Breakfast Meatballs

These easy breakfast meatballs require only a few simple ingredients and are the perfect way to make any breakfast extra special. Using bulk breakfast sausage eliminates any hassle, allowing you to whip these together in mere minutes, making these tantalizing meatballs an exciting alternative to bacon or sausage links.

Best of all, these can even be prepped the night before and simply thrown in the oven when you wake up. Crafting a hearty breakfast couldn't be any easier!

What are they?

I got the idea for making these breakfast meatballs after I made meatballs from Italian sausage. The idea is to use the flavor already packed into bulk breakfast sausage and make a simple meatball by adding breadcrumbs and traditional meatball binders. All of the flavor is already there, we are just making them more tender, adding a little texture, and forming them into round balls.

Ingredients and Substitutions

• Bulk breakfast sausage - Raw bulk breakfast sausage will be easiest to work with, but you can also use raw sausage patties or links and discard the casings. Pork sausage is most common, but I used my venison breakfast sausage for this recipe.
• Large Egg
• Plain breadcrumbs - You could also substitute panko breadcrumbs.
• Milk
• Yellow onion - A sweet onion would be great as well.

Ways to customize your breakfast sausage meatballs

I keep my breakfast meatballs pretty simple to allow the flavors of the breakfast sausage to shine through. However, there are quite a few ways you can jazz them up. Feel free to give any of these suggestions a try.

• Drizzle real maple syrup over the meatballs as a glaze prior to baking.
• Add ½ cup of crumbled bacon.
• Add ½ cup of shredded sharp Cheddar cheese.

How to make them

My breakfast meatballs recipe begins by crumbling your raw breakfast sausage into a large bowl, then adding the beaten egg, breadcrumbs, milk, and grated onion. Once all five ingredients have been added combine everything well with clean hands.

To form the meatballs I recommend wetting your hands with a little water. This will prevent the meat mixture from sticking to your palms. I recommend rolling about two tablespoons of the mixture per ball. Using an ice cream scoop is an easy way to get consistent sizing.

Note: You can make the meatballs any size you want, however, the sizing will affect the baking time.

Place the raw meatballs on a rimmed baking sheet. You can grease the baking sheet with cooking spray, but I find it is best to line it with parchment paper to prevent sticking. The meatballs are placed in a 350-degree oven for 20 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.

Can these be made-ahead?

These meatballs can be formed the night prior and stored in your refrigerator in an airtight container. Simply throw the refrigerated raw meatballs in the oven when you are ready to enjoy them. Alternatively, they can also be frozen for longer storage in a freezer safe container but should be completely thawed prior to baking.

How to serve them

Breakfast meatballs are the perfect combination to serve with all of your breakfast favorites. If you need some inspiration, give these ideas a try.

• Serve with a fried egg and homemade hashbrowns.
• Serve alongside oatmeal pancakes drizzled with pure maple syrup.
• Use the meatballs to make your own breakfast casserole.
• Make a breakfast meatball sub with scrambled eggs and cheese.
• Use as a topping for breakfast pizzas.
• Serve with buttermilk biscuits and sawmill gravy.
• Craft breakfast meatball sliders!

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