Best Ever Spinach Balls Appetizer
Savory little bites of spinach, garlic, spices, and two kinds of cheese, today I’m sharing with you my recipe for the Best Ever Spinach Balls Appetizer. You might want to make a second batch, because these go fast at parties!
Happy first Monday of the New Year, everybody!
I hope you’re all as excited as I am to take on 2016! New year, new recipes!
Today I’m going to share with you one of my fiance Andrew’s favorite party starters, the Best Ever Spinach Balls Appetizer. His mother used to make a version of this, and I’ve taken the recipe and added a few different ingredients of my own.
Savory, cheesy, and it even includes a vegetable! You may have to make a second batch of these, they’re THAT good.
As 2016 begins, now is the time we should take to reflect on 2015. What we liked, what we didn’t like, and what we can do to make 2016 even better. Do you have any good resolutions? I’m setting small, obtainable goals: Eat more vegetables, give the cat more treats, drink more water, finish binge-watching Breaking Bad, and to save more money (for our wedding, yay!).
I’m also (and most importantly!) stepping back and taking a good, looooong look at Dishing Delish to see what I can bring you that we’ll both love. The first thing I’m going to do this year is a little bit of re-branding. I’m still keeping the name Dishing Delish, but from here on out this blog will be 100% gluten free.
You’ll still be able to convert most of my recipes for my non-GF readers, so don’t freak out, there is still deliciousness in your future!
For the new year, I’d like to start with one of Andrew’s favorite recipes, the Best Ever Spinach Balls Appetizer.
I know you’re going to enjoy it as much as we do!
How to Make the Best Ever Spinach Balls Appetizer
First, preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a large baking sheet and set aside.
Then add your 2 cups of thawed chopped spinach to a large bowl.
Next you’re going at add all of your other ingredients to the bowl.
That’s 2 cups of Italian seasoned breadcrumbs.
1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese.
Crack in your 3 eggs.
And all of that melted butter (1/2 cup).
Then you can throw in your 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese and 1/2 tsp each of salt and black pepper.
And of course your 1 tsp of garlic powder.
There’s never enough garlic powder, in my opinion.
Then you mix it all together!
Next, you form it into balls and place on your greased baking sheet. You can use a small ice cream scoop to help make sure all of your balls are the same size, which will help them cook more evenly.
I used parchment paper, because I love it. It makes the pans much easier to clean after.
Parchment paper is pretty much the best invention ever.
Then bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes, or until they’re golden brown and delicious looking.
That’s it, you’re done!
Easiest fancy appetizer ever.
If you like this recipe, be sure to follow me here on Pinterest!
Spinach Ball Appetizers
Ingredients
- 20 oz frozen chopped spinach, defrosted, drained
- 2 cups gluten free breadcrumbs
- 1 cups Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 bunch green onions, chopped
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup white cheddar, shredded
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
Equipment
- baking sheet
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a large bowl mix together spinach, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, butter, green onions, eggs, cheddar, salt, pepper, and garlic.
- Form into balls and place on a large greased baking sheet.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until spinach balls are golden brown and cooked through.
Notes
Nutrition
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For some reason my spinach balls tasted too salty. Otherwise they would have been great. I plan to make them again and add less salt.
Love them. Keep warm in a crock pot on warm. Line pot with aluminum foil.
Fabulous recipe. I did use more spices, added fresh garlic along with garlic powder. Everyone loved the bite size spinach cheese balls.
These are delicious every time I make them! Thank you 😊
Can I use fresh spinach for your recipe for spinach ball appitizers????
Yes, just cook it down first and let it cool before mixing in.
These were absolutely the bomb!! My youngest girl doesn’t like veggies but Oh my God, she devoured these and kept wanting more! Didn’t even want to eat supper! Just kept asking for these & there were no more! Only had enough to make 14 spinach balls! I wanted to try this recipe out! We all LOVED them! Had to go out right now to buy more ingredients! The most delicious veggie appetizer I’ve made! Thank you for the recipe!
Thank you! You can also freeze a (fully cooked) batch and reheat them in the oven or toaster oven 🙂
Can u use fresh spinach
Yes, but cook it down and drain (if needed) first.
I LOVE these Spinach Balls. I make them at least twice a month. They’re a great side dish, but I eat them right out of the frog for a snack! Thank you for sharing.
Good & Turn out great
Can you use fresh spinach
Yes, but I would cook it down and let it cool a little first.
Can you refrigerate the mixture and cook them the next day ahead of time as an appetizer or cook them and then reheat?
My thought is will they be soggy if I leave them overnight without cooking them?
I think it would be fine refrigerated for one day as long as they’re not cooked yet. If you make them ahead of time, refrigerate until ready and just reheat in the oven. Let me know how it goes!
Ungood!
I made them and will not take to friends Super Bowl party..no matter how chopped spinach it is very unappetizing when it gets stringy when you take a bite…. Very salty, and I omitted the salt.. a big disappointment….ill stick with sausage from now on.
OMG, we loved these spinach balls. I put them in a 12 cupcake pan, cooked for 40 mins. I also made your garlic aloi dipping sauce. Thank you so much for sharing!!!
OMG! I am hooked on these! They’re delicious! The white cheddar really gives them a much better flavor. I’m already going to make more! I use them as a night time snack. I’m also planning on putting these in spaghetti instead of meatballs.
You mention leaving out the cayenne in a response to someone’s question regarding cheese I believe it was, but cayenne is not listed in the ingredients. I had them about 25 years ago and I know they had cayenne – how much should I add to these?
That was for the dipping sauce I recommended, I wouldn’t serve these with a spicy dipping sauce so I’d leave the cayenne out of it. I haven’t tried using any spicy ingredients in the spinach balls themselves.
These were delicious and everybody ate them up!
I did not have enough white cheddar, so I used smoked Gouda to top off the cup of cheese.
I will definitely make these again!
It’s been a couple of years since I came across this recipe. My husband and I love it and I make it often! I’ll usually make it on a weekend for having a delicious snack on hand.
Can you make them ahead and freeze them.