My preferred cheese ball to serve at gatherings or potlucks is this creamy pineapple cheese ball with green bell pepper. In the fridge, it will keep nicely for a few days. It tastes finest when served with buttery circular crackers.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 2 hrs |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 15 mins |
| Servings: | 16 |
| Yield: | 2 cheese balls |
Ingredients
- 1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
- 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup minced celery
- ½ cup chopped green bell pepper
- 1 teaspoon minced onion
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Mix drained pineapple, cream cheese, celery, bell pepper, and onion together in a medium bowl until well combined; divide mixture in half and form two balls.
- Place chopped pecans in a shallow dish; roll each ball in pecans. Chill until ready to serve, at least 2 hours.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 168 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 8 g |
| Cholesterol | 31 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 3 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Sodium | 89 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 15 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
You have to actually squeeze, the pineapple to get all the juice out. Can’t just drain. Also use red peppers, chives and seasoned salt. Yum!
The recipe had too much pineapple and was too soupy and didn’t hold shape.
It needs 1 tblsp of Seasoning salt!! Makes it delicious.
I cut this recipe in half using 1 pkg of cream cheese, bought an 8-oz can of crushed pineapple, and drained for about 1 hour. I stirred in about 2/3 of the pineapple and stopped when I saw the mixture starting to get runny. Many reviewers commented that this was soupy. I think you either need to cut back pretty heavily on the amount of pineapple or add more cream cheese, otherwise, you’ll be unable to form it into a cheese ball, and you’ll end up with a dip. Mine was a little too soft, it wasn’t holding its shape, and that’s even with starting with a can that was less than half the full 20-oz indicated for a full recipe. This tastes pretty good, but it definitely needs a little tweaking. I could see substituting dried cranberries for the green pepper for a variation.
Not much of a pineapple taste and not really able to make a ball out of it. Tasted more like celery.
Added another 4 oz cream cheese plus onion powder garlic powder, only about 1/2 cup celery, used red bell pepper. Turned out soupy even with draining pineapple well. I put in fridge so it could set some before making into ball. I gave it 4 stars only because of the soupy texture.
No Changes.
This is a great! I make it every year as an appetizer, friends love it. I serve with crackers, cerely and cucumbers. I always make it the night before
Good flavor but alittle too sweet
Made this for Christmas Eve for the first time. My local grocery store ran out of green onions so I made it with vidalia onions. I also added the pecans to the mix because it was a little to soft for a ball. It was a big hit with my family. I will make it again. Thanks for the recipe
Followed the recipe exactly. The result was very bland. I softened the balls and remixed with seasoned salt and a pinch of garlic powder. It improved the taste immensely. Will make again but with the changes.
I made the cheese ball for an outing at work and it turned out great. Instead of using onion are used onion powder and it was still great!
I’ve made this several times and it’s one of my favorites. It is a very flexible recipe. For example, I used red bell pepper because it’s what I had on hand. The only thing I added was some season-all so it wasn’t overly sweet. My husband doesn’t like it to sweet. If you wanted, you could even add a little fresh jalapeno and it would still be fantastic.
I have been making this cheese ball for years. It is a favorite
Soooo good. Sweet but not too sweet. The recipe makes two good sized cheeseballs, and it wasn’t hard. Make sure you strain the pineapple very well and be aware that the mess is going to be a bit wet when you roll it, but it firmed up very well for me in the fridge. Everyone really loved them and we have made them a couple of times. I don’t change anything, it’s perfect right as it is.
Made this for pool party in Mexico. I used canned pineapple and fresh. Next time will try just fresh. Added red pepper and three green onions plus seasoning salt recipe on this website. I thought way too much onion but everyone loved it. Added ground walnuts to dip and then sprinkled rest on top. Did not make into ball, will try next time. Made the night before for flavours to meld.
I made this as an appetizer for a New Year’s Eve party, and it was very well received. Like other reviewers, I also experienced a looser textured mixture. However, I let it chill overnight before attempting to mold it. The consistency improved greatly. My strategy for molding the mixture was to divide it into portions and wrap each portion in plastic wrap. Using the plastic wrap as a protective barrier, I then molded the mixture into balls and then coated them with toasted pecans. It was less messy than had I used my hands directly and achieved the desired presentation.
No changes
I have made this multiple times and always get requests for the recipe. We like things spicy around here so I always add a couple of tablespoons of minced pickled jalapeños without the seeds, as well as a couple of pinches of seasoned salt. I also find that using the white parts of green onions gives a less overpowering flavor than a traditional white onion. Mincing the celery and bell pepper gives for a more consistent flavor throughout. Definitely drain the pineapple well but save a little of the juice so that when you taste it you can add a little of it back if you think it lacks pineapple flavor. The mixture is pretty wet and sticky so I let it refrigerate for about 30 minutes before shaping it. Lastly, if you have the time to toast the pecan pieces before coating the cheeseball it will take the flavor over the top.
it lacked flavor and was unable to form into a ball.
It is like a soupy dip. And yes I did drain the pineapple.