How to Easily Make Fried Mozzarella Sticks

John writes these articles to try to pass on any great recipes and tips that he's picked up during my culinary journeys.

The food here in Thailand is pretty good. Actually, it's pretty incredible! That said, I still miss fried cheese (the bar-and-grill appetizer kind, with the golden-fried breadcrumb coating around the oozing, melted mozzarella center, served with a little marinara sauce or a simple salsa). Not exactly haute cuisine, but I have to confess an occasional longing.

Actually, it makes sense, cause fried cheese sticks are about as far removed from Thai fare as you can get—and you can only eat just so many healthy meals of stir-fried vegetables, right!?!

Luckily, they do sell some pretty fantastic breadcrumbs around these parts: the Panko-style Asian breadcrumbs (once you switch over to these crunchier breadcrumbs on steroids), you'll never go back. So, there is nothing stopping me from making up my own batch of good old American-style fried cheese every now and again!

Ingredients for Fried Mozzarella Sticks

A lot of people like to season the breadcrumb mixture. I happen to prefer keeping things pretty neutral and spicing up the sauce, but if you'd like, you can add a little dried oregano, basil, or parsley to the flour to up the seasoning.

• Mozzarella cheese, cut into any shape you'd like. I happen to like them about 1 inch long and 1/3 of an inch thick
• Flour
• Panko style breadcrumbs, spread out on a plate
• Beaten egg, in a small bowl
• Vegetable oil for frying

Easy Steps

I won't give quantity instructions here, because the recipe is so simple that you can just use as much as you need for as much as you're making!

1. Preheat your deep fryer to 350
2. Take each piece of cheese and cover it well with flour, shaking off any excess. The flour dries the surface which allows the beaten egg to adhere to it completely, in turn allowing for a complete coverage of breadcrumbs, so try to get it good and covered!
3. Take each piece of flour-covered cheese and dip it in your beaten eggs, again, making sure to cover the cheese completely with the egg.
4. Take your egg covered cheese, shake off the excess and drop it onto your plate, rolling it around to cover it completely in breadcrumbs.
5. Repeat with remaining cheese until all are well covered.
6. Fry the cheese sticks, in batches, in oil that has been preheated to 350. Watch carefully, taking the cheese sticks out after 30 seconds to 1 minute; or as soon as the breadcrumbs are golden brown –it doesn't take very long. Repeat with remaining cheese sticks.

Serve with a marinara dipping sauce, or any side sauce that catches your fancy.

It goes without saying that fried cheese is always a crowd pleaser!

Comments

mike on May 18, 2013:

not sure whats diffrent for me but the cheese just melted and the panko and turned into a huge blob in like 5 seconds and the pool wasnt crowded

Sunita-Sharma from Los Angeles,California,US on March 19, 2012:

Its great recipe and I am definitely going to try this. Thanks for sharing this!

TheGmonn on May 24, 2011:

i just made some as i was reading this and they came out wonderful, i made some for my whole family. i added some garlic powder and oregano for tastes and look overall 10 and 5 star XD

Michael Shane from Gadsden, Alabama on March 21, 2010:

Love em' sounds great! Thanks!

Drew Breezzy from somewhere in my mind on July 20, 2009:

I am hungry now, mozzarella sticks sound delicious!

John D Lee (author) on June 25, 2009:

Girly-girl09,

Thanks for letting me know! I am glad you had success.

girly_girl09 on June 24, 2009:

Update - I just made some - VERY good! :D For those who don't have a deep fryer, I simply heated up about an inch of oil at medium heat and used a potato masher to quickly scoop them up. Yum!

girly_girl09 on June 24, 2009:

I am starving and thought I'd look for recipes. Yum! My mouth is watering, literally! :D I have some mozarella sticks that have been in the fridge for a few months that I need to eat up. I'm going to go make these. Thanks for the recipe!

Joilene Rasmussen from United States on June 15, 2009:

Great recipe. Thanks for sharing. My husband will be very pleased when I make this for him.

Nyesha Pagnou MPH from USA on June 13, 2009:

Yes, this is one thing I never made before but do enjoy eating sometimes in restaurants. Very user friendly recipe. Thanks John!

jim10 from ma on May 29, 2009:

My family loves fried mozzarella sticks. This sounds so easy yet I never bothered to try making it before. We had fried raviolis last night. We all love those too. I just wish I could get my fried zucchini to come out as good as a restaurant.

Susan Ng Yu on May 29, 2009:

So easy! I think I can pull this off. Hehe. :D Though I still remember my putting 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt into your flour tortilla recipe that called for 1 1/2 teaspoons of it. :P