Cream Cheese Stuffed Lychee is a dish I’ve only seen in Hawaii. If anyone else is familiar with it outside of a Hawaii connection, I’d love to hear about it. Canned lychee makes it easy to prepare this recipe without having to peel and pit the lychees yourself. It’s simple enough to make on short notice, but fancy enough to share at a gathering.
I don’t know where my mom got this recipe. I was skeptical at first because it didn’t seem right to mix cream cheese and lychee. However, the fruitiness of the strawberry cream cheese was delightful with the sweet lychee. Sherry, macadamia nuts and crystalized ginger were not in my mom’s version but are in the recipe from Hawaiian Electric’s cookbook. You can make it simple or fancy, just customize it as you wish.
What makes this recipe great
This recipe is really hands off because most of the time is you waiting for the cream cheese to soften before stuffing and waiting for the cream cheese to firm up before serving. You can be doing other things during these waiting times, like cleaning up, washing dishes, or preparing other dishes. Even my son can do it with a little help!
Don’t forget to save the sugar water that the lychee is canned in because you can use it as simple syrup for your drinks or cocktails. Waste not want not! Just stick it in an old jar that you washed out and keep it in the fridge for when you need it.
Health Benefits: Lychee
Fresh lychee is 82% water making it a great way to stay hydrated during the hot summer months. There haven’t been many studies about the health benefits of lychee, let alone the canned version. However, it does have some vitamin C, copper, and potassium.
Even though it doesn’t have much fiber, I reckon that eating fresh or canned lychee will make for happy tongues and tummies when it’s hot outside.
If you’re feeling skeptical, just try it out with your grandparents, parents, or auntys and uncles around. They’ll know what this is and will gobble it up because they’re probably not in the mood to prepare this themselves.
Beat the heat with more no-cook recipes to help cool you off.
Cream Cheese Stuffed Lychee
Equipment
- 1 medium bowl
- 1 Large bowl
- 1 Colander or stainless steel mesh strainer
- 1 spoon or spatula
- 1 plastic zip seal bag snack or sandwich size
- 1 scissors
Ingredients
- 1 8-ounce package strawberry cream cheese or other fruit flavor
- 3 tbsp macadamia nuts toasted and chopped (optional)
- 2 20-ounce cans lychee peeled and pitted
Instructions
- Take the cream cheese out of fridge to soften for at least 15 minutes.
- Drain the canned lychee by pouring the lychee from the can into the colander or mesh strainer. (Optional: save the syrup to use as simple syrup in drinks.) Remove the lychee from the colander/mesh strainer turning them upside down to allow more liquid to come out while the cream cheese is softening.
- Optional: add the macadamia nuts to the cream cheese and mix until smooth.
- Put the cream cheese in a Ziploc style bag and seal it, removing as much air as possible. Cut a small hole at the bottom corner of the bag.
- Stuff the lychees with the cream cheese mixture by squeezing the mixture out of the bag into the lychees. Chill for 30 minutes after stuffing so the cream cheese firms up.
