Cute Reindeer Christmas Cheese Ball Recipe

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The holiday season is quickly creeping up on us, which means it’s time to start planning your food for all those holiday parties you’ll soon be attending! Mini cheese balls are a great go-to option for any holiday celebration because they’re delicious and easy to eat. These simple bacon ranch mini cheese balls are a great way to celebrate the holiday season — especially when you turn them into a cute reindeer Christmas cheese ball.

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I have always loved cheese balls! They’re such a simple, yet delicious holiday appetizer. That’s why they’re so popular during the holiday season! And mini cheese balls are great because they’re so much easier to eat than traditional Christmas cheeseballs while mingling at a holiday party.

Simple recipes are my jam. And this recipe really couldn’t get any easier. You only need six ingredients to make this adorable Christmas cheese ball recipe:

• cream cheese
• ranch dressing mix
• shredded cheddar cheese
• bacon
• tomato
• pretzels

So, grab your ingredients and keep reading to find out how to make these easy Christmas cheeseballs.

How to Make Christmas Cheese Balls

The first step to creating these reindeer mini cheese balls is to make the bacon ranch cheese ball. Start by combining softened cream cheese, ranch dressing mix and shredded cheese in a large bowl. Beat the ingredients together until they’re fully combined. Then, put the bowl into the fridge to chill for at least an hour.

Once the cheeseball mixture has firmed up, you can start making your Christmas cheeseballs. Use a tablespoon or cookie scoop to scoop out the cheese mixture so that all your mini cheese balls are the same size. Simply scoop out the cheese mixture and roll it between your hands until a nice, smooth ball forms.

When all your mini cheese balls have been formed, you can start covering them in bacon. For this step you can use freshly made bacon or store-bought bacon bits. Either way, you’ll need to prep your bacon by chopping it into fine bits. I used my food processor to crumble the bacon, but you can also finely cop the bacon with a knife.

After the bacon is ready to go, place it in a small bowl and roll each ball in the bacon until it’s completely covered. Then, place the balls on a flat surface to start turning them into reindeer.

How to Make a Reindeer Christmas Cheese Ball

To transform your plain bacon cheddar mini cheese balls into reindeer cheese balls, you’ll need to additional ingredients — a tomato (or red bell pepper) and mini pretzels. Start by cutting your tomato into small squares. Then, place a red square in the center of each cheese ball to serve as a reindeer nose on your Christmas cheeseballs.

Now it’s time for the most difficult part of this easy recipe — making the reindeer antlers for your Christmas cheese ball. To turn a mini pretzel into reindeer antlers, start by cutting each pretzel in half with a sharp knife. then, cut the loop off the top of each pretzel half to form antlers.

This part isn’t really hard, just frustrating. You’re going to end up with a lot of broken pretzels in order to get your antlers to look right! But it’s worth it in the end — and you’ll have a lot of pretzels to snack on while you work!

Questions About Christmas Cheeseballs

While this Christmas cheese ball recipe is simple to make, sometimes questions arise about the instructions and the ingredients. Here are the answers to some common questions about making reindeer mini cheese balls:

Can I make these reindeer cheese balls gluten free?

This is always my biggest question when I’m looking at making a new recipe. The good news is that these cheese balls can easily be made gluten free! The bacon ranch cheese ball is already gluten free, so the only substitution you need to make is to use gluten free mini pretzels when you make the reindeer antlers. That’s simple, right?!

Can I use a different cheese ball recipe?

Yes! If you have a favorite Christmas cheese ball recipe that you love making each year, feel free to sub that recipe for my bacon ranch cheeseballs. The only suggestion I have is to make sure your Christmas cheese ball recipe includes a brown element on the outside of the cheese ball, like bacon or nuts, so each mini cheese ball is brown like a reindeer.

Can I make a large Christmas cheese ball instead of mini cheese balls?

Sure! If you still want your cheese ball to look like a reindeer but would prefer to make one large cheese ball instead of mini cheese balls, start by mixing the cheese ball recipe as normal. Then, roll the cheese mixture into a large ball and cover with bacon. Use a full-sized pretzel to create the antlers and cut a larger piece of tomato as the nose.

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