Create a fun and cute centerpiece with this turkey cheese ball. Made from cream cheese, sour cream, cheddar cheese, bacon, and herbs, it's both visually appealing and delicious!
Jump straight to the recipe!
🦃A fun appetizer for Thanksgiving
I couldn't get over how cute this cheese ball is when I made it. I took pictures of it right away and sent it to family with tons of emojis with it!
This cheese ball is so fun and very easy to make. The cheese ball and head come together, and then have to be chilled to firm up. After chilling is the fun part - the decorating! The head is made with candy eyes and a corner of a Dorito chip for the beak. A thick pretzel rod is used for the neck.
I decided to go with a combination of pretzel twists and bell peppers for the feathers, and I think it turned out really well, and I like that it gives people variety of dippers. I covered the turkey body with bacon slices to finish it off.
The turkey cheese ball will be a great centerpiece to your Thanking or Christmas table, and will garner a lot of compliments for sure!
Looking for more dips? Try my Nashville hot chicken dip!
🥘Ingredients
Ingredient notes
- Cream cheese - make sure you use block cream cheese and not the spreadable.3
- Cheddar cheese - substitute with your favourite cheese.
- Doritos - These are for the beak. You can use any other triangle shaped food to make the beak, like Bugles, Candy Corn, or Tortilla chips.
🔪Instructions
Making the cheese ball
To make the cheese ball, mix cream cheese and sour cream together in a large bowl until smooth. Add cheddar cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, dill, salt, pepper, and green onions. Mix until combined.
Chop up 4 slices of cooked bacon and stir it into the mixture. Remove ¼ of the mixture. Place it on a piece of plastic wrap and wrap it up. Form it into a ball.
Turn out the remaining cheese ball mixture on another piece of plastic wrap. Wrap it up and form it into a large ball.
Place both cheese balls on a baking sheet. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours to firm. You can also place it into the freezer for 1 hour if you are short on time.
Decorating the cheese ball
After cheese balls have been chilled, unwrap them. Place the pretzel rod about a ½" into the smallest ball. This will be the turkey's head. Add the candy eyes and Dorito beak.
Place the other end of the pretzel rod into the front top of the large cheese ball. It should go far into the ball to hold up the weight of the head. If the cheese balls are becoming soft at any point, put it in the freezer to firm up.
To form the turkey's tail, place 2 rows of pretzel twists in the top back. Then place a row of bell peppers, alternating colours.
Cover the whole cheese ball with the remaining strips of bacon. Cover and chill until ready to serve.
✔️Expert Tips
- Chill the cheese balls before decorating. The mixture will be way to soft after making it.
- You can use whichever type of cheese you prefer in this cheese ball. I used cheddar.
- Other substitutions for the beak are Bugles, Tortilla chips, or Candy Corn.
- If you can't find a pretzel rod for the neck, try using a Slim Jim.
- This turkey cheese ball would be adorable on a charcuterie board with crackers, chips, and veggies around it!
💭FAQs
Yes, make this and cover it so it's air tight. Chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
I don't recommend freezing this cheese ball. It wouldn't thaw very well and the texture wouldn't be the same.
Crackers, chips, and pita chips are perfect dippers for this cheese ball. Veggies also are great!
🔖Related Recipes
📋 Recipe
Turkey Cheese Ball
Ingredients
- 16 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- ⅓ cup sour cream room temperature
- 1 cup cheddar cheese shredded
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon dried dill
- ¼ teaspoon ground salt
- ⅛ teasppon ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons green onions chopped
- 10 slices bacon cooked
- 1 pretzel rod
- 5 pretzel twists
- 3 bell peppers red, orange, and yellow
- 2 candy eyes
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Take 2 pieces of plastic wrap and lay them out on the counter top.
- In a large bowl, mix cream cheese and sour cream together until smooth. Add cheddar cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, dill, salt, pepper, and green onions. Mix until combined.
- Chop up 4 slices of cooked bacon and stir it into the mixture.
- Remove ¼ of the mixture. Place it on one of the plastic wrap pieces and wrap it up. Form it into a ball.
- Turn out the remaining cheese ball mixture on the other plastic wrap piece. Wrap it up and form it into a large ball.
- Place both cheese balls on the prepared baking sheet. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours to firm. You can also place it into the freezer for 1 hour if you are short on time.
- After cheese balls have been chilled, unwrap them. Place the pretzel rod about a ½" into the smallest ball. This will be the turkey's head. Add the candy eyes and Dorito beak.
- Place the other end of the pretzel rod into the front top of the large cheese ball. It should go far into the ball to hold up the weight of the head. If the cheese balls are becoming soft at any point, put it in the freezer to firm up.
- To form the turkey's tail, place 2 rows of pretzel twists in the top back. Then place a row of bell peppers, alternating colours.
- Cover the whole cheese ball with the remaining strips of bacon. Cover and chill until ready to serve.
Notes
- Chill the cheese balls before decorating. The mixture will be way to soft after making it.
- You can use whichever type of cheese you prefer in this cheese ball. I used cheddar.
- Other substitutions for the beak are Bugles, Tortilla chips, or Candy Corn.
- If you can't find a pretzel rod for the neck, try using a Slim Jim.
- This turkey cheese ball would be adorable on a charcuterie board with crackers, chips, and veggies around it!
Did you try this recipe? Comment below to let me know ☺️