These Spinach Balls are easy, cheesy, gooey, and yummy vegetarian appetizers. Let us see how to make these cheese-filled spinach balls with step-by-step instructions and photos.
These cheesy spinach balls are great vegetarian appetizers and you can easily customize them to vegan by eliminating the cheese or by substituting with vegan cheese. It takes 30 - 40 minutes to make these delicious appetizers. You can prepare them ahead of time for quick party appetizers.
Here I have deep fried the spinach balls. However, you can bake them in an oven or even in the air fryer. These are easy to make in any of the said cooking methods. Spinach is a healthy vegetable but the method you cook it decides the calorie part of the appetizers.
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How to make spinach cheese balls?
Ingredients you will need -
Spinach Greens - Wilt it and give an ice bath.
Cheese - Mozzarella or any meltable cheese
Seasonings - garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasonings, chili flakes (optional), salt, and pepper
Oil - Olive oil for baking (or any vegetable oil for deep-frying)
Instructions -
Blanch the spinach leaves for 3 minutes or till it's just wilted. Then remove from hot water immediately and place in ice water. This will help in retaining the vibrant color and nutrition.
Then remove from the water and squeeze out excess water. Transfer to a food processor container. To this, add bread crumbs and seasonings. Mix them nicely and make a soft dough-like consistency.
Place it in a bowl, covering it with a cling wrap. Refrigerate for 15 - 20 minutes. This helps it to set a little more.
In the meantime remove the cheese cubes and dice them into desired sizes or take shredded or diced mozzarella. Sprinkle a little Italian seasoning and chili flakes on them.
Note - If you are using the cheese cubes, keep them at room temperature for 5 - 10 minutes for the best melting cheesy experience.
Now remove the spinach mixture and divide it into equal-sized balls approximately the size of a lemon. Grease your palms with a little oil. Flatten the ball and make space for the cheese.
Place cheese cube or cheese mixture and seal the disc from all sides making it a ball again. Roll it gently between palms, ensuring no cracks on the balls. Otherwise, it will fall apart when deep frying.
Now heat the oil in a frying pan. And drop the spinach balls slowly one by one. Fry them nicely for 3 - 4 minutes or till they look done nicely.
Note - Don't overcrowd the pan. Fry them in batches of 6 - 8 maximum for every batch.
Baked spinach balls
Alternatively, you can bake them in the oven or in the air fryer.
Preheat the oven. Place the croquettes or spinach cheese balls on a greased baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake at 400 F for 15 minutes. Then remove from the oven and flip once. Again cook for 10 minutes minutes.
To air fry the balls, place the spinach balls in the preheated air fryer basket. Bake at 400 F for 10 minutes flipping through halfways.
Pro Tips -
- While choosing spinach for this dish, consider tender spinach or baby spinach. Also, chop off the hard central part as much as possible.
- First, blend the wilted spinach and then add other ingredients to it.
- Don't forget to add seasoning to the cheese. Though you may skip this step, but the seasoning brings a nice aromatic flavor to the spinach balls.
- If you are using the cheese cubes, keep them at room temperature for 5 - 10 minutes for the best melting cheesy experience.
Spinach Balls Recipe
Cheesy Spinach Balls
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 oz Spinach leaves (ยฝ pound )
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ยฝ tsp red chilli powder optional
- 1 tsp chili flakes or as required
- ยฝ tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- ยฝ tsp salt (or as required to taste)
- ยผ tsp black pepper ground
- 4 cubes mozzarella cheese or ยผ - ยฝ cup diced cheese
- ยฝ tbsp cornstarch optional
- ยผ cup bread crumbs or some more till get desired consistency
- 1 cup vegetable oil for deep frying
Instructions
- Take tender spinach or remove the hard central spine part otherwise.
- Blanch spinach leaves for 2 - 3 minutes.
- Remove from hot water and transfer to iced water to stop further cooking.
- Then remove and squeeze out excess water.
- Blend the blanched spinach to a paste without adding any water to it.
- Transfer the spinach puree to a large mixing bowl.
- To the bowl, add bread crumbs, seasonings, salt, black pepper, red chili powder, onion powder, and garlic powder.
- Mix them together and make a dough like mixture.
- Keep in refrigerator for 30 minutes to set properly.
- Then take out and divide into equal portions of lemon size.
- Apply oil on palms and flatten the spinach ball making a disc shape.
- Divide one cheese cube into 4 equal parts. Or take diced cheese in a mixing bowl.
- Toss the cheese with Italian seasonings and chili flakes.
- Place seasoned cheese cube or 1 tbsp cheese mix on the spinach disc.
- Cover it from all ends. Roll on palms till it turn a complete circle.
- Make sure there is no crack left on ball.
- Repeat for all balls.
- Heat oil in a pan.
- Drop the balls into hot oil slowly one by one.
- Fry the balls till they look crispy with changed color to golden brownish coating on it.
- Remove from heat and place them on paper napkins.
- Spinach balls are ready to serve.
Video
Notes
- Remove the central stalk part for a smooth spinach mixture.
- Wilt the spinach greens (don't overcook).
- Remove and place them in ice water to stop overcooking.
Nutrition
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