Cold Smoked Cheese Balls Recipe - Celebration Generation (2024)

Cheeseballs are great... but SMOKED cheese balls are a whole other level of fantastic! Vary the seasoning or length of smoking to customize.

Originally Posted April 17, 2020. Updated 1/8/2021

Today is National Cheeseball Day, so I figure it's about time to share our recipe for smoked cheese balls!

Cheeseballs are great... but SMOKED cheese balls are a whole other level of fantastic, after all.

My Smoked Cheese Balls Recipes

My recipe is very basic, for a couple reasons:

1. I'm not a fan of chunky textures in a cheese ball, so I don't include dried fruits, meats, etc.

2. For this specific type of cheese ball... even if I did like chunky textures, I don't think the fruits, etc would work as well with the smoking.

I think it would just be too much going on. Also, the "wet" texture of the cheese filling soaks up the smoke nicely!

So, it's a nice, simple, but flavourful base that works well with smoke, without competing with it.

Cheeses for Smoked Cheese Balls

In terms of the cheeses used, you'll want cheeses that grate well, not wet or crumbly ones.

Also, I wouldn't bother using smoked cheeses, as this provides plenty of smoked flavour on its own.

Personally, I like using cheeses that you don't normally see smoked - Mozzarella, Asiago, Parm, Edam, Swiss ... either alone or in combination.

Cheese balls - much like Fromage Fort - are a great way to use up odds and ends of cheese in your fridge!

Cold Smoking

Please note: This recipe requires a smoker that's set up to do cold smoking. This can easily be accomplished by an attachment kit - many are available that can affix to any grill or smoker.

The cold smoking aspect is important, as your cheese balls will just melt if you don't have a cold smoker attachment.

I suppose this could work in a traditional smoker if you leave out the final smoking... though it will have a different texture after solidifying.

Be sure to set up your cold smoker and get it going - with a real light smoke coming out - before adding your cheese.

Too much smoke increases the risk of soot, which is not appetizing at all.

Our cheese balls AND a chunk of cheese, ready to be smoked. Efficiency!

What To Roll Cheese Balls In

As with many of my recipes, part of this one is pretty open ended: "Stuff to roll them in".

Here are a bunch of ideas::

* Stuff to roll them in:

- Nuts: Finely chopped pecans, thinly sliced almonds, etc

- Crushed corn/potato chips, or pretzels

- Crushed cornflakes or other cereal

A selection of Cheese Balls ready to go in for their final smoking.

- Sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, and/or flax seeds

- Crispy bacon, drained well and finely chopped

- Fresh herbs - we love basil with this, as pictured.

... Whatever you end up choosing to use, just be sure to have it very finely chopped.

Note: Many of these work well in combination with others! Try nuts AND seeds, chips and bacon, etc.

In addition to the base toppings, you can add extra flavouring or texture if you'd like - a bit of citrus zest, some coarse ground black pepper, poppy seeds, and/or a small amount of dried pepper flakes.

Basically, just have fun with it!

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5 from 1 vote

Smoked Cheese Balls

Cheeseballs are great... but SMOKED cheese balls are a whole other level of fantastic!

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Smoking / Chilling Time4 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Total Time4 hours hrs 25 minutes mins

Course: Appetizer, Snack

Cuisine: American, Celebration

Servings: 16 4 x 8 oz cheese balls

Calories: 274kcal

Author: Marie Porter

Equipment

• Smoker or Grill

• Cold Smoker Attachment Kit

• Parchment Paper

• Wood Chips*

Ingredients

• 1 Small Onion chopped
• 5 Garlic cloves pressed
• 2 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
• 2 Bricks Cream Cheese (½ lb each) softened
• Splash Dry White Wine
• 1 ½ lb Cheese of Choice grated
• Salt, Pepper, Smoked Paprika To Taste
• Stuff to roll them in*

Instructions

• Prepare your smoker for cold smoking, based on your smoker’s instructions. Get smoke going!

• Place onion and garlic into food processor, blitz until finely chopped. Add mustard, cream cheese, and white wine, blitz until very smooth. Add cheese, blitz once more until mixture reaches desired texture. Taste, season with salt, pepper, and/or smoked paprika, if desired.

• Line a small baking sheet or plate (one that will fit in your smoker!) with parchment paper, spread cheese mixture over it.

• Cold smoke cheese mixture for 10 minutes. Remove from smoker, stir, and cold smoke for another 10 minutes.

• Remove cheese mixture from smoker, taste. If you'd like more smoke flavour, stir again and cold smoke for another 10 minutes or so... but I tend to find 20 minutes of smoke to be a good amount of flavour. Your mileage may vary, depending on your smoker and personal taste preference

• Divide mixture into 4 equal portions. Roll each into a ball, chill for 30 minutes.

• Carefully press chopped topping choices into all exposed surfaces of the cheese balls. Brush away excess topping.

• Wrap cheese balls tightly in plastic, chill for 1 hour. Line plate or baking sheet with a fresh piece of parchment.

• Unwrap cheese balls, arrange on baking sheet or plate. Return to smoker for another 10-20 minutes or so.

• Remove cheese balls from smoker, wrap in fresh plastic wrap, re-molding to nicer ball shapes if necessary.

• Chill cheese balls for another 2 hours before serving,

Notes

* Stuff to roll them in:

• Nuts. Finely chopped pecans, thinly sliced almonds, etc
• Crushed corn/potato chips, or pretzels
• Crushed cornflakes or other cereal
• Sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, and/or flax seeds
• Crispy bacon, drained well and finely chopped
• Fresh herbs - we love basil with this.
• Citrus zest, coarse ground black pepper, poppy seeds, and/or dried pepper flakes as an accessory flavour in your topping

Nutrition

Calories: 274kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 76mg | Sodium: 377mg | Potassium: 97mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 807IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 339mg | Iron: 1mg