15 Creative Ways To Use Cream Cheese

There's a comfort factor associated with slathering cream cheese onto a bagel. But what happens to the rest of the cream cheese once you run out of bagels? We've got you covered with plenty of delightful, creative ways to use cream cheese. Get a lot of use from this creamy fridge staple, whether you want to make some tasty appetizers for a party or prefer to assemble a dessert to satisfy your sweet tooth. 

To help us develop the best ideas, we sought the insights of Rena Awada, owner and head chef at Healthy Fitness Meals, and Kevin Ashton, Culinary Advisor at Restaurantji. The two come with more than 40 years of cooking and culinary experience. We'll cover how to use cream cheese, why it's the perfect addition to many recipes, and any other must-know tips to get the best results. 

"Cream cheese works well in many dishes due to its rich, creamy texture and mild, slightly tangy flavor," says Ashton. "Its relatively high fat content makes it an excellent ingredient for adding smoothness and richness to savory and sweet recipes in equal measure." After reading this article, you might purchase a wholesale vat of the stuff rather than the average block to run through all the ideas. Sometimes, it's the star of the dish and other times, it blends seamlessly into other flavors. Either way, you can use it for any meal of the day.

There's nothing quite like dunking chips into a dip. The two go together flawlessly, thanks to the dip's soft creaminess and the chip's welcome crunch. Awada says that cream cheese makes a terrific base for dips because it's thick and creamy. "One of my go-to recipes is mixing equal parts of cream cheese and sour cream with some ranch seasoning mix," she says. "It's perfect for dipping veggies or chips into!" She says you can customize the flavor by including various herbs, spices, or shredded cheese.

We love spinach and artichoke dip, and this recipe is made slowly over two hours in a slow cooker. The fresh spinach, artichoke hearts, and parsley garnish balance the heaviness of the cream cheese and half-and-half. Greek yogurt also adds a tang, replacing the mayonnaise or sour cream you might traditionally find in the dip. For something vegetable-free, mix cream cheese and Greek yogurt for a fluffy dip. Add spices or herbs as desired for a savory version, or try it with maple syrup and vanilla for a sweet one. Enjoy with flatbread, naan, crackers, or your favorite dipping vehicle.

Biscuits are warm and comforting to enjoy as an accompaniment to a meal. When you're in the mood for an extra pop of flavor, opt for fluffy cream cheese cheddar biscuits. These biscuits have many of the standard biscuit ingredients like flour, baking soda, and butter, but they also have cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and chopped chives for a flavorful touch. These golden brown delights are fluffy thanks to baking soda and powder, but the cream cheese gives a slight tang. It's not overwhelming, especially since there's the sharp cheddar and the aromatic, herbal taste of chives.

However, when you want to mix up the flavors, you could replace the cheddar cheese with gruyere or the chives with sage. Add freshly ground pepper or cayenne powder for a spicy touch. We love the adaptability because these biscuits can make a regular appearance in meals, but they can be slightly different in taste each time based on any customizations. Cut them in half for a little breakfast sandwich with eggs and bacon, enjoy them with chicken, or serve them as a side for dinner.

Use cream cheese as a stuffing for chicken breasts, which you can pair with several other components. Make stuffed chicken Valentino, a magnificent mix of ingredients like cream cheese, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh herbs, prosciutto, and more. First, you'll need to make the stuffing mixture and then cut a pocket into the chicken. Follow the recipe, making sure not to fill it too much. You'll brown the poultry and then bake it in the oven. Store the cooked dish in the fridge for no more than three days, but the great thing about these is that you can freeze leftovers to eat later. 

Switch up how you cook the chicken with an air fryer stuffed chicken breast. It has similar ingredients to the Valentino, but you get to pop it in the fryer instead of the oven. Just use a meat thermometer to ensure it's completely cooked. No matter what you choose to put in it, the cream cheese stuffing has a dual purpose. "This will keep the chicken moist," says Ashton. "Plus, it adds a rich, flavorful center." 

Cheesecake may be the most notable dessert made with cream cheese, but we have some other enticing options you might want to consider. Cream cheese brownies have a visible layer of creamy filling to give them a beautiful marble look. This is a great dessert when you want a treat with a visual component but don't want to spend too long putting something together. These take under an hour to prepare and yield 15 servings, which makes them fantastic to prepare for a birthday bash or potluck. You could always cut them into smaller pieces for a more brownie-bite approach. Eat this cocoa dessert alongside a cup of hot coffee or tea.

Bright-tasting lemon gooey butter cookies should be a household staple for powdered sugar-coated sweets. Room-temperature cream cheese and eggs are added as wet ingredients for these cookies. Customize the texture to go from soft to slightly crispy by using a nonstick cookie sheet instead of parchment paper during the cooking process. You can also bake a batch and store it in the freezer. We love having a fresh cookie without having to bake a new batch every time. 

