This Goat Cheese & Bacon Balls Appetizer Recipe is an easy, quick, no-cook appetizer which won’t spoil the main meal and is simple enough to put together so as not to add stress to your already busy Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s Eve day! Be sure to add these Goat Cheese & Bacon Balls to your entertaining menu this year!
Goat Cheese & Bacon Balls Appetizer Recipe
If you’re entertaining this holiday season and need an appetizer for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or the New Year’s Eve holiday, these Goat Cheese & Bacon Balls are a savory treat and they’re fairly quick and easy to make! With just a few ingredients and 30 minutes, you’ll have an appetizer on the table!
I like to think of these Goat Cheese & Bacon Balls as “cheese lollipops!” You can make them with cocktail sticks or pretzel sticks. I served mine on dried apple slices like tiny plates, but you could also serve them on crackers! The possibilities are endless and delicious!
Goat Cheese & Bacon Balls Appetizer Ingredients:
- Goat cheese
- Cream cheese
- Crispy bacon
- Walnuts
- Parsley
- Optional: Dried cranberries
- Optional: Dried apple slices or round crackers
- Optional: Cocktail sticks or pretzel sticks
You can add dried cranberries to the mix if you’re making during the holidays and want these to be a little more festive with Christmasy flavors and a red and green ball!
You can place these cheese balls on dried apple slices or round crackers for an easy serving option.
You can use either cocktail sticks or (a more environmentally-friendly/zero-waste option) pretzel sticks!
It doesn’t take much to make these goat cheese and bacon balls, but I do have a few recommendations to make things a bit easier.
Recommended Kitchen Equipment:
The cookie dough scoop will help you make uniform balls of all the same size.
If you’re looking for cocktail sticks, make sure you’re using heavy duty ones. The thin little bamboo sticks (that are often tied in a loop at the end) will not hold up these “cheese lollipops!”
You don’t need a stand mixer, but it makes mixing easier.
And you don’t need a food processor, but it makes slicing and dicing easier.
How to Make Goat Cheese & Bacon Balls:
Start by cooking the bacon. I like to cook my bacon in the oven because it cooks evenly, crisps up nicely, and there’s no splatter to clean up! Plus, the smoke alarm never goes off like it does when we cook bacon on the stove.
To cook the bacon in the oven. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and lay each strip of bacon onto a foil-wrapped baking sheet, making sure the strips do not touch. Bake for 12-15 minutes, flip each strip, then bake another 5 minutes. Depending on thickness/thinness of your brand of bacon, you may want to check on them after 8-10 minutes.
Once done cooking, remove from oven and let bacon “dry” on a plate covered with a paper towel. Flip after 10 minutes to let the over side “dry.” Once all the excess grease is drained or dried, dice bacon into bits.
Next, crush the walnuts if you purchased whole nuts.
Then dice the parsley.
Add the goat cheese and cream cheese to a stand mixer and mix with a paddle on medium low speed. Then add half the bacon bits, half the diced walnuts, and half the parsley and mix on low until combined.
Combine the other half of the bacon bits, walnuts, and parsley in a bowl and mix together with a spoon.
Using a cookie dough scoop or your hands, roll cheese mixture into 1″ balls and then roll the balls in the bacon, nut, and parsley mix to coat the outside.
Add a stick and set aside on dried apple slices, crackers, or on parchment paper.
Once all the balls are rolled and coated, place the Goat Cheese & Bacon Balls into the fridge until ready to serve.
Check out a few of my other appetizers:
- Beet Salad on a Stick
- Caesar Salad on a Stick (coming soon)
- Cucumber Hummus Rolls (coming soon)
Goat Cheese & Bacon Balls Appetizer Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 oz. Goat cheese
- 4 oz. Cream cheese
- 8 slices bacon
- 1/2 cup Walnuts, chopped
- 1/2 cup Parsley, minced
- 16 Dried apple chips or crackers
Instructions
- Cook the bacon in the oven. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and lay each strip of bacon onto a foil-wrapped baking sheet, making sure the strips do not touch. Bake for 12-15 minutes, flip each strip, then bake another 5 minutes. Depending on thickness/thinness of your brand of bacon, you may want to check on them after 8-10 minutes.
- Once bacon is done, remove from the oven and let bacon drain or dry on a plate covered with a paper towel. Flip after 10 minutes to let the over side "dry." Once all the excess grease is drained or dried, dice bacon into bits.
- Next, crush the walnuts if you purchased whole nuts.
- Dice the parsley.
- Add the goat cheese and cream cheese to a stand mixer and mix with a paddle on medium low speed until combined. Then add a quarter of the bacon bits, a quarter of the diced walnuts, and a quarter of the parsley and mix on low until combined.
- Combine the rest of the bacon bits, walnuts, and parsley in a bowl and mix together with a fork or spoon.
- Using a cookie dough scoop or your hands, roll the mixture into 1" balls of mixed cheese and then roll the balls in the bacon, nut, and parsley mix to coat the outside.
- Add a stick and set aside on dried apple slices, crackers, or on parchment paper.
- Place the Goat Cheese & Bacon Balls into the fridge until ready to serve.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 16 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 96Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 15mgSodium: 134mgCarbohydrates: 5gFiber: 1gSugar: 4gProtein: 4g
All information presented and written within this site are intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on saltycanary.com is provided as a courtesy, is an estimate only, and should only be used as a general guideline.
My Goat Cheese Balls on a Stick Appetizers originally appeared on Food Network along with 6 other “appetizers on a stick.”
Looking for more appetizer inspiration? Check out some of my other appetizers:
Kathleen
Wednesday 21st of September 2022
I doubled the cheeses and nuts but not the bacon, added about 2 Tablespoons of sundried tomatoes in olive oil, blotting some of the olive oil, plus 1 cup finely chopped red and orange mini peppers. I substituted finely chopped spinach for the parsley. I put them on cupcake paper cups as I didn't have the right crackers. That made it easier to transport to the pot luck I was going to.
Everyone loved them. Such a good basic recipe that can be altered for the ingredients at hand.