These tasty Cream Cheese Sausage Balls are a delicious appetizer loaded with pork breakfast sausage, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and Bisquick! The easy to make snack-size cream cheese balls are golden crispy on the outside with a great cheesy flavor!
I seriously don't get enough chances to do a lot of entertaining. Both my husband's and my family are, at the very least, about a half a country away. So whenever someone is coming over, I may go a little overboard on the food. Maybe. Maybe not, since no one has ever complained.
Having some quick and easy snack foods or appetizers that come together quickly is always a plus. Really nice when I am having guests on short notice! I definitely have my go-to recipes for just this occasion. These super easy snack balls are one of those recipes!
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🤔 What Are Sausage Cream Cheese Balls
The sausage cream cheese balls are an easy appetizer to make with ready-to-use ingredients. They can be combined in a KitchenAid stand mixer, which is the easiest way to mix them. Or you can mix the ingredients by hand in a large mixing bowl.
The cheesy sausage mixture is rolled into balls and baked until golden, then served as an appetizer. They're perfectly suited for holiday entertaining, game day appetizers, potlucks, breakfasts, and parties!
🥘 Ingredients
You only need 4 basic ingredients to make these hearty little sausage balls.
- Bisquick - This easy-to-use baking mix is a household staple pantry ingredient in my home. Yes, I love making pancakes from scratch but sometimes even I am lazy about breakfast. The morning after a late-night, not enough coffee, or just let the kid fend for herself kind of breakfast. Plus, there are a ton of ways to use Bisquick which makes it super handy.
- Breakfast Sausage - The seasoned sausage adds so much flavor to these appetizer balls! You can usually get the one pound chubs of pork breakfast sausage. Find them near the bacon and breakfast links and sometimes in the freezer section of most grocery stores. Brands like Johnsonville, Jimmy Dean, Farmland, and Wal-mart even has it in their Great Value brand. I've tried both mild and hot breakfast sausage, and the hot flavor didn't make the sausage balls being too spicy.
- Cream Cheese - That wonderful tangy cream cheese flavor is so perfect with sausage!
- Cheddar Cheese - Everything is better with cheddar! Freshly grated cheddar cheese adds to the rich, creamy, cheesy deliciousness of this appetizer or snack. You can use any cheddar variety including white, mild, sharp, or extra sharp cheddar.
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Or try garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, seasoning salt, oregano, dried or ground sage, and marjoram. Even a tablespoon of brown sugar can be added to sweeten the taste!
🔪 Step-by-Step Instructions
Once you have all of your ingredients handy, follow these steps to make your sausage cream cheese balls:
- Combine the Bisquick, cream cheese, breakfast sausage, and grated cheddar cheese in the bowl of your stand mixer, or by hand in a large mixing bowl. Use a low-speed setting and give it a few minutes to mix the ingredients thoroughly.
- Portion the sausage mixture into 1 - 1 ½ inch balls using your hands to roll them tightly. Place the portioned balls onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet ( or two ).
- Chill the sausage balls in the refrigerator for 10 - 15 minutes, or in the freezer for about 8 minutes while your oven preheats to 350ºF (175ºC).
- Bake at 350ºF (175ºC) for about 25 minutes, or until golden browned and firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.
Pork products should be cooked until they have reached an internal temperature of 160ºF (71ºC) as read by a digital meat thermometer per USDA guidelines for ground meats.
💭 Tips & Recipe Notes
- DO SPOON and level your Bisquick into your measuring cup, too much packed-in baking mix will result in very dry sausage balls.
- Make sure that the cream cheese is softened to room temperature to make mixing the sausage cream cheese balls a lot easier!
- DO USE freshly grated cheese, the packaged shredded cheese is coated with cellulose to prevent it from clumping together. This will also result in your sausage balls not sticking together well and losing their shape (and going flat while baking).
- If you can't find the sausage 'chubs' or rolls, you can always open up breakfast links or use the ground pork breakfast sausage in the meat section. The sweet Italian sausage is also great meat to use in these sausage balls.
