jimmy Dean Sausage, Egg & Cheese Breakfast Nuggets make for a fun little early-morning finger food. We really liked the chicken sausage version of these, and we also really liked the pork sausage version. If you’re looking for an off-the-beaten-path frozen breakfast option, you could certainly do worse than these.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for these frozen breakfast nuggets, check out our package scans below.