Home » Appetizer Recipes » Pumpkin-Shaped Cheeseball (+Video)

Pumpkin-Shaped Cheeseball (+Video)

This Pumpkin-Shaped Cheeseball is made with creamy, delicious, ranch-style filling covered in cheese! It’s the best! Perfect for Halloween or Thanksgiving.

AN EASY BUT IMPRESSIVE APPETIZER

I don’t know about y’all but I love a good cheeseball. I mean, cheese. In a ball. Need I say more? What’s not to love? Cheese and crackers are a simple treat we all love. If I see a cheeseball on any food spread, I am heading straight to it. With this recipe, I knew I wanted to create a pumpkin shaped cheeseball for all those fall festivities but I didn’t necessarily want pumpkin flavor. I wanted a true cheeseball.

Pumpkin Shaped Cheese Ball with cheddar cheese and ranch dressing shown on a plate with Ritz crackers.

PUMPKIN SHAPE – NOT PUMPKIN FLAVORED

This is a delicious veggie, creamy cheeseball that is perfect served with crackers or vegetable sticks. It is an absolute hit everywhere I take it. Everyone will want the recipe – trust me!

Vegetable Cream Cheese Cheeseball covered in shredded cheddat cheese and shaped into a pumpkin. A piece shown removed and served on a Ritz cracerk.

A HUGE HIT AT EVERY PARTY

You don’t even have to form it into a pumpkin shape. The taste alone will make it a hit at your next gathering. It’s not just cute – it is delicious! What I love most is being able to make it ahead of time. You can get it all prepped and ready to go, wrap it in plastic wrap and pop it into the fridge. Also, it’s super important to use freshly grated cheese! It is stickier than the pre-shredded kind and that helps when forming the cheeseball.

Pumpkin-Shaped Cheeseball recipe from The Country Cook. Cheeseball shown on a brown and white plate with Ritz crackers surrounding the cheeseball.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED FOR PUMPKIN-SHAPED CHEESEBALL: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)

  • cream cheese
  • vegetable cream cheese
  • Hidden Valley Spicy Ranch mix
  • green onions
  • red pepper
  • freshly shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Hidden Valley Ranch dip dressing mix, shredded cheddar cheese, vegetable cream cheese, green onions, green and red pepper, cream cheese.

HOW TO MAKE A PUMPKIN-SHAPED CHEESEBALL:

Finely chop the red pepper and green onion. You want small pieces, not big chunks. Be sure to save the stem of the red pepper. It’s going to be our pumpkin stem! I just wrap the stem up in a slightly dampened paper towel and wrap that up in some Plastic wrap and put it in the fridge until I’m ready for it.

diced green onions and diced red pepper.

Using an electric or stand mixer, combine both cream cheeses.

vegetable cream cheese mixed with regular cream cheese in a stand mixer.

Nest, stir in 2 tablespoons of Hidden Valley Ranch Spicy Ranch mix. Note: This was not spicy in this cheeseball at all. It just gave it a small kick of flavor. You can always use the Hidden Valley Original Ranch flavor for this!

Southwest Spicy Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix.

Then gently stir in green onion and red pepper.

diced red pepper and green onion mixed together with vegetable cream cheese and plain cream cheese

I love the orange-ish color the Spicy Ranch Mix and red pepper adds to the mixture.

vegetable cream cheese, cheeseball mixture.

Finally, stir in one cup of shredded cheddar cheese.

shredded cheddar cheese mixture added to cream cheese mixture.

Spread out a large sheet of plastic wrap. Sprinkle about a 1/4 cup of the shredded cheddar cheese onto the plastic wrap.

shredded cheddar cheese placed on top of plastic wrap.

Then top with cheeseball mixture.

vegetable cheeseball mixture spread on top of cheese and plastic wrap.

Take the rest of the shredded cheddar cheese and sprinkle it onto the tops and sides of the cheese ball.

shredded cheddar cheese evenly spread all over vegetable cheeseball.

I do two layers of cling wrap. It needs to be well-wrapped and wrapped tightly.

plastic wrapped homemade cheeseball.

Now, time to wrap it up with rubber bands. You can also use kitchen twine for this. You will need 4 large rubber bands. This is why it’s important to have a tightly wrapped cheeseball with two layers. We don’t want any cheeseball mix squeezing out while we’re putting on the rubber bands. (Ask me how I know.) With these rubber bands, I had to double wrap each one to get those long indentations we’re looking for to make the pumpkin shape. You can also use kitchen twine for this if that makes it easier for you.

rubber band, plastic wrap cheeseball to form into a pumpkin shape.

Place cheeseball into the fridge for a minimum of two hours (overnight is best.) Not only do the flavors get better as it sits, but as the mixture cools, it will help it to form that pumpkin shape. When ready, cut off the rubber bands and carefully remove the cling wrap. Then add on the red pepper stem to the top. Just gently push it in there. Serve with your favorite buttery crackers.

Vegetable, ranch dressing cheeseball spread on Ritz butter cracker.

Got leftovers? No problem. Just pop your leftover cheeseball into a tall and large Glad entree container and you’ll have it ready to snack on for later!

Easy Pumpkin Shaped Cheeseball on a serving plate.

CRAVING MORE RECIPES? GIVE THESE A TRY!

