These sausage appetizers are the ones my family always wants pre-Christmas dinner. I usually make others, but they always pounce on these first.
I almost always make these ahead and freeze them. More on that later. Then all I have to do is reheat them. One less thing.
If my son doesn’t get some to take home with him, I get a sad puppy face. But I don’t dare give them all to him or I get the sad puppy face from my daughter.
I mix the dough for these sausage balls with the dough hook on my stand mixer. If you don’t have a stand mixer just get in there with your hands.
Then ask for a KitchenAid for Christmas. Seriously. Ask for gift cards, scope out the sales. This machine has saved me more time and energy than any other tool in my kitchen.
I use it to mix cookie dough, make mashed potatoes, mix meatloaf, and mash bananas for banana cake. And, of course, cake batter, etc.
When we bought one for our daughter-in-law, we found Best Buy to have the best price, however the selection was pretty limited.
Start by cutting the sage sausage into 8-10 chunks. This makes it easier to mix.
Throw in the rest of the ingredients and mix it up really well.
I’m using my favorite cookie scoop to drop them onto parchment -lined sheets. This keeps them relatively the same size so they bake and reheat evenly. They don’t spread so really cram them on the sheet. I got 30 on mine.
I recommend using a baking sheet with an edge, sometimes the fat from the sausage and cheese renders out. It’s not so much that it usually runs off, but just in case…
Bake them up until they’re golden brown. Cool slightly, serve warm. Eat as-is or with your favorite dipping sauce.
Just look how cheesy and sausage-y. So flavorful! Warning: these are very addictive.
Make ahead tips:
- Bake them as directed then cool and freeze for up to a month and reheat in the microwave (this is what I usually do) or…
- Bake, cool, freeze and reheat in the oven or…
- Cover and refrigerate uncooked balls for up to 24 hours then bake or…
- Cover and freeze uncooked balls and bake.
- So. Many. Options. The details are all in the notes below.
Cheesy Sage Sausage Balls
Ingredients
- 1 pound bulk sage pork sausage (such as Jimmy Dean)
- 2 cups baking mix (such as Bisquick)
- 4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cut uncooked sausage into 8-10 chunks and add to a large mixing bowl.
- Thoroughly mix together the rest of the ingredients using your hands or the dough hook on a stand mixer.
- Using a cookie scoop, drop sausage balls onto parchment-lined baking sheets.
- Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 4-5 minutes before serving.
- Serve warm by themselves or with your favorite dipping sauce. Or cool and freeze for later.
