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Savory, cheesy, and incredibly easy to make, everyone loves these Homemade Sausage Balls. They come together fast with simple pantry ingredients and freeze beautifully. Perfect for last-minute entertaining or a holiday brunch.
Kristen's Keys for Homemade Sausage Balls
Before we dive into how to make homemade sausage balls, pay attention to the following tips. A few small details make all the difference!
- Bulk ground sausage is best. Avoid flavored sausage, like Italian sausage or breakfast sausage, to let the cheesy savory goodness shine through. Think Jimmy Dean regular pork sausage.
- Let the sausage come to room temperature for 20-30 minutes. Cold sausage is harder to work into the batter and increases the chance of overworking the meat, which makes the final bites dense.
- Freshly grate the cheddar. Pre-shredded cheese is coated in anti-caking agents that can make the mixture dry.
- Use a medium cookie scoop. The scoop keeps the sausage balls uniform in size to ensure they cook at the same rat.
- Bake the sausage balls on a wire rack over a rimmed sheet. The rack lets fat render away and keeps the bottoms from getting overly greasy or soggy.
5-Star Reader Review
The sausage balls are such an easy recipe. We had all of the ingredients here at home to make them for our Super Bowl Party. We had some spicy sausage, so the maple syrup was great to drizzle over them. They were definitely a hit! -Julie ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
How to Make Sausage Balls without Bisquick
Even when leaving the boxed biscuit mix on the shelf, this recipe comes together easily and this step-by-step section will help you achiever perfect results.
Step One: Prepare Homemade Biscuit Mix
To replicate Bisquick, simply whisk together flour, baking powder, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and seasoned salt in a large mixing bowl. Yes, it really is THAT easy!
Step Two: Add Sausage and Cheese
Crumble in room-temperature sausage, add the freshly grated sharp cheddar and milk. Use your hands to gently combine until everything just comes together.
????????Your hands are really the best tool here. They let you feel when the mixture is uniform without overworking the meat.
Step Three: Portion and Shape
Use a medium cookie scoop to portion the mixture and then gently roll each portion into a smooth ball. Place the prepared sausage balls on a wire rack fitted over a rimmed baking sheet.
????????Use damp hands. Slightly damp hands will help the mixture not stick to you hands when rolling into balls.
Step Four: Bake
Bake the sausage balls until golden and an internal temperature reaches 165°F and let cool slightly before serving.
????????Don't forget the dipping sauce! Serve with maple syrup, mustard, queso, sweet chili sauce, BBQ sauce, ranch dressing, or hot honey--whatever you would like.
Recipe Modifications
- Gluten-Free: Ensure your sausage is gluten-free and replace the all-purpose flour with a 1:1 gluten-free flour flour.
- Use Biscuit Mix: Use 2 cups of boxed mix in place of the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and seasoned salt.
- Lower-Fat: Use skim milk and your favorite bulk chicken or turkey sausage. Keep in mind the sausage ball may be a bit drier, but still delicious!
- Spice It Up: Add a pinch of cayenne pepper to the flour mixture and/or replace 1 cup of the cheddar cheese with pepper jack.
Make-Ahead Instructions
Stash a batch (or two) of these sausage balls in your freezer and be ready for last-minute parties or overnight guests. They are a make-ahead recipe perfect for holiday mornings or entertaining.
- Up to 24 hours in Advance: Assemble the sausage balls up to baking, transfer to an airtight container, separated by sheets of parchment paper, then bake as directed.
- Freeze: Prepare as directed up to baking. Place the sausage balls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place the tray in the freezer for 1-2 hours, or until the sausage balls are flash frozen. Then transfer to a freezer-safe bag and store in freezer for up to 3 months.
- Bake from Frozen: To bake sausage balls from frozen, bake at 350℉ (175℃) for 28-32 minutes.
More Party-Perfect Recipes
- Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms
- Baked Brie
- Perfect Deviled Eggs
- Bacon Wrapped Dates
- Air Fryer Chicken Wings
- Tortellini Skewers
Homemade Sausage Balls Without Bisquick
Video
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground pork sausage, uncooked
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- ¼ cup milk, + more if needed
- maple syrup for serving
Instructions
- Allow the sausage to sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes. This will allow the sausage to easily mix into the other ingredients.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175℃). Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and place a wire baking rack onto the lined pan. Spray the rack with nonstick cooking spray. This step will allow the grease to drip off onto the pan below.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon seasoned salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper, ½ teaspoon onion powder, and ¼ teaspoon garlic powder until well combined.
