This Cornbread Sausage Balls recipe is going to be your new favorite party appetizer. It’s only three ingredients, but it packs a punch.
This Cornbread Sausage Balls recipe is just one of the easy sausage recipes we have on the blog. For more, check out all our sausage recipes.
This Cornbread Sausage Balls recipe is a home run. Every time I make it, the tray is eaten before everything else. And there are never any leftovers.
They’re super poppable and a great one bite appetizer for game day.
Which is why you need to make a lot of them. People will pop them in their mouths as quickly as potato chips. That’s why the tray of them disappears so quickly.
This Cornbread Sausage Balls recipe is just one of the easy sausage recipes we have on Drugstore Divas. For more, check out our full post of Budget-Friendly Sausage Recipes.
Cornbread Sausage Balls Recipe
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Cornbread Sausage Balls Ingredients:
- 2 boxes (8.5 oz.) corn muffin mix
- 16 oz. ground sausage
- 8 oz. block of mozzarella cheese
How To Make Cornbread Sausage Balls:
Pre-heat the oven to 350 F.
Combine the corn muffin mix and ground sausage in a bowl. Mix them together until a dough forms.
Mixing by hand works a lot better than trying to use a spoon to mix this. You could also mix it using a stand mixer if you wanted, but we don’t.
Shred the mozzarella cheese into the dough. Mix again until combined.
Take about a tablespoon or so of the mixture, roll it into a ball, and put it on a silicone baking mat-lined cookie sheet.
Using a baking mat makes life so much easier because when these sausage balls are finished, they’ll easily pop right off the baking mat. If you don’t have a silicon baking mat, you could also use parchment paper.
Bake for about 20 minutes until the sausage balls are cooked through. You’ll know they’re done when they reach an internal temperature of 160 F.
If your oven runs high, you’ll want to check them around the 15 minute mark because you don’t want to overbake these. If you do, they’ll taste really dry and won’t be as delicious as they can be.
Serve warm with a dipping sauce, like our favorite Buffalo ranch or with your favorite dipping sauce.
Cornbread Sausage Balls: Frequently Asked Questions
Before you get confused, boxed corn muffin mix is exactly the right mix for this.
There are similar recipes for Bisquick sausage balls, which use that brand or a similar pancake mix.
This is not those. This uses the mix that you use to make corn bread. So, make sure you are buying the correct mix when you’re going shopping for this.
One of our cardinal rules is, “Season every step of the way.” We. Season. Everything.
But, here’s the thing. The corn muffin mix is really flavorful. And the sausage is really flavorful and seasoned already. So if you add more seasoning, you risk oversalting this or adding a flavor that competes with your sausage.
So, as much as I support seasoning everything always, this cornbread sausage balls recipe is an exception to that rule.
Shredded cheese that comes in the bag is so easy. You just open it and add it to your recipe.
But, here’s the thing about pre-shredded cheese: it’s filled with preservatives. There are a bunch in there to make sure it doesn’t clump together in the bag and each piece stays separate.
But, that prevents it from melting when you cook it.
So, bagged shredded cheese is fine when you’re using it to top a salad. But in a recipe like these cornbread sausage balls, where you really want the cheese to melt, shredding a block of cheese is best.
We have a really good cheese shredder that makes it really easy to shred cheese.
If you want to change up the cheese, you can use a cheddar cheese instead. But we really love the mozzarella because it’s pretty mild so it allows the sausage flavor to shine.
A mild sausage works best in these cornbread sausage balls because then the flavor doesn’t compete with the cheese or the corn muffin mix. If you prefer, a hot sausage would work as well.
What’s most important, though, is that you use a ground sausage. You need to be able to mix it into your dry mix and you can’t do that with solid sausage links.
You could purchase sausage links with a casing on it, like the sausage we used in our sheet pan sausage and peppers recipe. Then, cut the casing off and use the sausage inside.
If you made these and your sausage balls come out dry, that may be for one of two reason.
First, you may have baked them for a little too long. You don’t want to overbake these because they will dry out.
Second, you may not have mixed this enough. The reason you want to mix the sausage and cornbread mix first is to assure that you actually have it all mixed together and don’t have dry pockets of cornbread mix.
If you add the three ingredients together at once, there’s a good chance it won’t mix properly and you’ll end up with dry sausage balls.
What goes with sausage balls for dinner?
We generally serve sausage balls as an appetizer with other one-bite appetizers when we’re hosting a party.
But, this would be a really great compliment to homemade soup. You could dunk them into your soup instead of sandwiches.
Some of our favorite soups that go with cornbread sausage balls are:
Of course, since that would end up making a really heavy meal, you should absolutely make a salad to serve with this as well.
Cornbread Sausage Balls
Cornbread Sausage Balls are an easy and delicious one-bite appetizer. They're made from only three ingredients.
Ingredients
- 2 boxes (8.5 oz.) corn muffin mix
- 16 oz. ground sausage
- 8 oz. block of mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 F.
- Combine the corn muffin mix and ground sausage in a bowl. Mix them together until a dough forms. (Mixing by hand works a lot better than trying to use a spoon to mix this.)
- Shred the mozzarella cheese into the dough. Mix again until combined.
- Take about a tablespoon or so of the mixture, roll it into a ball, and put it on a silicone baking mat-lined cookie sheet.
- Bake for about 20 minutes until the sausage balls are cooked through. You’ll know they’re done when they reach an internal temperature of 160 F.
Nutrition Information
Yield
60Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 35Total Fat 3gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 8mgSodium 86mgCarbohydrates 0gFiber 0gSugar 0gProtein 2g
Have you tried this Cornbread Sausage Balls recipe? Let us know how it went in the comments.