A solitary osteochondroma needs to be considered when making a differential diagnosis of an expansile posterior spinal lesion along with an aneurysmal bone cyst, osteoblastoma and giant cell tumor. An osteochondroma can be found in the cervical spine even though it is considered to be very rare. We report a case of an osteochondroma that was in the posterior element of the cervical spine. Although unusual, an osteochondroma should be considered when making a differential diagnosis of benign appearing tumors in the cervical spine.