This Jalapeño Popper Football Cheese Ball is sure to make a touchdown at your next game day party!
I couldn’t resist making another FOODball for college football season, they’re just so fun!
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Lucky for me my garden went on another jalapeño rampage this Summer. I had enough to pickle an entire mason jar’s worth, stock the freezer, and magically had enough over for several new jalapeño-flecked recipes. TOUCHDOWN!
Since I’m about to fridge pickle a second jar of homegrown jalapeños (love this method) I was jonesin’ for some jalapeño popper action. Game day wouldn’t be the same without some totally crave-worthy cheesy appetizer faceplantage, right? RIGHT!
Instead of going the traditional route (or even the untraditional route) I opted to get my jalapeño popper fix in cheeseball form. The result was a quick and easy appetizer that I’m crazy in love with. In fact I’m pretty sure this is going to make an appearance at our upcoming game night too. Board games and cheese balls FTW!
Of course we could have gone globular here, but festively shaping our cheese ball into a football is the ultimate way to appease the touchdown gods! My team was counting on me.
Football Cheese Ball to the rescue! Let’s do this!
Jalapeño Popper Football Cheese Ball
:: pin it for later ::
Jalapeño Popper Football Cheese Ball
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 30 servings
This Jalapeño Popper Football Cheese Ball is sure to make a touchdown at your next game day party!
Ingredients
- 16 oz cream cheese, softened
- 8 oz grated/shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/4-1/3 cup chopped green onion, divided
- 1/2 cup diced pickled jalapeños, extra as desired
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- pinch of salt
- 3 slices of bacon
- 1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2-3 TBSP fresh parsley
- 2-3 fresh jalapeños (approx. 1/4 cup finely chopped)
- 1 slice mozzarella or white cheddar cheese
- assorted pretzels, veggies, apple slices, and crackers for dunking/scooping/spreading/faceplanting
- one epic game day party
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine softened cream cheese, cheddar, pickled jalapeño, garlic powder, salt and around 2-3 TBSP chopped green onion.
- Using a hand mixer or a fork and some elbow grease (my method of choice), mix well.
- Use a silicone spatula to scoop out the cheese mixture and shape into a ball with your hands.
- Place on a sheet of parchment paper or a cutting board and flatten the top of the ball, pinching and shaping it into a football. You'll want to press down on the middle and sort of pinch the sides while you press it into an edible football. I promise it's super duper easy, relive those play dough days and have fun with it!
- If cheese ball is too soft, cover with plastic and pop it in the fridge for 15-60 min. Mine was still firm yet soft enough to coat with toppings after 15 minutes so I went with it.
- While your cheese ball chills, chop the bacon into pieces and cook until crispy in a hot pan or skillet.
- Remove bacon from pan and wipe clean, leaving a teeny bit of the bacon grease behind. Add your panko and lightly toast it, stirring frequently for about a minute or two until golden.
- Remove the seeds, veins, and stem from your jalapeño and finely chop/mince.
- Sprinkle/cover your cheese ball with panko, the remaining green onion, parsley, fresh jalapeño, and bacon and press firmly into the cheeseball to coat.
- For the laces, snag a slice of mozzarella cheese (or any cheese really!) and use a sharp knife to cut it into thin slices. Cut one long slice for the center of the football and smaller slices for the laces. Place the long slice horizontally along the center of the football, then arrange the small slices horizontally on top. Again, super simple and you can basically use any cheese you'd like, if needed!
- Add all your favorite dippers from the list above and dig in!
- Leftovers taste deeeeeelicious spread on pretty much everything in sight the following day, especially buttery whole grain ritz crackers!
- Enjoy!
Notes
Need to soften your cream cheese in a hurry? Microwave for 30 seconds on high.
As written, this cheese ball is pretty mild, medium at most. For a spicier appetizer, feel free to up the jalapeño content and even employ a little hot sauce or red pepper flakes into the cheese mixture. Taste as you go and customize the heat to your preference.
The parsley is 100% optional if you don't have any handy. See post below for GF and Vegetarian swaps!
make ahead instructions:
Want to prep your party eats the day before? Perfecto! Make the cheeseball (minus the toppings) and refrigerate until 15 minutes or so before you’re ready to serve it. Allow it to come to room temperature a bit (this will help the toppings stick) and then press your toppings into the football. Commence faceplant.
so. . . how was it?
