Port Wine Cheese Ball Recipe (2024)

Consider serving your cheese ball with homemade Ritz crackers.

Port Wine Cheese Ball, At a Glance

What Is Port Wine Cheese?

Honestly, it is pretty much exactly what it sounds like.

Port wine cheese is a cheese spread that gets mixed with a good amount of port, specifically ruby port, and then it’s shaped into a ball or log, or sometimes just packed into crocks.

The whole point of port wine cheese is that it is hard to stop eating, so you will definitely want to make some!

What Makes This Port Wine Cheese the Best?

Most of the other “copycat” recipes for port wine cheese I’ve seen online eitherdirect you toblend straight port in with all the cheese, which I think lends a harsh edge from the alcohol, or they make a sort of “port Jell-o” made with port and gelatin and then layer that in with the cheese spread.

Since gelatin is an animal product, when you use it in an otherwise vegetarian recipe, you are automatically turning it into a non-vegetarian recipe.

And the gelatin isn’t necessary anyway, especially if you make a reduction. Which leads me to another reason this cheese spread is the best:

The truly magical ingredient in my port wine cheese is the port reduction.

Reducing the port by a factor of 8 yields a thick, intense, and sweet port wine reduction or syrup bursting with the pure essence of port without the excess alcohol that can lend a harsh quality to the spread or the excess liquid that could potentially cause the cheese ball to weep.

If this sounds like your kinda cheese ball, I have a favor to ask:

If you’re ready to get started, go ahead and jump straight to the recipe. Otherwise, read on to see how to make port wine cheese, step by step.

How to Make This Cheese Ball

First you’ll gather your ingredients.

Here’s what you’ll need. It’s a surprisingly short list:

• ruby port: Don’t use tawny port. It doesn’t have the same sugar content and won’t be sweet and syrupy. Plus it won’t be the wrong color. You’ll reduce a whole bottle of port down to about 3.5 oz
• extra sharp cheddar cheese: You need the zing of extra sharp cheese to shine through the sweet port reduction, so no medium cheddar here
• cream cheese: Lends spreadability and creaminess
• half and half: Thins the mixture enough that it stays spreadable even straight from the fridge
• kosher salt: Adds flavor and counteracts any possible bitterness. You’ll use some in the cheeseball and also in the pecans
• pecans: You could use another type of nut, but pecans are a southern classic. Leave them whole and then chop them after they cool. If you try to toast them after chopping, there’s a much higher risk that they’ll burn
• butter: For cooking the pecans
• smoked paprika: While technically optional, I do like the slight smoky edge of the smoked paprika. Use sweet paprika or even a bit of chili powder if you prefer, or leave it out entiely and just cook the pecans in butter and salt
• chopped fresh herbs: optional. Use your favorite herbs or just roll in the spiced pecans and call it a day

Procedure

Making the cheeseball is easy, although you need to use a food processor. If you have one, you’re good to go.

First, you’ll make your port wine reduction (Jump to That Section)

Once you have your reduction, gather the rest of your ingredients.

Make sure your cheese and cream cheese are at room temperature. It’s okay to have the half and half straight from the fridge, but it’ll be easiest to blend the cheeses when they’re a bit warmer and softer.

Process the cheese and cream cheese in pulses, and then let the machine run.

Combine port reduction with the half and half and salt, and then pour that through the feed tube in the processor.

Let the processor run until the cheese spread is completely smooth.

Remove 2/3 of the cheese spread to a bowl, and then add more port reduction to the remaining third, processing until a uniform purple color. You’ll probably need to scrape the bowl a couple of times to make sure the sticky port syrup is all blended in.

Then, spread plastic wrap on the counter and cross it with another sheet of plastic wrap, making sort of an “X.”Randomly plop on the orange and purple cheeses until you’ve used it up and you have a pile of cheese on the plastic wrap.

Pull the end up around the cheese and twist it tightly to form a ball.

