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 I 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 (1-⅛ 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
- ½ 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)
- ¼ cup (2-ounces) Dijon Mustard
- ¼ 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)
Tips/Notes
- 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.
Nutrition
Anonymous says
Love the recipe I used others but this one was the best
PudgeFactor says
Thanks! It's my favorite!
Hannah says
LOVE! So easy to make. I did use mild sausage because I’m a baby.
PudgeFactor says
So glad you liked them!
Jess Pruett says
Hopefully these don't swell!!! I doubled the recipe and made 30!! Haha, pretty sure I messed up lol.
Abigail says
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?
PudgeFactor says
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.
Anonymous says
Go ahead and double the recipe! If you have family its hard to get any! They eat them as fast as they come out!!
Anonymous says
Killer!
YKK says
Do you think it would be okay to use an electric kitchenaid mixture to combine rather than a food processor?
c2king says
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.
Dee says
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
c2king says
I'm so glad that they were a hit!
Anonymous says
can regular italian sausage be used.
instead of jimmydean
c2king says
Yes. Just use the same amount of Italian sausage as you would the Jimmy Dean sausage.
c2king says
I've never served them with a sauce, but suspect that a mustard-type sauce would be good with them.
Anonymous says
Turned out great. What sauce could you use to dip them in?
Cody Fortney says
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?
c2king says
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.
c2king says
I bet they were delicious with the pepper jack and cheddar cheese!
Dee Schneck says
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!
c2king says
I'm making a batch right now. Yum!
Julia says
These really are easy to make and oh so good. Makes your kitchen smell so good.