Cheddar Ranch Cheese Football

My favorite kind of footballs are made out of cheese!! For this Super Bowl appetizer I took my favorite Cheddar Ranch Cheeseball recipe and turned it into a football. It’s so simple to make and so delicious!! I think you’ll love it too!

If you want to skip straight to the recipe, quickly scroll to the bottom of this post. If you want more snacking ideas, here are some favorites! Click on the link to find each recipe:

Creamy Orange Fruit Dip

Layered Bean Dip

Grilled Chicken Fajita Nachos

Queso

Chicken Sliders

Marinated Tomatoes with Burrata and Garlic Costini

Nutella Rice Crispy Treats

Loaded Baked Potato Crisps

The Cheese Football

In addition to tasting amazing, this recipe is SO easy to make! Here’s all you need to make it!

Start by letting the cream cheese and grated cheddar cheese come up to room temperature. (I’ve had good luck substituting half of this cream cheese for the low fat version – and no one has noticed the difference.)

Pour everything into a bowl.

And mix thoroughly with a fork.

Place the cheese mixture on a piece of plastic wrap and enclose the mixture completely with the plastic wrap.

Using your hands, form the cheese into a football shape. I try to keep the football round-ish instead of making it completely flat. I’m not sure the pictures capture this as well as they could have, but I try to keep the cheese as realistically shaped like a football as I can.

Gently press chopped pecans onto the surface of the cheese ball and place some thin slices of cheese on the top to recreate the laces of a football.

Serve with all of your favorite crackers!

Cheddar Ranch Cheese Football

2 (8oz) packages of cream cheese, softened (I use one regular, and one reduced fat cream cheese)
1 (1 oz) package of ranch dressing mix
2 cups (8 ounces) pre-shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup pecans, finely chopped

In a medium sized bowl, mash the cream cheese, dressing mix, and cheddar cheese together with a fork. Finely chop the pecans and set aside. Place all of the cheese mixture on a large piece of plastic wrap and using hands, shape the mixture into a football. Remove football from inside of plastic wrap and gently press the pecan pieces on the top and sides. Use thin slices of cheese to make the lace of the football on top. Cover the cheeseball with plastic wrap and let sit overnight in the refrigerator for the best flavor. Serve with crackers. Enjoy!