to fulfill the desires of both pecan and chocolate lovers. Chocolate chips and whipped cream taste excellent on top of this pie.
| Prep Time: | 45 mins |
| Cook Time: | 2 hrs |
| Additional Time: | 4 hrs |
| Total Time: | 6 hrs 45 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 48 boudin balls |
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 6 ounces chicken livers, rinsed and trimmed
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- ½ cup diced poblano pepper
- ½ cup seeded and diced jalapeno pepper
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 ½ tablespoons ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 4 cups cooked white rice, or more to taste
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
- ½ cup chopped green onion
- 2 cups oil for frying, or as needed
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 1 cup dry bread crumbs
- 2 large eggs, beaten
Instructions
- Stir pork shoulder, livers, onion, celery, poblano pepper, jalapeño pepper, garlic, salt, 1 1/2 tablespoons ground black pepper, chili powder, and 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper together in a large pot. Cover the pot with a lid and refrigerate until flavors combine, 2 hours to overnight.
- Pour enough water into the pork mixture to cover by 2 inches; bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer until meat is tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove from heat. Pour mixture through a strainer, reserving strained liquid and meat separately.
- Transfer drained meat mixture to a cutting board and finely chop.
- Stir chopped meat, rice, parsley, and green onion together in a bowl. Gradually add reserved cooking liquid, one ladleful at a time, to meat mixture, stirring until completely incorporated between each addition, until mixture has a paste-like consistency. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours to overnight.
- Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large saucepan to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Roll chilled meat mixture into 1-inch balls.
- Make a breading station: Whisk flour, 1 pinch cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper together in a shallow bowl. Pour breadcrumbs into another shallow bowl. Beat eggs in another shallow bowl.
- Gently press a ball into flour mixture to coat; shake off the excess flour. Dip ball into beaten egg; press ball into bread crumbs. Place breaded ball onto a plate and repeat breading process with remaining balls.
- Working in batches, cook boudin balls in preheated oil, turning once, until crispy on the outside and hot on the inside, 3 to 4 minutes.
- The nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of the breading ingredients. The actual amount of the breading consumed will vary. We have determined the nutritional value of oil for frying based on a retention value of 10% after cooking. The exact amount will vary depending on cooking time and temperature, ingredient density, and the specific type of oil used.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 301 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 33 g |
| Cholesterol | 108 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 14 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 1569 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 12 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Excellent!
Great recipe, I have had these in Louisiana before and the recipe is spot on.
I made enough to stuff half in sausage and half as balls. Great recipe. If you really don’t like liver, like my wife, they can be soaked in water overnight and rinsed well to remove much of the blood. A stand mixer with paddle attachment mixes very well. Thanks Chef John
Amaze-balls! Delicate and savory and delicious! A lot of work and this recipe made about 48 for me using a medium cookie scoop (1 1/4”) diameter. Everyone was quite impressed with these. Fantastic appetizer!
absolutely the best I’ve ever tasted
Do not use Italian bread crumbs for this! Use seafood breading. *chefs kiss* Try it with spicy mayo Cajun dipping sauce if remoulade is not your thing! I also used cornbread mix instead of all purpose flour.
I used boudin my sister in law made and made them in patties. We had the boudin the other day stuffed into green bell peppers. I didn’t want to waste the leftover peppers so I cut them in lengths and fries them too. Yummy twice!!!
I omitted the chicken liver due to personal preference. These were so good. Delicious flavor. This will be a permanent part of the rotation. It takes time, but passive time that is not labor intensive. I “chopped” the rice and pork in my food processor. I’m going to try to fry as a patty next time.
I baked and maybe too long. They’re a bit dry, but the flavor is wonderful. Now I need to make my remoulade.
Delicious but I didnt like the pork shoulder. Im gunna use a diff cut of pork next time
These are perfect. I waited and let each part sit over night as suggested. I can’t believe how good these are. Thanks for the recipe.
I would add a little more seasoning next time , with these you can get away with adding a little more in the boiling stage , would make them again , turned out awesome !!!
These are amazing! Hoping they freeze well because I doubled the recipe and it made over 70 balls! Update…freezes well after frying, just pop them in the oven t heat up 🙂
slight changes made but overall great recipe will definitely make it again
This was a great recipe for boudin. I used Panko for the breadcrumbs and the only thing different I did was use buttermilk instead of the egg wash for the breading/ coating. Made a basic remoulade sauce to dip and these were pure bliss. Tip: Not mentioned in the recipe but make sure to let the balls rest for about 15 minutes after breading so that they set properly and when you fry them the coating won’t fall apart. Thanks for the recipe!
My (non-Cajun) perspective is that these were a LOT of work, but I agree that they are worth it. At my store I had to buy 4lbs of pork, so I made about 8 lbs of sausage/paste and froze 6lbs. I cooked 1lb pretty badly. With no thermometer., it now seems best to heat the oil on medium, and watch carefully, maybe removing sooner than suggested. The 2nd lb, kept in the fridge for a few days before cooking, was great. Definitely include remoulade! I eat these as a main course or sometimes re-heated for a spicy breakfast. I did not deduct points for the work or possible nutrition issues, since these are all stated up front.
I followed the recipe exactly. Everyone enjoyed them. I would defiantly make them again..
wow.. wow..wow. my wife is from Lafayette LA and living in Wisconsin we can’t get the real deal when it comes to Cajun food. these boudin balls was so good my wife did a step by step photo log on Facebook.. thanks so much
OMG! Did not disappoint. My first time making and well worth the 3 day effort! My hubby went crazy!
Instead of deep frying scooped out balls with a disher and nestled them in corn bread batter in a mini muffin pan then baked for 25 min. in the oven. Definitely will make it again
Very good. Used leftovers to make and it was very, very good!