Jalapeño Bacon Cheese Ball

This Jalapeño Bacon Cheese Ball is a perfect gameday or holiday appetizer! Simple to make, fancy to serve, delicious to eat and serves a crowd!

Cheese balls are officially the most underrated food on the continent. I say this with 100% certainty after an enormous amount of rigorous research. And by that I mean that I made one cheese ball once in my life and then I took a picture of it and posted about it. #official 😉

Seriously though. They're so easy to make, they look fun and festive, the flavor combinations are endless, and you can leave them out for a party and let people snack on it all night! That checks all my boxes on the perfect appetizer!

PSA: Can we all vote to rename cheese balls into "dip snowballs?" Please and thank you.

JALAPEÑO BACON CHEESE BALL

You're going to start this crazy simple recipe by chopping away at your ingredients. You want to dice up 3 jalapeños (remove seeds and ribs), 8 slices of cooked bacon, and ¼ C green onions. You can also chop ½ C of pecans, or if your knife skills are atrocious like mine, you can buy pre-chopped pecans. 🙂 Meanwhile, leave the cream cheese out at room temperature to allow it to soften.

Once the cream cheese has softened, add in half of the jalapeños and bacon, all of the green onions, 1 C shredded cheddar cheese, 1 teaspoon each of seasoning salt, minced garlic and Worcestershire sauce (can anyone pronounce this properly??), and ¼ teaspoon of cumin. Mix together.

On a large plate or cutting board, combine ½ C chopped pecans and the remaining bacon and jalapeños.

Shape the cream cheese mixture into a large ball then roll it around on the plate of toppings until completely covered. (This part is strangely satisfying..)Wrap the ball in saran wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. Leftovers (if there are any) will be good for about 3 days before it starts to harden and get weird. 😛

Serve with crackers, pretzels, veggies, more bacon, whatever you want, really.

Enjoy!

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Jalapeño Bacon Cheese Ball

• Author: Caitlin
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Total Time: 15 mins
• Category: Appetizer
• Method: Mixed
• Cuisine: American

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Description

A perfect gameday or holiday appetizer! Simple to make, fancy to serve, delicious to eat and serves a crowd!

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Ingredients

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• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 3 jalapeños, seeds and ribs removed, finely chopped and divided
• 8 slices cooked bacon, chopped and divided
• ¼ C green onions, chopped
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 tsp seasoning salt
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ tsp cumin
• ½ C pecans, chopped

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Instructions

1. Set 2 packages of cream cheese out to soften. Meanwhile, dice up 3 jalapeños (remove seeds and ribs), 8 slices of cooked bacon, and ¼ C green onions.
2. Once the cream cheese has softened, add in half of the jalapeños and bacon, all of the green onions, 1 C shredded cheddar cheese, 1 teaspoon seasoning salt, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce and ¼ teaspoon cumin. Mix together.
3. On a large plate or cutting board, combine pecans and the remaining bacon and jalapeños.
4. Shape the cream cheese mixture into a large ball then roll it around on the plate of toppings until completely covered.
5. Wrap the ball in saran wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. Serve with crackers or pretzels.
6. Enjoy!

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Notes

Refrigerated leftovers will be good for 3 days before it starts to harden and get weird. 🙂

Keywords: jalapeño bacon cheeseball, Holiday appetizer, make-ahead party food, no cook dinner party recipe, kid-friendly

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**Recipe adapted from The Recipe Critic

What do you think? Did this recipe make the cut for you or did it crumble? What would you do differently? Leave a comment below! 🙂