A Chef's Life: Recipe for Sausage Balls (2024)

FAQs

Do you have to refrigerate sausage balls after you make them? ›

Sausage balls can sit out while serving for up to two hours. Past that point, they should be refrigerated and reheated. Do sausage balls need a dipping sauce? Sausage balls are delicious all on their own, but you can pair with ranch, honey mustard, or any other dipping sauce you love.

To freeze cooked sausage balls: Bake the sausage balls and allow them to cool completely. Flash freeze them overnight, then transfer them to zip-top freezer bags. Wrap in foil and freeze flat for up to three months. Thaw in the fridge and reheat in the oven or in the microwave.

Store cooked sausage balls in an airtight container in your fridge for 3 to 4 days. You can reheat these in the microwave or pop them back in the oven until heated through.

Whether you're cooking these sausage balls indoors or outdoors, be sure to place them on a sheet of parchment paper to keep them from getting too brown on the bottom.

All sausages- except dry sausage - are perishable and therefore must be kept refrigerated or frozen. Uncooked fresh sausage can be stored in the refrigerator one to two days; after cooking, keep for three to four days refrigerated (40 °F or less).

Crock pot: Place a damp paper towel in the bottom of crock pot (this well keep them from drying out as they reheat) Place sausage balls in crock pot and heat on low until heated through (a crock pot full may take 2-3 hours)

What do you serve with sausage balls? This recipe comes with an easy honey mustard dipping sauce, but there are so many other dips and sauces that these would be great with! Ranch dressing, burger sauce, tzatziki, or even warm country gravy would be delicious with these savory bites.

Raw and cooked sausages can be frozen. Separate into portion sizes before freezing so that you can defrost exactly what you need.

Why did my sausage balls turn out flat? This could be due to the use of pre-shredded cheese or not mixing the ingredients well. Make sure to use freshly shredded cheese and mix the ingredients thoroughly for best results.

Packaged pre-shredded cheese is coated with cellulose so it won't clump together. Well, that also means your sausage balls won't stick together when formed also. Use parchment to line the pans so they don't stick.

How long can you eat sausage balls? ›

Of course, when you purchase properly packed sausage balls they will be safe in the refrigerator for a few days and up to a month in the freezer. It is a good idea to cook them while they are still fresh for optimum freshness and flavor. Cooked sausage balls can be kept for up to 3 to 4 days.

Cooking and storing sausages

Once cooked, sausages should be cooled, then chilled between 1-4C, where they can be kept for up to two days (but not past the use-by date). To reheat, cook until the internal temp reaches 70C again.

Or, put the frozen sausage balls on a microwave-safe container and heat them on High in the microwave for 10 seconds per sausage ball. If your microwave is less than 1100 watts, you might need to add a few seconds for each sausage ball.

The ideal cooking time for sausage depends on how it's being prepared, a thicker slice of meat will take longer to cook. At 400 degrees Fahrenheit in an oven, sausage takes between 10-45 minutes to cook fully. Thin slices or patties may cook in just 10 minutes, while thicker links can take up to 45.

The Two-Hour Rule

Cooked food can only stay in the temperature danger zone for so long before it becomes unsafe to eat. Havern explains: "The maximum amount of time perishable foods can [spend] in the danger zone is two hours. At two hours, the food must be consumed, stored correctly, or thrown away.

Summer sausage is a type of cured meat that was developed in Europe prior to refrigeration technology. Using several types of preservation methods at once allowed people to make a sausage that would keep from spoiling without refrigeration “in the summer months.” Hence the name, summer sausage.

Preserving Sausage by Drying

The most important factor in this method is the choice of the area where the sausages will be stored. This space should be warm, but out of sunlight. The sausages are dried by hanging them with a string. If hanging is not possible, they can also be dried wrapped in newspaper.