Sausage Balls Recipe
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This Sausage Balls recipe is the perfect savory appetizer or addition to a meal during the holidays. This homemade recipe is easy and made without premade baking mix.
There are those certain foods that are always present at each holiday year after year. They become a permanent expectation, like the Family Tablecloth, or Aunt Judy’s cookies. Sausage Balls are one of those foods. From as long as I can remember I remember Sausage Balls being a part of our holiday celebrations.
If you’ve never had Sausage Balls you may not understand why they have become a regular, but if you have, you know what I mean. They are the perfect bite of savory, with just a hint of spice on the back end. They can be served at breakfast, lunch or dinner, or as an appetizer. They’re a flexible food. Of course, everything in moderation. It’s a good thing we only enjoy these during the winter holiday months because they can be sneaky addicting.
Another thing I like about this recipe is that once made the sausage balls can be frozen before or after baking, for up to a couple of months. How’s that for easy party prep?
Sausage Balls Recipe
Sausage Balls Recipe
Easy savory bites made with sausage and cheese.
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne/red pepper
- 3 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 pound sharp cheese, freshly grated
- 1 pound ground sausage (I like the sage flavored sausage for this recipe.)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400-degrees F.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cayenne/red pepper and butter. Add grated cheese and toss to coat. Crumble up sausage as it is added in and using your (clean) hands, combine well. The best way to fully incorporate the mixture is to squeeze and squish, almost kneading it together. It takes a few minutes but it works.
- Firmly press and form into approximately 1 1/2-inch balls and place on un-greased baking sheets about an inch or so apart.
- Bake at 400-degrees F for 15 minutes.
Notes
For best results:
- Use freshly grated cheese. Pre-shredded cheese is often dry and hard and will not mix well with ingredients.
- Use a full pound of ground pork sausage. Do NOT substitute lean ground sausage or another type of sausage.
Hu. Mine have been in the oven dor 23 minutes and the middle will not cook????
Can this be mixed in a stand mixer with the dough hook instead of by hand?
I do them in my Kitchen Aid with the dough hook. I add a splash of buttermilk to the mix.
Very dry. I suggest adding more butter and less flour. Overall very good recipe when one is without bisquick.
3 cups of flower is way too much, they taste like bread with no meat at all. The most it needs is 1 cup of flower
Flour*
I wish I had read through all of the reviews before I made these – ruined a perfectly good manicure trying to get it to come together. The original recipe uses 1/2 cup milk – I think that would have helped a lot. And for the same amount of dry ingredients, use 3 cups flour less 4.5t to accommodate for the baking powder. Like another reviewer, I added the rest of the stick of butter and a few drizzles of olive oil before it came together. May also depend on how fatty your sausage is – I used a really lean bulk sausage from Whole Foods. I also let the bowl sit and come more to room temp and they rolled easier.
My first time to make sausage balls with out bisquick!!! These are the best and will always make your recipe from now own. I wanted to see if there was a clean from scratch so I googled and got your recipe. Many thanks for sharing and this is the best!
I just made these. I was disappointed a bit, maybe because I don’t (or can’t) eat dairy & therefore did not add cheese. The mix was very dry, wouldn’t “stick” together very well….actually very dry batter. I finally got a few to stick & cooked them, they are tasty…tastier than bisquick!! Is there anything else I could have added to make it better…simple recipe, did like that part…maybe my sausage wasn’t “fat” enough???
I was looking for a sausage ball recipe. These taste more like cheese whisp. Too much flour and cheese, not enough sausage. I will have to try another recipe because this is not what I was looking for.
If you are trying to stretch your sausage as far as possible this recipe works. These came out more like tiny cheddar biscuits with a hint of sausage. I’d use less flour (and baking powder) or double the sausage if I was to use this recipe again. Great start to some awesome cheddar biscuits though change out sausage for milk and add cold butter these would rock.
DO NOT USE THIS RECIPE.
With so many negative comments are saying generally the same thing, it obviously needs to be reworked. There is far too much flour and it was basically a total waste of ingredients and time.
I live in humid Tennessee so don’t blame the elevation or dry climate, ma’am.
Hello T Weaver, thank you for stopping by and taking the time to comment. After receiving your comment, my husband, who has never made sausage balls, volunteered to test the recipe on his own and the sausage balls turned out just fine, with no wasted ingredients or time.
I’m not sure what could have caused you trouble, but here are a few notes:
– To being with, sir or ma’am, just so you know, it looks like your comment about me blaming the elevation or dry climate was in reference to a comment left by another friendly and helpful person named Bill, not me. My name is Amy.
– I do have to agree with Bill when it comes to the cheese. We freshly grate our cheese from a block. Too often pre-shredded cheese is dry and hard and maybe even coated with something. It does not blend well with other ingredients.
– We use a full pound of ground pork sausage and no substitutes with reduced fat/lean, or other types of sausage that are not pork.
I have added these notes to the recipe.
I hope this helps and you have a lovely day in the great state of Tennessee. We love Tennessee!