Baby Chick Mini Cheese Balls

Why You’ll Love These

Super-cute: These Easter appetizers might end up becoming your favorite cheese ball recipe because they really are adorable!
Delicious: The combination of cream cheese, finely shredded cheddar cheese, Worcestershire sauce, and seasonings makes these lovely baby chick mini cheese balls perfectly delicious.
Customizable: Prefer a different kind of cheese or something other than round crackers, feel free to adapt the recipe and make it your own.

Easter Mini Cheese Balls Ingredients

A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below

Cream cheese: Use any brand you like (full-fat is more flavorful) and make sure it’s at room temperature so it isn’t too firm to roll.
Finely shredded cheddar cheese: Sharp cheddar cheese is good for cheese ball chicks, or you can use another kind if you prefer.
Seasonings: Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder and onion powder add a great flavor to the cheese balls.
Carrots and peppercorns: Decorate the mini cheese balls with peppercorns and pie shaped wedges of carrot. No peppercorns? You can sub cut pieces of black olives. Regular carrots or baby carrots work here.
Crackers: To serve the mini cheese balls. Each of the cheesy chicks perches on a round cracker.

How to Make Easter Cheese Ball Bites

For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card

Prepare the cream cheese mixture:  Mix the garlic powder, onion powder and 1 1/2 cups of the finely shredded cheddar cheese with the cream cheese until well combined.
Shape the cheese balls: Divide the cheese ball mixture 20 small round balls using a cookie scoop.
Roll them in shredded cheese: Roll each cream cheese ball in shredded cheese and put each one on a cracker.
Prepare the carrot: Cut carrot rounds, then cut pie shaped wedges out of the carrots to be the chick’s feet and cut more up to be the beaks.
The finishing touches: Add a pair of black peppercorns to each cheese ball as eyes (or make black olive eyes) and serve immediately on a serving plate!

Substitutions and Variations

Gluten-free option:  If you want a gluten-free version, swap the crackers for cucumber slices.
Different cheese: You can use another kind of shredded cheese if you like, perhaps Emmentaler, Swiss cheese or even a Mexican or Italian blend.
Spice them up: A pinch of red pepper flakes or dash of hot sauce takes the heat up a notch!

Serving Suggestions

Breakfast:  Try a bagel breakfast bake casserole for breakfast on Easter morning.
Main dish: Later in the day, you might like to have Pizza giana rustica, a savory Italian pie that’s popular at Easter. And how about some smoked potato salad to go with? Honey-glazed ham or a sheet pan ham dinner would also be ideal for Easter dinner.
Dessert:  For dessert, consider lemon posset brulee or you could whip up lemon curd berry pavlova to fuel you up for fun Easter activities. Or chocolate cherry blossom cookies?
Drinks: Treat yourself to a raspberry bourbon smash!

How to Store this Cheese Ball Recipe

Store:  It’s best to store these without the cracker so it doesn’t get soggy. Arrange the cheeseballs on a baking sheet and cover them with plastic wrap. Eat them within a day or two.
Freeze:  The carrots would get mushy and the cheese balls would lose their shape when thawing, so it’s best not to freeze the cheese balls.

Top Tips

Firm them up: If the cream cheese mixture gets too warm it won’t hold its shape. If this happens, just pop the cheese ball mixture in the refrigerator for half an hour and then shape the cheese balls using a 1-inch cookie scoop (here).
Add some crunch: Chopped nuts or panko breadcrumbs can be used in place of the shredded cheddar cheese to add crunch as well as a contrasting flavor.
Kid-friendly option: Kids love cheese balls (even ones with bits of carrot!) and they also love cute Easter treats, but if there are young kids, swap the black peppercorn eyes for black olive pieces!