Sausage and Cheese Turnovers

These sausage and cheese turnovers are the perfect appetizer or party snack when you want something hearty and filling for your guests! Store-bought biscuit dough is stuffed with a sausage, cream cheese, onion and shredded cheese filling. These tasty turnovers can also be frozen and re-heated for super easy entertaining!

Note: this post was originally published in 2019 and updated in 2021 with new photos and improved instructions.

In my opinion, you can add sausage and cheese to anything and it becomes instantly ten times better. Sandwich, omelet, breakfast burrito, I could go on! And these delicious turnovers are no exception. Serve sausage and cheese turnovers as a game day snack or holiday appetizer, and your guests will be very pleased indeed!

Sausage, onion, and two kinds of cheese are stuffed inside (store-bought!) biscuit dough and folded over to contain all that deliciousness. They are then sprinkled with more cheese and baked in the oven until golden brown.

These turnovers take a little time to assemble, but, overall these are not challenging to make since you are using pre-made dough and only a handful of ingredients. And, you can make these ahead and keep them in the fridge or freezer, then heat them up when you are ready to serve!

Recipe ingredients

Ingredient notes

• Canned biscuit dough: The specific type I use is the 6 ounce can of Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits with "Flaky Layers." This is the smaller sized can, not the "Grands" or "jumbo" type.

• Fresh sausage: you need fresh, uncooked sausage. As long as the sausage is uncooked, you can use any type you prefer. I've made these with sage pork sausage and mild Italian sausage and they were both delicious!

• Shredded cheese: you need a cheese that melts, rather than crumbles (i.e. not feta, although I bet that would still be delicious). I've used Gouda, Gruyere, and muenster. I preferred the Gruyere, but they were all good! Cheddar, mozzarella, Swiss, and Fontina would also be good options.

Step by step photos

1. The first step is to cook the sausage and chopped onion in a skillet until the sausage is no longer pink. While the sausage cooks, be sure to break it up into small pieces with the edge of your spoon.

2. Once the sausage and onion is cooked, add it to a bowl with the cream cheese and shredded cheese (but, reserve about ¼ cup of the shredded cheese for later!).

3. Mix the filling mixture together so all the ingredients are incorporated. Set aside.

4. Next, crack the egg into a small bowl. Add about 1 tablespoon of water to the egg, and whisk together to combine. Set the egg wash aside for now.

5. Now, open one can of the biscuits. Dip one of the biscuits in flour, and roll it out into an oval shape about ⅛ inch (3.2 mm) thick. Continue to roll out the biscuits, working in batches of about 3 at a time.

6. Take about 1 ½ tablespoons of the filling and place it on top of the rolled out biscuit dough. Place it in the center, but slightly to one side, leaving an edge of about ¾ inch (1.9 cm).

When placing the filling, compact it slightly with your fingers to press out any excess air pockets!

7. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash on the edge of the biscuit dough closest to the filling.

8. Grab the edge of the biscuit dough without egg wash on it, and pull it up and over the filling, sealing it to the other dough edge that is painted with the egg wash. Line up the edges so they meet evenly, making a half-moon shape.

When sealing up the turnovers, use your fingers to gently press out any air pockets that may have formed around the filling.

9. Use a fork to crimp the edges of the turnovers to seal the edges together more firmly.

10. Transfer the completed turnovers onto two baking pans lined with parchment paper or silicone pan liners. Brush the tops and sides of the turnovers with egg wash.

11. Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup shredded cheese overtop the turnovers.

12. Bake them in a preheated 375 degrees F/190 degrees C oven until they are a deep golden brown.

Tips and tricks

• Make sure you roll the biscuit dough out thin enough. You want it to be about ⅛ inch (3.2 mm) thick. If you don't roll the biscuits thin enough, there won't be enough room to add as much filling!

• Similar to the above point, make sure you leave enough space around the filling so you can easily fold the dough over. You want at least ¾ inch (1.9 cm) of space between the filling and the edge of the dough. Otherwise, the filling may ooze out during baking.

• When you are adding the filling to the turnovers, compact it either in your hand or in a tablespoon. Because the cheese is shredded, there are a lot of air pockets in between. Compacting the filling will help to minimize those. This means each turnover will end up with more delicious filling inside!

• If the fork is sticking when you are crimping the edges, dip the fork in flour first and this will really help with the sticking!

• If you do have some of your turnovers leak in the oven, it's not the end of the world; just trim off the bits of oozy cheese once they've cooled down and they will still look nice. The silver lining here is that you can now eat all those toasty cheese bits.

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