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Looking for an easy cheese ball recipe? Look no further than the Ultimate Cream Cheese and Onion Ball! Stuffed with caramelized onions and coated in crispy fried onions, this cheese and onion ball is sure to get the party started!
I mean realistically if you’re not serving a cream cheese ball the size of your face at your next gathering, is it even worth having!? A simple cheese board is totally a thing of the past. Face-sized cheese balls are the way forward. This is life now. 🙂
Caramelized Onions
The heart and soul of this cheese ball is the caramelized onions. Cheese and onion? Great. But cheese and caramelized onions?! Now we’re talking.
I’ve got a more in depth post dedicated to Making Perfect Caramelized Onions, but in reality as long as you stick to the golden rule you can’t go wrong. The golden rule being low and slow of course. I guess that’s two rules. You get my drift…
By frying onions on a low heat over a long period of time you tickle out their natural sugars to the surface. In turn, those sugars then caramelize, turning the onions soft, sweet and golden. You can caramelize onions in just oil or butter, but I also like to add another couple of goodies:
- Balsamic Vinegar – this helps balance out the sweetness and gives the onions a deep, gorgeous flavour.
- Brown Sugar – this enhances the caramelization process and helps turn the onions extra sweet and sticky.
How long does it take to caramelize onions?
The lower the heat and the longer the better. You can get pretty decent caramelized onions in around 40mins if you’ve got a small batch, but honestly you’re looking for at least an hour for them to truly caramelize. It’s a labour of love, but totally worth it.
Top Tip – I recommend making a batch of caramelized onions in advance, this way you can throw them in the cheese ball without any pressure to rush the caramelization process.
Cream Cheese Ball
Alright, caramelized onions done and dusted, let’s talk cream cheese ball. Beside the obvious cream cheese and caramelized onions, the only other ingredient you need for the filling is cheddar cheese. I recommend a nice sharp cheddar, just to add a good punch of flavour and balance out the sweetness of the onion.
Once you’ve combined those fillings, use cling film to mould into a giant ball and pop in the fridge to set. This is important so it keeps it’s shape.
What can I roll my cheese ball in?
Rule number 1 of cream cheese ball club – you must add a coating. A lot of recipes use pecans (or other nuts), some use bacon, but here we are going to use crispy fried onions. You know, just to keep in line with the cheese and onion theme. You can use store bought or make your own (notes on that in the recipe card).
As you can see making a cheese ball recipe is pretty straight forward. Here’s just a few tips to make sure it’s perfect!
Tips for the best Cream Cheese Ball
- Try and stay away from wet ingredients,it’ll turn your cheese ball sloppy and keep in from forming into a ball shape.
- Give it a stint in the fridge before you serve to help firm up.
- Pick a casing ingredient with a contrasting texture i.e nuts/crisps and add them after the stint in the fridge. Rolling the cheese ball in your outer layer just before serving will ensure the outside doesn’t go soft.
Can I make this ahead of time?
Yes, in fact it’s encouraged. However like I just mentioned, be sure to keep the crispy onions off until serving.
How long is a cream cheese cheese ball good for?
I usually keep mine for 2-3 days, but you can store longer at your discretion. Just make sure it’s tightly covered.
How to serve a Cream Cheese Ball
Best way to serve a cream cheese ball in to plonk it on a chopping board and surround it with your favourite dunkers (technical term). I usually go for crackers, carrots and celery, but use whatever you fancy!
And there we have it! All my top tips for a darn good cheese ball have officially leaked from my brain.
For more similar recipes check out these beauties too:
- Cream Cheese Pasta
- Caramelized Onion Hummus
- Fried Cheese Balls
- Baked Jalapeño Popper Dip
Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for this cream cheese and onion ball shall we?!
How to make a Cheese Ball (Full Recipe & Video)
The Ultimate Cream Cheese and Onion Ball
Looking for an easy cheese ball recipe? Look no further than the Ultimate Cream Cheese and Onion Ball! Stuffed with caramelized onions and coated in crispy fried onions, this cheese and onion ball is sure to get the party started!
