Huge Cheese Ball

Prep
15m
Cook
0m
Total
15m
Bigly says
Sit. Pour yourself a coffee. We're doing this right. We need to talk about the cheese ball. The HUGE cheese ball. The greatest cheese ball ever rolled by human hands, and there's been a lot of cheese balls — the cheese ball industry is MASSIVE, nobody talks about it, the food media won't cover it, an embarrassment — but we're going to cover it right now, right here, the BiglyEats way.
Now, the so-called chefs out there will give you a cheese ball that's the size of a golf ball. A GOLF BALL. What are we, raccoons? Are we mice? No. We are PEOPLE. We deserve a cheese ball that has presence. A cheese ball that walks into the room and says, 'I am here, and I am cheese, and I am BIG.' That's what we're building. We're building the cheese ball Mount Rushmore. It's enormous. People will see it on your counter and they will pause. They will reflect. They will be moved.
The secret — and other so-called experts won't tell you because they're guarding it like state intelligence — is room-temperature cream cheese. Cold cream cheese is a SCANDAL. A crime against dairy. You try to mix cold cream cheese, you've made cement, you've made drywall mud, you should be ashamed. Let it sit out. Let it breathe. Let it become its best self. My grandmother told me this and she was a tough woman, the toughest, she once intimidated a butcher into giving her free veal. The cheese ball will thank you. Trust me.
Ingredients
- 16 oz (two 8-oz blocks)cream cheese, full-fat(room temperature, no exceptions)
- 2 cupssharp cheddar, freshly grated(pre-shredded is coated in cellulose, sad, never)
- 1/4 cupfresh chives, finely chopped
- 1 tspgarlic powder
- 1 tsponion powder
- 2 tspWorcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tspsmoked paprika
- 1/2 tspkosher salt
- 1/2 tspblack pepper
- 1 tsphot sauce(optional but tremendous)
- 1 cuppecans, toasted and finely chopped
- 2 tbspextra chopped chives (for rolling)
- as neededassorted crackers (for serving)
Steps
- 1
In a large bowl, beat the room-temperature cream cheese with a hand mixer until smooth and fluffy, about 1 minute.
- 2
Add the grated cheddar, chives, garlic powder, onion powder, Worcestershire, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Mix on low until fully combined.
- 3
Lay a large sheet of plastic wrap on the counter. Scrape the cheese mixture into the center.
- 4
Gather the plastic wrap up around the mixture and twist the top to form a ball. Roll gently on the counter to shape it into a round.
- 5
Refrigerate, still wrapped, for at least 2 hours (or up to 2 days) until firm.
- 6
Combine the toasted chopped pecans with the extra chives on a plate.
- 7
Unwrap the chilled ball and roll it through the pecan-chive mixture, pressing gently so the coating sticks all over.
- 8
Transfer to a serving platter and let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving with crackers.
One more thing
Put this cheese ball in the middle of the table and step back. Just step back and watch. Watch your relatives forget about whatever they were arguing about. Watch your weird uncle stop talking about whatever he was talking about. Watch the cheese ball do its work. It is the great unifier. It is the peacekeeper. It is HUGE. And it's yours — no popup, no $9.99 cookbook upsell at the bottom of the page like the other sites do — just the recipe. Roll the ball. Don't tell your friends. Keep this one for yourself.

★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about Huge Cheese Ball.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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