This post may contain affiliate links. See my privacy policy for details.
These biscuit mix cheesy sausage balls are a holiday staple as an appetizer and also grace many a table for holiday breakfasts as well! Only three ingredients and you have a delicious snack or side dish. Can you tell that I have a box of Bisquick® to use up? These Bisquick® Sausage Balls are a classic recipe and are so easy and delicious to make! If you are looking for another recipe, try my Bisquick® Quiche Recipe, it's another classic!
Quick & Easy Sausage Balls Recipe
OK, I'm not grown up at all, I keep snickering over the name of this recipe, I admit it. I have the mind of a 14 year old boy – my son is probably more mature than I am, let's face it. That said, while I may snort over the name of this recipe, sausage balls are delicious.
After that last sentence I give up, I can't even write seriously about this recipe. Mike and I have spent the whole day making dirty jokes while I was making these sausage balls.That's what happens when you are stuck together working as a team, you feed off each other, even when it means you're acting immature.
Let's get serious about those sausage balls now.
This is a classic Bisquick® recipe that is extremely popular around the holidays and with the holidays coming up I thought it was high time I gave these a try, not to mention I have a box of Bisquick® that I was supposed to take out to the trailer at the lake – and I need to use it up before it goes stale. We totally were screwed out of a decent August here in Alberta, between the fires in BC smoking up the air Calgary and Edmonton and the weather generally being weirdly hot and cold, we made it out to the lake ONCE – and we stayed inside the trailer the entire time. It was so smoky we couldn't see the lake.
This is also my backyard this recent September 13th. I am NOT making this up, my friends. I feel totally ripped off this summer between the smoke and the SNOW (it's actually still summer until September 22nd).
I live where it snows in the summer. I'm moving to Vancouver Island, I swear. I can't take this anymore.
Onward to the baking that I did when it was snowing in summer. These sausage balls are the kind of food that one should start baking in the winter, rich, decadent comforting carb loaded goodness. The recipe makes a perfect 24 golf ball sized sausage balls and they will fit on a large baking sheet together perfectly, as you can see below. I like a good recipe that a) uses only one bowl and b) fits onto one baking sheet. That's my kinda recipe!
What kind of pork sausage do I use?
You are going to need the raw, ground pork sausage for the traditional sausage balls recipe however the sky is really the limit. You can use a mild Italian sausage, a maple syrup sweet breakfast sausage or even a hot spiced sausage, the only caveat is that it HAS to be ground sausage. It cannot be a cooked smoked sausage.
My kitchen hack?
Use your stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
Using your mixer to make these sausage balls made this recipe SO EASY that I can see this recipe being doubled and you having 4 dozen sausage ball snacks in no time at all! I also think it does a better job of working the ingredients together than mixing them by hand would. You then simply get a tablespoon and get your golf ball sized dough balls ready to rock!
The other secret to these is not dropping them onto the sheet, you can roll them into nice uniform shaped balls. I don't guarantee that they are going to stay that shape as the pork fat and cheese fat will melt and change the shape of these, but mine came out pretty darn uniform.
Karlynn's Tips & Tricks for Making Sausage Balls
- Don't use bagged shredded cheese in these. You need the moisture that comes with freshly shredded block cheese. The cheese shreds in the bag are dry and you will end up with a dry product.
- You can definitely change up the type of cheese to whatever flavor you prefer, but a sharp old cheddar is delicious!
- If the batter seems dry, add in a 1/4 cup of milk.
- If your sausage isn't that greasy, you also might have to add in milk.
- Here in Canada we don't usually get the 1lb packs of spiced ground pork sausage (if we do, please let me know where, I have been looking!) and I simply took breakfast sausages out of their casings and used that instead. That seemed to be a little dryer than it should be, so I added in 2 tbsp of milk to help. I would add in the 1/4 cup next time for sure.
- Add in some spices like cayenne if you want – I LOVED mine with the chives! I would use fresh minced green onion in my next batch for sure.These are easy to customize.
And that dip? It's my new Creamy Sweet Chili Sauce and it is my new favorite dip! You can literally use that on anything, chicken wings, salad, veggies and more. It was awesome with these sausage balls!
Stay tuned for more Bisquick® recipes in the next week or two, I still have a ton left that I need to use up! And that's before the one at the trailer comes home this weekend, since we have to pack up the trailer at the lake way early this year. Sigh. Maybe we will get an early nice spring?
Happy Baking!
Love,
Karlynn
PIN THIS RECIPE to your Appetizers Board and Remember to FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST!
Thanks to ads on this website, readers of The Kitchen Magpie are now sponsoring 2 families a month through the Edmonton Food Bank. Learn how you can help here.
Learn to cook like the Kitchen Magpie
Flapper Pie and a Blue Prairie Sky
A Modern Baker’s Guide to Old-Fashioned Desserts
The Prairie Table
Suppers, Potlucks & Socials: Crowd-Pleasing Recipes to Bring People Together
Subscribe to The Kitchen Magpie on YouTube
One click and you'll get notified of new videos added to our YouTube account!
