Deep-Fried Cheese Balls

Name: Deep-Fried Cheese Balls: Feta and Blue Cheese Appetizer
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Soft brined brynza or feta 150 g; Blue cheese (Roquefort, Dorblu, Danablu, Gorgonzola) 150 g; Egg 1; Breadcrumbs 0.5 cup (50 g); Vegetable oil for deep-frying; Black pepper to taste; Sweet paprika (or finely ground dried red pepper flakes) 1 tsp (2 g); Herbs optional (for the mixture and a sprig to garnish)

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15 mins

Deep-fried cheese balls are a perfect appetizer, especially with beer. Dishes like this are served in pubs and other places where you can have a good time. It is a simple, quick cheese appetizer that takes just 10-15 minutes to make. Worth noting that you can make snacks like this from almost any cheese, in rare cases adding a binder.

They remind me of choux pastry cheese puffs, gougères, which were served at a wine tasting somewhere in Burgundy. It is simple: grated Gruyère is chopped finely and added to choux pastry. The puffs are baked in a mold. If there is little dough and a lot of Gruyère, you hardly taste the choux pastry at all. They are often served with caviar, which is simply fantastic.

At home we make this appetizer with ingredients that are easy to find. As a rule, the base is a soft brynza or feta. For a pleasant sharp taste we add some soft, strongly aromatic, slightly piquant dairy product: Roquefort, Danablu, Dorblu or Gorgonzola. With this set of ingredients, binders such as flour, starch and eggs are not needed.

Making balls from a firm cheese, for example Dutch Gouda, Emmental or Radamer, is rather difficult. These cheeses are dense, and the balls hold their shape poorly. You can’t do without adding eggs. We don’t add herbs to the mixture, because they tend to burn when deep-frying. Though with a thick breading you can avoid this.

It is worth buying a very soft brined cheese, brynza or feta. Often, especially when packaged, brynza is sold very firm, so look for it in brine. Feta is usually soft and creamy. The second, blue cheese is up to you, but it should also be soft.

Since all the ingredients are ready to eat and need no cooking, cheese balls come together very quickly: you just mix the ingredients, roll the balls, bread them, and then fry them very briefly in hot oil. The result is a perfect express appetizer for beer or wine, or simply for a bite to eat. As it cools the appetizer becomes firm, but you can reheat it in the microwave.

More with feta

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Tirokafteri: Greek Spicy Feta and Yogurt Dip

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Eggplant Rolls with Feta and Garlic

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Bell Peppers Stuffed with Cheese

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Kokouvagia: Cretan Dakos Appetizer with Tomatoes and Feta

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Ingredients

2 servings

Soft brined brynza or feta 150 g
Blue cheese (Roquefort, Dorblu, Danablu, Gorgonzola) 150 g
Egg 1
Breadcrumbs 0.5 cup (50 g)
Vegetable oil for deep-frying
Black pepper to taste
Sweet paprika (or finely ground dried red pepper flakes) 1 tsp (2 g)
Herbs optional (for the mixture and a sprig to garnish)

Step-by-step recipe

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Cheese mixture

A cheese appetizer should contain little moisture, and it also heats up almost instantly. So after brief frying the filling is already starting to melt. Blue cheeses usually contain no trace of moisture. The cheese balls are tastiest if the two cheeses are used in equal amounts.
Pat a piece of brined brynza dry with a paper towel.
Grate both cheeses into a bowl on the fine side of the grater. Not too coarse, or the balls will fall apart. Don’t salt the mixture, as all the ingredients are noticeably salty. Add pepper and 1 tsp sweet paprika (2 g). Or, if you have it, finely ground dried red pepper flakes, which are often sold for soups.
Using a fork, mix all the ingredients thoroughly until completely uniform. The mixture will be a little sticky but thick. If you like, add finely chopped herbs: with a thick breading they won’t burn.

Balls and breading

With wet hands, roll balls from the mixture, about the size of a quail egg. Put the balls on a wet plate.
Make a thick breading. In a bowl, beat the contents of a chicken egg. Roll the balls in the breadcrumbs first, so the surface holds the egg. Then dip the balls in the egg and roll them in the breadcrumbs again.

Frying

Heat vegetable oil in a saucepan to 170–180 °C, enough to fully submerge the cheese balls. Lower the heat to below medium and very carefully lower the prepared balls into the hot oil. Be careful, the hot oil is very hot. Fry 2-3 balls at a time; the breading cooks through in 15-20 seconds, until golden. If you leave them too long, the breading will crack and the melted filling will leak out.
Lift out the golden balls with a slotted spoon and put them on a plate lined with a paper towel, which will absorb the excess oil. The appetizer should cool slightly but still be hot.

Serving

Serve the appetizer on a small plate. Garnish with a sprig of herbs. If it is not too hot, you can pick it up by hand or with a small fork.
It is a perfect appetizer for beer, tasty and filling. It is also wonderful as an afternoon snack, even with tomato juice. If you like, serve it with a fruit sauce: lingonberry, tkemali or plum.

Calories and macros

600 kcal

Serving ≈ 200 g

Protein33 g22% of kcal
Fat41 g63% of kcal
Carbs22 g15% of kcal

100 g299 kcalProtein 16.6 gFat 20.6 gCarbs 10.9 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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