- Stir in ideas that you might like to include in your sausage cream cheese balls include: fresh cut chives or parsley, grated or finely diced white onion or sweet yellow onion, pan-fried potatoes or hashbrowns, and diced red or green bell peppers.
How to Make Cream Cheese Sausage Balls without Bisquick
Substitutes for Bisquick include other packaged pancake mixes, as well as biscuit mixes like the Red Lobster cheddar bay biscuit mix.
If you don't have any commercial mixes on hand, you can make your own Bisquick (from scratch with flour)! Use 2 cups all-purpose flour with 1 ½ tablespoons baking powder and 1 teaspoon salt to replace the amount of Bisquick called for in this recipe.
To Make Your Sausage Cream Cheese Balls Keto-Friendly
Substitute the Bisquick in this recipe with 1 egg plus ¾ cup of almond flour and reduce the cream cheese to 4 ounces, or half of an 8-ounce package. Mix and continue to follow the recipe card instructions below.
🥡 Storing & Reheating
Any leftover sausage balls can be stored in an airtight container and kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 - 4 days. Refrigerated sausage balls can be reheated in the oven on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet on your oven's warm setting (or lowest temperature setting, usually around 200ºF - 250ºF or 93ºC - 120ºC) until warmed through.
If you would like to have these tasty cream cheese balls pre-made and ready to bake (or only want to bake half a batch now and save some for later) simply freeze the formed balls on the baking sheet. Place the frozen sausage appetizers into a plastic freezer storage bag or airtight freezer container. They will keep in the freezer for up to 4 months.
When you are ready to bake up the frozen cream cheese sausage balls, allow them to thaw at room temperature for 15 - 20 minutes before baking as instructed in the recipe card.
More Tasty Appetizers
- Cream Cheese Wontons
- Air Fryer Potato Skins
- Irish Nachos
- BBQ Bacon Wrapped Brussel Sprouts
- Breaded Stuffed Scallops
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📋 Recipe
Sausage Cream Cheese Balls
Ingredients
- 2 cups Bisquick
- 1 lb pork breakfast sausage
- 8 oz cream cheese (one 8 ounce block, softened)
- 1 cup cheddar cheese (grated)
Instructions
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, or in a large mixing bowl (if making by hand), combine the Bisquick, breakfast sausage, cream cheese, and grated cheddar cheese. Use the low setting and allow the mixer to work for a few minutes to thoroughly combine the ingredients.
- Portion out the sausage mixture and roll into balls that are roughly 1 - 1 ½ inch in size. Transfer formed balls to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet or two.
- Place the baking sheet with formed sausage balls into your refrigerator for 10-15 minutes, or in the freezer for about 8 minutes, to chill before baking.
- While the sausage cream cheese balls are chilling, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 25 minutes, or until golden browned and firm to the touch. The internal temperature should be 160 degrees F (71 degrees C) when done.
- Remove from the oven and serve immediately.
Notes
Storage & Freezing Your Cream Cheese Sausage Balls
Any leftover sausage balls can be stored in an airtight container and kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 - 4 days. Refrigerated sausage balls can be reheated in the oven on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet on your oven's warm setting ( or lowest temperature setting, usually around 200ºF - 250ºF or 93ºC - 120ºC ) until warmed through. If you would like to have these tasty cream cheese balls pre-made and ready to bake ( or only want to bake half a batch now and save some for later ) simply freeze the formed balls on the baking sheet. Place the frozen sausage appetizers into a plastic freezer storage bag or airtight freezer container. They will keep in the freezer for up to 4 months. When you are ready to bake up the frozen cream cheese sausage balls, allow them to thaw at room temperature for 15 - 20 minutes before baking as instructed in the recipe card.Nutrition
Angela is an at home chef that developed a passion for all things cooking and baking at a young age in her Grandma's kitchen. After many years in the food service industry, she now enjoys sharing all of her family favorite recipes and creating tasty dinner and amazing dessert recipes here at Bake It With Love!
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