Chill it, and then roll them in your toasted, chopped pecans.

How to Make a Port Wine Reduction

Making a reduction, port wine or otherwise, is very easy to do.

Just measure out the amount of liquid to begin with, decide how much you want to reduce it by (by half? by four? etc), and then boil it on the stove until it reaches that amount.

For example, if you want to reduce 1 cup of liquid by half, you would periodically measure your simmering liquid until it measures 1/2 cup.

If you’re reducing it by a factor of 4, you’ll want to simmer it until your initial cup measures 1/4 cup.

For the port, you’ll reduce it by a factor of 8, ending up with about 3.5 oz of port reduction.

You’ll know you’re getting close when the port bubbles up to fill the pan and small bubbles are popping all over the surface.

Watch your heat, because you don’t want it to boil over. Periodically remove the pan from the heat and pour it into a measuring cup. You’re looking for the level to reach between the 1/4 and 1/2 cup markings.

And that is all there is to it. Let your port reduction cool, and you’re good to go.

Cooking the Pecan Coating

You’re welcome to roll your cheese ball in sliced almonds, chopped walnuts, or whatever you like.

If you are a pecan lover, you owe it to yourself to cook up some pecans in a skillet, though.

Melt some butter in your pan, and add pecans, salt, and paprika (or whatever spice/s you choose to use).

Cook, stirring constantly, until the pecans darken in color and the butter is very foamy. This will take about 5 minutes.

Spoon the pecans out onto a few layers of paper towel to drain. Leave the excess butter, if any, in the pan.

Once the pecans have cooled, chop them up fairly finely with a chef knife.

Now all that’s left to do is roll the cheese ball in the chopped nuts and serve it.

Cheese Spread Variation

Skip the shaping into a ball and the pecans and just pack the orange and purple cheeses randomly into a crock or ramekin for serving.

Port wine cheese spread is every bit as legit as a cheeseball, and there aren’t as many steps. Plus, you won’t have to worry about nut allergies.

More Retro Classics

I don’t know about you, but I think the recipes that have been around for decades have been around for a reason: they’re good recipes, and they should be celebrated!

Some of my favorites include my all-time favorite appetizer that falls into the “pouring something over a block of cream cheese” category, Cream Cheese and Red Sauce. Sweet and Tangy poured over creamy and served on crunchy crackers. Y’all.

Want another cheese ball? This pomegranate cheese ball from my friend Laura is rolled in pomegranate arils. So tasty and pretty!

I am also a super fan of what I grew up knowing as “Poppy Seed Party Ham Biscuits,” but these days they’re mostly called Ham and Cheese Sliders. I can eat my weight in those things!

Last up, consider serving my pimento cheese spread with pepper jelly. Two Southern classics that go really well together, yielding a sweet, spicy, cheddar-y bite that’s hard to resist!

And if you love a good hot, cheesy, poppable appetizer, try my mom’s cheese olive puff recipe.

Questions?

If you have any questions about this post or recipe, I am happy to help.

Simply leave a comment here and I will get back to you soon. I also invite you to ask question in my Facebook group, Fearless Kitchen Fun.

If your question is more pressing, please feel free to email me. I should be back in touch ASAP, as long as I’m not asleep.

A Note About Measurements

My recipes are almost all written by weight, including liquids, unless otherwise specified.

For accuracy and consistency of results, I encourage you to buy–and use–a kitchen scale.

I promise that baking and cleanup will be so much quicker and easier.

This is the scale that I recommend for home use. I have owned and used one for years.

It will help me and other readers so much if you take a moment to rate and leave a review for this recipe.

See Also

How to Make Red Wine at Home [6-Gallon Red Wine Recipe]

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Thank you so much for taking the time!

So good, right? If you only have one port wine cheese ball recipe in your repertoire, please make it this one.

Thanks for spending some time with me today. Take care, and have a lovely day.

Hi, y’all! I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and hopefully also learned a thing or two.

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