Easy Cheesy Sausage Balls are a perfect appetizer. With only three ingredients, these little gems have it all. They’re super simple to make, taste incredible warm or at room temperature, freeze beautifully, and are just as good reheated. Who could ask for more?
The first time that I took these to a family holiday gathering, they were really an afterthought. I always take Sausage and Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms which use, among other ingredients, a half pound of Jimmy Dean hot sausage. To use up the other half pound I thought, what about sausage cheese balls? I hadn’t made them in years, but remembered how good they were and how easy they were to make.
Needless to say, they were a total hit. I like to pair them with Cranberry Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce (recipe below) for a more festive presentation.
Ingredients
The three ingredients for these Easy Cheesy Sausage Balls are Bisquick, sausage, and shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese. I like to use Jimmy Dean hot sausage for a more spicy taste.
Making the Cheesy Sausage Balls
For the easy part I used my food processor to do most of the work. I broke the sausage up a bit and put it, along with the Bisquick in the food processor fitted with the steel blade. Then I processed the mixture for around 15 seconds, or until the sausage and Bisquick were thoroughly combined.
Next I added the shredded cheddar cheese and processed the mixture for another 15 seconds or so, until it resembled a very thick dough.
After that, I used my 2-teaspoon (1-1/8 inch) ice cream scoop to partition out the individual pieces. Being the cooking nerd that I am, I weighed each piece – 11 grams each!
Then, I rolled each piece into a ball and placed it on a non-stick aluminum foil lined baking sheet with sides.
Finally I baked the Easy Cheesy Sausage Balls for 25 minutes in a 350° F oven, until they were golden brown and perfectly cooked. When I removed the sausage cheese balls from the oven, I transferred them to a paper towel lined baking sheet to absorb any grease.
I ended up with 4-dozen incredibly tasty Easy Cheesy Sausage Balls (remember that this is only half a recipe.) Did I mention that they freeze and reheat beautifully? Yum!
If you’re looking for some more great Appetizers, that are always a hit, for your next potluck check out my Marinated Cheese, Crunchy Cheese Wafers, or Easy Cheesy Zucchini Bites.
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Easy Cheesy Sausage Balls
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound (8-ounces) uncooked Jimmy Dean Hot sausage
- 1 cup (5-ounces) Bisquick
- 2 cups (8-ounces) extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
Cranberry Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce
- 14 ounce can jellied Cranberry Sauce (See Tip 1)
- 1/4 cup (2-ounces) Dijon Mustard
- 1/4 cup (3-ounces) Honey
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Line a large baking sheet with sides with non-stick aluminum foil. Set aside.
- Add sausage and Bisquick to the bowl of a food processor, fitted with a steel blade. Process for 10 to 15 seconds, or until mixture is well combined. Add shredded cheddar cheese, and process another 15 seconds or until the cheese is well incorporated into the sausage/Bisquick mixture.
- Using a 2-teaspoon ice cream scoop, partition dough into balls about the size of a quarter. Place on prepared baking sheet.
- Bake at 350° F for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and drain on paper towels.
- Serve warm or at room temperature. Yield: 4 dozen. (See Tip 2)
Cranberry Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce
- Whisk together the cranberry sauce, honey and mustard until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use. (See Tip 3)
Chula's Expert Tips
- Be sure to use jellied cranberry sauce.
- May be frozen, and reheated at 350° F for 5 minutes, or until heated through.
- The Cranberry Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce can be served either warm or at room temperature.
These really are easy to make and oh so good. Makes your kitchen smell so good.
I’m making a batch right now. Yum!
Made these for Christmas morning & everyone loved them! I only had mild sausage, so I used pepper jack & cheddar cheese (made a double batch). So good!
I bet they were delicious with the pepper jack and cheddar cheese!
Just to make sure I understand the reheating… can you form the balls and then freeze without any cooking? Or would you recommend cooking the balls all the way through, freezing and then just reheating for 5 mins?
