Costco Chicken Breakfast Sausage (AmyLu) - Does It Have Bones?
AmyLu’s Chicken Breakfast Sausages at Costco are a unique twist to a classic breakfast staple. They hit all the checkmarks, but do they taste as good as they look?
AmyLu Breakfast Sausages at Costco
Costco sells a 2.5lb package AmyLu Chicken Breakfast Links for $13.99. These can be found in the refrigerated deli section near other items such as Mini Chicken Tacos and the Gyro Meat.
Each package of AmyLu Chicken Breakfast Links includes 54 sausage links.
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AmyLu Chicken Products
AmyLu is a Chicago based company that was founded in 1992 and focuses on chicken based products such as sausages, burgers, and meatballs. They sell only chicken products with the purpose of producing simple foods that taste great and are a healthy alternative to pork.
These Costco chicken sausage links are paleo friendly, gluten free, nitrate free, and made with chicken raised with no antibiotics.
These breakfast links are not the only product that Amylu has at Costco, they also sell Andouille Sausage, Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs as well as Chicken Burgers.
AmyLu’s main competitor at Costco for these chicken breakfast sausages will be Jones Farms.
Costco Cost Comparison
I purchased these when they were on sale for $3.50 off bringing the price down to $10.49.
I created a little chart to break down the price per pound and price per breakfast links for Costco chicken sausages by AmyLu.
Price | Price Per Pound | Price Per Link | |
---|---|---|---|
Retail | $13.99 | $5.59 | $0.26 |
Sale | $10.49 | $4.19 | $0.19 |
The discount is 25% off the retail price which is quite significant. As you can see the price per pound and per link drops significantly with the discount.
$4 per pound seems like a more than fair price for chicken breakfast sausages.
First Impression
These are Links and Not Sausages - Tricky Packaging
From the way these are packaged, it’s possible to get the idea that the sausage links are about 6 inches in length.
The label goes right down the middle of the packaging and disguises the fact that each row of links contains two sausage links and each sausage is actually about 3 inches in length.
Still 2.5 Pounds of Sausage
Not a big deal, because you are still getting 2.5lbs of chicken breakfast sausage links and the picture on the packaging shows them closer to the true size. But I do feel the package can be deceiving to the consumer.
Underneath the packaging cover, there are 3 individually wrapped bags of sausages. Each bag contains 18 sausages each.
It is nice that the 54 sausages are broken down into more manageable portions. That is always a plus for any item sold at Costco.
They Need to Be Eaten Quickly After Opening
Once the bag is open the food will need to be consumed within 4 days. The sausage links aren’t the largest and getting through all 18 links in 4 days is doable if you are a single person.
If you have some help you shouldn’t have any problems finishing a package before the sausages go bad.
I bought my Costco chicken sausages at the beginning of February and the best by date for an unopened package is March 28th.
The AmyLu links can be frozen for up to 6 months.
Breakfast Link Appearance
The sausages themselves look quite nice. They are the typical brown sausage color, maybe just a touch lighter because they are chicken. There appears to be a ton of seasoning and flavor packed in each sausage.
There are red, black, and green seasoning specks all throughout each sausage link. These look promising and I’m excited to give these a try.
Costco Chicken Sausage - Taste Test
I decided to opt for the stove top heating method for this review, as it would only take about 5 minutes to heat the links. This is a very fair and doable amount of time that can still fit in on those busy weekday mornings.
I cooked six sausage links and ate them as is with no sides or accompaniments. I really wanted to get to know these breakfast chicken links.
Traditional Breakfast Sausage Flavor - But Bland
Unfortunately these links didn’t live up to expectations. They look great, the seasoning looks delicious, but there were some significant negatives with the item.
There is that typical breakfast sausage flavor that was very present in the food, but otherwise for whatever reason, the links tasted rather bland. They were uninspiring and dull.
Maybe these could be salvaged as part of a egg, hashbrown, and coffee breakfast, but eating them straight is not the way to go.
From their appearance, I was expecting it to be bursting with flavor, but these fell short of that mark.
Low Quality Texture
The texture was a major problem as well and that’s what gave it away as a lower quality sausage link.
The sausage looked very processed and they felt closer in texture to a frozen sausage than it did to the other sausages in the deli area.
I was hoping to see more of a ground chicken look in the sausage, but what I got was closer to a processed chicken nugget.
Potential Chicken Bones?
