• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Amish 365
  • About
  • Amish Recipes
  • Amish Culture
  • Amish Marketplace
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Amish Recipes
  • Amish Culture
  • About
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Amish Recipes
    • Amish Culture
    • About
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Recipes » Plain Culture

    New Year's Amish Sauerkraut Balls

    Published: Dec 26, 2022 · Updated: Dec 26, 2022 by Kevin Williams | 5 Comments

    Jump to Recipe

    Sauerkraut is one of those foods that seems to have been given its own holiday.  Much in the way pumpkin owns Halloween and ham owns Easter, sauerkraut is supreme on New Year's Day. 

    Amish Sauerkraut Balls for New Year's

    Jump to:
    • 👨‍🍳New Year's Amish Sauerkraut Balls Ingredients
    • 📋 Sauerkraut Ball Instructions
    • 👨‍🍳Amish Recipes With Sauerkraut
    • 🖨️ Full Recipe Sauerkraut Balls

    The Amish have adopted this food trend as much as anyone else.  You'll see plenty of pork and sauerkraut in Amish kitchens on New Year's Day. The food signifies luck and the way the world has gone the past few years we could all use a bit of that, so if sauerkraut can help bring it, bring on the sauerkraut.

      These New Year's Amish sauerkraut balls are the ultimate way to enjoy sauerkraut as a party food because they are so portable.  Try eating sauerkraut in its juicy shredded form as you talk to party guests and you'll have a potential mouth mess.  But you can pop these into your mouth easily as you visit with people.  Add a dipping sauce, like Ranch, to make them even more awesome.

    Use a heavy skillet or pot to brown the meat. Cast iron is best. But you can use stainless steel or non-stick skillet. Sausage works best in this recipe, I think, but you can use any kind of ground meat, really. You could use hamburger, venison, ground turkey, or ground ham, or, a blend of ground meats. Many Amish use a blend of venison and sausage. So, totally up to you, but if all things are equal just stick with the ground sausage.

    As far as spices go, this recipe doesn't have much beyond Italian seasoning and that works well in this recipe. You're fine with just that, but if you must add more consider some rosemary, black pepper, cayenne pepper, red pepper, or even a hint of cinnamon. You can experiment to your taste.

    The Amish south of Akron, Ohio, in the Holmes County area, seem to especially love this recipe!

    You have a cream cheese and parsley mix that goes into the sauerkraut. Well, good luck finding cream cheese, but if you can get your hands on some, just use that. You could use a mixture of cottage cheese and half and half if you need to make your own cream cheese substitute.

    You can bake these in a metal roaster, a glass baking dish, or even a pie tin in a pinch. Just get them into a hot oven and you'll be in good shape.

    As to how you serve these (wish I had gotten a better photo then just these sitting on a paper towel), use your imagination. I like sauerkraut balls best with ranch, but you could dip them in blue cheese, and, geez, honey-mustard or even barbecue sauce. Really, if it is a good dipping sauce that is all that matters. But these are moist and flavorful enough that you wouldn't have to dip them in anything.

    👨‍🍳New Year's Amish Sauerkraut Balls Ingredients

    • 2 pounds ground sausage
    • 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
    • 2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
    • ¼ cup all-purpose flour 
    • 1 egg, beaten
    • ¼ cup milk
    • ¾ cup Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs\
    • 6 cups vegetable oil for deep-frying 

    📋 Sauerkraut Ball Instructions

    1. In a large skillet over medium high heat, fry pork sausage and onion until sausage is evenly brown and onion is soft, about 10 minutes.
    2. Drain and allow to cool slightly.
    3. Crumble sausage mixture into a large bowl and add drained sauerkraut, mustard, garlic salt, pepper and 2 tablespoons bread crumbs.
    4. Combine cream cheese and parsley, and mix into sauerkraut mixture.
    5. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
    6. Heat oil in deep-fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Shape sauerkraut mixture into ¾ inch balls. Coat balls with flour.
    7. In a small bowl, whisk together egg and milk. Dip floured balls in egg mixture and then roll in remaining bread crumbs.Deep fry in batches for 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown.
    8. Drain on paper towels and serve hot.

    👨‍🍳Amish Recipes With Sauerkraut

    There are many ways to celebrate the season with sauerkraut, here are some more Amish recipes for this New Year's Favorite!

