Wisconsin-based Johnsonville is the number-one national sausage brand, featuring brats, Italian sausage, smoked-cooked links, breakfast sausage and more. In recent years the company has expanded beyond sausages to include fully cooked chicken breasts and meatballs. Now the company is making it easier for home cooks to get creative in the kitchen with a line of seasoned ground meats.
Recipe Starters are making their debut in two varieties of 100 percent premium pork with no nitrates or nitrites and free from artificial colors and flavors. Baja Chipotle is seasoned with chipotle, lime and mesquite flavors and is intended for tacos, burritos and other south-of-the-border dishes. The Asian Style Sesame variety combines the flavors of sesame, ginger and soy, making it ideal for stir fry, fried rice and noodle bowls. The refrigerated seasoned ground meats come in 16-oz. packages that should be merchandised with other value-added fresh meat products.
The brand is not new to the raw meat space, as it offers other ground options such as mild, hot and sweet Italian sausage and chorizo. Most recently Johnsonville offered limited-edition chile and roasted garlic ground pork sausage. Serving suggestions included stuffed peppers, meatballs and stromboli.