Jalapeño cheese ball
This tasty jalapeño cheddar cheese ball is gluten free, vegetarian, and keto friendly!
Servings: 1 cheese ball
Ingredients
Cheesy inner core
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
- 6 oz cream cheese
- 1 jalapeño
- 1 tsp spicy brown mustard
- 1 tsp hot sauce
Nutty outer crust
- 1/2 cup pecans
- 2 stalks green onions (white and light green part)
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Broil the jalapeño for 3-4 minutes on high then slice the jalapeño into small pieces.
- Use a blender or food processor to crush your pecans into small pieces then slice the whites of your green onion stalks into thin slices. Mix the pecans and green onions with the rest of the ingredients for the outer coating in a medium sized mixing bowl.
- Add all of the ingredients for the inner core of the cheese ball other than the jalapeños to your food processor. Blend the ingredients on high for 2-3 minutes until the cheese is fully incorporated into the cream cheese. Add the jalapeño pieces into the cheesy mixture by adding them to the blender or food processor and pulsing a few times or by mixing them in with a spoon. You do not want the jalapeño to blend and fully incorporate into the cheese.
- Shape the cheese and cream cheese mixture into a ball then roll the ball in the dried ingredients so that it has a thick outer crust made out of nuts and spices.
Notes
Cream cheese that is too tough to blend. If the cream cheese is too tough and it is getting stuck in the blender or food processor you can microwave it for 30 seconds to soften it up a little bit. Cheese mixture that is too soft to shape. If the cheese mixture is so soft that it is hard to work with you can throw the blender bowl that contains the cheese into the refrigerator for 15 minutes prior to shaping the cheese into a ball. This will harden the cheese mixture up and make it easier to work with. Using block cheese. If you want to use block cheese rather than pre-shredded cheese you can use the food processor to shred the block cheese then dump the rest of ingredients into the food processor.