5 from 5 votes
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Servings (click & slide): 8
Course: Appetizer / Starter
Cuisine: Party Food
Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour hour
Resting Time: 1 hour hour
Total Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes
Calories per serving: 370kcal
Author: Chris Collins
Cost per serving: £1 / $1
Equipment:
Large Frying Pan & Wooden Spoon
Medium Sized Mixing Bowl & Spatula
Large Bowl (for crispy onions)
Cling Film
Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
Cheese Grater
Ingredients (check list):
- 1lb / 500g Cream Cheese
- 2lb / 1kg White Onions, finely diced
- 160g / 2 cups Crispy Fried Onions or as needed (see notes)
- 100g / 1 cup Cheddar Cheese, grated
- 2 tbsp Butter (or olive oil, or a mix)
- 2 tbsp Brown Sugar
- 2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
- 3/4 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
Instructions:
Melt your butter over medium heat in a suitably sized non-stick pan and mix in your onion. Once softened, add your salt and pepper.Turn to low heat and stir occasionally ensuring an even cook for all the slices. After around 20-25 mins they will begin turning brown and releasing sugar. At this point add in your brown sugar and balsamic vinegar. Keep on low heat.
Cook for a further 25-30mins, stirring occasionally until dark brown and sticky. The aim of the game is to cook them as low and slow as possible, best results take over and hour. Do not be tempted to turn up the heat, if they start catching/charring at all just turn down the heat.
Take off heat and leave to cool.Once cool, combine in a bowl with your cream cheese and cheddar. Taste for seasoning.
Drop cheese mixture onto a large sheet of cling film and form into a ball. Pop in the fridge until needed to firm up (60 mins should suffice).
Before serving, roll in your crispy onions and ensure a full coverage. Serve with nibbles of choice!
Quick 1 min demo!
Notes:
a) How to caramelize onions -For a more thorough tutorial check out my caramelized onions recipe. It's really important to fully caramelize them to ensure they end up sweet and sticky. If you rush the process the onion taste is going to end up way too overpowering. Patience is a virtue here!
b) Coating just before serving - Because you want the crispy onions to stay crispy, don't coat them and let it sit in the fridge, they'll go soft. Wait until you're ready to serve and then coat the cheese ball.
c) Homemade crispy fried onions - If you want to make your own then finely dice 2 heaping cups worth of onions and pat with a paper towel to extract as much moisture as possible. Evenly coat in seasoned flower (shake off excess in a sift) and shallow fry until golden and crispy. Drain excess fat on a paper towel and you're good to go. Just make sure they cool before you coat the cheese ball or they'll melt it.
d) Serving and calories - it's pretty difficult to say how many people this will feed, but my estimate is comfortably 10. Calories based per serving (1/10th).
Your Private Notes:
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Nutrition:
Nutrition Facts
The Ultimate Cream Cheese and Onion Ball
Amount Per Serving
Calories 370Calories from Fat 242
% Daily Value*
Fat 26.94g41%
Saturated Fat 15.302g77%
Trans Fat 0.281g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2.48g
Monounsaturated Fat 7.161g
Cholesterol 73mg24%
Sodium 642mg27%
Potassium 297mg8%
Carbohydrates 24.15g8%
Fiber 2.6g10%
Sugar 11.44g13%
Protein 9.52g19%
Vitamin A 820IU16%
Vitamin C 9.8mg12%
Calcium 168mg17%
Iron 1.26mg7%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition is based on the absence of salt unless stated as a measurement in the ingredients. Cost is worked out based on ingredients bought from UK supermarkets, then divided by the number of servings. In both instances these values are just for guidance. Please check out my FAQ Page for more info.
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Looking for more?You'll find plenty more delicious comfort food like this in my Debut Cookbook 'Comfy'
If you plan on making this onion and Cream Cheese Ball then be sure to Pin it for later! Already made it or got a burning question? Give me a shout in the comments below and pick up your free ecookbook along the way!