- Crumble the room temperature sausage into the flour mixture along with 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese, and ¼ cup milk. Use your hands to gently combine until everything just comes together. If needed, add additional milk, ½ tablespoon at a time, to help the mixture come together.
- Portion out 1½ tablespoons of the mixture and gently roll into a ball with dampened hands. Place the shaped sausage ball onto the prepared baking rack.
- Bake the sausage balls for 18-22 minutes, or until golden and the internal temperature registers at least 165℉ (74℃).
- Serve warm with maple syrup or your favorite dipping sauce (BBQ sauce, mustard, ranch, etc)
Equipment
- medium cookie scoop (love the handle on this one)
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This post was originally posted in 2023 and updated in 2025.
I made with gluten-free flour, which I think I would reduce next time to one and a half cups. They were still really good and I would make it this way again.
Thanks for sharing, your experience, Kels!
Hi Kristen - You were right, they came out perfectly on a rimmed cast iron baking pan. The kids and adults loved these. Thanks.
Thanks for all of the great recipes. I cook a lot, but don't have a wire rack to put on a baking sheet. Would these work without the rack or would there be too much pooling fat? Could I just bake on a cast iron rimmed baking sheet? My sausage is pretty fatty. Thanks.
Hi Kate! I am thrilled you enjoy my recipes. Skip the rack--you will be fine. The bottoms may be a bit greasy--but sometimes that is the part people love the most. If an issue, just dab with a paper towel before serving.
Hi Kristen - Thanks for the reply. Excellent. I think my kids will love these and am glad they're doable without the rack.
I cooked these on racks and the bottoms dripped through. I had to cut them off the racks and that made to a lot of extra clean up.
Hi Penny. I am sorry this happened and I think it was likely that you didn't use quite enough flour OR the mixture was too warm after working. In the future, you can pop in the fridge for 20 minutes to harden a bit before baking or bake right on a baking sheet lined with foil.
Hello,
If I were to add cream cheese to this, would I still need the milk?
Hi Amber! I would omit the milk, reduce the cheese to 1 cup and use 1 block (8-ounces) of softened cream cheese. You will also want to chill the shaped sausage balls for 10-15 minutes prior to baking so the cream cheese doesn't cause them to spread. Enjoy
I appreciate your response. And I did follow the recipe exactly. They are moist, but all I taste is bread. Even with using extra sharp cheese and spicy sausage as well as some extra spices. I'm not sure what I did wrong. I made them to take to work today and I'm not happy with them. But I would like to try again for Christmas Eve. Any suggestion?
Hi Amber. Did you follow my recipe as written or one using cream cheese? And can I ask if this is a new to you recipe? If they are moist, it may be you simply don't care for sausage balls altogether?
I feel like I offended you with my question and that wasn't my intention. I do love sausage balls, I've just never made them myself. Most people make them with Bisquick and I didn't have any which is what led me to your website. I've also heard people adding cream cheese to keep them from being dry which is why I asked the first question. I followed your recipe with the suggestion you made about omitting the milk in order to use cream cheese. It didn't taste bad, it was just more bready than what I've had before and a little bland even though I used spicy sausage and seasonings. The people I made them for enjoyed them so I know they were not bad, just not the way I remember them being. The ones I've had at parties or gatherings, I tasted more sausage than breading. So I asked what I may have done wrong...not that your recipe was bad. So just to let you know, I did make them again using the cream cheese and no milk. I used one and a half cups of flour instead of two. And two teaspoons of baking powder instead of a tablespoon. I kept the original amount of cheddar from your recipe and added some of my own seasonings (ground mustard and ranch seasoning). They turned out perfectly in my opinion with less flour, and had much more flavor. I thank you for your time in responding to my questions. Have a very Merry Christmas!♥️
Hi Amber! I am so sorry if I sounded offended--I wasn't in the least! Just hard to troubleshoot when I didn't know if you were familiar with sausage balls or which recipe variation you used 🙂 I am so glad your guests enjoyed and that you were able to tweak the recipe to your own liking. THanks so much for sharing and wishing you a very Merry Christmas!