    Sauerkraut Rounds

    This is also a sauerkraut ball, but it has a splash of spice.

    Sauerkraut Brownies

    For people who can't stomach sauerkraut as a savory item, how about some brownies?

    Stuffed Sauerkraut Mushrooms

    A great way to enjoy sauerkraut!

    12 Sauerkraut Recipes From Lancaster County, PA

    A bunch recipes from Lancaster County!

    🖨️ Full Recipe Sauerkraut Balls

    Amish Sauerkraut Balls for New Year's

    Amish Sauerkraut Balls

    A New Year's Tradition!
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Course Main Course
    Cuisine American, Amish

    Ingredients
      

    • 2 pounds ground sausage
    • ¼ cup onion finely chopped
    • 1 14 oz can sauerkraut well-drained and finely chopped
    • ½ teaspoon yellow mustard
    • ¼ teaspoon garlic salt
    • ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
    • 2 tablespoons Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs
    • 4 ounces cream cheese softened
    • 2 tablespoons parsley flakes dried
    • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
    • ¼ cup milk
    • ¾ cup Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs (in addition to the 2 tablespoons above)
    • 6 cups vegetable oil for deep frying

    Instructions
     

    • In a large skillet over medium high heat, fry pork sausage and onion until sausage is evenly brown and onion is soft, about 10 minutes.
    • Drain and allow to cool slightly.
    • Crumble sausage mixture into a large bowl and add drained sauerkraut, mustard, garlic salt, pepper and 2 tablespoons bread crumbs. Combine cream cheese and parsley, and mix into sauerkraut mixture.
    • Refrigerate for 1 hour.
    • Heat oil in deep-fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
    • Shape sauerkraut mixture into ¾ inch balls.
    • Coat balls with flour.
    • In a small bowl, whisk together egg and milk.
    • Dip floured balls in egg mixture and then roll in remaining bread crumbs.
    • Deep fry in batches for 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown.
    • Drain on paper towels and serve hot.
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
    « Emma Yoder's Molasses Ham Glaze
    Amish BLT Dip »

    About Kevin Williams

    Hi, my name is Kevin Williams and I am owner of Oasis Newsfeatures and editor of The Amish Cook newspaper column.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Aloha Trotter

      December 27, 2020 at 12:42 pm

      I love you, but where is the How to make it????

      Reply
      • Kevin Williams

        December 27, 2020 at 6:53 pm

        Thanks, Aloha, I accidentally left them off, thanks for telling me, I added them!

        Reply
    2. B. Witmyer

      December 27, 2020 at 9:48 pm

      Please check out the formatting on this page! I selected the “Printer-friendly Sauerkraut Balls” listed just below My recent videos.
      It printed 19 PAGES of the recipe, ingredients, directions, all pictures, all advertising, all your columns and borders! What an incredible waste of resources-time, ink and paper!
      I will not try this again!!! I do hope you can correct this faux pas to just print out only the recipe!

      Reply
      • Betty Flicker

        December 31, 2021 at 12:34 pm

        Can I bake these in my oven don’t like deep frying pleases!

        Reply
        • Kevin Williams

          December 31, 2021 at 1:34 pm

          Yes, you can bake them, I think that would be a great way to enjoy them!

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Kevin Williams - The Amish Editor Amish Cook Column

    Hi There, I'm Kevin!

    Welcome to Amish365, where I share my knowledge of Amish cooking and culture! I’ve spent almost three decades exploring Amish settlements and kitchens from Maine to Montana and almost everywhere in between. I’ll occasionally throw in stories of my travels, journalism adventures (I’m a Pulitzer prize-nominated journalist), fascination with grocery stores and Kmarts, and much more!

    More about me →

    Latest Amish Recipes

    • How Do The Amish Keep Warm During Winter?
    • The Bishop's Overnight Chicken and Macaroni Casserole
    • Sour Milk Cookies and 4 other Amish Recipes Using Sour Milk
    • The Amish Cook: Russian Creme Dessert
    dutchcrafters

    Download The "Almost Amish" Ebook

    Footer

    Footer

    About

    • About The Amish Editor
    • Download "Almost Amish" Ebook
    • Amish Communities
    • Amish Marketplace

    Contact

    • Work With Us
    • Contact

    *As a member of various affiliate programs I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2000 - 2020 Amish 365 | Powered by Touch The Road