Pumpkin Cheeseball

First Published: October 11, 2021
Updated: September 28, 2025 

Here's a nice festive looking little appetizer to serve with crackers for Thanksgiving.

But you needn't worry. Despite what the title might suggest, there is no pumpkin in this cheeseball. That would just be gross.

If this recipe looks a little bit familiar, it's because it is. It's actually the same recipe as “jim's Cheesy Christmas Wreath” that I shared with you previously. The only difference in this recipe is the presentation. This cheese ball is coloured and formed to look like a pumpkin instead of a Christmas Wreath.

Hint: I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’m colour blind and had a little trouble getting the pumpkin the right shade of orange. If you have the same problem you can do what I did. Use your favourite photoshop app to touch up the pictures you take of your Pumpkin Cheeseball to help your Thanksgiving memories achieve a Norman Rockwell status.

Prep Time: ½ hour

Wait Time: 3 hours

Total time: 3 ½ hours

Stuff Required:

• 8 oz cream cheese (1 x 8 oz/250 gm packs)

• 4 oz sharp cheddar cheese (½ x 8 oz/250 gm tub of MacLaren’s Imperial Sharp Cheese)

• 1 green onion

• ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce

• 1 tbsp orange bell pepper, finely chopped

• Red food colouring

• Yellow food colouring

Do This:

1. Let cheeses soften at room temperature and then blend together.

2. Cut off about 1 ½” of the green part of the onion for the stem and set aside.

3. Finely chop the rest of the green onion.

4. Add Worcestershire sauce, chopped onion, chopped orange bell peppers to the cheese and mix together.

5. Mix in red and yellow food colouring until you achieve the desired colour of your pumpkin.

6. Let cool in the fridge for a couple of hours.

7. Form into a pumpkin shaped ball smoothing the sides as you go. (Wet your hands to prevent cheese from sticking to your hands.)

8. Let pumpkin ball sit in the fridge for about another hour.

9. Using a small paring knife, form the lines in the pumpkin.

10. Cut a small hole in the top of the pumpkin to insert the green piece of the green onion to make the stem of the pumpkin.

11. Spread the cheese around it to hold the stem in place.

12. Return to the fridge until ready to serve with crackers.