If you’re anything like me in the way that your one, truest of all true loves happens to be Mexican food, and your second truest of all true loves happens to be appetizers in their many forms, then do I have a treat for you! Also, we have a lot in common. We may be kindred cooking spirits.
As I was doing my usual Pinterest-perusing for inspiration, I kept coming across Sausage Balls, which consist of just ground sausage, cheddar cheese, and bisquick. I thought to myself, “Those sound like they’re good, but they have so much more potential.” Gotta get some flava’ up in there. Steal some inspiration from south of the border. Swap out that boring old sausage for some spicy chorizo. Forget bisquick, let’s use cornbread mix instead. Throw in some extra corn for texture. Jalapenos, because a little extra kick never hurt anybody. Keep the tastiness comin’ with some green onion. And so on and so forth. I did stick with the cheddar, though.
I was beyond pleased with the results. Cheesy Chorizo Cornbread Balls are the type of appetizer that you start eating and just CANNOT STOP popping into your mouth until there are absolutely none left. Add in some super easy to make Chipotle Dipping Sauce, and any semblance of self control goes straight out the window. These are addictive.
I will make these again, absolutely. They will have a special place in my Super Bowl spread (and my heart) from here on out. Oh, and James loved them too, as evidenced by the above photo. He makes such a great hand model and taste-tester.
Cheesy Chorizo Cornbread Balls with Chipotle Dipping Sauce
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
For the Chorizo Balls:
- 1 lb uncooked chorizo, casings removed
- 2 cups cornbread mix
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 large jalapenos, stemmed and seeded, finely chopped
- 3/4 cup canned corn, drained and rinsed
- 2 green onions, chopped
- Pinch of salt
- Cilantro or parsley, to garnish
For the Chipotle Dipping Sauce:
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- Canned chipotle chile in adobo, minced, plus sauce, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine the chorizo, cornbread mix, cheddar cheese, corn, jalapeno, onion, and salt. Mix until well-combined and no longer gritty.
- Shape the mixture into balls slightly smaller than your average meatball (or about 1″). Place on the baking sheet.
- Bake 25-30 minutes, or until cooked through.
- As you wait for the Chorizo Balls to cook, prepare the dipping sauce. Combine 1/3 cup mayonnaise with 1/3 cup sour cream and mix well. Finely mince one chipotle chile and mix it in to the sour cream mixture, adding in about a half-teaspoon of adobo sauce (from the can) to start. Add more chipotles or adobo, to taste, until you reach your desired heat level.
- Serve the Chorizo Balls warm or at room temperature with the Chipotle Dipping Sauce and fresh cilantro or parsley, to garnish.
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Man, not only are we alike but two peas in a pod! Mexican food is what I grew up on here in the in the south west, tamales and chile verde for Turkey day anyone?? And I could make a meal out of good appetizers any day! Pinned and following you now.
These were FANTASTIC! I almost never cook, but these looked so good, I couldn’t not make them. It was simple, too! I didn’t use green onions because they’re not really my thing. It turned out just as good as yours look. My only advice would be that if you like spice, you might want to consider more than one chipotle, or more adobo in the sauce. Great recipe! <3
These look amazing!!I need to bring an appetizer to work, can these be made ahead and reheated in the microwave?
That should be fine, Annie!
Morgan, your chorizo/cornbread balls look yummy! Cannot find a servings amount of people based on your recipe. Will just do the math and amortize. I want make for a church meeting (20-30) this Sunday 04?10/16. Help!
I want to make these but do not like cornbread mix as it has sugar in it. Yuck! Do you know of any cornbread mix without sugar?
Can you make these a few days in advance of your party?
Sorry I’m just seeing this, Brittney. I have made these ahead and frozen them in the past, and then reheated in a 400 degree oven from frozen.
Morgan, reading your post is literally the exact same thought process I went through when deciding on apps for an upcoming party I’m hosting. I wanted to make these sausage/cheddar/bisquick balls my mom has made for parties in the past, but the rest of the food at the party will be south of the border themed, so it didn’t seem to fit in. I found your recipe after thinking about possible ways to tweak it and it reassured me I’m not the only one out there with this crazy idea! Can’t wait to make some balls!
Haha great minds think alike, right Dan? I hope you love them and have a great party!!
These were a hit with my office mates. Although I think they were too sweet with the cornbread mix and I don’t think I would use as much corn next time. You can make your own cornbread mix and just omit the sugar. Seems like it would bring out the tast of the chorizo more as the sweetness of the cb mix kind of overpowers it. Really liked the dip as it gave the balls more of a kick and balanced out the sweetness. Oh, and I only used one cup of cheese instead of two. It was plenty enough. Good, easy recipe. Thank you.
Flavor-wise, these were pretty good. It was a texture thing. They were so dense that they were unappealing. They were also very dry. I’m thinking that using creamed corn and maybe adding an egg would moisten and lighten them up. I may play with this one a bit to see if I get better results.
★★
Uhm sorry for being dense but do I use the cornbread mix straight out of the box dry or do i make it according to package directions and add it ‘wet’ into the sausage and other ingredients mixture?
You just want to use the dry cornbread mix as-is here =)
Thank you for asking this-I was wondering the same thing.