UTZ Cheese Balls

If you love bar snacks, you have probably enjoyed UTZ Cheese Balls at one time or another. The UTZ brand sells more than just cheese balls, but these cheesy little delights are the product that they are best known for. There is something uniquely delicious about UTZ cheese snacks, and they are often a favorite for those who love crunchy, cheesy snacking.

If you have never tried these classic bar food items, you have been missing out! You will want to be sure that you give these snacks a try and have a bucket on hand for when you have company over or are hosting a party!

History

UTZ Quality Foods has been in existence since 1921. The original product that the company sold was a potato chip product. Bill and Sallie Utz actually worked out of their home in Hanover during the early years of the company’s life. Over time, they started to make more products like pretzels and other snacking products of various kinds. The company didn’t move out of the backyard for many years, making this a truly homegrown product.

As the company’s products grew in popularity, production was moved to a small building in the backyard. Eventually, the small building was home to a fryer that could make 300 pounds of chips an hour. It wasn’t until the 1970s that production was moved to a facility away from the Utz home. At this point, the company was one of the biggest local employers in Hanover and was beloved by locals, as well as its growing consumer base. 

UTZ Cheese Balls were first sold in 1990. This product was made using an extruding process that is similar to the process that creates Funyuns. Extruded corn is crunchy, crispy, and light, making it very snackable. The Cheese Balls product is then rolled in a powdered, cheesy flavoring that is sharp and delicious, and pungent. Rather like Cheeto’s Puffs, this is one of the most popular crunchy and puffy cheese-flavored snacks on the market today.

Sam’s Club was one of the biggest partners who worked with the UTZ company at the time that the Cheese Balls product hit the market. At the time, the Cheese Balls were being sold in smaller packaging, which matched the rest of the potato chip and pretzel packaging that the Utz company was already using. Sam’s Club wanted to sell the Cheese Balls products, but they asked to start selling the cheese balls product in a large barrel rather than the bags that it had been sold in to date. The companies agreed upon the large, barrel-shaped product container that is so closely linked with the UTZ Cheese Balls product today, and it was a hit!

The barrels of these little snacking puffs have always been clear so that consumers could see the cheesy goodness within the barrel. The label has also always been purple. The packaging of the barrel-sized snacks is so well-known that it has actually appeared in popular culture on shows like The Office and in the Alvin and the Chipmunk movies.

There is something delightfully impractical and decadent about buying an entire plastic barrel of any snack product, and that is probably one of the biggest draws for the UTZ version of the puffed corn snack. Perhaps if products like Funyuns had thought of giant plastic barrels for their marketing design earlier, they would be the ones selling puffed corn snacks using this marketing style instead.

The barrel of UTZ Cheese Balls is 36.5 ounces, which offers a lot of snacking power compared to the 8.5-ounce bags that are sold in other markets. However, these little treats are so snackable that it is easier than you might think to use up a whole barrel at a party or even just share with friends. This is one of the food products that are a staple at college parties and apartments, and you can trust that most moms will have a barrel of these little cheesy snacks on hand for after-school snacking.

You can still buy the UTZ Cheese Ball product in an 8.5 oz bag, but most people are not aware that the product comes in anything but the giant barrel-sized containers that are ubiquitous at parties and gatherings everywhere. Most people don’t go hunting for smaller bags of this product anyhow because these little treats are so snackable that they are hard to eat in such small quantities. Most people will tell you just how hard it is to say no to UTZ Cheese Balls. Once the barrel comes out and everyone starts snacking, it is quite likely that the barrel will wind up empty!

The UTZ product lineup includes all kinds of healthy products alongside the cheese balls that they are famous for. You can get pork rinds, party mixes, popcorn, tortilla chips, and even sunflower chips from this product line. There are actually 395 different kinds of snacks that are made by UTZ. These facts should make it clear just how famous and well-loved the cheese balls product is. Most people have no idea that UTZ makes anything else other than this singular product.

Today you can order UTZ Cheese Balls through various online vendors, and you do not have to have a Sam’s Club in your local area to be able to enjoy having a giant barrel of cheesy goodness in your pantry. If you want to order the small bags of this snack, you can, but you might be disappointed that you chose this smaller packaging when you find out just how good UTZ Cheese Balls are!

UTZ says that they made 14 million pounds of their Cheese Balls last year alone. If you do the math, that’s 7 billion Cheese Balls! They have said that this is enough to wrap around the earth more than three times. There are not many snacking companies that can say this!

Ingredients

• Corn Meal
• Vegetable Oil (Contains one or more of the following: Cottonseed Oil, Corn Oil, Sunflower Oil, or Canola Oil)
• Whey
• Maltodextrin
• Cheese (Semisoft and Cheddar [Pasteurized Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Enzymes])
• Milkfat
• Salt
• Whey Protein Concentrate
• Buttermilk Solids
• Natural Flavor
• Sodium Phosphate
• Lactic Acid
• Yellow #6
• Autolyzed Yeast Extract
• Yellow #
• Disodium Guanylate
• Artificial Flavor

These products come with a label warning stating that they are made with milk, but they are made in a peanut and tree nut-free facility. This makes them allergy friendly other than the inclusion of milk. They are not vegan, however.

The company makes it clear that their cheese balls are made with real cheddar cheese and that the barrel is resealable, which offers chances for snacking in the future as well as the present. They also make a point to indicate that the Cheese Balls product is certified kosher OUD and that they are also gluten-free. Corn products are very friendly to gluten-free consumers, and this is one of the best options for those who love crunchy snacking but can’t usually enjoy these kinds of snacks due to the gluten content in them.

Nutrition

Serving Size:	32 balls (28g)	% Daily Value*
Amount Per Serving
Calories	150
Total Fat	9g	12%
Saturated Fat	2.5g	13%
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol	0mg	0%
Sodium	300mg	13%
Total Carbohydrates	14g	5%
Dietary Fiber	0g	0%
Sugars	2g
Added Sugars	0g	0%
Protein	2g
Vitamin D	0mcg	0%
Calcium	26mg	2%
Iron	0mg	0%
Potassium	94mg	2%

• The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Logo

Mascot

The UTZ company does have a mascot, and she is the UTZ Girl. This little girl has appeared on the packaging of all of the UTZ products since the 1920s. She is a young girl, dark-haired, and wearing a bow in her bobbed hair. She is reaching into a bag of potato chips. Over time, the original drawing was replaced with a newer version of the same logo. This change happened in the 1970s, and it used the U in the UTZ label as the potato chip bag that the little girl is reaching into.

The logo on UTZ products changes color according to the variety of the product in question. The UTZ Girl changes colors along with the product livery to match. Her hair color and the color of the bow in her hair, as well as her shirt color, might change depending on the product that you are looking to buy.

On the Cheese Balls container, she has dark hair and a red shirt, and a red bow in her hair. She might be shown reaching into the U of the UTZ label, or she could be shown alongside the UTZ lettering. She is not large, and many people are not aware that there even is a mascot associated with the company’s branding. She is present on all of the company’s various logos and labels, however. You can keep your eyes peeled for her presence once you know that she is there, and it can be fun to see what colors she appears in on different products within the UTZ company lineup.

Pictures

Commercials

UTZ Cheese Balls hardly need any advertising to stay relevant. You will find that most people already know that this product exists and can tell you just how good these little snacks truly are.

A recent ad for the UTZ Cheese Balls products:

A “how it’s made” video:

A visit to the UTZ factory: