Last Updated on July 9, 2023
If breakfast is your favorite meal of the day (and it’s mine, I won’t lie) then you won’t easily lack for variety at Aldi. Whether it’s impersonating a fast food breakfast or cooking up something entirely different, the German grocer has plenty to offer.
We make no secret of our love of Aldi sausage, whether it be their glorious patties or their pork or turkey links. Most of the Aldi sausages are of the “heat-and-serve” type, as they come pre-cooked and only need to be heated on the skillet or in the microwave. These are undeniably convenient, but there may be times you want to cook them yourself, for reasons we’ll get to in a moment. For those occasions, there are these.
Parkview Maple Flavored Breakfast Sausage Links, which can be found as a Regular Buy in the refrigerated section of the store, come your typical Styrofoam-and-plastic-wrap packaging, fourteen links to a pack. You can freeze them if you need to, but they’re best cooked from refrigerated.
The packaging lists two methods of preparation: skillet and oven. In the skillet, you heat a nonstick skillet to medium-low, then add the links and cook for 12-16 minutes or until cooked through and browned, turning them often. In the oven, you preheat the oven to 350 degrees, then bake for 12-15 minutes or until cooked through, turning links once about halfway through. In either case, you’re advised to make sure the meat has reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees, which can be done easily with an instant-read meat thermometer.
We noticed a couple of things about these sausages that are different from the heat-and-serve ones. One, they have a tougher outer skin, which gives them a different texture from the more meaty-all-around feel of the frozen links. Two, we did find some gristle in some of the links, which is a natural occurrence in sausage but not nearly as common in the frozen links. We sort of appreciate these qualities, as they give them a more down-on-the-farm type of texture, but if that’s not your style the frozen links may be best.
Beyond that, they taste good. They have enough seasoning to have flavor without it being overbearing, and the maple syrup gives it a nice taste without adding any significant amount of carbohydrates. We wouldn’t say that they are better or worse than the frozen links; they’re just different, and since we like the frozen links, we can say that these are good, too.
The Verdict:
If you’re looking for a more farm-style sausage link and you’ve got the time to cook them, the Parkview sausage links are a fine option for any breakfast meal. Otherwise, the frozen links are a perfectly good alternative.
