Sausage Balls Recipe

This sausage balls recipe is the classic Southern one: a pound of raw pork sausage, a pound of sharp cheddar and biscuit baking mix, mixed by hand, rolled into small balls and baked at 375 degrees until browned. They are the appetizer people reach for at holiday parties and game-day spreads, and they can be made weeks ahead.

There is no trick to them, only a few details. Shred the cheese yourself, let the sausage soften a little before mixing, add a splash of milk so the mixture holds together, and take them out of the oven as soon as they are cooked through.

At a glance: makes about 48. Prep 25 minutes, bake about 20 minutes, cool 5 minutes.

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Pasture-Raised Pork Sausage - Mild

This recipe uses 1 pack of mild pork sausage, about 1 pound, which makes around 48 sausage balls.

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Asked what to buy for a game-day tailgate, Gray Shipley, who runs the farm, started with sausage:

“Well, you should probably should not go to a tailgate without some sausages. So our link sausages, both the beef and the pork sausages, you know, combination of maybe some brats, beef brats and some pork Italian or chorizo.”

Gray Shipley

He was talking about link sausages for the grill, and this recipe is not that. Sausage balls are the make-ahead cousin: bulk sausage instead of links, baked the night before and carried in a tin. They travel to a tailgate as easily as they sit on a holiday table.

Ingredients

• 1 pound raw mild pork sausage, in bulk or with the casings removed
• 4 cups shredded sharp cheddar (1 pound), shredded from a block
• 2 1/2 cups biscuit baking mix
• 1/3 cup whole milk, plus more if needed
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

Instructions

1. Take the sausage out of the fridge about 20 minutes before you start, so it mixes more easily. Heat the oven to 375 degrees with racks in the upper and lower thirds, and line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment.
2. Put the sausage in a large bowl and break it into small pieces. Add the cheese, baking mix, garlic powder and cayenne.
3. Mix with your hands, or with the paddle of a stand mixer on low speed, for about 2 minutes, until no dry baking mix is left. Add the milk a tablespoon at a time, mixing after each, until a handful of the mixture holds together when you squeeze it.
4. Scoop the mixture with a 1 1/2-tablespoon scoop, or use a heaping tablespoon, and roll it into balls about 1 1/4 inches across. Set them 1 inch apart on the baking sheets.
5. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, swapping the pans between the racks halfway through, until golden brown and a thermometer in the center of a ball reads 160 degrees F.
6. Let the sausage balls cool on the pans for 5 minutes, then serve them warm.

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Why are my sausage balls dry?

Usually one of three things. Bagged, pre-shredded cheese is tossed with starch to stop it clumping, and that starch soaks up moisture, so shred a block instead. Cold sausage straight from the fridge does not blend well, which leaves pockets of dry baking mix. And a few extra minutes in the oven bake out the fat that keeps them tender, so pull them as soon as they reach 160 degrees F.

Choosing the sausage and the cheese

Mild pork sausage gives the classic flavor. Hot sausage works too; leave out the cayenne if you use it. Sharp or extra-sharp cheddar holds its own against the sausage and the baking mix far better than mild. For a softer sausage ball, some cooks add 4 ounces of softened cream cheese and cut the milk back to a tablespoon or two.

Sausage balls without baking mix

If you do not keep baking mix in the house, make your own. Whisk 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt in the bowl, then rub in 5 tablespoons of cold butter with your fingertips until it looks like coarse crumbs. Use it in place of the 2 1/2 cups of mix, and add the milk the same way.

Making sausage balls ahead and freezing them

Sausage balls freeze very well, raw or baked. To freeze them raw, set the shaped balls on a parchment-lined sheet pan, freeze until hard, then move them to a freezer bag. Bake them straight from frozen at 375 degrees for 24 to 28 minutes, until they reach 160 degrees F in the center. To freeze them baked, cool them completely first, then reheat them from frozen at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes, until they reach 165 degrees F. For a party the next day, you can also keep the shaped raw balls covered in the refrigerator overnight and bake them as written.

How many sausage balls per person?

As one of several appetizers, plan on 3 or 4 per person, so a batch of 48 covers a party of about a dozen. If they are the main thing on the table, as they often are at a tailgate or a holiday brunch, plan on 5 or 6 each and make a double batch. Smaller balls, about 1 inch across, bake in 15 to 18 minutes and stretch a batch to about 60.

Food safety

Sausage is ground meat, and USDA FSIS lists 160 degrees F as the safe minimum internal temperature for ground meats. Check two or three balls from different parts of the pan with an instant-read thermometer. Do not taste the raw mixture. Wash your hands, the bowl and your tools well after handling raw sausage, refrigerate leftovers promptly, and reheat them to 165 degrees F. See the FSIS Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart.