Salmon Cheese Ball Appetizer
Quick, easy and tasty, this Salmon Cheese Ball Appetizer has a kick of horseradish and is loaded with healthy, omega-3s.
Appetizers can be the bad boys of healthy eating. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
This salmon spread appetizer is loaded with healthy, omega-3 rich salmon (canned so it is convenient and economical) and has nothing worse on the fat scale than lite cream cheese.
And if you serve it with whole grain crackers, you can put away all the guilt. Plus, it can be easily converted to gluten free by using gluten free crackers.
This recipe comes from a Christmas party in my very first professional job. Not sure why–perhaps because we were young and poor–but those birthday and holiday celebrations always had wonderful homemade treats.
Back then, we called it Salmon Spread but since cheese balls are coming back, I have updated the name!
Why You’ll Love This!
Tasty. Rich salmon accented with horseradish and dried minced onion creates a delicious blend of flavors!
Easy. The hardest part is removing the skin and the larger bones from the salmon. Otherwise it’s mix, shape and serve!
Healthy (for an appetizer). With healthy salmon, lite cream cheese and served on whole grain crackers, you’ll even get some nutrition with this appetizer!
What You’ll Need
Ingredients
- Canned salmon. This provides nutrition and flavor. I usually use pink salmon instead of red since it is easier to find and more affordable. But if you want to splurge, red is extra delicious!
- Reduced fat cream cheese. This adds creamy richness and holds the cheeseball together. You can use full fat cream cheese if you prefer.
- Horseradish. This adds a delicious flavor punch!
- Dried minced onion. This adds flavor. Plus it’s easier than grating an onion and doesn’t add moisture.
- Lemon juice. This helps to balance the fish flavor. You can omit it if you prefer.
- Salt (optional). Salt is a flavor enhancer but can be omitted if you prefer.
- Green onion. This adds flavor and visual interest.
- Crackers. For serving. I like the organic whole wheat triscuits.
Special Tools.
- No special tools are needed.
Step by Step Overview
Remove the larger bones (that is, the back bones) and skin from the salmon. Or sometimes you can find salmon that is canned without the skin and bones, though this is often more expensive.
Beat together until smooth all ingredients except the green onion.
Form into a cheese ball shape.
Slice your green onions. I cut the white and light green, stopping when the shape is no longer round.
Press the cut rounds into the salmon cheese ball.
Serve with crackers (ideally whole grain!).
Tips & FAQs
Canned salmon is a wonderful alternative to canned tuna. And since salmon is a smaller fish, it tends to pick up fewer contaminants than tuna. This means that eating it doesn’t become a research project like deciding which type and brand of tuna to eat.
I make sure to go with wild Alaskan Salmon, which is what most canned salmon is—and can even find it at Aldi. For more information on canned salmon see this article from Mashed.
If you’d like another tasty way to serve canned salmon, take a look at this Easy Salmon Melt.
Finally, I am serving this in conjunction with a blogging friend celebration of the Feast of Seven Fishes. Per Wikipedia the “Feast of the Seven Fishes is an Italian American celebration of Christmas Eve with dishes of fish and other seafood.“
Merry Christmas!
Feast of the Seven Fishes
- Aglio e Olio with Tuna from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
- Salmon Cheese Ball Appetizer from Art of Natural Living
- Shrimp Scampi from Jen Around the World
- Zesty Salmon Cakes from That Recipe
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Salmon Spread
Ingredients
- 16 ounces can salmon skin and bones removed
- 8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon horseradish or a bit more to taste
- 1 Tablespoon dried minced onion
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice optional but recommended
- ½ teaspoon salt optional, to taste
- 1 bunch green onions about 5-6
Instructions
- Beat together until smooth all ingredients except the green onion.
- Form into a cheese ball shape.
- Slice the green onions and press into the salmon cheese ball.
- Serve with crackers.
Nutrition
Updated from the original published May 3, 2015
Horseradish is a nice addition to the salmon as it cuts some of the richness. I bet you salmon ball disappeared quickly.
A beautiful appetizer for sure, Inger. I love salmon — and have a recipe from my mother that is similar, though she uses liquid smoke in hers. That stuff creeps me out so I use smoked paprika. Yours, without either is just lovely and perfectly simple.
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hi inger! hope you are doing very well. I love salmon spread and have also tried making it and added a bit of avocado. yeah, so good with crackers and croissants too! nice to hear about the slot given to your daughter, all the best to her!
Thanks Lena. I am finishing the leftovers on homemade wheat bread, so I’ll be it is good on a croissant.