Spinach Cheese Balls have a creamy cheese filling with Italian seasoning. They fry up ultra crispy and taste great dipped in pizza sauce.
Delicious Appetizer Recipe
These Spinach Cheese Balls have a larger list of ingredients than the classic spinach balls made with stuffing mix, but they are so tasty. With a cheese-flavored center encased in a crunchy coating, they are hard to resist.
Creamy Cheese Filling
Three types of cheese (mozzarella, parmesan, and ricotta) form the base for these spinach balls. There’s also some sour cream.
Lots of Seasoning
Onion powder, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper flakes are added for seasoning. Spinach is bland on its own and needs a big flavor punch.
Start With Spinach
You’ll need one box of frozen chopped spinach. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight and then be sure to squeeze the water out of it or the filling will be too watery to hold shape.
Crispy Coating
The spinach cheese mixture gets rolled in bread crumbs and then fried in vegetable oil until crispy. Panko crumbs can be used instead of bread crumbs.
How To Serve
These Spinach Cheese Balls make a great appetizer. Because of the Italian flavors, they taste great dipped in pizza sauce. I use a jarred pizza sauce.
Make Ahead and Storage
The filling can be mixed, shaped into balls and rolled in bread crumbs ahead of time and refrigerated until you are ready to fry them. They are best eaten right away but leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days and reheated in a toaster oven or air fryer.
More Appetizers with Spinach
- Spinach Artichoke Dip Bread Ring
- Hot Jalapeno Bacon Spinach Dip
- Spinach Artichoke Dip
- Cheesy Shrimp and Spinach Dip
- Oysters Rockefeller Dip
Spinach Cheese Balls
Ingredients
- 1 (9-ounce) box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
- 1 large egg
- 1 (15-ounce) container ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, (4-ounces)
- 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, (4-ounces)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- Vegetable oil
- 1 cup dry bread crumbs
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- pizza sauce for serving
Instructions
- Squeeze the water out of the spinach and place in a large bowl.
- Add egg, ricotta cheese, and sour cream and stir until evenly mixed. Make sure there are no clumps of spinach.
- Add mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, and olive oil. Mix well.
- Mix in 1 cup of flour. Mix in the remaining flour.
- Shape into 1 1/2-inch balls. You should get 30 to 36 total.
- Pour about 1 1/2 to 2 inches of oil into a Dutch oven. Heat oil to 350 degrees.
- Combine bread crumbs and salt in a pie plate. Roll balls in bread crumb mixture.
- Fry 6 to 8 balls at a time for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and set on a paper towel-lined plate.Note: To keep them warm, place on a rimmed baking sheet in a 200 degree oven.
- Repeat until all balls are cooked.
- Serve warm with pizza sauce.
Nutrition
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Recipe adapted from Pillsbury
