Hosting guests for a cookout is stressful enough without having to spend countless hours preparing and cooking an entire menu of appetizers, sides, main courses, and desserts.
To help lighten the load, we’ve got a full-flavored appetizer that is super simple to create thanks to an ingredients list comprised of only four ingredients — pre-cooked kielbasa, bacon, dry rub, and sauce. Introducing pig balls, the perfect way to kick off your next backyard bash or tailgating adventure!
Smoked Bacon Wrapped Sausage Recipe
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Also known as pig balls, this appetizer recipe is as easy to make as it is delicious.
Course: , ,
Appetizer
Side Dish
Snack
Cuisine:
American
Makes:
Servings: people
Takes:
Equipment
- Toothpicks or skewers
Ingredients
- 2 14-ounce Polska kielbasa smoked sausage ring
- 12 slices bacon
- 1/4 cup Meathead's Memphis Dust (alternatively you can use our bottled commercial pork rub)
- 1/4 cup Meathead's Kansas City-Style BBQ sauce (alternatively you can use our bottled commercial KC BBQ sauce)
Notes:
About the Meathead’s Memphis Dust. If you’d rather not make this rub from scratch you can buy it instead. We have created a bottled rub that is very similar and you can purchase it here. Keep in mind that our bottled rubs have salt in them. When using the bottled rub with this recipe, you do not need to add the salt that is called for in the recipe. Just use the rub instead and add it when the salt is called for.
About the BBQ sauce. If you don’t want to make your own BBQ sauce, be sure to try our Meathead’s Amazing “Good Enough To Drink” KC BBQ Sauce.
Metric conversion:
These recipes were created in US Customary measurements and the conversion to metric is being done by calculations. They should be accurate, but it is possible there could be an error. If you find one, please let us know in the comments at the bottom of the page
Method
- Prep. Cut the kielbasa rings into approximately 24 1-inch slices. Any remaining kielbasa can be grilled seperately for the chef to enjoy.
- Cut each slice of bacon in half. Tightly wrap each sausage with a half slice of bacon.
- Secure with a toothpick or pierce with skewers. If using skewers, be sure to leave a small space between each bacon-wrapped kielbasa bites so that the bacon can fully crisp.
- Season the bacon-wrapped kielbasa bites with BBQ dry rub.
- Fire up. Prepare a smoker for indirect cooking. Alternatively, you can set up a charcoal grill for 2-zone cooking by placing a chimney full of pre-heated charcoal briquets on one side of the grill's charcoal grate in order to create direct and indirect cooking zones. Adjust the smoker or grill vents to bring the temperature to about 325°F/162.8°C and add 2 to 3 chunks of your favorite smoking wood to the charcoal for flavor. On a gas grill, adjust the temperature knobs so that one half of the grill is off and the other half is heated enough to maintain a temperature of approximately 325°F/162.8°C on the indirect side.
- Cook. Place the bacon wrapped kielbasa bites on the cool side of the grill, cover, and allow them to cook until the bacon is browned and crisp, approximately 35 minutes.
- Take the bacon-wrapped kielbasa bites off of the grill, remove them from the toothpicks or skewers.
- Serve. Plate the bacon-wrapped kielbasa bites on a platter, drizzlie with BBQ sauce, and serve immediately.
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