Pumpkin Shaped Cheeseball recipe

Pumpkin-Shaped Cheeseball (+Video)

This Pumpkin Shaped Cheeseball is made with creamy, delicious, ranch-style filling covered in cheese! It’s the best! Perfect for Thanksgiving.
4.96 from 92 votes
Print Pin Rate
Resting time: 2 hours
Total Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 8

Ingredients

  • 8 ounce block cream cheese (softened to room temperature)
  • 8 ounce tub vegetable cream cheese
  • 2 tablespoons Hidden Valley Ranch Spicy Ranch mix (or regular ranch)
  • 3 green onions sliced
  • 1 red pepper finely diced (save the stem)
  • 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese divided use

Instructions

  • Using an electric or stand mixer, combine both cream cheeses.
  • Then stir in 2 tablespoons of Hidden Valley Ranch Spicy Ranch mix, green onion, red pepper and one cup shredded cheddar cheese.
  • Spread out a large sheet of Glad ClingWrap.
  • Sprinkle about a 1/4 cup of the shredded cheddar cheese onto the plastic wrap.
  • Then top with cheese ball mixture.
  • Take the rest of the shredded cheddar cheese and sprinkle it onto the tops and sides of the cheese ball and wrap it up well with cling wrap.
  • Two layers of cling wrap work best. It needs to be well-wrapped and wrapped tightly. Now, time to wrap it up with four large and wide rubber bands.
  • We don’t want any cheese ball mix squeezing out while we’re putting on the rubber bands. I had to double wrap each rubber band to get those long indentations we’re looking for to make the pumpkin shape.
  • Place cheese ball into the fridge for a minimum of two hours (overnight is best.) Not only do the flavors get better as it sits, but as the mixture cools, it will help it to form that pumpkin shape.
  • When ready, cut off the rubber bands and carefully remove the cling wrap.
  • Then add on the red pepper stem to the top. Just gently push it in there.
  • Serve with your favorite buttery crackers.

Video

YouTube video

Notes

  • I like to use freshly grated cheddar cheese for this. It is stickier than the bagged kind and that helps when forming the cheese ball.
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: American

Nutrition

Calories: 230kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 15g | Sodium: 787mg | Sugar: 3g

Nutritional Disclaimer

“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.

Did you make this recipe?Share it on Instagram @thecountrycook and mention us #thecountrycook!

Originally published: November 2015
Updated & republished: October 2019

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Recipe Rating




102 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Oh my gosh – this ended up being so cute and the taste was really, really good! It was the hit of our Thanksgiving appetizers and everyone wanted to know how I made it. It will now be on the table every Thanksgiving!!

  2. 5 stars
    served this for our halloween party. Everyone loved it. 2 people even said they didn’t usually like cheese balls, but loved this! it was easy to make and is really cute as well. I’ll be making this again!

  3. 5 stars
    This cheeseball tastes absolutely amazing! It’s not just cute but it tastes great! Everyone at our game night loved it – thanks so much!

  4. 5 stars
    Awesome! I think I might add some chopped bacon and smoked almonds just for variety. Will definitely make again! Thank you.

  5. Hi there,
    This is my go to cheese ball for gatherings. I make the pumpkin shape for Halloween and make it into a carrot shape for Easter! Awesome recipe and everyone loves it. FYI, we don’t seem to sell spicy ranch mix in Canada so I add 1/8 tsp of cayenne. Just the right amount of a little hint of a kick! Thanks for sharing! 🙂 Pam

  6. 5 stars
    Delicious! I made this for Thanksgiving this year and everyone loved it. I put a bunch of rubber bands around my cheese ball and the creases never came out but I was able to score it with a knife and it worked out great. Thank you!

  7. 5 stars
    I’m in Canada (Ontario) and couldn’t find the veggie cream cheese or spicy ranch mix. Instead of veggie cream cheese I used chive and onion, and I added 2 tsp of hot sauce. I shredded my own cheddar (old) and don’t have a mixer so just brought the cream cheese to room temperature and mixed with my spatula. This is delicious! Easy to make and so much fun. Thank you for the recipe!

  8. 5 stars
    I took this to a Thanksgiving party and it was a huge hit, plus so delicious! I used home made ranch dressing mix because of all the nasty chemicals in the store-bought kind, and just added a couple drops of Tabasco sauce. Several people asked for the recipe. Looks amazing, too!

  9. This is awesome! I don’t like creamcheese, any recommendation for a different type of soft cheese?
    How far ahead of time could I made this for a party?

    Thank you!

  10. 5 stars
    Very easy, very good and very pretty! My friends loved it on my party last weekend. Great snack. Thank you for sharing this recipe.

  11. I love this recipe! I have made many times over the years. I have one question for you. Sometimes the ball seems more squishy then other times. Any tips on how I can get it to form better? I’ve tried more cheddar cheese. Any tips will be appreciated

    SudieQ

    1. Hey Susie Q! Do you mean squishy as you make it or squishy after it’s cooled and setup in the fridge for a few hours? Sometimes, it is the quality of the cream cheese. Always go with Philadelphia cream cheese brand if you can. I find theirs always sets up the best in cheeseball recipes. Hope that helps and I’m thrilled you love this one!!

      1. I did use Philadelphia cheese and it did not set well for me. My pumpkin went flat on me. Should I not use the whole container of the vegetable one next time? I used a block of sharp cheddar and shredded it myself thinking this would help solidify it also

      2. That’s weird… Sometimes it does it and sometimes not, huh? Maybe they’ve changed the recipe of the veggie cream cheese on us. I would try using less of that then, maybe it’s making it too soft overall.

  12. 5 stars
    I made the dip for my daughter’s trunk or treat party at school. It was such a hit, everyone loved it. It was so easy to make! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. Next time I make it, which will be soon, I will remember to take a picture!

  13. 5 stars
    This recipe is great! I took it to a school function and it was gone within 20 minutes. Everyone asked for the recipe. I also modified it for a Christmas party, making it into a tree with parsley on the outside instead of cheese and a yellow pepper star. This cheese ball is terrific!