Air Fryer Keto Sausage Balls Recipe

Consistently preparing hearty and desirable breakfast foods can be tough, especially when you're avoiding carbs by following a ketogenic diet. There are so many delicious, yet carb-heavy meals attempting to lure you to the drive-thru in the name of convenience. However, these tasty breakfast treats can quickly hinder your keto diet, knocking your body out of ketosis and derailing your hard-earned progress.

These easy air fryer keto sausage balls are ready to save the day and make your low-carb breakfast convenient to prepare. As recipe developer Joe Dillard of For Frying Out Loud shares, "This recipe comes together so quickly, and you can even prepare batches of them in advance to make your busy mornings even easier." With their delicious flavor and crowd-pleasing appeal, keto sausage balls make the perfect easy breakfast even if you're not following a low-carb meal plan. The savory boost of protein in a perfectly poppable package is the perfect way to kickstart your day.

For this 5-ingredient recipe, you'll start with pork breakfast sausage. The spicy variety adds a lot of flavor, but you can also choose regular, sage, or even maple based on your heat tolerance, taste preferences, and carb allowance. You'll also need shredded cheddar cheese, full-fat cream cheese, an egg, and blanched, super-fine almond flour.

You'll get the best results if you shred your own cheese fresh off the block. Pre-shredded cheese may add convenience, but it also includes additives and fillers that keep the shreds from clumping together in the bag. If you're following a super clean keto diet or just looking for a cheese option that melts more evenly, shredding it yourself is the way to go.

Additionally, you'll want to make sure to use almond flour, not almond meal. Almond meal is made from raw, unpeeled almonds, which are more coarsely ground and give you a "meatier," more rustic chew. Almond flour, on the other hand, is made from blanched, skinless almonds that are ground into a fine powder. This gives you the smoother texture that this recipe is intended to have.

In a large bowl, mix together the sausage, cheddar cheese, cream cheese, and egg until just combined.

Gently fold the almond flour into the sausage mixture.

Roll the sausage mixture into balls of 1 heaping tablespoon each.

Preheat the air fryer to 400 F.

Add the sausage balls to the air fryer basket and cook for 12 minutes, turning halfway through. When done, the sausage balls should be lightly browned and have an internal temperature of at least 145 F.

Remove the balls from the air fryer basket and serve warm.

Most keto dieters who are tracking their food intake stick to a set ratio of the macronutrients: carbs, protein, and fat. Keto is a low-carb, high-fat diet, and a generally accepted guideline for the eating style calls for roughly 5% of one's daily calories from carbs, 25% from protein, and 70% from fat.

This recipe is very low in carbs, with only very marginal amounts coming from its main ingredients, as meat and cheese have negligible amounts. The largest source of carbs in this dish comes from the almond flour, but with 2 tablespoons total used, you're looking at an addition of 4 grams of total carbs, or 1 gram of net carbs per serving. To calculate net carbs, you take the total carbs of an ingredient and subtract dietary fiber. Two tablespoons of almond flour have 4 grams of total carbs and 3 grams of fiber, so the serving has 1 net carb.

Additionally, the cheese and meat in this recipe are high in both protein and fat. This ratio allows these air fryer keto sausage balls to fit squarely into a keto dieter's breakfast routine, to be enjoyed as an appetizer, or to serve as a useful snack if one needs an extra boost of fat or protein throughout the day.

You can absolutely prepare this recipe ahead of time! To do so, simply follow all instructions as written, and allow your cooked sausage balls to cool completely before prepping them for storage. You can wrap them in plastic wrap or store them in a plastic container or zip-top bag for easy fridge storage. This is the best option if you plan on enjoying them within the next 3 days. However, you can alternatively choose to store your sausage balls in the freezer for up to 1 month. If you do go the freezer route, first wrap your sausage balls in plastic wrap, then add them to a resealable freezer bag or airtight container in order to preserve their freshness and avoid freezer burn.

If they've been frozen, defrost your keto sausage balls overnight in the refrigerator. Then, heat them in the microwave or air fryer until warmed throughout.

If you don't have an air fryer, making these sausage balls in the oven is a wonderful alternative. Though slightly less convenient, you can still achieve a juicy and flavorful breakfast in very little time. To prepare these keto sausage balls in the oven, follow all of the directions as written, but instead of placing them into an air fryer basket, place them onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Preheat your oven to 350 F and bake them for 25 minutes, or until the internal temperature of your sausage balls reaches at least 145 F.

Using an oven might also be advantageous if you have a very small air fryer because it would eliminate the need to cook the sausage balls in batches. You always want to avoid overcrowding your air fryer basket, so if you have an especially small fryer, the oven might actually help you serve up these sausage balls even quicker. Whichever route you choose, you're definitely in for a treat that will satisfy your taste buds and keep you powered up throughout your morning.