Quick and easy appetizer recipe, and can be frozen for later too. Gluten free options also included.
Gooey Fried Cheese Balls
Is there anything better than gooey, melty cheese in a crispy shell? Well, yes of course. These Fried Cheese Balls (Crispy Cheese Jalapeno Bacon Bites) right here! These are similar to Tirokroketes (a Greek fried cheese ball) and Texas Roadhouse rattlesnake bites but with jalapeno, bacon and hot sauce! There’s so much flavor packed into these extra cheesy, extra creamy, crispy fried cheese balls, they’ll disappear in a flash. These crispy cheese jalapeno bacon bites are perfect for game day and entertaining. In fact. I just served these recently for a game day meet up with some friends, and paired these with pork stuffed hatch chile (check this post if you want to learn how to roast hatch chile in the oven). These are beat eaten hot so you get the best of that stretchy, creamy, melted cheese goodness, but they taste just as great at room temperature too. While the cheese won’t be as gooey then, they’ll still be just as creamy because of the cream cheese and have plenty of flavor thanks to the jalapeno, bacon and hot sauce. And imagine serving these with a spicy jalapeno margarita (made with jalapeno simple syrup)!
Recipe tips to make perfect fried cheese balls
Make the cheese balls to be about 1 inch in diameter. You can refrigerate the cheese mix to make it easier to form portions, OR use a small cookie scoop or regular spoon to portion out the cheese. Roll each portion into 1 inch sized balls and place them on a tray. Refrigerate the jalapeno popper cheese balls, so they become firm and it’s easier to coat them with the flour, eggs, and panko breadcrumbs. To make this process faster, you can freeze the cheese balls for about 15 – 20 minutes instead. ALWAYS coat with the flour mix FIRST! The flour mix is seasoned as well, so it’ll add another layer of spice and flavor to the cheese balls. I prefer to do a double coating of flour (flour – egg – flour – egg – breadcrumbs), so that I end up with a thicker coating that protects these fried cheese ball even more. Choosing the right breadcrumbs – I used Panko breadcrumbs, because it gives crispier results. Due to the slightly larger size of panko breadcrumbs, they may not cover the entire surface of the cheese balls, resulting in some cheese leaking out while frying. This isn’t an issue for me though. If you use regular breadcrumbs, they are not as light and crispy as Panko, but since they are finer, they will coat the cheese balls better, which will potentially lessen the chance of melted cheese leaking out while being fried. These creamy and crispy cheese jalapeno bacon bites are best fried when the cheese is either at room temperature OR a little cold (not frozen) – you want these crispy cheese jalapeno bacon bites to fry up quickly (in 1 – 1.5 minutes), as they turn golden brown, and all the cheese inside has had time to melt completely (that’s another reason for making sure the fried cheese balls are about 1 inch in diameter).
You can freeze these creamy jalapeno popper bites for later as well if you like. But make sure to defrost them in the fridge overnight first, so that they’ll be perfectly cheesy and gooey after you fry ’em up. As someone who tunes in for game days and other sporting events purely for the food and drinks, these fried cheese balls are super addictive for me! 🙂 And I can guarantee everyone will be hooked on these delicious fried cheese balls with jalapeno and bacon! I like to serve these jalapeno popper bites with fry sauce. It’s simple, classic and a perfect pairing for these bites. But sriracha, tomato sauce, my spicy sweet chili sauce or ranch dipping sauce will be great alternatives too.
Fried cheese balls recipe video
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