5ouncesgrated medium cheddar cheeseabout 1.25 cups
Vegetable Oil for frying
Instructions
With a standing or electric mixer, whisk or beat egg whites until stiff peaks form - egg whites will be white and form a stiff foam.
Fold grated cheese into the stiff egg whites until well mixed.
Use a cookie scoop (I used a 1 ½ tablespoon size) to scoop the “dough” into little mounds and place on a cookie sheet. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
While the cheese balls are chilling, heat at least 4 inches of oil in a Dutch oven until it reaches 350°F. You will want to maintain the oil temperature between 350 and 375 degrees throughout cooking. The oil does take some time to heat.
Roll each mound of cheese “dough” gently to form a ball. You are not rolling them into tight balls; we want to maintain the light airy structure provided by the beaten egg whites.
Drop several cheese balls into the hot oil at a time - don’t drop too many - if they touch each other, they will stick and will become misshapen.
Fry the cheese balls, turning it to help maintain a nice ball shape and to fry evenly on all sides to a golden crisp. Fry for about 1- 1 ½ minutes, turning in the oil constantly.
Use a slotted spoon to remove the fried cheese balls from the oil and place on a few layers of paper towel to absorb any excess oil.
Serve immediately.
Notes
Storage:Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Fried cheese balls can be warmed in the microwave or an air fryer. They will still be tasty, but not quite as ooey-gooey as they are straight out of the frier.Notes:Keep the oil temperature as even as possible. Some people use a frying pan and just a couple of inches of oil, but I found it really helpful to have a deeper pot of oil so that I could roll the cheese balls around while they were cooking. If the oil is too shallow, the cheese may stick to the bottom of the pan.These taste so delicious. The egg white makes them ultra-light and airy and the cheese is just perfectly light and gooey.You can use any combination of hard cheeses. Jack, pepper jack and gouda would all be great.Refrigerating the mixture before rolling the balls really helps to firm the mixture up. If you have chilled the balls and they are not holding their shape when you roll them, you may need to add more cheese. Even soft cheese balls fry up and taste delicious, but they may deflate after cooking. They are softer and will puff into a beautiful round ball, but they tend to collapse a little more easily after cooking.If your cheese balls deflate when you take them out of the oil, they may need just a few more seconds of cooking. Look for a nice golden color all around.