There are many ways to stuff a bell pepper, and this versatility makes it an excellent meal for any occasion. "I love bringing these to potlucks or serving them as a main dish for dinner parties," says Awada. Whether you make vegetarian feta and orzo-stuffed peppers with olives, tomato, and pine nuts or opt for southwest turkey-stuffed peppers, you can have free reign of what you put inside. The cream cheese offers a rich filling and moderate tang that you can use with any number of flavor combinations.

Cut the bell peppers in half, removing the seeds. You may remove the stem at this time if you like, but it quickly pulls off once cooked if you want to save time. Awada recommends stuffing the peppers with a blend of cream cheese, diced tomatoes, shredded cheese, and cooked ground meat (or beans for a meat-free option). "Bake in the oven until the peppers are tender, and the filling is hot and bubbly," she says. "This makes for a delicious and filling meal."

Many appetizers and snacks use puff pastry and cream cheese as the main ingredients. Puff pastry can be flattened, rolled, and served in many ways and shapes. Cream cheese and prosciutto pinwheels are the ideal party food because they're bite-sized but still feel like an elevated choice. They are salty, flaky, nutty, and spicy thanks to the prosciutto, puff pastry, Parmesan, and Dijon mustard, respectively, with aromatic notes from the thyme. These take under an hour to make and bake, but you could also choose to prepare, cut, and freeze them until you're ready to bake.

Go for a more open-faced appetizer and opt for cheese and Italian herb tomato danishes. For these treats, you'll make a garlic and herb cream cheese blend to spread onto the puff pastry. It gets topped with sliced tomato and baked until it puffs up and becomes golden in color. These are crispy and creamy as a snack or breakfast when you're in the mood for a savory pastry. Puff pastry and cream cheese make a fantastic starting point for pastries and appetizers that can work for any occasion.

"I guess no one likes dry scrambled eggs," says Ashton. You know the type. The eggs you sometimes get at a hotel breakfast that have been sitting in a heated tray for a bit too long. "Luckily, cream cheese can solve this problem by keeping your eggs moist and melty," he says. Enjoy the eggs with the cream cheese alone, or include some of the best seasonings for scrambled eggs, such as freshly chopped herbs, red chili pepper flakes, or everything bagel seasoning.

Mix the eggs with milk, add them to a hot skillet with bacon grease or clarified butter, and fold in the cheese chunks. "The cheese will dissolve into your eggs, creating a creamy and fluffy mixture," Ashton says. The cream cheese isn't visible, so you might not know it's there until you take a bite. This isn't too complex to prepare but makes a tasty combination to pile onto a bagel or toast.

Whether you're looking for game-day eats or want to get imaginative with birthday snacks, a cheese ball is a fun option. This is one of the more creative ways to use cream cheese since you can use various ingredients and shape it into a football or something else based on the event. A cheddar bacon ranch cheese ball mixes classic flavors into a unique-looking dish that's all held together by the glue that is cream cheese. The crisp bacon topping complements the cheesy, slightly spicy cheese ball. Serve it with chips, crackers, and raw sliced veggies to give it an assortment of textures and colors.

Our bacon jalapeño pineapple cheese ball has an interesting blend of ingredients that gives each bite some sweetness and heat, rounded out by the crunchy pecan topping. This makes a sweet and savory conversation starter for parties that you can serve with pretzels, bagel chips, or sliced apples and pears. These cheese balls have loads of flavor but also offer a presentation element that makes them visually captivating for gatherings.

"Bacon and cheese always make a wonderful culinary partnership," says Ashton. "The smokiness of bacon pairs well with all cheeses, from pungent blue cheese all the way to neutral cheese such as a mild ricotta." We wholeheartedly agree since you'll find bacon and cream cheese in anything from jalapeño popper chili to cheese balls to cob loaf. Merge the two ingredients to make a delightful appetizer that's served in a hollowed-out round bread loaf, perfect for family gatherings. 

For cob loaf, the bacon gets sauteed with onion until it becomes crisp, and then you'll make the filling. This usually incorporates your cheeses of choice — such as the ones Ashton mentioned above — or mozzarella, cream cheese, brie, sour cream, or cheddar, with optional additions like French onion soup mixor chives. "The mixture is housed in a crispy bread shell and then baked until it becomes molten and bubbly," Ashton says. Dunk the bread pieces you hollowed out, or dip chips, carrots, or celery sticks.

Boring weeknights deserve to be spiced up. Try your hand at air fryer jalapeño poppers that take under 30 minutes to prepare and cook. These have a crunchy breadcrumb topping that you can dip into blue cheese or ranch dressing. While they are technically a fruit, jalapeños contain fiber, iron, magnesium, potassium, vitamin A, and other nutrients to make them a great complement to a meal. You might think of them as appetizers or snacks, which they can be, but you could also serve them as a side dish for dinner.

