Easy 3-Ingredient Cheese Ball Recipe (2024)

This Easy 3-Ingredient Cheese Ball Recipe is a classic snack or appetizer made with cream cheese, ranch dressing mix, and chopped walnuts. It takes just 5 minutes to make and is perfect for serving at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other holiday gatherings.

Every holiday season my family makes the same menu for Thanksgiving and Christmas… even down to the appetizers! This Easy 3 Ingredient Cheese Ball Recipe is one of the snacks we’ve been making for the holidays for over 20 years. It’s SO simple, but obviously delicious enough to keep around.

🥇Why this cheese ball is great

• It is so easy to make. Honestly, it can’t get easier. Just stir the ingredients together, form it into a ball, and roll it in chopped walnuts.
• This recipe only needs 3 simple ingredients: cream cheese, ranch dressing mix, and walnuts. Few ingredients, but lots of flavor!
• The best thing about this recipe is that it can easily be made ahead before your holiday gathering. It’s hard to cook 10 dishes at once, so make this ahead and have it off your mind!

🍴Ingredients

Cream cheese: Any brand will do. Just take it out a few hours before making so it can soften to room temperature.
Ranch dressing or seasoning mix: This is the easiest way to give the cheese ball lots of flavor!
Walnuts: Buy them chopped or buy them whole and then chop them.

🔪 How to make this Easy 3 Ingredient Cheese Ball Recipe

This classic cheese ball only takes 3 steps to make!

1. Stir together the cream cheese and ranch dressing mix.
2. Lay a piece of plastic wrap on the counter, then place the chopped walnuts in the middle of the plastic. Scoop the cream cheese onto the nuts, then use the plastic wrap to form it into a ball while simultaneously rolling the outside in the walnuts.
3. Refrigerate for an hour or up to 5 days. This helps it get nice and firm.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 For a crowd

One of these classic cheese balls will serve about 8 people as a snack or appetizer. For my extended family of about 22 people, we typically eat 3 cheese balls at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but we also serve other appetizers alongside it.

If you do make more than one cheese ball, I highly recommend mixing each one in it’s own bowl. This will make it easier to keep the cheese balls evenly sized.

🙋 Questions and answers

👨🏼‍🍳 Tips & Tricks

• Use softened cream cheese, but not warm. If it is too soft, it won’t easily form a ball or hold its shape.
• Shape the ball with the plastic wrap, then wrap it tightly before refrigerating to keep it fresh.
• Let the cheese ball chill for at least an hour before serving so that it is firm and holds its shape.
• For extra holiday fun, form the cheese ball into shapes with large cookies cutters (we’ve done turkeys, Christmas trees, and snowflakes before). I would form the cream cheese into the shape, then add nuts after.

📖 Other snacks and appetizers

• Aidells Chicken Apple Sausage Appetizers: These apple chicken sausages are heated in the slow cooker, then covered in a maple mustard sauce. Delicious appetizer!
• Stovetop Maple Pecans: This 3 ingredient snack only takes 10 minutes to make! They’re perfect for snack boards or toppings on salads, pancakes, or oatmeal.
• Easy Tzatziki Sauce Recipe: This is the perfect easy tzatziki to serve with a veggie tray at your next party!
• Jalapeno Deviled Eggs With Bacon : An easy spiced up version of southern deviled eggs.

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