Try this Traeger smoked cream cheese recipe. Learn how to smoke and top it with salmon, meat church bbq rub, and other sweet or savory spice blend options. Let’s get smoking!
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Table of Contents
Why smoking cream cheese is so great…
- Easy – quick prep!
- Season it HOWEVER you’d like. You’ll see my example for half sweet and savory flavored cream cheese.
- TASTY – it picks up a huge smoky flavor.
- Great for a BBQ menu smoker appetizer.
- New to smoked food recipes and Treager recipes? see my step by step video for beginners (scroll to bottom of page).
Check out these game day smoker recipes…
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to smoke cream cheese.
For half sweet, half savory smoked cream cheese…
- Cream cheese, full-fat cream cheese
- Everything bagel seasoning
- Cinnamon
- Sugar
- Olive oil to drizzle on top
For serving (not included in nutrition info)
- Bagels
- Crackers
Additional smoked cream cheese flavor ideas (not included in nutrition info)
- Salmon
- BBQ rub with diced jalapenos (seasoning recommended in Notes at bottom of page)
- Caramelized onions
- Old Bay seasoning
- Sugar and cinnamon
- Sesame seeds
- Fresh herbs and honey
- Blackening seasoning or Cayenne Pepper for something spicy
- Zaatar seasoning
- Diced garlic and thyme
How to smoke cream cheese
Now I’ll walk you through it…
Quick look at smoker cream cheese recipe
- Preheat the smoker and prepare the block of cream cheese with seasoning.
- Smoke the cream cheese at 250 for 2-3 hours.
- Serve with crackers, bagels, pita chips, etc.
Detailed recipe steps
- Preheat Traeger Grills or Pitt Boss or whatever pellet grill you’re using to 250 degrees F.
- Prepare a dish for the smoked cream cheese. Prepare a piece of foil with a little lip around the edge, or put aluminum foil in a small cast iron skillet of aluminum pan.
- Score cream cheese. Add the loaf of cream cheese to the center of your aluminum dish. Score cream cheese with a sharp knife. (In the Sip Bite Go recipe video, you’ll see we made a handful of cut, about ¼” deep.)
- Season cream cheese for smoking. In the demo, you’ll see I did half sweet (cinnamon and sugar) and the other half savory (everything bagel seasoning). You can basically put any seasonings you’d like on top of the block of cream cheese. Then drizzle it with olive oil. (NOTE – I don’t bother to season the bottom of the cream cheese, but I do try to get seasoning on the sides).
- Smoke cream cheese at 250 degrees F for 2-3 hours, until score marks bloom open and it’s done to your desired color / smokyness. (For smoke flavor, we often use Traeger signature blend pellets for a lighter smoke flavor. Something sweet like apple pellets would be a good choice, too.)
- Remove smoked cream cheese and let it rest until cool enough to enjoy.
- Serve smoked cream cheese with bagels or crackers.
FAQs
If you are smoking cream cheese at 250 degrees F, then I recommend that you smoke it for 2 – 3 hours. If you want a little less smoke flavor, pull the cream cheese block off the smoker at the 2 hour mark. If you want extra smoke flavor, keep on smoking for 3 hours. If you decide to smoke cream cheese at a lower smoking temperature, then you can smoke it for a longer period of time.
Any store bought full fat cream cheese, like the 365 Brand from Whole Foods used in this Sip Bite Go demo, or a Philadelphia cream cheese brand are both great.
Smoking cream cheese is great because you are able to serve it with a variety of sides to dip into it. You can serve it with a bagel, bagel chips, kettle chips, crackers or tortilla chips to name a few. You could also make a side of pepper jelly as another option.
As with traditional cream cheese, you want to make sure that you keep any leftovers refrigerated to keep it fresh. I recommend that you wrap any leftovers in plastic wrap and then place it in a tupperware container with a lid to ensure it’s as fresh as possible for the next day.
Smoked cream cheese is very versatile. In my smoked cream cheese recipe, I did a mix of both sweet and savory. The cinnamon being the sweet and the everything bagel seasoning being on the savory side. You can really season the cream cheese with just about anything.
