You know me… I’m all about EASY keto recipes. 😉
The dip I used is a Caramelized Onion Dip (1 carb per tbsp) but they’re great without dip. Or you can use your favorite: french onion, spinach dip, ranch, artichoke dip, etc.
📌 Keto Friendly Low Carb Sausage Balls Recipe 👩🍳
🔹️ INGREDIENTS (makes: 28)
* 1 pound raw pork sausage
* 8oz bag shredded cheddar cheese
* 1/2 cup almond flour
* 1 tsp baking powder (not sure it was necessary)
* 4oz cream cheese
* 2 large eggs
🔹️ MACROS
I used Philadelphia 5 Simple Ingredients cream cheese (1 carb for 2oz, lowest carb). I did count the 1 carb per ounce of shredded cheese, the carbs in the sausage (per my label), and 0.6 carbs per egg (1.2 for two eggs), so this is an accurate carb count based on MY brands/labels.
I used a 2 TBSP measuring spoon to dip out evenly portioned amounts and roll them into balls, and made 28 sausage balls with this recipe.
You’ll want to go by your own labels/brands of course, as well as the size/number of sausage balls you make.
PER SAUSAGE BALL:
Calories: 107
Fat: 9.1 grams
Total Carbs: >1 gram
Fiber: 0.1 gram
Protein: 5.5 grams
Ratios: 74% Fat / 22% Protein
2 sausage balls = 1.6 net carbs
4 sausage balls = 3.3 net carbs
🔹️ DIRECTIONS:
I whisked the two eggs and set that aside and left the cream cheese and sausage out on the counter for a bit so it was easier to work with.
Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. Preferably parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Combine all the ingredients in one big bowl and knead it together with your hands until it’s all evenly mixed.
Use a 2 tbsp (1/8 cup) measuring spoon to dip out the mixture and roll them into 28 evenly sized sausage balls.
Place on lined baking sheet.
Bake 30-35 minutes or until crisp on the bottom and golden brown on the top.
Let cool completely to peel off the foil (they will seem stuck at first), so you have the yummy crunchy cheese bottoms intact. Or better yet:
Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat instead of foil. 😉
They came out absolutely delicious, with a “cheese crisp” bottom! 😍
They weren’t dry or “bready” like traditional sausage balls.
They were PERFECT!
You could leave out the almond meal altogether, add more if you DO like them more bready, use pork rinds instead if you have a nut allergy – lots of options!
After they cooled completely, I ate what I wanted and sealed the rest in a covered dish and stored them in the refrigerator.
You could also freeze them of course, but I knew I would eat all of these for easy meals. 😉
These are great for a quick bite to hold you over, or as a meal. I ate them with the caramelized onion dip twice, and the rest I just ate plain.
Of course they’re great for parties or get togethers too, and even non-keto people will love them!
You can do lots of variations: add diced onion, jalapeno, use pimento cheese instead of shredded cheddar, etc. Or even use another ground meat instead such as ground chicken, ground beef, ground turkey, etc.
Enjoy! 💕
Best,
Lynn Terry,
aka @LowCarbTraveler
Discount Code: LOWCARBTRAVELER
These look so good! Iβll have to make them and try the air fryer instead of baking. I have got into using it instead of my oven, quicker and easier.
I am making these tomorrow. I know they will be great! Also, lost 5.5 lbs this week, restarting after the holidays. Thanks Lynn!
Yay, Debbi! Great restart.
I made these for todayβs KC Chiefs football game! Excellent! This is a keeper for sure. Thanks, Lynn.
Gine – I made these for the Packers game today. Fingers crossed for a Chiefs vs Packers Showdown!
Made them tonight with ground turkey. They were great. Now lunch is ready for a few days.
Hi Lynn,
These look delicious, but I was wondering if you had any suggestions to substitute for the almond flour? I am sensitive to nuts and don’t really want to up the carb count by adding white flour.
Thanks,
Janene
Never mind! You already answered my question above. If I had just read the entire post! Thank you! Making these this weekend!
These are absolutely delicious – I added some red pepper flakes and did not use the baking powder. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
What is the white in the middle?!
Lynn
Really enjoy your blog and recipes add this recipe to favorites (not even made it yet) in rotation. Like the easy simple recipes you make. At the age of 70 not into cooking big meals any longer.
Doing Keto to lose my last 40 lbs, lost over a 100 already, so you logic and low carb recipes will help me achieve this goal. Look forward to trying this recipe and others have sign to receive your recipes.
Thanks for this recipe!! Lan
Thank you for this recipe. I don’t eat pork so I used turkey sausage the addition of the cream cheese helped it not be dry. I still need to figure out another fat element to prevent it from getting dry (not your problem) but overall tasty!
CiCi – try pimento cheese, it’s creamier than shredded cheddar. I find half cheddar and half pimento cheese is a good combo, but with turkey sausage you could go a little heavier on the pimento cheese. π That would work too, plus the cream cheese. It’s really hard to mess up sausage balls! I know because I recently made a “sloppy batch” with ALL pimento cheese – but they held together just fine, and I ate ALL of them, lol. π
This is the best recipe ever…and if you follow Lynn, you will frequently see different versions; all of them great. My favorite: 1 1b sausage, 1 onion, 1 9 oz froz/thawed spinach, 4 oz cream cheese, 8 oz shredded cheddar, and two eggs. If you need something quick and easy for home or work…this is it!
That’s my favorite version too, Brigitte. π I love the spinach & onion addition!
Can you cook the sausage first?
Hmm, the sausage cooks in the oven, along with the egg, so I’m not sure that would work – or that they would form balls and hold together if the sausage was precooked… I’ve never tried that!
OUTSTANDING SAUSAGE BALLS!
I doubled the recipe and made a few changes!
Added 1 TBS of each:
Italian seasoning
Garlic powder
Onion powder
1lb Hot sausage
1lb Reg sausage
Heavy 3/4 cup almond flour.
Thank you for a great keto -low carb recipe that is better than regular recipe!
I loved them so much I had to make a second batch. They cooked perfectly and had that crunchy cheese bottom just like the recipe says.
You will love these!!!
Hi Lynn. I just popped by for some inspiration! I hope you’re well.