I Tried the Pasta Queen’s Recipe for Supreme Cheese Balls and It’s a Cheese-Lover’s Dream

Like most people working long days, I constantly find myself feeling burnt out on eating the same things. Though winter stews, rice-based meals, and even cheesy dips are some of my favorite easy meals, nothing says quick and easy like a good pasta dish. And of course, the first place I start to look for one is on The Pasta Queen’s social media pages.

If you’ve never stopped by The Pasta Queen’s pages, she has a ton of delicious recipes that could be easily followed and recreated. Some of which I have already tried with the classic carbonara being one of my favorites. Instead of opting for the perfect pasta dish to test out this time around, however, I found something else that sparked my interest: her recipe for Supreme Cheese Balls. The cheesy white ricotta balls are very simple, quick, and — if you happen to love cheese — good enough to make twice.

Get the recipe: The Supreme Cheese Balls

To make these tasty cheese balls, you will need to start by adding both ricotta and Parmesan cheese, chopped parsley, breadcrumbs, and an egg in a mixing bowl together. The Pasta Queen doesn’t give measurements for the ingredients (other than the one egg), so I eyeballed the amounts for each. Once everything has been combined and mixed well, start forming your cheese balls by packing and rolling scoops of the mixture until firm. Then, after you’ve completed all the balls, add a good amount of oil to a medium pan before placing it on medium heat.

As your pan becomes warm, pour the tomato sauce of your choice in and as it begins to simmer, add your ricotta balls. Once your balls start to cook in the sauce, they will start to firm and the sauce will slowly begin to thicken. Be sure to cover the top of the balls with sauce, too. After they firm (which took about 8-12 minutes for me), you can garnish with fresh parsley, basil, or both. 

Although this recipe wasn’t along the lines of my typical pasta favorites, these cheese balls were pretty good. I did though, just find them to be a bit too cheesy for my liking. I made spaghetti noodles to go along with them, which made them a lot more tolerable, but ultimately, I couldn’t picture myself eating more than two or three balls at a time. I would’ve enjoyed them more by having them stuffed inside regular meatballs personally. The sauce, however, is key to making these a success, so be sure to keep that in mind while making them.

1. Work in advance if you can. Though you can definitely make this simple dish the same day you plan to eat it, if you can, make your cheese ball mixture a day before and chill in the fridge. Since the instructions don’t call for you to chill the cheese, your cheese balls don’t stay as solid. By chilling them, it will help the mix combine more easily and stay firm.
2. Don’t be stingy with the breadcrumbs. Since you’re not chilling your cheese balls, the more breadcrumbs you add, the easier it will be to keep them combined.
3.  Enjoy the process. Do not rush the process of the balls cooking in sauce. Letting them cook thoroughly will result in a non-mushy meal with flavor.
4. Don’t be afraid to throw your own spin on it. Though this recipe is very simple, if it’s not enough by itself, you can always have with the pasta noodles of your choice or opt to fry the balls for a tasty spin worth talking about. Or, you’re like me, choose to stuff with a bit of protein.