I recommend that you use cherry, apple pellets or hickory pellets for a great smoky cream cheese. The fail-safe fallback are the Traeger Signature Blend of pellets.
If you’re looking to buy a really good premade rub, check out a couple favorite Meat Church recommendations: on-the-sweet side is this Honey Hog BBQ Rub, or try Holy Voodoo Rub for a cajun flair, and Holy Cow Rub for a very classic BBQ flavor.
More Tasty Grill + Smoker Recipes
- Smoked mac and cheese
- Smoked cream cheese
- Smoked brisket flat
- 321 ribs
- Beer can chicken on the smoker
- Smoked wings
- Smoked tomahawk steak
- Traeger tri tip
- Smoked turkey breast
- Whole smoked turkey
- Smoked Traeger pizza
- Smoked onion rings
- Traeger smoked ham
- Smoked whole chicken
- Smoked jalapeno poppers
- Smoked corn on the cob
- Traeger beef ribs
- Smoked leg of lamb
- Smoked shrimp
- Grilled chicken wings
- Grilled skirt steak
- Flank steak marinade
- Grilled potato wedges
- Smoked pulled pork
- Want more? See my lineup of easy smoker recipes
See my favorite smoker tools and seasonings in my Amazon Storefront.
Meat thermometer recommendations
Every home chef needs a reliable meat thermometer to cook food perfectly.
On Sip Bite Go, you’ll often see me using:
- Meater thermometer – a fancy wireless thermometer that connects to a phone app – gifted to me from a Traeger partnership.
- ThermoPro digital thermometer – which has a wire that connects the thermometer to a display box outside the oven/grill.
It’s like being psychic! The great thing about either of the thermometers above is that I don’t have to take the food out of the oven to know the temperature.
How to use ‘em… What I do is stick the digital thermometer in steak, pork, chicken, whatever… Then put the food in the oven, on the smoker, or grill.
While the meat cooks, it reads the temperature so I know exactly what temp meat is as it’s cooking. Without having to take it out and check. It’s really difficult to overcook food when you know exactly what temp it is inside!
Are you a foodie, too?
Hey home chefs, hope that answers all your questions about the best smoked cream cheese time and temp. Enjoy it!
Connect…
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- Browse the Sip Bite Go recipe collection
Smoked Cream Cheese (Sweet OR Savory) Recipe | Sip Bite Go
Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese full-fat cream cheese
- 1 tsp everything bagel seasoning
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp sugar
- 1 tsp olive oil
For serving (not included in nutrition info)
- Bagels
- Crackers
Additional smoked cream cheese flavor ideas (not included in nutrition info)
- Salmon
- BBQ rub
- Caramelized onions
- Old Bay seasoning
- Diced jalapenos
- Sugar and cinnamon
- Sesame seeds
- Fresh herbs and honey
Instructions
- Preheat Traeger Grills or Pitt Boss or whatever pellet grill you’re using to 250 degrees F.
- Prepare a dish for the smoked cream cheese. Prepare a piece of foil with a little lip around the edge, or put aluminum foil in a small cast iron skillet of aluminum pan.
- Score cream cheese. Add the loaf of cream cheese to the center of your aluminum dish. Score cream cheese with a sharp knife. (In the Sip Bite Go recipe video, you’ll see we made a handful of cut, about ¼” deep.)
- Season cream cheese for smoking. In the demo, you’ll see I did half sweet (cinnamon and sugar) and the other half savory (everything bagel seasoning). You can basically put any seasonings you’d like on top of the block of cream cheese. (NOTE – I don’t bother to season the bottom of the cream cheese, but I do try to get seasoning on the sides).Then drizzle it with olive oil.
- Smoke cream cheese at 250 degrees F for 2-3 hours, until score marks bloom open and it’s done to your desired color / smokyness. (For smoke flavor, we used Traeger signature blend for a lighter smoke flavor. Something sweet like apple pellets would be a good choice, too.)
- Remove smoked cream cheese and let it rest until cool enough to enjoy.
- Serve smoked cream cheese with bagels or crackers.
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