Mini Cheese Balls

Mini cheese balls made with ranch dressing, sharp cheddar cheese, green onions and bacon. These adorable bites are perfect for entertaining or snacking!

Any long-time MBA readers will know that I love all things mini.

Mini pumpkin pies? Mini cheesecakes? Mini fruit tarts? I want them all.

And I love a good cheese ball recipe. So you can probably guess that combining these two loves into mini cheese balls? Yes, they are one of my favorite things.

The first time I made mini cheese balls was after visiting my friend Emily and seeing some that she had made. They were so cute I had to go home and make my own version.

These little cuties are perfect for everything from a fancy dinner to a game day to a New Year’s Eve gathering to a movie night with family or friends. I mean, there’s cheese in it, so can you really go wrong?

How to make these mini cheese balls

This mini cheese ball recipe features sharp cheddar cheese, ranch mix, bacon, and green onions for tons of flavor. After all, it’s hard to beat that bacon and ranch combo, whether it’s a cheese ball or a bacon ranch pasta salad.

Not a fan of bacon and ranch? Go to “recipe variations” for more flavor ideas for these mini cheese balls!

Ingredients you will need

To make these mini cheese balls you will need:

• 2 packages (8 ounces) softened cream cheese
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 package dry ranch seasoning mix (1 ounce) OR 2 tablespoons homemade ranch seasoning mix
• 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, finely shredded
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• ½ cup cooked and crumbled bacon (about 8 slices)
• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans

You definitely want the cream cheese to soften to room temperature before trying to mix the ingredients. If you forget to make it ahead of time, check out my post on how to soften cream cheese quickly.

I almost always have a jar of homemade ranch dressing, but you can absolutely use a package of store-bought ranch mix.

Can I tell you a secret? I usually buy crumbled bacon bits when I make these cheese balls instead of cooking bacon rashers and crumbling them myself. If you cook it yourself, you will need about 8 slices.

I make these cheese balls

To make the cheese ball mixture, toss everything except the pecans into a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, mix until the ingredients are well combined.

Cover the bowl and let it rest in the refrigerator for about an hour. This will make it easier to collect the mini cheese balls.

Use a small cookie scoop (1 tablespoon) to portion out the cheese balls. Form each portion into a ball and roll in chopped pecans to coat evenly.

From here you can serve the cheese balls immediately. But I think they taste better when they’ve had a little time to let the flavors meld a little more, so I like to cover them and refrigerate them for another few hours before enjoying them.

Serve these little beauties with your favorite store-bought or homemade crackers as part of an appetizer spread at your next party and watch them disappear in an instant!

Storing cheese balls

Store mini cheese balls in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

I don’t recommend freezing these cheese balls. Cream cheese has a tendency to split or become grainy after thawing, and no one wants a weird texture in their cheese balls!

Recipe variations

We love this recipe as written, but there are so many ways you can change things up:

• Swap the cheddar cheese for another type of shredded cheese, such as gouda, monterey jack, or even pepper jack.
• Instead of using regular ranch dressing, try using a spicy ranch mix and add a few dashes of hot sauce for some flavor.
• Not a fan of pecans or allergic to nuts? Try rolling cheese balls in crushed pretzels instead!

And if you’re not a fan of the bacon-ranch combo, use the base of my classic cheese ball or cranberry pecan goat cheese ball instead. Prepare the cheese ball bases as written, place them in the fridge for an hour and then divide them into mini balls as described in this recipe.