Or make them the main meal. Make creamy jalapeño popper chili with chicken for a hearty feast. This dish blends the familiar spicy and creamy notes but adds marinated poultry, chicken stock, and other seasonings. It's the same idea as poppers but has more density to make it a filling meal rather than an appetizer to nosh on during a sporting event.

French toast is a delight on its own, but stuffing it gives it extra pizzazz. There are many ingredients to stuff French toast with, and it's no surprise that cream cheese is on the list. The great thing about cream cheese is it can sneakily transform into a sweet or savory dish based on what you pair it with. Strawberry jam, chocolate spread, or crushed cookies make it a sugary treat, whereas salmon, bacon, or dill turn it into a tangy meal.

Stuffed French toast can be made as a sandwich or stuffed into a thicker piece of bread, but either way makes an exceptional option. Awada suggests the sandwich method by spreading a mixture of cream cheese, honey, and cinnamon between the two slices of bread. Then, dip it in the standard egg and milk mixture before cooking it on a griddle until it turns golden brown. "Top with fresh fruit or maple syrup for an extra touch of sweetness," she says.

Upgrade everyday sauce with cream cheese instead of using heavy cream. "It works wonderfully well in tomato-based sauces, giving them a silky texture and a subtle tangy flavor that elevates the dish," says Ashton. Just make sure the cheese reaches room temperature for easier mixing and smoother consistency, he explains. Don't worry about it being sour. The sugar in the tomatoes balances any tanginess you might taste in the cream cheese. While cream cheese adds a hearty richness to tomato sauce, you don't have to stop at red sauces. 

Awada recommends mixing cream cheese into alfredo sauce for added richness and texture. Other ingredients like spinach, mushrooms, garlic, rosemary, oregano, or chicken can be added to amp up the taste and make it a complete meal. "Serve over your favorite pasta for a comforting and satisfying dinner," she says. You could also partner it with garlic bread and creamed spinach. It's a speedy way to make homemade and store-bought sauces taste more decadent and special.

Potatoes are an immaculate vegetable that can be boiled, mashed, fried, and everything in between. If you want to switch up how you make a classic spud dish, cream cheese is the key to lush mashed potatoes. Ashton explains that blending cream cheese into smashed spuds allows for extra creaminess and rich flavor. "Cheese adds a smooth, velvety texture and a slight tang that makes the potatoes more luxurious and satisfying," he says. 

You don't have to go to great lengths to include it, either. Add a block of softened cream cheese to your favorite mashed potato recipe, usually one 8-ounce block for every five pounds of potatoes. This is also the time to mix add-ins, such as cayenne pepper, rosemary, or smoked paprika. However, when adding the cheese to hot dishes, make sure you constantly stir to help it melt evenly without risking it curdling, Ashton says. This creates a sumptuous side dish that heightens the taste of anything you pair it with, such as roast chicken, braised short ribs, or lamb chops.

Cream cheese frosting might be one of the more classic tips on this list, but we have some ideas to make it even better. "I love a good cream cheese frosting, especially on a carrot or red velvet cake," says Awada. You could also enjoy it slathered atop a spiced applesauce cake, perfect for Rosh Hashanah or autumnal festivities. We can always appreciate a one-bowl and one-pan dessert (because sometimes you want a break from a load of dishes). Go a different fruity route with cherries and cherry pie filling by making a black forest cake with cream cheese frosting. 

If you're seeking a few ways to upgrade cream cheese frosting, try mixing in chopped nuts for a slight crunch or pouring in some coffee to give it a perkiness. "You can also add in some lemon zest for a tangy twist or food coloring to match the theme of your dessert," says Awada. Unless you want extremely bright frosting, you only need to add a drop or two of food coloring to give it a fresh hue. Mix the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, a pinch of salt, and any add-ins until it's creamy and incorporated.

We love lasagna because it brings pasta into a different form. There are many lasagna iterations to create with cream cheese since it helps with the consistency but doesn't overpower the flavor of any other inclusions. White spinach and artichoke lasagna strays from a red sauce and uses a mix of cheeses (cream cheese, ricotta, Parmesan, and mozzarella) to create a rich, mouthwatering filling. This packed vegetarian version is customizable — swap or add more veggies like bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, or zucchini.You could include chicken, sausage, or ground beef if you want to increase the protein. Or add a coating of tomato sauce between the cheesy layers if you want to give it more color. 

When you prefer something lighter and pasta-free, make zucchini lasagna roll-ups, which use peeled zucchini as the main ingredient. Lasagna makes a satisfactory dinner that you can make in 30 minutes and then pop in the oven to spend time with your family or catch up on your favorite show.