The Ultimate Cream Cheese and Onion Ball

cream cheese ball coated in crispy fried onions on chopping board with biscuits and bread

5 from 5 votes

The Ultimate Cream Cheese and Onion Ball

Looking for an easy cheese ball recipe? Look no further than the Ultimate Cream Cheese and Onion Ball! Stuffed with caramelized onions and coated in crispy fried onions, this cheese and onion ball is sure to get the party started!

Prep Time10

Cook Time1

Resting Time1

Total Time1 10

Course: Appetizer, Starter

Cuisine: Party Food

Servings:

Author: Chris Collins

Cost: £1 / $1

Equipment

Large Frying Pan & Wooden Spoon
Medium Sized Mixing Bowl & Spatula
Large Bowl (for crispy onions)
Cling Film
Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
Cheese Grater

Ingredients

1lb / 500g Cream Cheese
2lb / 1kg White Onions, finely diced
160g / 2 cups Crispy Fried Onions or as needed (see notes)
100g / 1 cup Cheddar Cheese, grated
2 tbsp Butter (or olive oil, or a mix)
2 tbsp Brown Sugar
2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
3/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Black Pepper

Instructions

Melt your butter over medium heat in a suitably sized non-stick pan and mix in your onion. Once softened, add your salt and pepper. Turn to low heat and stir occasionally ensuring an even cook for all the slices. After around 20-25 mins they will begin turning brown and releasing sugar. At this point add in your brown sugar and balsamic vinegar. Keep on low heat.
Cook for a further 25-30mins, stirring occasionally until dark brown and sticky. The aim of the game is to cook them as low and slow as possible, best results take over and hour. Do not be tempted to turn up the heat, if they start catching/charring at all just turn down the heat.
Take off heat and leave to cool. Once cool, combine in a bowl with your cream cheese and cheddar. Taste for seasoning.
Drop cheese mixture onto a large sheet of cling film and form into a ball. Pop in the fridge until needed to firm up (60 mins should suffice).
Before serving, roll in your crispy onions and ensure a full coverage. Serve with nibbles of choice!

Video

Notes

a) How to caramelize onions - For a more thorough tutorial check out my caramelized onions recipe. It's really important to fully caramelize them to ensure they end up sweet and sticky. If you rush the process the onion taste is going to end up way too overpowering. Patience is a virtue here!

b) Coating just before serving - Because you want the crispy onions to stay crispy, don't coat them and let it sit in the fridge, they'll go soft. Wait until you're ready to serve and then coat the cheese ball.

c) Homemade crispy fried onions - If you want to make your own then finely dice 2 heaping cups worth of onions and pat with a paper towel to extract as much moisture as possible. Evenly coat in seasoned flower (shake off excess in a sift) and shallow fry until golden and crispy. Drain excess fat on a paper towel and you're good to go. Just make sure they cool before you coat the cheese ball or they'll melt it.

d) Serving and calories - it's pretty difficult to say how many people this will feed, but my estimate is comfortably 10. Calories based per serving (1/10th).

Nutrition