30 Minute Mozzarella Stick Recipe

Whether you're preparing an app platter for game day, the perfect snacks for movie night, or you just have a hankering for the perfection that is breaded and fried cheese, you'll never go back to store-bought or restaurant-made sticks again after you realize how easy it is to make these mozzarella sticks yourself. For while you might think of the mozzarella stick as some hard-to-make treat best left to cooks at your favorite sports bar or the frozen food aisle at the grocery store, the fact is, they're best made from scratch. 

And if you plan ahead and pre-make these snacks from scratch and then freeze the uncooked sticks, you can be serving hot, fresh mozzarella sticks within about ten minutes of deciding it's snack time! Chef and food writer Susan Olayinka of The Flexible Fridge lays out a simple, easy-to-follow recipe that you can put your own tweaks on as you'd like. For example, if you want to avoid using traditional bread crumbs, she says, "gluten free bread crumbs would work perfectly." If you want a bit more savory flavor, add some paprika to the breading. And if you want to add a bit more kick, toss in some cayenne along with the black pepper.

The ingredients in this mozzarella sticks recipe assume you are working with a little less than a pound of mozzarella cheese, and for the record, that has to be the mozzarella variety not packed in water. You'll need the cheese, three eggs, two tablespoons of water, two cups of breadcrumbs, a half cup of all-purpose flour, an eighth of a teaspoon of salt, an eighth of a teaspoon of black pepper, two cups of vegetable oil for frying, and for the classic approach, about half a cup of marinara sauce.

However, Olayinka says: "For other sauces, [try] ketchup, BBC sauce, or salsa."

If your mozzarella is in a block, chop it up into thin strips, each a bit more than about a half-inch thick and three inches long. Now, set out three shallow bowls. Put the flour in one bowl, the breadcrumbs in another, and whisk the eggs together in the third. Then, add the two tablespoons of water to the eggs. This is to ensure the egg isn't that sticky, but it will still help the dry ingredients adhere to the cheese.

Roll each of the mozzarella sticks in the flour, then in the egg, and then in the breadcrumbs. Now, roll each in the egg and then the breadcrumbs again — this double coating is to ensure the thickness of the crumb coating and also to ensure that the mozzarella does not leak out when cooked in the hot oil.

Place the finished sticks on parchment paper, then place that on a plate or cookie sheet and freeze the sticks for at least two to three hours. They can stay in there for longer if need be.

After those two to three hours have passed, take the mozzarella sticks out of the freezer. Pour the oil into a pot or wok (ideally something with decent sides on it to stop splatter — of course, a dedicated deep fryer works great). Once the oil is hot, fry the mozzarella sticks in small batches for one to two minutes on each side. Flip over with a utensil.

Once the sticks are all cooked up, serve them immediately with marinara sauce, BBQ sauce, hot sauce, salsa, sour cream, or whatever sounds great. Just remember: "These are best served hot."

And looking for a way to take things up a notch? Olayinka says: "[These] would be great in a sandwich — mozzarella sticks, basil, and marinara sauce." Sounds delicious!

There's a sad reality you have to accept when you make your own mozzarella sticks from scratch, says Olayinka: "These do not keep for very long. I was able to reheat him just the once in my oven," she says, adding that "I would not [try to] keep them any longer."

Here's the good news, though: The reality of tossing out any uneaten mozzarella sticks is one few people ever have to face, because not eating up every hot, fresh mozzarella stick in sight is basically impossible.