Hungry? Our old-fashioned Bisquick sausage balls recipe gets a low-fat, gluten-free makeover with turkey sausage.
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Story by Pamela Price
In keeping with a longstanding family tradition, we make Bisquick sausage balls at least twice during the holiday season. My mother made them on occasion when I was growing up in East Texas, but my late mother-in-law, from Alabama, was a master of the sausage ball recipe. And so we make them every year, out of nostalgia.
Typically, we serve sausage balls for Christmas and NYE breakfast, but they also make a great hors d’oeuvres or evening snack.
Over time, however, we’ve had to adapt the recipe. The biggest leap was adjusting to the gluten-free Bisquick, after I was diagnosed with a form of Celiac disease. That took a bit of getting used to, frankly, but I eventually discovered that a little extra oil and water helped make the mixture more manageable when forming the balls.
There have been some mistakes over the years, too, like the time I used packaged shredded cheese. (Spoiler: it doesn’t work. You really have to shred your own, because of some coating on the shredded kind. My late MIL warned me about this, but I didn’t listen—and the balls came up short that year. Lesson learned.)
This past holiday season, we went a step further with our Bisquick sausage balls, making the traditional recipe with 2% cheese and turkey sausage. The results? I honestly prefer this version to the original!
Since it’s a lower fat, lower calorie version, I suspect we may partake of it more often in the new year.
Enjoy the recipe! And let me know if you like this revamped family favorite.
Original Bisquick Sausage Balls – Low Fat and Gluten Free
Yield: 45 – 50 sausage balls
Ingredients:
1 lb. 2% sharp cheese (block)
1 lb. spicy turkey sausage
1 16 ou. package gluten-free Bisquick pancake mix
1/2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tbsp. water
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For easiest clean up later, line two cookie sheets with aluminum foil and coat them with a light mist of cooking spray or olive oil.
Next, using either a metal cheese shredder or (even better) the shredding attachment on your food processor, shred the cheese.
With a standing mixer with the bread hook attachment, mix the cheese, sausage and Bisquick on low speed for a few minutes, until it blends well. Stop the mixer momentarily and, with a spatula, incorporate any cheese or Bisquick that might have become lodged in the bottom of the bowl. Restart the mixer and add olive oil, blending well.
Working with a spoon, form small balls from the mix, placing them 1 inch or so apart on the pans. As you work, you’ll want to squeeze the mix together firmly, so that it adheres together better—and minimizes leftover cheese and Bisquick powder.
Cook for 20 – 25 minutes, checking after 20 minutes for a light golden brown color across the top of the Bisquick sausage balls. Remove and cool on wire racks.
Optional:
If you want to kick the spice up a little higher, you could add a dash of hot red peppers.
Credit:
Thanks to (South Your Mouth) for keeping the original recipe available online.
Pamela Price is the founder of TheTexasWildflower.com.
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