For years and years and years, both when I’m sticking to my low-carb lifestyle and when I’m not, I typically eat the same thing for breakfast every morning: sausage.

For the most part, I do smoked link sausage, the kind that’s already cooked and only needs to be heated up in the microwave for about 90 seconds in the morning. Most link sausages, though, have not only reduced the size of the product (from a full 16 ounces down to 14 now), they also have added sugars that increase the carb count to 2–3 per 4 ounce serving. Not to mention other additives that aren’t necessarily healthy.

I’ve made several different types of frittata or egg “muffin” recipes (most of which have never made it to this blog) to try to give myself something different, which is easy to take with me to have breakfast at work (yes, I eat after I get to work—it means a few more minutes in bed every morning). But though they taste fantastic as soon as they come out of the oven, I’ve never been happy with the taste/texture when they’re reheated later.

So, when I was doing my meal planning for the upcoming week (I’ll be spending the rest of today—Sunday—preparing and cooking for the rest of the week), I figured that since I like the meatball recipes I’ve made so far (and I do have the super-yummy Italian Meatballs on my list of recipes to make today), I figured I’d try to do something similar but using already-flavored ground sausage instead. And I have to admit, I’m very happy with the results!

Breakfast Sausage Meatballs

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs (I always use extra-large or jumbo)
• 16 ounce roll spicy ground breakfast sausage
• 16 ounce roll mild ground breakfast sausage
• 2 cups shredded cheese
  Edited July 2018: I’ve started freezing my shredded cheese before using it (the preshredded kind works best for this). It doesn’t melt as fast and, therefore, doesn’t cook out as much.
• 1+ cups bacon bits (or you can chop/cook your own bacon–just don’t cook until fully crisp, otherwise they’ll overcook or burn in the oven)

Tools & Utensils:

• 9 x 13-inch casserole/baking dish (with at least 2-inch high sides)
  Edited July 2018: I’ve been cooking these recently on a foil-lined baking sheet with sides that come up about an inch—you can find these sold as jelly roll pans/sheets. It’s large enough to allow plenty of room around each meatball that they brown more evenly and there’s a lot less goop that builds up around the bottoms of them than if they’re touching each other in a casserole dish.
• Aluminum foil
• Large bowl
• Potato masher and/or wooden spoon
• Food scale

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line baking dish with foil for easier cleanup.

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs lightly. Add sausages and mix with potato masher until eggs are incorporated into the meat. With masher (and/or wooden spoon), mix in cheese and bacon bits. Do not overwork the mixture—otherwise the meatballs may come out tough. Divide meat mixture into 12 4-ounce portions (for me, it usually works out to about 4.06–4.10 oz each to get an even dozen meatballs). Roll into balls quickly (the less time it spends in your hand, the more fat stays in the meat and the juicier they stay when cooking).

I didn’t make mine completely round—they’re a little more oblong, almost like little mini-meatloafs, to make sure they fit into the pan.

Bake 25 minutes or until cooked through (you can cut through the bottom of one to make sure it’s no longer pink in the middle).

The entire recipe contains 9 grams of carbohydrates. I divided my mixture into 12 meatballs, so I’m counting 1g net carb per meatball.