Sausage meat stuffing balls
Sausage meat stuffing balls are the perfect side dish for a Christmas day feast or even just with a classic Sunday roast dinner.
Sausage meat stuffing balls are the most delicious side dish for any roast dinner. They’re a tasty bite sized morsel that will complete any Christmas or Thanksgiving meal, although we enjoy them all through the year.
I don’t know about you, but I love all the side dishes at Christmas. For us the turkey might take centre stage but the roast potatoes, pigs in blankets and sausage meat stuffing balls are the real heroes.
At Christmas you can often buy sausage meat stuffing along with your turkey, but I think these homemade stuffing balls are a bit more special, and really very easy to make so are worth the effort.
How can kids help make stuffing balls?
One of the best things about these stuffing balls is that they’re so easy, they’re a great way of getting kids involved in helping to make your Sunday roast or Christmas dinner.
Once you’ve chopped the onion, you can let your kids take charge in making the breadcrumbs and mixing everything together. When the sausage meat stuffing mixture is made, your kids can get their hands messy rolling the stuffing balls. It really is as simple as that.
How do I keep my stuffing balls from falling apart?
The key to this is getting the ratio or sausage meat to breadcrumbs right – the mixture needs to be moist but not wet. We used 80g of breadcrumbs with 400g of sausage meat but you might need to add a little more or a little less. Don’t add the breadcrumbs all at once. If you add half then mix it in before you add more you can stop before it feels too dry and crumbly.
If you are worried about the stuffing balls falling apart you can use the same recipe to make a simple sausage meat stuffing.
Instead of rolling the stuffing into balls, bake it in a 23×23 cm (9 inch) tin. Bake it for a little longer – at least 40-45 minutes – to ensure it is cooked through.
What type of breadcrumbs should I use?
We used fresh breadcrumbs rather than panko style breadcrumbs to make sure the stuffing balls were light and soft. You can buy fresh breadcrumbs but it’s easy and cheaper just to pop a few slices of bread into a food processor.
What type of sausage meat should I use?
At Christmas, it’s easy to find the sausage meat at the supermarket. At other times of the year it’s harder to find so you can just use sausages removed from their skin.
Can I make stuffing balls gluten free?
Yes, if you swap the breadcrumbs out for gluten free breadcrumbs and make sure you are using a gluten free sausage meat. You might need to swap the sausage meat for gluten free sausages, but if you do, just follow the steps in the instructions below.
Other festive recipes
If you’re making these for Christmas, you might like some of these other festive recipes:
Slow cooker ham in coke
Pigs in blankets
Yule log
Chocolate roulade
Pavlova
White chocolate and raspberry cheesecake
Useful equipment
You might need the following baking tools/gadgets to make these sausage meat stuffing balls
Mini chopper
Baking tray
Serving plate
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.. You will not be charged anything extra for this. Please refer to my Privacy Policy Page for more details.
Ingredients
1 small onion,
400g sausage meat or sausages
2 tsp dried sage
80g fresh breadcrumbs
How to make sausage meat stuffing balls
Preheat your oven to 200C / 180C Fan / F and lightly oil a baking tray / baking sheet.
Prepare the ingredients
Get your kids to help peel the onion then finely dice it (or grate it). Add it to a mixing bowl.
Unless you are using a packet of breadcrumbs, get your children to pop a few slices of bread into a small food processor and whiz them up until they are nice and fine. Set the breadcrumbs aside for now.
If you are using sausage meat, add that your your bowl. If you have sausages, get your kids to help remove the skin by cutting the casings along the length of the sausage then peel it off. Pop the sausages into your bowl.
Make the sausage meat stuffing
Get your kids to measure the sage and add it to your mixing bowl. There’s no need to worry about being too accurate with this.
Using your hands, mix the sausage meat, sage and onion together. Then start adding some of the breadcrumbs and mix them in. Keep adding the breadcrumbs until the mixture doesn’t feel too wet but will still hold together. It should be about 80g of breadcrumbs but you may need a little less or a little more.
Once everything is well mixed, get your kids to help roll balls of sausage meat stuffing about the size of a golf ball and put them on your prepared baking tray.
You might need to give your kids the right amount of stuffing mixture and let them roll the balls so they all end up roughly the same size.
Bake the sausage meat stuffing balls
Bake the stuffing balls in the oven for approximately 30 minutes. They’re ready when they have browned and crisped on top and are cooked through.
Remove them from the oven, pop them in a serving dish, serve and enjoy!
Sausage meat stuffing balls
Equipment
- Mini chopper
- baking tray
- Serving plate
Ingredients
- 1 small onion
- 400 g sausage meat or sausages
- 2 tsp dried sage
- 80 g fresh breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200C / 180C Fan / F and lightly oil a baking tray / baking sheet.
Prepare the ingredients
- Peel the onion then finely dice it (or grate it). Add it to a mixing bowl.
- Unless you are using a packet of breadcrumbs, pop a few slices of bread into a small food processor and whiz them up until they are nice and fine. Set the breadcrumbs aside for now.
- If you are using sausage meat, add that your your bowl. If you have sausages, remove the skin by cutting the casings along the length of the sausage then peel it off. Pop the sausages into your bowl.
Make the sausage meat stuffing
- Measure the sage and add it to your mixing bowl.
- Using your hands, mix the sausage meat, sage and onion together. Then start adding some of the breadcrumbs and mix them in. Keep adding the breadcrumbs until the mixture doesn't feel too wet but will still hold together. It should be about 80g of breadcrumbs but you may need a little less or a little more.
- Once everything is well mixed, roll balls of sausage meat stuffing about the size of a golf ball and put them on your prepared baking tray.
Bake the sausage meat stuffing balls
- Bake the stuffing balls in the oven for approximately 30 minutes. They're ready when they have browned and crisped on top and are cooked through.
- Remove them from the oven, pop them in a serving dish, serve and enjoy!
Pin it for later
Similar recipes
If you liked these sausage meat stuffing balls you’ll love our other dinner and lunch recipes.
Leave a Reply