These Sausage and Rye Party Breads are a perfect appetizer no matter what the occasion. Cocktail rye bread is topped with browned sausage and cheese then baked to golden perfection. This is a great appetizer to keep on hand in the freezer and pop in the oven when you need something at the last minute.
Now that we are just a little over a week away from the Super Bowl we have started talking about our menu for the big game! I don’t know about you, but we LOVE the Super Bowl. We are big football fans at our house and we love party food. It’s like the perfect event! These Sausage and Rye Party Breads are the perfect food to serve at your party!
My family has been making these for as long as I can remember. When my husband and I started dating, he became hooked on them and now his whole family loves them too! I always bring these to my in-laws on Christmas morning and my nephews are usually standing in the doorway waiting on them. They really are that good!
What do I need to make Sausage & Rye Party Breads
- cocktail rye bread
- These can be tricky to find sometimes. My grocery store always stocks them in the deli, especially around the holidays.
- sausage
- I like to use a good quality brand of sausage.
- Velveeta
Probably one of my favorite things about these Sausage and Rye Party Breads is that they are really simple. I mean who doesn’t love a 3 ingredient appetizer? When you put that with the fact that you can make them ahead of time it really makes them the perfect appetizer! I always make up a big batch of them and have them in the freezer for when we want them.
You can find the cocktail rye bread in the deli section of your grocery store. I prefer the Pepperidge Farms brand, but any cocktail rye will do. The Pepperidge Farms is a little thinner and gets nice and crispy when you bake it. I would suggest using a name brand sausage. Tennessee Pride is my choice but Jimmy Dean or Bob Evans are good too. I used a different brand one time and it cooked down too much because of all of the fat.
How to make this recipe
You are going to start by browning your sausage in a large skillet. You will want to use a tool to break up the sausage into fine pieces. I find that a potato masher works well for this. While the sausage is browning, cube up the Velveeta into 2 inch cubes. The smaller pieces will help the cheese melt faster and more evenly.
Once the sausage is browned, drain all of the grease from the sausage. To the skillet you want to add the cubed Velveeta and the sausage on top of that. On low heat, melt the cheese and combine the sausage. You will want to make sure the sausage and cheese are evenly combined.
Once the sausage and cheese are evenly incorporated, start topping the rye bread with it. I place each piece of bread onto a cookie sheet until the sheet is full. You can immediately put these into the oven to brown if you like. Most often, I put the cookie sheet into the freezer to flash freeze the appetizer. Once it is flash frozen, I then transfer them to freezer bags and store until I’m ready to bake them. These will keep good in the freezer for a couple of months.
When I’m ready to bake them, I take the desired amount out of the freezer and place on a cookie sheet. There is no need to defrost these, you can put them directly into the oven. Bake for about 10-15 minutes, until they are warmed through and browned.
These Sausage and Rye Party Breads are always a crowd pleaser. When I serve them, there are never any left. Make up a batch of these this weekend and save enough to serve next weekend for the Super Bowl!
Sausage and Rye Party Breads
These Sausage and Rye Party Breads are a perfect appetizer no matter what the occasion. Cocktail rye bread is topped with browned sausage and cheese then baked to golden perfection. This is a great appetizer to keep on hand in the freezer and pop in the oven when you need something at the last minute.
Ingredients
- 2 lb Sausage
- 2 lb Velveeta Cheese
- 1 loaf Cocktail Rye Bread
Instructions
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In an extra large skillet, brown and drain sausage .
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Cube Velveeta and place in the skillet. Place browned sausage on top of cheese. Melt the cheese on low, stirring to incorporate the sausage.
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Once cheese is melted and sausage is incorporated, spread onto cocktail rye bread.
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At this point, I like to flash freeze these for about 30 minutes and transfer to freezer bags. Then just take them out as needed and bake for about 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees until sausage and cheese mixture is warmed and browned.
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If you want to serve them immediately, just pop them into the oven to let the bread crisp a little and the topping to brown.