Recipe and Photos: Chip Walton
These Cheesy Sausage Balls come from my mother’s recipe box and are essential at my home for the holidays, but also great for other get-togethers, parties, or game day noshing. They are quick and easy to put together and store well if you don’t eat them all right away (a rarity at our house). I generally use Johnsonville Mild Sausage but you can use just about any sausage here: other Johnsonville varieties (the hot kind might be cool but I’ve never tried it), breakfast sausage, regular ground pork that you spice how you want, etc. Also, I suppose you could play with different cheeses but I have only used the shredded sharp cheddar. The finer shred makes is slightly easier to mix (see note in instructions) but any size shred works.
Cheesy Sausage Balls – Before Baking
My mom’s original recipe called for three cups of Bisquick but a note on the recipe card read, “I always say I’m going to use less Bisquick but forget.” I found that two cups is plenty, though if you want a doughy, crunchier bowl you could increase the amount. The recipe also says if you roll one-inch balls the recipe should make about 100 balls, but I find it’s more like 45-50 at the size I roll them – about an inch-and-a-half. They could certainly be smaller to yield more, especially for a party situation; your mileage may vary. No matter the size, they taste is awesome: cheesy, spicy, with a great crusty cheese layer on the bottom. It’s not unheard of for Elsa and I to make these half-dozen times over the holidays. Sooooo good!
Cheesy Sausage Balls – After Baking
Ingredients
- 1 lb bulk sausage
- 10 ounce package (or about 2 1/4 cups) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 2 cups Bisquick
- Optional: 1 Tbsp oil (see note)
Process
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Mix all ingredients together. The mixture can be a bit dry due to the Bisquick and cheese dust, and sometimes difficult to get all blended and incorporated. Over the years, I’ve tried everything as a workaround: adding Bisquick all at once or a little at a time, same for the cheese. Nothing really seems to make it easier. So, I go for what I call the “smash and fold” method: push the floury cheese-meat mixture down into bowl, fold one half over the other half, smash again and repeat until everything is well mixed but not overworked. (I assume a stand mixer or food processor with dough hook would work well here, but have never tried it.) The most recent time I made these, my mother-in-law suggested we add one tablespoon of oil to see if that helped it come together quicker. It seemed to help, but also added more grease to an already fairly greasy bake. Either way, eventually it will come together as dry-ish meaty dough.
Form balls one inch or smaller and place on foil-lined baking sheet with a bit of space between each one.
Bake at 400°F for about 15 minutes.
Carefully remove from oven. You’ll find the sausage balls create a bit of grease. Allow to cool on baking sheet for about five minutes and they will absorb some of that yummy flavorful grease and become easier to remove from foil with tongs.
Let rest on a paper towel lined plate… or just start eating them!
Serve as-is or with your favorite mustard, barbecue sauce or hot sauce for dipping. Stone ground mustard is a must when we have them at our house.
If you don’t eat them all right away (which is most likely going to happen), store in fridge for up to one week and reheat in microwave for about 30-45 seconds. Alternatively they can be frozen for up to three months.
