The holidays are all about tradition, and in our home one of those is this Easy Cheese Ball Recipe.While you can certainly enjoy this recipe anytime of year, it always makes it’s appearance on the Holiday Party Menu.
This Cheese Ball is the same recipe that I have been making for years, I’ve made them both covered with nuts and without nuts, our boys seem to favor them without nuts but you could hardly tell that when there’s one sitting in the refrigerator. You can make it with or without nuts, it freezes well so you can make it ahead and it also makes a great gift.
With only 5 ingredients – cream cheese, thinly sliced packaged meat, green onions, salt and Worcestershire Sauce – this Cheese Ball goes together in a snap! Nick has become an expert at making these and it is one of the many recipes that he makes by himself.
The recipe makes a large amount, so you can certainly divide it in half to make two Cheese Balls. Maybe take one to the Holiday Party and keep one at home to enjoy the next day, because I guarantee there won’t be any left to bring home from the party.
All the ingredients can be found at Walmart. Right now they have 3 packages of Philadelphia Cream Cheese for under $4.50. We usually use Buddig Thinly Sliced Meat and it’s under $1 per package.
- 2 packages (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened
- 2 packages of thinly sliced meat, pastrami or beef works best
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 teaspoons Accent Salt (or regular salt) Accent has MSG in it, so if you don’t want to use that, regular salt is okay, but use a little less
- 3-4 green onions, chopped finely
- Place cream cheese in a large bowl and gently stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until slightly creamy
- Cut meat and green onion into small pieces
- Add to cream cheese
- Add salt and Worcestershire Sauce
- Mix well
- Place plastic wrap on counter
- Add cheese ball mixture and form one large ball or divide in half for two smaller cheese balls
- You can also roll in chopped nuts if you want
- Serve with crackers of your choice
To serve, remove from freezer the morning or the night before you want to serve, place in fridge
To give as a gift, add crackers and a small knife to a basket or colander
To give the Cheese Ball as a Holiday Gift, we added a couple sleeves of crackers and a small butter knife, filled it with crinkly paper and tied a ribbon around the cheese ball.
For more Holiday Entertaining Ideas, visit Walmart.com
Holiday Recipes and Gifts from the Kitchen
I’ve never seen meat in a cheese ball! This looks great!
The cheese ball is definitely a favorite here. Thanks for stopping by Mimi!
~Liz
Rwhat size package of meat?
My dad makes a cheese ball very similar to this one, but he will not share his recipe!! I am making this for our New Year’s get together tomorrow!! Thanks for the recipe!! 🙂
Hope you liked it Meghan! It’s our favorite.
~Liz
This is just like a cheeseball of mine that I have made for years…..except for two things. Mine has horseradish (2 tsps.) and 1/4 cup of sour cream plus all the things that you use. It is great, and gets a little kick from the horseradish. I LOVE this cheeseball and make it all the time…not just for holidays. Thank you for reminding me its time to make it again.
Hi Elizabeth, the horseradish sounds like a delicious addition! Thanks for sharing!
~Liz