Dill Pickle Cheese Ball — Calling all dill pickle fans, this super EASY appetizer recipe is creamy, cheesy and chock full of dill pickles, dill pickle relish, and plenty of fresh dill! When you’re looking for a fan FAVORITE recipe to serve at your next holiday party or event, backyard barbecue, picnic, or potluck, put this quick and simple recipe on the list!
Table of contents
Easy Cheese Ball Recipe … with Pickles!
This extremely easy cheese ball appetizer recipe is just the thing for your next party! It’s cheesy, creamy, and loaded with dill galore! Dill four ways, actually.
There are bits of dill pickles, fresh dill, dill pickle relish, and dill pickle ranch seasoning. There’s prominent dill flavor to this dip as you can imagine.
And it’s so creamy thanks to both cream cheese and a bit of sour cream.
Plus it’s cheesy thanks to both shredded cheddar cheese and Colby Jack cheese which makes this a crowd favorite cheesy appetizer recipe! It’s great when you need to throw together something quickly, too!
I find that dill pickles and dill pickle-inspired foods have a cult-like following, especially recently. Have you seen all the dill pickle-flavored popcorn, chips, and seasonings in Trader Joe’s and regular grocery stores? If you’re one of those dill pickle freaks, you’re going to love this dill pickle cheese ball!
Can’t Get Enough Dill Pickles?
5-Minute Dill Pickle Chex Mix – Loaded with dill pickle flavor thanks to the addition of dill pickle juice and dried dill, this Chex mix recipe is easily my favorite one yet!
Dill Pickle Pasta Salad – Calling all pickle fans, you’re going to love this creamy pasta salad with crunchy dill pickles in every bite! Along with cubes of cheese and crumbled bacon, this pasta salad will be the star of your next picnic, potluck, barbecue, or summer holiday!
Ingredients for a Dill Pickle Cheese Ball
To make this incredibly easy cheese ball appetizer, you’ll need the following common fridge and pantry items including the following:
- Cream cheese – Make sure you use full fat, brick style cream cheese and nothing labeled as lite, fat free, or spreadable. It needs to be softened to room temp.
- Sour cream
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Chopped dill pickles
- Dill pickle relish
- Fresh dill
- Dill ranch seasoning mix (or regular ranch seasoning mix)
- Worcestershire sauce
- Shredded Colby Jack cheese
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
Dill Pickle Products Tips
You can use whatever brand name of dill pickles and dill pickle relish you’d like. If that’s a store brand at your local grocery store, or something more fancy, go for it.
Also did you know that ‘dill’ and ‘dill weed’ come from different parts of the same plant. Dill weed is made up of more of the leaves and stems of the plant. For this recipe, use ‘dill’ which is the baby fine ‘fruit’ part of the dill plant.
How to Make a Cheese Ball with Dill Pickles
When I say it doesn’t get any easier than this recipe, it truly doesn’t! All you need to do is the following:
Step 1: In a medium bowl, stir together the cream cheese and sour cream. You can use a mixer or do it by hand.
Step 2: Stir in nearly all the remaining ingredients.
Step 3. Place a piece of plastic wrap on your counter, turn out the cheese mixture into the middle, and pull and twist it to form a ball. Have patience because it’s a soft and moist “batter”!
Step 4: Chill it for at least 1 hour.
Step 5: After chilling, roll the cheese ball through a mixture of additional freshly chopped dill and the Colby cheese before serving!
What to Serve with a Cheese Ball
I like to serve this dill pickle cheese ball for holiday parties such as before Thanksgiving and Christmas, for summer events like barbecues, Memorial Day, Father’s Day, Fourth of July or Labor Day.
From picnics to potlucks, there’s no wrong time for a cheese ball!
I like to serve this cheese ball with crackers, pita chips, Ritz Crackers, or toasted bread along with other party favorites and sides including the following:
- Ham and Cheese Sliders – Baked juicy ham and Swiss nestled in soft Hawaiian rolls and brushed with a buttery Dijon, onion, and poppy seed topping!! Fast, EASY, and a party FAVORITE!
- Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Meatballs — EASY homemade chicken meatballs that simmer in buffalo wing sauce, seasonings, and spices in your slow cooker! Juicy and full of all the flavor of traditional buffalo chicken wings, minus the messy factor!
- BLT Pasta Salad — EASY, ready in 15 minutes, feeds a crowd, and PERFECT for potlucks and parties. Creamy ranch dressing perfectly coats the pasta and BACON. Guaranteed family FAVORITE!
- Baked Honey Lemon Pepper Wings — It doesn’t get any better than chicken wings with crispy skin and juicy fall-off-the-bone meat! The baked chicken wings are tossed in a delectable, buttery, lemon pepper sauce that clings to the wings perfectly!
