Easy Sausage Balls
These easy sausage balls are always a great party appetizer or brunch item. Simple ingredients with great flavor; serve with a honey mustard dipping sauce.
Inspired by the original sausage ball recipe by the Bisquick company, these little pops of savory are perfect for a quick and easy game day, tailgate party, brunch or holiday appetizer! Serve them by themselves or with savory cheddar cheese wafers! They’re great for brunch or breakfast, too!
Some folks call these “3-2-1” Bisquick Sausage balls or “Jimmy Dean Sausage Balls” because the original and classic recipe calls for 3 cups Bisquick biscuit mix, 2 cups cheese and 1 pound of sausage.
Here’s what you need
Simple ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen:
- Bisquick Baking Mix
- Sausage (use whatever you like for this easy recipe – ground breakfast sausage with sage, plain ground, or ground italian, hot, spicy or mild
- Sharp Cheddar Cheese – if you like a little spice, use 1/2 cheddar and 1/2 pepper jack cheese
- Mayonnaise – just a little will keep them from being too dry
- Ground black pepper, garlic powder, salt and black pepper ( and perhaps a little cayenne pepper if you like spicy food!)
These low carb appetizers balls pair beautifully for breakfast when served with my Low Carb breakfast casserole and they’re the perfect party appetizer when served with my Jalapeno Cheese Bites.
How to make them
The easiest way to make these is to dump all the ingredients into a food processor or stand mixer and pulse or combine it until well blended.
After that, use a spoon, small ice cream scoop or cookie scoop and simply scoop out a tablespoon or two of the mixture, shape it into 1-inch balls and place on a prepared baking sheet; bake at 375 F degrees for 18-25 minutes.
Recipe tip
- If you don’t have a food processor, use a pastry blender or a fork; it will take a little longer to combine the mixture, but it will work
Honey mustard dipping sauce
Make this quick and easy dipping sauce: plain yogurt, honey, Old Style grain mustard, white vinegar and salt. Mix it all together and dip away! See recipe card below for exact ingredient proportions.
Storage and make ahead
These appetizers are perfect for preparing ahead of time!
- To refrigerate raw, uncooked sausage balls, form them and place them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days. When ready to serve, remove and bake.
- To freeze raw or baked sausage balls, wrap securely in a freezer bag. When ready to prepare or serve, remove them from the freezer and allow to thaw in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes before cooking
- Cook raw, frozen sausage balls about 50 minutes at 375ºF; reheat cooked sausage balls (wrap in foil) at 375ºF for about 25 minutes.
If you make this recipe, please scroll down and leave a comment and a rating! I love to hear from you! Thank you!
Easy Sausage Balls
Equipment
- Food Processor
- Parchment paper
Ingredients
Sausage Ball Ingredients
- 3 cups Bisquick baking mix
- spray oil
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese , (buy a 16 oz. block then shred to equal the correct amount needed for recipe)
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 pound Pork sausage (you can use plain, sage or ground Italian sausage)
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
Dipping Sauce Ingredients
- 1 cup yogurt , plain (can be Greek or non-Greek)
- ⅓ cup Old Style grain mustard
- 4 tablespoons honey , or agave nectar
- 3 teaspoons white vinegar
- salt , to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375ºF; lightly oil baking sheet or baking sheet lined with parchment (spray parchment paper with oil)spray oil
- Combine Bisquick, salt, garlic powder, black pepper and uncooked sausage in food processor; pulse until blended3 cups Bisquick baking mix, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon salt, ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper, 1 pound Pork sausage
- Gradually add shredded cheddar to mixture; pulse between each addition of cheese; add mayonnaise and pulse a few more times until its well incorporated2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, ½ cup mayonnaise
- Pour mixture into large mixing bowl
- Use a tablespoon or small ice cream scoop to measure one-two tablespoons of mixture; place in the palm of your hand and shape into a ball and place on prepared parchment paper
- Bake at 375ºF for 18-25 minutes or until internal temperature is at least 160ºF; transfer to a paper towel lined plate to rest for 5 minutes
Dipping Sauce
- Combine all dipping sauce ingredients into bowl; serve slightly chilled1 cup yogurt, 4 tablespoons honey, ⅓ cup Old Style grain mustard, 3 teaspoons white vinegar, salt
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Variations
Feel free to add additional herbs to this recipe! Thyme and/or sage work really well. Want a spicier sausage ball? Use a little Pepper Jack cheese in the mixture! That will pair beautifully with the sweet dipping sauce!
These classic sausage balls are perfect for Christmas morning, game day appetizers or brunch!
We enjoyed this recipe very much. Only addition we made was adding 1/4 cup of milk. Seemed to add a bit more fluff like texture to the Bisquick. YUM!
Thank you for sharing this idea! They are a bit tricky to form into balls and the addition of milk seems perfect!
Yum!!!!! I added pepper flakes because we are spicy kinda folks.
What a great idea, Julie! Thank you for sharing!
These sausage balls look AMAZING! Can’t wait to try them out!
Thank you! They’re a bit tricky to form into balls, so be sure and read the blog instructions! Happy Holidays:)