Cajun Boudin Balls are a spicy appetizer of pork and rice, then baked to golden, crunchy perfection on the outside with an intensely flavorful, moist interior. Served beside a cool and creamy remoulade sauce, these balls will be a Mardi Gras favorite!
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I like to serve the Cajun Boudin Balls with a hot bowl of Florida Gumbo, Southern-Style Collard Greens, and Individual Bananas Fosters for a meal that’s so delicious, my family requests it a few times during the Mardi Gras season.
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What Is Boudin?
If you’ve ever visited Louisiana or even eastern Texas, no doubt you’ve seen boudin (pronounced booy-dan) on restaurant menus.
Boudin is a spicy Cajun sausage made from pork, liver, onions, peppers, rice, and seasonings. Trust me, it tastes way better than it sounds! You start in Houston and travel east down I-10 into Louisiana, and you will find links of boudin at convenience stores, gas stations, and an occasional restaurant.
Boudin was brought to the states by the Acadians from Nova Scotia and France. It was necessary for them to use as much of a hog as possible, so any scraps left after butchering the cuts of pork were mixed with vegetables, spices, the pig’s liver, and even the intestine to make this delicious sausage.
Why This Recipe Works
For this recipe, we’ll forgo the intestine (casings), and use pork shoulder and more readily available chicken livers to make our boudin, but the taste will be just as yummy.
Our recipe does take about 8 hours in total to make, but most of that time is downtime – marinating, chilling, cooking, etc. It’s definitely a recipe to make on a Saturday. Grab a bottle of wine and a few friends and spend a leisurely (and fun) Saturday together making boudin balls!
Typically boudin balls are deep-fried. Instead, we’re going to bread them and bake them in the oven. You’ll get all of the flavor and crunch, but a lot less fat.
Finally, we’ll make a quick remoulade sauce that goes so well with the boudin balls and takes only minutes to stir together.
Ingredients Needed
- Boneless pork shoulder – get one with a fair amount of fat on it. You’ll need some fat on the meat to keep the sausage moist and flavorful.
- Chicken livers – I used frozen livers that are already trimmed (bonus). Be sure to thaw them first. If you buy fresh livers and need to trim them, here’s a great video with step-by-step instructions.
- Onions, celery, jalapenos, poblanos, garlic, scallions, and parsley
- Cajun seasoning, cayenne pepper, black pepper, paprika
- White rice – I used long-grain rice that I cooked in chicken stock for more flavor. This is optional but makes a big difference.
- Seasoned bread crumbs
- Fish fry coating – this is already seasoned, so you won’t need to add spices or salt to the dredge.
- All-purpose flour
- Eggs
- Mayonnaise
- Creole mustard – if you can’t find Creole mustard, you could use yellow mustard
- Prepared horseradish – get grated, pure horseradish from the refrigerated pickles in your grocery store. Don’t buy the horseradish condiment for sandwiches – it isn’t as flavorful.
- Pickle juice – doesn’t everyone save pickle juice?
- Hot sauce – I used Crystal, but use whatever brand you like.
Steps To Make This Recipe
- Marinate the pork. Add the pork cubes, onion, peppers, celery, garlic, Cajun seasoning, black pepper, and cayenne to a large pot. Cover and allow to marinate for 2 hours in the refrigerator.
- Add water and bring to a boil, then simmer for 2 hours.
- Grind the meat and vegetables, then mix them with the rice, scallions, parsley, and cooking liquid until a paste forms. Cover and chill for 2 hours.
- Roll the mixture into balls and dredge in flour, egg wash, and breadcrumb mixture.
- Bake until golden brown.
- Mix the remoulade sauce and chill.
- Serve the boudin balls with remoulade sauce.
Cajun Boudin Balls With Remoulade Sauce
- Total Time: 8 hours
- Yield: 40 balls 1x
Description
Cajun Boudin Balls are a spicy appetizer of pork and rice, then baked to golden, crunchy perfection on the outside with an intensely flavorful, moist interior. Served beside a cool and creamy remoulade sauce, these balls will be a Mardi Gras favorite!
Ingredients
For the boudin:
- 1 ¾ pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 6 ounces chicken livers, trimmed
- 1 large sweet onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 3 large jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced
- 2 large poblano peppers, seeded and diced
- 8 large garlic cloves
- 3 tablespoons Cajun seasoning
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
- 6 scallions, white and green parts, roughly chopped
- 5 cups cooked white rice
- ½ cup minced fresh parsley
- 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
- ½ cup fish fry coating (I used Louisianna Fish Fry)
- 1 cup flour
- 2 large eggs, beaten with 1 teaspoon water
For the remoulade:
- 1 ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons Creole mustard
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
- ½ tablespoon pickle juice
- 2 teaspoons Creole or Cajun seasoning
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce (I used Crystal)
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
Instructions
Start the boudin.
In a large stock pot, combine the pork cubes, livers, onion, celery, jalapeno, poblano, garlic, 1 ½ tablespoons Cajun seasoning, ½ teaspoon black pepper, and ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper. Cover and chill for 2 hours to allow the flavors to marry.
Add enough water to the pot so that the mixture is covered by 2-inches.
Bring the pot to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for about 1 ½-2 hours or until the meat is very tender.
Use a slotted spoon to carefully remove the meat and vegetables to a bowl. Reserve the liquid.
Working in batches, add the cooked pork and vegetables, and fresh scallions to a food processor and process until finely chopped. Be careful not to over process and the mixture turns pasty.
Spoon the chopped meat mixture into a large bowl and continue until all of the meat and vegetables are processed.
Add the rice and parsley to the bowl with the meat mixture. Toss to combine.
Gradually add the reserved cooking liquid, ½ cup at a time, stirring until the liquid is fully incorporated.
Continue to add liquid, ½ cup at a time, until a paste-like consistency has been reached.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours or up to overnight.
Make the remoulade sauce.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, mustard, paprika, horseradish, pickle juice, Cajun seasoning, hot sauce, and parsley until well combined. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until needed.
Make the boudin balls.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Place 2 wire racks over 2 foil-lined baking sheets. Liberally spray both wire racks with cooking spray and set aside.
Mix the bread crumbs and fish fry coating together in a shallow dish.
Pour the flour into the bottom of another shallow dish, and the beaten egg mixture into a third shallow dish. Set the dishes aside.
Roll the chilled meat mixture into 1½-inch balls. I used a cookie scoop to portion out the meat.
Roll the boudin ball in the flour, then the egg wash, and then the breadcrumb mixture.
Place the breaded boudin ball on the prepared baking rack. Continue rolling and breading the boudin balls.
Spray the balls liberally with cooking spray.
Bake the boudin balls, one sheet at a time, in the preheated oven for about 30-35 minutes or until they’re golden brown and crunchy on the outside.
Serve hot with chilled remoulade sauce on the side.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Marinating: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 3 hours
- Category: Starters – Appetizers
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Cajun
Keywords: Baked Cajun Boudin Balls, remoulade sauce, Cajun food, Mardi Gras, boudin, Louisiana recipes, pork