Additionally in two different sausages, I felt a hard crunch in the bite. I hate to think that was chicken bone, but that is what I’m thinking it most likely was.
It’s extremely unappetizing when you get that loud hard crunch and your mind begins to wonder what it is. This is a major problem and turnoff for these chicken breakfast sausages.
AmyLu's Chicken Sausage Breakfast Links Nutritional INformation
How Many Calories in these Chicken Breakfast Links?
This is where these AmyLu chicken sausages really shine. AmyLu wanted to create a healthy version of a breakfast sausage and she did just that.
Each serving size is 3 sausage links and contains 130 calories.
How Many Calories in AmyLu Breakfast Links?
There are 8g of fat, 1g of carbs, and 12g of protein. This is an excellent amount of protein for 3 sausages and the fat content is tolerable.
If you were to eat the equivalent amount in pork sausage, there would be 19.5g of fat, 1g of carbs, and 12g of protein.
Watch for the High Sodium
As always, the issue is going to be with the sodium. Each serving size contains 540 mg of sodium which is 23% of the recommended daily value.
The sausages are not huge by any measure, and I would have no problem consuming 2 servings or even more if they were tasty.
Great Ingredient List
AmyLu does a great job with the ingredients in this sausage. The main ingredient is chicken raised without antibiotics followed by water and spices that makeup less than 2% of the breakfast sausage.
AmyLu Chicken Breakfast Sausage Cooking Instructions
How to Heat the Breakfast Links
AmyLu’s chicken breakfast sausages are pre-cooked, but will have to be reheated. The packaging lists 3 different methods to heat these.
- Grill: Place sausages over medium heat, turning them frequently until warmed through.
- Stove Top: Pan-fry sausages on medium to heat until warm. Add water to steam as needed.
- Microwave: Heat links for 35-45 seconds.
Pan Fry Is the Only Reasonable Cooking Method
The best method seems to be the stove top method and that is what I used to heat these breakfast sausages. The directions could have been a little clearer on when or why to steam. I did steam mine for a little more than a minute after searing all sides.
I usually don’t bother with the microwave option anymore. In this case, it would save maybe 3-5 minutes if you want to factor in preheating the pan. That’s not a large enough time savings for me to sacrifice quality in the microwave.
Good Morning BBQ Session?
Now, I love grilling as much as the next guy, and I don’t mind grilling for breakfast, but I’m not sure if it’s going to be worth the effort to heat up the BBQ and grill these sausages.
It’s a process to prepare the grill and not something I necessarily want to take on early in the morning for something that can easily be heated in a pan.
Final Thoughts
I had some high hopes for AmyLu’s Chicken Breakfast Links and I thought it had potential to be a true star at Costco.
To me, it was a regular chicken sausage in a fancy artisan packaging, that I most likely won’t buy again even when on sale.
I do love the idea of a chicken breakfast sausage and the nutritional label was great, but unfortunately the product failed on taste and texture.
Looking to try a better sausage? Check out our full Costco Sausage Guide – Tasted and Ranked.
Updated April 3rd 2024
Costco Food Database User Reviews
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Greg Larkin is the founder and managing editor of Costco Food Database, the premiere site for honest takes on all things Costco food. A self-proclaimed Costco super-fan since childhood, Greg turned his obsession in a mission to properly rate and review all of Costco’s delicious buys. When he’s not busy navigating Costco aisles, you can find Greg smoking Kirkland Signature meats, meal prepping, or perfecting his homemade jerky recipes.
I would love to purchase some chicken breakfast links but can’t find them anywhere in Colorado. Costco had them for about a month and haven’t seen them since. Please advise where they can be purchased.
Thanks
Kim
Kim, they’re in Colorado! I’ve been buying them for a couple years now. Where in CO are you?
I prefer the mild taste of the chicken vs pork breakfast sausage. They are way less greasy than a pork sausage and have a way better taste than the Jimmy Dean turkey sausage that Costco carries. I wish Costco would put this in the warehouses for year round purchase.
DONT BUY FROM THIS BRAND
The meatballs have shards of bone in them and the rest of the products probably do too.
Here are more people complaining about it: https://www.reddit.com/r/Costco/comments/11d46bj/are_amylu_chicken_sausage_links_supposed_to_have/
I was excited to try these too. I wont be getting them again because of bones. So many bone fragments. Its an upsetting amount.