Easy Spinach Balls for the Lunchbox

By Laura Fuentes Updated Jan 23, 2025

5 from 47 votes

Recipe

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy here.

Cheesy, savory spinach balls are a kid-approved recipe that's healthy and perfect to pack into a lunchbox!

Kick up lunchbox nutrition with these spinach balls, the easiest way to get kids to eat spinach at lunchtime without complaints!

Healthy Spinach Balls for School Lunches

Not many kids are jumping to eat spinach, and let’s be serious, getting my kids to take a bite of steamed spinach? Please! However, getting them to eat one of these cheesy, spinach balls? Now we’re talking! Like spinach dip, this is one of those tasty recipes anyone will enjoy!

These spinach bites can be easily packed into a container for a fun and nutritious school lunch that kids will actually eat. Need another reason to love this recipe? These bites can be made ahead and frozen! You and I both know, that making meals from scratch isn’t always possible every.single.day.

Adding nutrition to the lunchbox is way easier when you cook ahead bites like these spinach balls or my cheesy spinach egg cups. You cook once and your school lunches are almost solved!

Ingredients

The measurements are in the printable recipe card, but before you jump there, let me walk you through the ingredients, including possible swaps:

Butter: for cooking the aromatics and adding delicious buttery flavor.
Aromatics: onions and garlic cloves make a tasty base.
Frozen chopped spinach: thawed frozen spinach works better for this recipe, but you can still use fresh spinach.
Breadcrumbs: you can use regular or gluten-free breadcrumbs.
Eggs: to hold all the ingredients together.
Grated Parmesan cheese: turns plain spinach into cheesily delicious bites!
Salt and pepper: the classic duo for seasoning.

How to Make Spinach Balls for Lunch

Making these spinach balls for a nutritious lunchbox is super easy and you can make them in bulk and freeze for future meals! Here’s how:

Prep the oven
Preheat the oven and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Cook the aromatics
Melt the butter in a pan and cook onion and garlic until soft.
Combine
Combine the remaining ingredients with the butter mixture.
Shape the mixture
Shaping spinach balls is a lot like making meatballs. I prefer to use a small cookie scoop or large spoon to scoop a generous amount of the mixture into the palm of my hand and roll into a ball.
Bake
You can bake them fresh or straight from the freezer. Don’t bother waiting for frozen spinach balls to defrost, these are better when baked directly from the freezer.
Pack them for lunch
Allow the spinach balls to cool down to room temperature. Place them in a container with your favorite school lunch sides.

Want a visual? Check out this quick video:

Lunch Packing Tips for Spinach Balls

Follow these packing tips for a terrific school lunch with spinach balls that remain appealing and intact for hours:

Allow to cool down
Instead of packing these spinach balls right after removing them from the oven, allow them to cool down to room temperature so they don’t release steam when you pack them in the lunchbox. Bye, bye sogginess!

Pack them separately
Keep these bites with the best texture by packing them in a separate compartment of the lunchbox. This way, they won’t absorb the moisture of veggies, fruits, and other wet ingredients.

Add a sauce
Dipping bites in sauce makes lunchtime more fun! Pack your kid’s favorite dip or sauce in a small leak-proof container to keep your lunch bag mess-free.

Make them ahead
You can make the mixture ahead and keep it in the freezer for future lunches. To freeze, make the recipe as directed but omit the baking step. Place the spinach balls onto a baking sheet, leaving space in between each bite. Freeze for 4 hours or until solid, then transfer to a large zip bag and keep frozen for 3 months.

More Veggie Snacks for School Lunches

Can the kids go from hating to loving any other green veggie? Yes! Make these broccoli nuggets or these broccoli tater tots, and thank me later! I also sneak nutrition in these veggie egg bites and these zucchini parmesan waffles. Both are perfect for snacking!

Other delicious snacks for the lunchbox are these zucchini pizza bites and these fun celery sticks stuffed with egg salad. Tasty, healthy, and easy to make. Amazing!