Queso de Bola substitute

Best substitute

Edam Cheese

Use the same amount by weight as the queso de bola you are replacing

Best for ensaymada

Close match

Not a substitute so much as the same cheese under its Dutch name. Queso de bola is Edam, usually an older and firmer wheel than the young Edam sold in Europe, which is why it grates into dry shreds instead of smearing. Anywhere you see it labelled Edam, Edam ball or Dutch ball cheese, buy it.

Other queso de bola substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Young or Mild Gouda
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
Gouda and Edam come from the same Dutch tradition and do the same job on a plate: firm sliceable body, gentle nuttiness, enough salt to season what it sits on.
What changes
Young Gouda is the best answer when Edam is nowhere to be found.
Best for
grating over ensaymada, cheesecake, toasted sandwiches, cheese platters
Prep. Chill it hard for 20 minutes before grating; young Gouda is softer than queso de bola and gums up a warm grater.
Noticeably sweeter and creamier, with less of the salty tang that makes queso de bola pop against sweet bread. A pinch of salt in the topping closes most of the gap. Avoid heavily aged or smoked Gouda, which turns caramel-sweet and overwhelms a delicate ensaymada.
3Mild or Medium Cheddar
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
The realistic supermarket answer.
What changes
Cheddar carries the same firm grate and roughly the same salt level, which is the part that actually matters when the cheese is going onto sweet bread or into a cheesecake batter.
Best for
ensaymada, cheese bread, cheesecake, grating over rice or pasta
Prep. Grate straight from the fridge and keep it in the fridge until the moment it goes on, so the shreds stay separate.
Cheddar is more acidic and more buttery, so the topping reads tangy rather than nutty, and orange cheddar will tint an ensaymada faintly orange. Use white cheddar if you care about the colour. Skip sharp and extra-sharp, which bulldoze everything else in the recipe.
4Manchego (Semi-Cured)
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
Firm, salty and genuinely nutty, which is the flavour note aged queso de bola has and mild cheeses do not.
What changes
Better than cheddar if you want the savoury edge rather than the tang.
Best for
cheese platters, grating over sweet bread, savoury baking
Prep. Trim the rind, then grate or shave. Semi-cured (semicurado) grates like queso de bola; a very old Manchego will crumble.
It is sheep's milk, so there is a distinct lanoline sweetness underneath that a Filipino palate will read as not quite right, and it is drier so it does not soften as pleasantly under heat.
5Parmesan or Grana Padano
Taste and texture differ
Use 2 tbsp for every ¼ cup
Use this as a salt-and-savour hit rather than a like-for-like swap.
What changes
Parmesan does the seasoning job of queso de bola on ensaymada extremely well, but it is far more concentrated, so a straight swap oversalts.
Best for
grating over sweet bread, finishing pasta or rice, cheesecake crust
Prep. Grate finely and mix half-and-half with a mild cheese like Monterey Jack if you want to keep the volume up.
Use roughly half the weight and add no other salt. The taste is sharper, drier and more crystalline, and it will not give you the soft melting patches on top of a warm ensaymada.
6Monterey Jack
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
Honest assessment: this is the least-bad option, not a good one.
What changes
Jack has the right firm-slice body and grates cleanly, but it is very mild and low in salt, so it mostly contributes soft cheesiness rather than the salty punch queso de bola is bought for.
Best for
cheese bread, melting, when it is the only firm cheese in the house
Prep. Grate cold and use immediately; it goes greasy quickly once warm.
Expect a dish that tastes like it is missing something, because it is. Salt the topping directly, about 1/8 teaspoon per cup of grated cheese, and it becomes acceptable. It also melts far more than queso de bola, so a grated topping will flow instead of holding its shreds.

What is Queso de Bola?

Queso de Bola is the Filipino name for aged Edam, a firm salty cow's-milk cheese sold as a red-wax-coated ball, grated over ensaymada and sliced onto the Noche Buena table.

Cooking tips

Buy the ball, not the pre-grated bag. Queso de bola and Edam both come in red wax for a reason: the wax keeps a firm cheese from drying out, and a whole ball keeps for months in the fridge, which is why it became the Christmas gift cheese in the first place.
For ensaymada, grate the cheese finely and put half in the dough butter and half on top after the glaze. Whatever you substitute, keep that split. Cheese only on top browns and turns rubbery; cheese only inside disappears.
In queso de bola cheesecake the cheese is doing two jobs, salt and savoury depth, against a very sweet batter. If you swap to something milder like Gouda or Jack, add 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the batter or the cake tastes flat and one-note sweet.
The rind under the wax is edible but tough. Do not throw it out: drop it into a pot of soup or arroz caldo the way an Italian cook drops in a Parmesan rind, and it gives up a lot of savoury flavour over half an hour.
Queso de bola hardens further as it ages, and a very old ball will resist a grater. Ten minutes at room temperature makes it cooperate; any longer and it starts to sweat oil.

Frequently asked questions

Is queso de bola the same as Edam?

Yes. Queso de bola, keso de bola or Christmas cheese ball is the Filipino name for Edam, a Dutch cow's-milk cheese sold in a red wax coating. The balls sold in the Philippines are usually aged longer than the young Edam common in Europe, which makes them firmer, drier and saltier. If you find anything labelled Edam, you have found queso de bola.

What is the best substitute for queso de bola in ensaymada?

Young or mild Gouda, grated fine, used in the same weight. It comes from the same Dutch tradition and has the same firm grate, but it is sweeter and less salty than an aged queso de bola, so add a pinch of salt to the grated cheese before it goes on top. Mild white cheddar is the next best and is easier to find in an ordinary supermarket.

Can I just leave the queso de bola out?

In a cheese platter, yes, nobody will miss one cheese. In ensaymada, pandesal or queso de bola cheesecake, no. The cheese is the salt in an otherwise very sweet recipe, and without any salty firm cheese those dishes taste like plain sweet bread or plain cheesecake. If you have nothing else, a grated mild cheddar with a pinch of salt does the job better than leaving it bare.

Can I use cream cheese instead of queso de bola?

Not as a swap. Cream cheese is soft, tangy and barely salty, so it spreads instead of grating and adds no savoury edge. In a queso de bola cheesecake the recipe already contains cream cheese as the base and the queso de bola is the salty aged cheese stirred through it, so adding more cream cheese just makes a plain cheesecake. Use a firm grating cheese there, even a mild cheddar.

Why does my substitute melt into a puddle when queso de bola does not?

Aged cheeses like queso de bola have lost enough moisture that they soften and brown rather than flow. Younger, wetter cheeses like Monterey Jack, mozzarella or a very young Gouda have plenty of moisture and will melt and run. If you need the cheese to hold its grated shape on top of bread, choose the driest, firmest cheese you can find, and put it on in the last five minutes of baking.

Related substitutes

More cheese substitutes

Queso de Bola substitute

Other queso de bola substitutes

2Young or Mild Gouda

3Mild or Medium Cheddar

4Manchego (Semi-Cured)

5Parmesan or Grana Padano

6Monterey Jack