Easy Sausage Phyllo Cups
One of the easiest phyllo cup appetizers, your guests will love this 4-ingredient sausage appetizer bite recipe for your next tailgate, holiday spread or any party!
Any great party host or hostess knows that you need a few SUPER easy appetizers that can be pulled together in less than 30 minutes for last-minute guests. This sausage phyllo cup appetizer is at the top of that list for me! I had a similar little bite at a party once, and I’ve been hooked ever since!
Store-bought phyllo cups are always great to have on hand for appetizers like this sausage bite!
What are Phyllo Cups?
Phyllo cups are light flaky layers of dough that are formed into mini pastry cups, baked and sold frozen (near the puff pastry section in your grocery store’s freezer section). Phyllo (also called filo) dough is made of very thin layers of unleavened dough. It’s also the same dough used for Baklava.
Prep Ahead: Phyllo Cups!
Keep a few extra boxes of phyllo cups in your freezer! Phyllo cups are always a hit, they can be filled with anything and everything from your favorite store-bought spinach dip to this delicious combination of sausage with Rotel and cream cheese.
Another tip: If you can’t find phyllo cups, this sausage appetizer filling is delicious in my party toast cups that you can make with sandwich bread!
Sausage Phyllo Cup Recipe Notes & Tips
Here are a few recipe notes and tips to make this simple appetizer even easier!
Phyllo Cups – We already talked about those (above) but find them in your store’s freezer section! If you can’t find them, make these with crescent dough or wonton wrappers pressed down into a miniature muffin pan! They come 15 to a package, so get 3 boxes. Or make as many as you need and use leftover sausage filling as dip!
Sausage – I like to use hot breakfast sausage (like Jimmy Deans) but they’ll have a spicy kick to them, so choose mild if you’re serving kids or those who don’t want anything spicy. You can also substitute in Italian sausage if you prefer.
Ro-Tel – Just grab a can of Ro-tel (diced tomatoes and green chilies). I like to use the original but there are tons of Ro-tel varieties like mild, hot, Serrano, no salt added, fire roasted, and chipotle. If you would rather, you can substitute plain diced tomatoes and green chilies.
Make it Spicy – Make it spicy by choosing spicy breakfast sausage, spicy Rotel, or even adding crushed red pepper flakes or a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce!
That’s it! This is truly the easiest sausage appetizer. My husband loves it and we use the leftover filling (if we aren’t making a lot of phyllo cups) to serve as a dip with tortilla chips.
These little one-bite sausage appetizers combine a creamy, sausage filling with a crispy phyllo cup for the ultimate easy party or snack bite!
Want more party bites? You’ll love these:
- Baked Muffuletta Dip
- Cold Caprese Dip with Tomatoes, Mozzarella & Basil
- Cuban Sandwich Skewers
- Olive Cheese Ball
Easy Sausage Phyllo Cups
Ingredients
- 1 lb breakfast sausage ((hot or mild))
- 8 ounces cream cheese (cubed)
- 10 oz Rotel (diced tomatoes and green chilies)
- 45 phyllo cups (frozen)
- 2 tbsp chives (diced (optional garnish))
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with 45 phyllo cups. Set aside.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, brown and crumble the breakfast sausage until no pink remains.
- Reduce heat to low and add in cubed cream cheese, stirring until cream cheese is fully melted.
- Drain excess liquid from Ro-Tel and add in to the creamy sausage mix, stirring to mix well.
- Use a small spoon to fill each phyllo cup with about a tablespoon of the sausage filling.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly golden and bubbling hot.
- Serve warm (also delicious room temperature). Store any extras in the refrigerator, covered, and reheat before serving.
Prepared this as an appetizer for our church Thanksgiving meal tonight. Tasted great and held its own among the other buffet offerings. I was cautious to avoid over-browning the store-bought phyllo cups; the trade-off was that the filling failed to develop Maillard browning. Perhaps a sprinkling of paprika would have helped the appearance. As it was, it looked like canned dog food.
Marshall, Thanks for the comment, I’m glad they tasted great! As for the browning, I had no issue when baked as described in the recipe above, they look great in my opinion but I always garnish my appetizers with diced herbs for appearance too. Similar to sausage balls, sausage in general doesn’t have the *prettiest* of looks but boy is it always tasty!
Whenever I use phyllo cups, I place them in mini muffin tins instead of on a cookie sheet. This protects the cups from browning too much, plus provides plenty of cook time for whatever the filling might be. The tarts come out very crispy too. Just a little trick when using phyllo cups.
Great tip, thanks Brenda!