Sorry, I should have been more specific. I cook the sausage balls all the way through, let them cool completely, put them in a Ziploc bag, and put them in the freezer.
Turned out great. What sauce could you use to dip them in?
I’ve never served them with a sauce, but suspect that a mustard-type sauce would be good with them.
can regular italian sausage be used.
instead of jimmydean
Yes. Just use the same amount of Italian sausage as you would the Jimmy Dean sausage.
I made these for an office potluck breakfast everyone commented on how delicious they were. Next time I will double the recipe. They disappeared really quickly
I’m so glad that they were a hit!
Do you think it would be okay to use an electric kitchenaid mixture to combine rather than a food processor?
I don’t think that it would work that well. It would be like making biscuits or bread dough in a blender. You would probably be better off mixing it by hand.
Killer!
Go ahead and double the recipe! If you have family its hard to get any! They eat them as fast as they come out!!
These look delicious! But I’m new to cooking and not really familiar with kitchen common sense. After freezing, what would be the best way to reheat these, in your experience?
They are delicious! To reheat from the freezer, I placed the sausage balls in a single layer (where they’re not touching each other) on a foil lined baking sheet. I put them in a preheated 350° F oven for about 10 minutes.
Hopefully these don’t swell!!! I doubled the recipe and made 30!! Haha, pretty sure I messed up lol.
LOVE! So easy to make. I did use mild sausage because I’m a baby.
So glad you liked them!
Love the recipe I used others but this one was the best
Thanks! It’s my favorite!
Do you shred your own cheese for this or buy pre-shredded cheese? Thanks!!
I always shred my own cheese. The pre-shredded cheese has some sort of a coating that may or may not interfere with the sausage balls. In all honestly, however, I’ve never tried the pre-shredded cheese. If you do use the pre-shredded cheese, will you let me know how it works?
Chula
Can you make these up the night before and bake them off in the morning?
Thanks, Donna
Absolutely!
I just fixed a batch to save in the freezer for Christmas. The problem is the good smell in the house attracted my husband to the kitchen and 1/3 of them were gone in a flash. I had to make more. We love them.
That’s too funny! I’m so glad that you liked them.
I’m 72 years old and have made these for many, many years. Had never thought of using my food processor — always had hubby mix up 2 lbs of sausage, 2 lbs of grated cheese, and Bisquick by hand — not an easy task. Well, hubby’s hands are painful now with arthritis; so, when I came across your recipe, he and I both were ever so grateful. I just made a double batch using my food processor, as you detailed. Oh, my! I’ll never do it any other way again. Thank you sooo very much! And, Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to you as well!
Forgot to add, I also used my melon baller this time, as you detailed, rather than roll by hand. Wow! Love it! Thanks!
Thank you so much for letting me know. Your replies brought a huge smile to my face!
I promised to make some of these for my Wife on Christmas morning with bagels and coffee looked at about 50 different ones and decided on using yours. Will give it a try and come back and let you know how they turn out. Merry Christmas
I hope that they turn out as well for you as they do for me. Merry Christmas!
I found your recipe last night looking for the right portions to use & baking instructions. This is the same one I’ve used over the year. With so little time, I made them up last night to bake today just before company arrives. Unfortunately, I didn’t read your full blog. Using the food processor would have saved me a lot of time. Thank you for the great tip! Bookmarked it!!!
They’re one of my favorites! You’re right – the food processor saves a ton of time!
These are the best and easiest sausage balls I’ve ever made. My family begged for more.
How do you store after baking? Refrigerated or just in an airtight container?
Sandy,
I store them in the refrigerator in a Ziploc bag.
Chula
I’m so glad that they turned out for you!
Delectible!
I have used the store bought shredded cheese for years and have no problem I am 83 and Will try the food processor in the future it sounds like my hands could use a break. Thanks for the update
I always use the food processor to make these sausage balls – so easy!