- Cheesy Pigs in a Blanket — If you’ve never tried pigs in a blanket with cheese before, make this recipe! Sliced cheddar cheese and flaked salt takes this classic game day recipe and turns up the flavor! A FAST and EASY appetizer for holiday parties, get-togethers, or events!
- Grilled Mexican Corn (Elote) — Learn how to make this EASY and FLAVORFUL grilled Mexican street corn at home in minutes!! Fresh sweet corn is covered in crema, cheese, and finished with chili, lime juice, and cilantro!!
How to Store a Cheese Ball
You can feel comfortable storing any leftover dill pickle cheese ball in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Make sure you wrap it well in plastic wrap or place it in an airtight container.
Can the Cheese Ball Be Frozen?
Some people freeze cheese or cream cheese, but this isn’t something I do, and frankly can’t recommend freezing any leftovers of this cheese ball recipe with pickles. I think the texture would change dramatically, and not in a good way!
Dill Pickle Cheese Ball FAQs
Yes you certainly can! I would cook about 4 slices of bacon, finely dice it, and mix it right in with the cream cheese, sour cream, and other ingredients. Make sure it’s cooled before your add it.
You can also reserve some of the cooked bacon and mix it with the Colby Jack cheese and fresh dill and roll the chilled cheese ball into it. This will create a nice visual pop of bacon too right on the surface.
For maximum dill flavor, and for the best dill pickle cheese ball, I recommend using fresh dill. 
If you’d like to coat the exterior in chopped pecans, almonds, or walnuts, you certainly can. If this sounds like something you’d like, then definitely check out my Easy Jalapeño Cheese Ball because it’s coated in a variety of chopped nuts!
I use shredded cheddar cheese that I mix with the cream cheese and other ingredients. And then I roll and coat the chilled cheese ball in Colby Jack. However, if you want to use a Mexican cheese blend, a Colby Jack blend, a pizza blend, most bagged pre-shredded cheese or cheese blends will be fine.
Yes it definitely is! You will see when you are mixing up the room temperature softened cream cheese with the other ingredients and then forming the ball, that it’s very soft and a messy job. The minimum 1 hour chill time is indeed necessary so everything sets.
Yes you can make the cheese ball with dill pickles in advance. Rather than chilling for 1 hour, you can chill it for up to 24 hours. Before you’re going to serve it, you can roll your cheese ball through the topping mixture of Colby Jack and fresh dill.
Alternatively, you can chill for 1 hour, roll it to top it with Colby Jack and dill, and have it totally ready to go for an event or party. Just cover it well with plastic wrap for up to 24 hours before serving it. 
If you can’t find the dill flavored option of classic ranch seasoning, don’t worry. Regular ranch seasoning mix is just fine. This will tone down the overall dill flavor of the cheese ball a bit, but there are still three other ingredients with dill in them so don’t sorry.
If you live in an area where you can’t find any type of dry powdered ranch seasoning, you can make a mixture of it with garlic powder, onion powder, and salt. I suggest do an online search for how to make it yourself. You are only using a tablespoon anyway.
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Dill Pickle Cheese Ball
Ingredients
- two 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened to room temp (use full fat cream cheese and not anything labeled as lite, fat free, or spreadable)
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, or a similar cheese or shredded cheese blend
- 1 cup dill pickles, diced or chopped small
- ¼ cup dill pickle relish
- 3 tablespoons fresh dill, finely minced; divided
- 1 tablespoon dill flavored ranch seasoning mix, or original ranch seasoning mix*
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ cup shredded Colby Jack cheese
Instructions
- To a large bowl, add the cream cheese, sour cream, and mix with a handheld electric mixer, large wooden spoon, or rubber spatula until smooth and combined. Tip – Make sure the cream cheese is very well softened to room temp or this will be an unnecessarily difficult task.
- Add the shredded cheddar, chopped dill pickles, dill pickle relish, 2 tablespoons fresh dill, dill flavored ranch seasoning (or original ranch seasoning mix*) Worcestershire, and mix well to combine.
- Place a large sheet of plastic wrap on your clean countertop, and turn the cream cheese mixture out into the center of it.
- Seal the edges of it and using your hands on the outside of the plastic wrap, create a ball. This takes a little patience but use whatever technique you'd like to get the mixture into a ball shape.
- Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 24 hours. Do not skip the chilling.
- Before serving, add the shredded Colby Jack and remaining 1 tablespoon fresh dill in a large, shallow bowl, and roll the chilled cheese ball through it to coat the cheese ball evenly.
- Serve cheese ball with crackers, pita chips, toasted bread, or the dippers of your choice. Cheese ball will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days. I have never tried freezing it and while some people say that you can freeze cream cheese and cheese, it isn't something I personally do.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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