🍍🧀💛 This Pineapple Cheese Ball is an EASY holiday appetizer recipe that’s a party favorite! Made with tangy cream cheese, juicy pineapple, green bell peppers, green onions, and plenty of nuts for lovely crunch and texture, it’s a super simple dump-and-stir recipe with no baking, no cooking, no mixer, and no fuss! Serve this at Christmas parties, New Year’s Eve, Super Bowl, and any time you need a guaranteed winner!
Easy Cheese Ball Recipe with Pineapple
- With just 10 minutes of prep time needed, this cheese ball is my go-to appetizer for parties.
- Sweet, tangy, savory, soft, and crunchy, this is one recipe that has it all! While the pineapple does add sweetness, it’s not overpowering, and the recipe is more savory than sweet.
- Whether you want to serve this pineapple cheese ball at your Christmas parties or before a holiday dinner party or celebration, or save it to make for New Year’s Eve, everyone will remember this tasty holiday appetizer recipe!
Making an appetizer platter?
Add my spinach artichoke dip, antipasto tree, and antipasto wreath, too!
Ingredients and Notes
To make this crowd favorite pineapple cream cheese ball with a pecan coating, you only need a handful of extremely common and easy-to-find ingredients, including the following:
- Cream cheese – I always try to use lite or reduced-fat products when I can get away with it, but this isn’t one of those recipes. That’s because liter cream cheese products have more water (and less fat), but water melts faster, and so not only will your pineapple cream cheese ball not have as rich and creamy a flavor and texture, it will get too soft, too quickly if it’s sitting out at room temperature at a party for a bit. Not good
- Crushed pineapple – Quite honestly, canned crushed pineapple is the easiest way to go here. Pop the lid of an 8-ounce can, squeeze the juice out, and you’re ready to go. Taking the time to clean a whole pineapple and then either mince it super finely or pulse it in a food processor sounds like too much work. Possible? Yes. Recommended for ease? No
- Pecans – I use unsalted chopped pecans. You can use other kinds of nuts, such as chopped walnuts (probably the other most obvious choice), slivered almonds, chopped pistachios, macadamia nuts, cashews, or whatever strikes your fancy. You can use unsalted nuts, lightly salted, salty, or spicy. Usually, around the holidays, you’ll see spiced nuts or spicy nut mixes, and they would be great to use if you like spicy things
- Green onions
- Green bell peppers (or red bell peppers, or your favorite)
- Salt
- Garlic powder
- Fresh parsley, optional for garnishing
Toast the nuts!
I don’t toast them, but you’re welcome to if you’d like. Either a low 250°F oven for about 10-15 minutes or until fragrant, or a dry skillet over medium heat on the stovetop for about 3-5 minutes, or until fragrant. Either way, don’t burn them! Make sure you are stirring, flipping, and tossing very frequently, with either method. Nuts are expensive, and they burn easily, so keep a close eye on them.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make a Pineapple Cheese Ball
Making this cream cheese ball with pineapple couldn’t be any easier; it’s a dump-and-stir special!
Follow my straightforward instructions:
- Add all the ingredients to a large bowl, using half the pecans, and stir everything very well with a wooden spoon or use a small handheld electric mixer until well combined.
- Form into a ball shape.
- Place the other half of the pecans on a plate and roll the cheese ball over the nuts, lightly pressing them in to make sure they adhere.
- Refrigerate before serving.
- When ready to serve, garnish with fresh parsley if desired, and then your favorite crackers and accoutrements.
Make-Ahead Instructions
You most definitely can make this pineapple pecan cheeseball recipe in advance, up to about 24-36 hours in advance, and then place it in the refrigerator.
For maximum crunch though, I recommend NOT rolling the ball of cream cheese through the cup of the pecans for coating until closer to service. Sometimes nuts can lose their crunch a bit if refrigerated so to prevent that, just roll the cheese ball through the pecans before serving the cheese ball.
And make sure to wrap the big ball of cream cheese very well in plastic wrap before stashing it in the fridge.
What to Serve with a Cheese Ball
Recipe FAQs
While it’s certainly possible to skip the nuts inside the cream cheese mixture and go more heavy handed with the pineapple and veggies, the tricky part is the outside of the cheese ball. If you’re okay with having a ‘bald’ cheese ball, then go for it.
You could try a bit of lightly salted and toasted panko bread crumbs (about 2 tbsp of butter to 1 cup panko in a skillet) to add some crunch, and frankly, some coverage to your bald ball of cream cheese.
If you did set your cream cheese out at room temp for an hour like I recommended and it’s soft enough to stir and mix in the other ingredients, it may be almost too soft to actually roll into a ball. Just pop the mixing bowl into your fridge for 10-15 minutes or so before shaping it into a bowl if it’s too soft.
No, this recipe doesn’t freeze well.
Other Appetizers That Pair Well with a Cheese Ball
Pineapple Cheese Ball
Equipment
Ingredients
- two 8-ounce packages cream cheese blocks, well softened to room temperature (do NOT use lite or fat free)
- 8 ounces crushed pineapple from a can, with the juice well squeezed out and drained off
- 1 ¾ cup chopped pecans, divided
- ¼ cup chopped green onion, use both white and green parts, or as desired
- ¼ cup green bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ½ to 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons fresh parsley, finely minced for garnishing
Instructions
- To a large bowl, add the cream cheese, pineapple, half the nuts (about a heaping 3/4 cup), green onions (you could use white or yellow onions, but to me they have a harsher flavor and aren't my personal preference), green bell pepper (you can use another color if desired), salt, garlic powder, and stir to combine with a wooden spoon. Tips – Make sure your cream cheese has been sitting out to soften for 30 to 60 minutes, depending on how cold your climate and kitchen are. Cold cream cheese is unnecessarily difficult to work with, so plan ahead and set it out in advance. If it's soft enough, you don't need to use a handheld electric mixer, although you can if desired.
- Using a spatula or your hands, gently form the cream cheese mixture into a ball. Taste the mixture and make sure you like it. If needed, add additional salt, garlic powder, a pinch of red pepper flakes, etc. to get it where you like it. Tip – If it's too soft to work with, cover the bowl with a sheet of plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for about 15 minutes, or until just chilled enough to make it easier to work with, and form a ball. Make Ahead Tip – If you'd like to make this cheese ball in advance, do so, through this step, wrap it well in plastic wrap, and keep it for up to 24-36 hours before giving it a final roll through the nuts, garnishing and serving.
- After you've formed a ball, scatter the remaining nuts on a plate, and gently roll the formed ball around on the nuts to coat evenly. As necessary, use your hands to gently press the nuts into the side of the cheese ball.
- Wrap the cheese ball very well with plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge to chill for at least 15 to 30 minutes before serving, or as desired. This will depend on how soft your cream cheese is, if you refrigerated it prior to forming the ball, and personal preference.
- Optionally garnish with fresh parsley sprinkled over the top and serve with crackers or your favorite dippers or crudites. Extra cheese ball will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days, noting the nuts could become a bit soft from the moisture of the cream cheese. I don't recommend freezing leftovers.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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