AMAZING!!! Dare I say that I might love this jalapeño popper football cheese ball more than actual jalapeño poppers? Hoooooomygosh it’s good!
I went the mild-medium route this time around but I’m thinking of going extra bold next time (just for kicks) and amping the spice factor up with some extra jalapeño. This is partially because I know it’s going to hurt sooooo good and partially because I love yelling “FIIIIIRE!” when eating something spicy.
What’s awesome about this jalapeño flecked recipe is that you can customize it any which way you’d like! Replace the panko with this GF version or with extra herbs/jalaps to make this recipe gloriously gluten-free and/or swap the bacon to serve it up vegetarian-style. Just whatever you do, make this right meow! Your team is counting on you.
TOUCHDOWWWWWWWWN!
*cough*GONOLES*cough*
hungry for more?
Great recipe! Can’t wait to make this for our next Sunday night football!~Carolyn @ Cabot Creamery
Thanks Carolyn! Hope y’all love it as much as we do!
Adorable Jenn! I just saw it on FG and clicked right over! You made football cheese art…I wish I could do that! 🙂 Pinned!
Aw thanks girly! Any excuse to play with my food 🙂
Just made this for football Sunday everybody loved it! Delicious with a little kick. Will definitely make again.
Sto stoked y’all enjoyed it! Thanks Nicole! 🙂
on #7 you mentioned panko bread crumbs. late in the directions you say to put panko and bread in skillet to brown.
Did I miss something? I never did see bread as one of the ingredients.
This looks really good and can’t wait to try it.
Thank you
Hey Jackie! I totally see how that could be confusing when I said “add the panko and toast” so I reworded it to clarify. You’ll want to toast the panko bread crumbs in the pan/skillet until it’s golden brown for an extra delicious crunch. Hope that helps and that you adore the recipe as much as we do! xoxo
I’m going to make this for my football mom’s get together tonight. Thanks for the great idea for a fun appetizer.
Yay!!! Hope it’s a hit, Nichole! I’m already dying to make it again !:-) ?
When do you add minced jalapeños?
Somehow I completely left the minced jalapeño out of the following step, thank you so much for pointing that out Connie! You add it with the bacon, panko, etc… as part of the cheeseball coating. Enjoy! 🙂
Hi there, looking forward to making this for the Super Bowl! Can you make a ahead? A little worried that the Panko might get soggy. Not sure if it’s best served cold or slightly warmed?
Thanks!
Hey Natalie! So excited for you to try it! You can partially make this one ahead of time. You’ll make the cheese ball itself and store that in the fridge (on a flat surface and then plastic wrapped) and that can be done up to 2 days in advance. The panko can be toasted ahead of time and the bacon can be made and chopped as well. You’ll keep the crispy bacon crumbles in a container in the fridge, the greens chopped and measured in another, and the panko toasted/measured out in a container at room temperature to prevent it from getting soft. Then just bring your football out a little bit before you need to serve it so it softens enough to coat, mix your toppings all together, and press into the cheeseball. That being said, I’ve popped the leftovers in the fridge and eaten them (soft panko/bacon and all) and still adored it, but for guests it will be prettiest and have the best texture if you wait until the day of to press all the ingredients into the cheeseball. It takes just a few seconds since you have everything made ahead of time so it should be super easy on ya! Hope that novel of a response helped (lol!) and I’m here if you need me! XOXO
Making this for a get together tomorrow. Forgot panko at the store, I have seasoned bread crumbs, will that work, or should I leave them out?
Hey Amy! Totally just leave it out. The rest of the ingredients will carry it 🙂
Made this for SuperBowl….it was a hit!
Yay! Happy to hear it Allyson!
It was perfect! Looked so cool and it was a huge hit! No one wanted to eat anything else! I foolishly doubled it and had way too much left over.
So glad it was a huge hit Elena! I’ll gladly come over and help you with the leftovers! <3 😉
This recipe was amazing! I made it yesterday for a party and everyone kept commenting about how amazing it was. I was out of bread crumbs so just used more bacon!
Woooooot! So glad it was a hit Lauren! xoxo