It’s been a little while since our last Johnsonville post, but I’m excited to share a review of a couple of their new products. I’ve long been a fan of precooked food when it comes to tailgating, because there are so many things that could go wrong with raw food. Luckily Johnsonville has added several new precooked offerings to their already stellar stable of products.
Disclaimer: We were given samples of the Johnsonville Meatball and Sausage Slices free of charge. This in no way affected our evaluation of the product, nor did it affect the objectivity of this review.
One of my favorite things about testing these new products for Johnsonville is that when they’re released they always have a lot of recipes to try them in. The new meatballs and sausage slices were no different. However sometimes I like to put my own spin on things, which is precisely what I did with this review.
The first of the two products I tested was the “Mild Italian Sausage Slices.” As you might have guessed from the name, these are simply slices of italian sausage. While there are a few things you could do with these I decided to try them on a pizza. I found them super easy to use for this purpose, just grab them from the freezer and top the pie, and my results were quite nice. While I made this particular pizza in my home oven, it could easily be done on the grill. The sausage itself was surprisingly juicy considering it had been cooked, frozen, and then baked in the oven, all while maintaining a pleasant flavor. If mild sausage isn’t your scene, they also offer a hot and spicy variety.
The next products I tried were the “Three Cheese Italian Style Meatballs.” For these I decided to make something on the grill, and the best thing that came to mind was a meatball sub. I didn’t follow any specific recipe for these, but they turned out great just the same. Even after grilling them a little to add some additional flavor they were still plenty moist for being precooked. Now what you need to know about these is that they’re made from pork, which is probably different than what you would expect. As such they have an entirely different texture and taste than similar products made from beef. Not a negative to the product, more of an FYI. If “Three Cheese” isn’t your scene they also offer “Classic Italian” and “Homestyle” which I’m sure are equally as good.
Based on my findings, I’m going to deem the Johnsonville Meatball and Sausage Slices “Tailgate Approved.” I think they’d be a welcome addition to any tailgate menu and, even as we near the end of the football season, they would be equally welcome as part of your indoor gameday spread. These products are gluten free, and are made to the same quality standards that you would expect of a company like Johnsonville.
To learn more about the product you can visit the product page here. I would also encourage all Johnsonville fans to check out their social media sites for the latest news, tips, and contests. You can find their Twitter pages @JvilleGrilling and @JvilleKitchens. Their Facebook pages are here and here, and a personal favorite of mine is their Instagram page.