These mini bacon cheese balls are the perfect finger food for game day! Each little nugget is creamy and features bacon in every bite! BBQ seasoning is blended with the coating to add a delicious hint of spice!
This post has been sponsored by Frito Lay, all opinions are my own.
These bacon cheese balls are a game day must! They look good, they are easy and everyone loves a good cheese ball right? I already know that uhhh matter whahhdk Super Bowl LII party we attend, I’ll be bringing these little cheesy nuggets.
Each year I suggest to my husband that we host a football watch party. I picture the house full of our friends, the kids running around the house playing with their friends, the moms in the kitchen chatting and laughing over glasses of wine and the men talking football in front of the tv. Their would be LOTS of food! We would have everything from spicy jalapeño stuffed pizza poppers, pizza, subs, stout baked chicken wings and dessert too!
My husband always vetoes my suggestion very quickly. My husband knows that when the game is over, he will want to go straight to bed and not deal with a house full of people. He also says that he wouldn’t be able to relax and just enjoy watching the game because he’d be busy “hosting”. I think he brings up two valid points. He is viewing a game day party from a true fan’s perspective where I am viewing a game day party as someone who likes to eat and be social. To me, game day parties are all about the company and the food… I sort of forget about the actual game.
While we probably won’t end up hosting a party, we will end up at a friends house to watch the game. That is perfectly fine with me. The kids will be happy with their friends and I’ll be happy hanging out with the other moms. I’ll bring these mini bacon cheese balls to share and I suspect these cheese balls will go very quickly! It’s a good thing they are so simple to make! The ingredient list is short: cream cheese, cheddar, garlic salt, and bacon. For half of my cheese balls I rolled them in a mixture of crushed ROLD GOLD® Pretzels Sticks and BBQ seasoning, the other half are rolled in chives and BBQ seasoning then served with a pretzel stuck in the middle (for easing serving). The BBQ seasoning is a fantastic complement to the cheddar cheese and the bacon. The pretzels add texture, crunch, and of course, a built-in skewer! These bacon cheddar cheese balls are definitely fun to eat!
Whether you are into the game or just into the food, these mini cheeseballs are the snack that will please everyone!
Looking for more game day recipes? Check out the Frito-Lay Pinterest page!
Mini BBQ Bacon Cheese Balls
These mini bacon cheese balls are the perfect finger food for game day! Each little nugget is creamy and features bacon in every bite! BBQ seasoning is blended with the coating to add a delicious hint of spice!
Ingredients
- 2 8oz packages cream cheese, softened
- 2 cups shredded cheddar
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 4 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
- ½ cup crushedROLD GOLD® Original Pretzels Sticks, (use the rest as skewers!) plus extra sticks
- ½ cup chives, chopped
- 2 tablespoons BBQ seasoning, divided
Instructions
In a bowl, combine the cream cheese, cheddar, garlic salt and bacon; stir to combine. Place the pretzel crumbs and 1 tablespoon of BBQ seasoning in one bowl and the chives and remaining seasoning in a second bowl.
Scoop a small amount of the cheese mixture and roll into a 1-inch ball. Roll the ball in the pretzel coating and place on a baking sheet. Continue to roll half of the cream cheese mixture into the pretzel coating.
Continue the process with the remaining cream cheese mixture and the chives. Refrigerate the cheese balls for 2-3 hours. Just before serving, place ROLD GOLD® Pretzels Sticks into each ball that is covered with the chive coating.
Nutrition Information
Amount Per Serving Calories 0Total Fat 0gSaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 0mgSodium 0mgFiber 0gSugar 0gProtein 0g
Diane says
Tanya,
These Mini BBQ Bacon Cheese Balls sound heavenly! I’ll be whipping these up soon. Thank you for sharing.
Gina @Running to the Kitchen says
YUM! I bet these disappear SO fast! What a great appetizer!
Julianne says
These are right up my ally!
Brenda @ a farmgirl's dabbles says
Do you have any idea how much my crew loves cream cheese and bacon together?! Awesome appetizer bites!
Aggie says
These are so fun! I love apps like this and so does everyone when they are put out at a party. I would do some damage to this tray 🙂