All right folks. It has been a looong time since my last post, so to come back with a bang I am presenting my latest creation – Bacon Wrapped Sausage Balls with Stuffed Mozzarella! These are a great snack to throw on the smoker when you are doing a longer cook or a fun appetizer to serve guests when have them over. They are rich and salty so you will not need a ton of them for each guest – a couple per person should do the trick.
Only three ingredients needed – a good pork sausage, string cheese, and your favorite bacon. I find a thicker cut bacon works a lot better than the thin cheap stuff for most bacon wrapped snacks. Keep it chilled until right before assembling and it will be a lot easier to handle. I used a mild pork sausage for this cook. For smoking, I like any sausage that has enough fat in it to stay moist. I find some italian sausage to be too dry. Experiment to find your favorite.
Step one is to spray down a piece of foil with non-stick spray and make little patties out of the sausage. Then cut the string cheese into pieces that are slightly smaller than the sausage patties. Then gently wrap the sausage around the string cheese. You should end up with little oblong nuggets about the width of a golf ball.
Then wrap the sausage with half a piece of bacon (or more as needed) and pin it with a toothpick. Heat your smoker up to 300 degrees and add a chunk of good smoking wood. My faves are apple, cherry, and oak. Then place these little bundles of joy on the smoker for about one hour. Rotate every 30 minutes and check for the cheese poking out of the sausage for a clue on when they are done.
Serve these with some sweet BBQ sauce, as you want some sweetness to compliment the salty bacon & sausage. Give these a try and let me know what you think.
Bacon Wrapped Sausage Balls with Stuffed Mozzarella
Ingredients
- 1 lb Pork Sausage
- 4 String Cheese Mozzarella Sticks
- 1/2 lb Thick Cut Bacon
Instructions
- Heat Smoker to 300 F
- Spray a piece of foil with non-stick spray
- Divide sausage into pieces the size of a golf ball and press into thin patties on the foil
- Cut the string cheese into lengths that are smaller than the patties and place into the patties
- Form the sausage around the cheese so they close up around the cheese
- Cut strips of bacon in half and wrap the sausage, pinning the bacon with a toothpick
Smoke for approximately 1 hour or a little more if needed more. Watch for the cheese coming out the side as a clue to when they are done.
- Serve with BBQ sauce