Subscribe on YouTube
Sausage Balls Recipe (Classic Bisquick Sausage Balls)
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 20 minutes
- Total Time
- 25 minutes
- Course
- Appetizer
- Cuisine
- American
- Servings
- 24 sausage balls
- Calories
- 176
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
- 1 pound sharp Cheddar cheese shredded
- 1 pound ground pork sausage
- 2 cups biscuit baking mix
- 1 tablespoon freeze dried chives ( optional)
- 1/4 cup milk (if needed)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 °F.
- In a large bowl, combine the ground sausage, biscuit baking mix and shredded cheese.
- Form into 24 golf ball sized balls and place on baking sheets.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown and the sausage is cooked through entirely.
- Remove and serve hot!
Recipe Notes
Tips & Tricks
- Don't use bagged shredded cheese in these. You need the moisture that comes with freshly shredded block cheese. The cheese shreds in the bag are dry and you will end up with a dry product.
- You can definitely change up the type of cheese to whatever flavor you prefer, but a sharp old cheddar is delicious!
- If the batter seems dry, add in a 1/4 cup of milk.
- If your sausage isn't that greasy, you also might have to add in milk.
- Here in Canada we don't usually get the 1lb packs of spiced ground pork sausage (if we do, please let me know where, I have been looking!) and I simply took breakfast sausages out of their casings and used that instead. That seemed to be a little dryer than it should be, so I added in 2 tbsp of milk to help. I would add in the 1/4 cup next time for sure.
- Add in some spices like cayenne if you want - I LOVED mine with the chives! I would use fresh minced green onion in my next batch for sure.These are easy to customize.
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Made this recipe?
Share a photo of what you made on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thekitchenmagpie or hashtag it #thekitchenmagpie.
Please rate this recipe in the comments below to help out your fellow cooks!
Peggy says
Can they be frozen after Baking them?
Jo says
I’m trying to prepare ahead for a party. Can i make these ahead, freeze them raw, then bake at the last minute? If this is possible, do I need to thaw them before baking?
MJ Gaskill says
Can the mix be made up the day before and refrigerated until ready to make the balls?
Carol Harris says
I was going to cheat and buy frozen sausage balls but knew they weren’t as good. Last minute in store, I thought I’d just get the ingredients. Looked up Sausage Ball recipe and got yours. It’s a good thing I looked it up because I would have forgotten the SAUSAGE! And appreciated all the tips to make them even better.
Linda says
Way too much bisquik. Way too much cheese. For 1 lb. Sausage I would use half cup cheese and half cup bisquick.
Crystal says
I didn’t have bisque but I subbed Red Lobster cheddar bay biscuit mix (gluten free) instead and they came out great! I was worried that the combo of raw sausage cooking and cheddar cheese melting would cause a lot of grease in the baking process so I used deep baking pans rather than a sheet.
There really wasn’t too much grease so next time, I’ll use a sheet. I guess the mix absorbs a lot of the oil. I also HATE fighting with parchment paper so I just sprayed the pan with oil spray. Between that and the little oil that came out in the baking they didn’t stick to the pan.
I wound up with 39 small bite size balls. Very yummy, good dipped in ranch dressing too!
Cookie says
This works well with gluten free Bisquik mix. I use the whole small box, about 3 cups, tossed with the cheese. I did have to add milk. Made 40 meatballs. I used half a sweet onion, diced, as well.
Susan Phillips says
I don’t have any Bisquick! Can you give me a substitute recipe?
Nana says
I didn’t have bisquick so I used pancake powder mix. The rest of the recipe I followed exactly as written. They turned out great!
Pearl says
I made these and they were delicious! But- two problems: First, they stuck horribly to the wax paper. Secondly, not that it matters as much as the first problem, they didn’t retain their shape and became quite flat as opposed to staying round. But they were good! Minus having to eat some of the paper on the flat bottoms of them.
Melissa says
You’re supposed to use parchment paper, not wax paper.
Kira says
Gotta be the type of flour you used. An all purpose would not rise like a Bisquick or self rising flour. I believe that could be your issue here.
Paula says
When you make the Sausage Balls, do you cook the pork first? Or just mix it in with the dry ingredients!
Vanessa says
Raw
Vanessa says
Paula you use raw pork to mix and bake.
Lauren says
Can these be frozen?
Lisa says
I freeze them on a cookie sheet and then put them in a ziplock bag in the freezer. My kids take them out and microwave them for breakfast, quick and easy!
Emily says
is it possible to use a buttermilk pancake mix ?
Katie says
Yes! We used Bisquick buttermilk pancake mix and it worked perfectly!
Gerie says
I think I’m gonna make these into biscuit size
Patties and make sausage gravy with them and serve them with overeasy eggs for the fam this morning. Kind of like biscuits and gravy but meatier and with a kick of cayenne in the biscuit. Hmmmm…. wish me luck.