How to cook Beyond Meat’s new Beyond Breakfast Sausage

If you love all things plant-based, you’ll soon have another meat alternative to add to your freezer: Beyond Breakfast Sausage. The new plant-based “sausage” is to hit grocery store shelves at the end of March at some retailers, including Whole Foods, ACME and Vons. 

In 2019, the plant-based “meat” industry saw several new meat-substitute product launches, and Beyond Meat’s new breakfast sausage keeps the trend going — the world of vegan meat just keeps growing (and making forays into different kinds of meat alternative). 

Just like the Beyond Burger has challenged the traditional idea of a veggie burger, so too does Beyond Breakfast Sausage. I whipped up a few of these breakfast patties to find out what they’re like, and in short, they are an easy addition to any morning meal with a decent taste (in my opinion as an omnivore). 

Read more: Impossible Burger vs. Beyond Meat Burger: Taste, ingredients and availability, compared

How to cook the Beyond Breakfast Sausage

If you want to eat Beyond Breakfast Sausage in its patty form, cooking the product is almost too easy: Just cook from frozen in a skillet for2 to 3 minutes on each side, depending on how crispy you want the outer edges. 

You can also cook it in a convection oven from frozen by placing the patties on a tray and cooking at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 minutes, flipping about halfway through. Whichever way you decide to cook it, Beyond Meat recommends cooking to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

To add Beyond Breakfast Sausage to omelettes or breakfast casseroles, cook it as instructed first, and then crumble it into small pieces. 

Read more: 12 easy ways to eat a more plant-based diet

Thoughts on cooking

I was wary of cooking this product from frozen because sometimes, when cooking meat-based breakfast sausage from frozen, the outer layer gets too crispy and the inside remains cold or lukewarm. I guess I’m just not good at gauging time and temperature — or I should actually read the directions. 

The Beyond Breakfast Sausage package has clear directions on the back. I followed them and — what do you know? — the patties came out perfectly. Slightly browned and crisp on the outside, hot on the inside. 

Even with the addition of precooked, cubed potatoes and eggs, I cooked this breakfast to completion in less than 10 minutes. That includes photo-snapping time too. 

Clean-up was easy: I just washed my skillet and spatula as usual. The entire process was pretty quick and easy. 

Thoughts on taste and texture

Here’s the thing: If you eat meat on a regular basis, you will definitely be able to tell that this is not meat. It looks like breakfast sausage made of pork, beef or a mixture, but the taste and texture are off. 

That’s not to say Beyond Breakfast Sausage is bad — it’s not bad, but it’s not meat. People who eat sausage on a regular, or even semiregular, basis may be thrown off by the taste and texture. It lacks the succulent mouthfeel that real sausage has — you know, the one that comes from the specks of fat throughout. 

However, vegans and vegetarians who never eat meat will probably find this product a welcome addition to their plant-based rotation. I suspect that if I hadn’t eaten meat in a year or more I’d find this meatless breakfast sausage a wonderful respite from crumbly black bean and lentil patties. 

If I were judging Beyond Breakfast Sausage solely on taste — omnivorous caveat aside — I’d say that it’s actually pretty flavorful, although the spicy flavor wasn’t all that spicy. I’ll leave you with this: With more spice and a slightly fattier texture, Beyond Breakfast Sausage might surprise even the pickiest of meat-eaters. 

Read more: These pro athletes are vegan — why they switched and how you can benefit too

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.