This pumpkin shaped cheeseball is the perfect appetizer for a Fall party or charcuterie board. It looks impressive, but is simple to create!
Impress your guests at your next Fall party with this festive pumpkin cheese ball recipe! It is easier to create than it looks! All you need are five simple ingredients and plastic wrap!
Create this cute appetizer and serve it with your favorite crackers! It’s the perfect addition to a Fall charcuterie board or Thanksgiving appetizer table because of it’s fun shape and color!
Ingredients for This Pumpkin-Shaped Cheeseball
- Vegetable Cream Cheese – This cream cheese blend is a mix of cream cheese and veggies. The vegetables include carrots, celery, onion, red pepper, and green pepper.
- Ranch Seasoning – This is a blend of seasonings, like garlic, dill, salt, and pepper. You can buy the seasoning premixed at the grocery store or make your own homemade Ranch.
- Chives – Similar in taste to green onions, chives are more slender and the bulb is not edible. Sub these with green onions if chives aren’t available to you.
- Finely Shredded Cheddar Cheese – Use an orange sharp cheddar cheese to resemble the outer orange rind of a pumpkin. Don’t use pre-shredded cheese because it isn’t fine enough of a shred. You need to freshly shred the cheese with the smallest size on a shredder.
- Bell Pepper – Use any color bell pepper. You don’t need the pepper itself, just the stem.
Make Homemade Ranch Seasoning
Ranch seasoning is a zesty and flavorful combination of spices, like garlic, onion, and dill. The seasoning mix is available for purchase at most grocery stores. But it’s also easy to make your own!
In a small bowl, combine 1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1/8 teaspoon of onion powder, 1/8 teaspoon of dill, and 1/8 teaspoon of parsley with 1/8 teaspoon of salt and of pepper. Whisk the spices together to evenly distribute them.
Serve this Pumpkin-Shaped Cheese Ball on a Fall Charcuterie Board!
How to Make a Pumpkin Shaped Cheese Ball
This pumpkin-shaped cheese ball is a fun and simple appetizer to put together! It’s a delicious appetizer for Halloween parties, Thanksgiving, or Autumn parties.
Create the Cheeseball Base
Step One – First, lay out a 12″x 12″ square of plastic wrap.
Step Two – Create the cheeseball mixture next. Combine vegetable cream cheese with Ranch seasoning and chives. Plop the cheese ball mixture in the center of the plastic wrap square. Wrap the large sheet of plastic wrap around the cream cheese mixture. Use your hands to form the vegetable cheese mixture into a ball shape.
Step Three – Finely shred about 4 ounces of cheddar cheese. Roll the ball of cream cheese through the finely shredded cheddar cheese. Coat the entire cheese ball in the orange shredded cheese.
Step Four – Next, wrap the coated cheese ball in plastic wrap again. Be sure the plastic wrap is as even on all sides as possible and tightly wrapped. If not the cheese ball will not correctly form it’s pumpkin shape.
Give the Cheeseball It’s Pumpkin Shape
Step Five – Use six thick rubber bands to create the vertical grooves of a pumpkin. The first rubberband wraps vertically around the cheese ball. The next rubberband wraps horizontally across the cheese ball. Then wrap the next band diagonally across the pumpkin. Finally, wrap the last rubberband diagonally in the other direction.
Step Six – Place the rubber band wrapped cheese ball in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. If you’re making this ball in advance it may stay in the refrigerator for a few hours. Place it in the freezer to firm the ball in 10-15 minutes!
Step Seven – When it’s time to serve the pumpkin-shaped cheeseball remove the rubber bands and the plastic wrap. These should look like the pumpkin ridges of an actual pumpkin. Place the ball of cheese on a plate or cheese board.
Step Eight – Finally, create the pumpkin stem using a bell pepper stem! Remove the stem from a bell pepper. Place the stem into the top of the cheese ball where all of the grooves intersect.
Step Nine – Serve with crackers or chips. Fall chips, like the leaf-shaped tortilla chips from Trader Joe’s, are perfect for this ball.
Ways to Use a Pumpkin Cheese Ball
This cute little pumpkin cheeseball is perfect for a variety of occasions!
- Use this cheeseball on a Fall charcuterie board. Its color and shape are perfect for an autumn party or Thanksgiving appetizer.
- Create mini versions of these pumpkin cheese balls, but use pretzel sticks for the stem!
- A pumpkin-shaped snack is also perfect for a movie night snack board. Create a board for a Cinderella movie night using this cheeseball, and a combination of blue and white snacks.
More Fun Charcuterie Board Ideas
Pumpkin Shaped Cheeseball
Equipment
- plastic wrap
- fine cheese grater
Ingredients
- 8 oz vegetable cream cheese
- 1 tbsp Ranch seasoning
- 1/8 cup chives
- 4 oz finely shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 bell pepper just the stem
Instructions
- Lay out a 12"x 12" square of plastic wrap.
- Combine vegetable cream cheese with Ranch seasoning and chives.
- Plop the cheese ball mixture in the center of the plastic wrap square. Wrap the large sheet of plastic wrap around it. Use your hands to form the vegetable cheese mixture into a ball shape.
- Finely shred the cheddar cheese.
- Roll the ball of cream cheese through the finely shredded cheddar cheese. Coat the entire cheese ball.
- Wrap the coated cheese ball in plastic wrap again.
- Use six thick rubber bands to create the vertical grooves of a pumpkin. Wrap one rubber band vertically around the cheese ball. Wrap the next horizontally across the cheese ball. Wrap the next band diagonally across the pumpkin. Wrap the last rubber band diagonally in the other direction.
- Place the rubber band wrapped cheese ball in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Remove the stem from the bell pepper. Place the stem into the top of the cheese ball where all of the grooves intersect to form a pumpkin stem.
- Serve with crackers or chips.
