Homemade mozzarella sticks are easy to make! String cheese sticks are coated in batter and deep fried to golden, melted cheesy perfection. I’ve also included instructions for air frying, as well as my favorite small batch marinara sauce recipe for dipping. Add these to your Super Bowl snack must haves!
Mozzarella sticks are one of those foods that I LOVE, but I always hate myself for ordering. It’s literally a fried stick of cheese. But that’s not why I hate myself it, because they’re fricking delicious – it’s because I have zero awareness of when I need to stop eating them.
If someone puts a plate of twelve mozzarella sticks down in front of me… I’m going to eat twelve mozzarella sticks.
I’m like the fish that grows to the size of its tank, but in this case it’s my stomach that grows to accommodate the size of the pile of food.
Is that a good thing? No, of course not. But by no means do I do it all the time. Honestly, it might not even be once a year, it’s so infrequent.
So when I do order mozzarella sticks… I make it count. Or in this case, when I make them at home and control exactly how many I make (read: consume with reckless abandon).
The Super Bowl is the perfect example of a time I allow myself to indulge in some of my favorites: these, soft pretzels, beer dip, bacon wrapped kielbasa, cheesy pizza pull apart bread.
Tips for making mozzarella sticks
- Work with one mozzarella cheese stick at a time. Speaking from experience, if you try to work on multiple sticks at once, it can be easy to lose track of which step you’ve done, and if you’ve done the second coating or not.
- Be sure to coat the entire stick, all the way around. That includes each end! Any non-covered areas will leave openings to the cheese to melt out when you fry them.
- Be gentle when you’re handling the sticks during the coating process. If you’re moving too quickly and grabbing them too firmly, you might accidentally slide some of the coating off of the cheese.
- You’ll notice we’re coating each stick twice. This gives it enough of a bread crumb coating that it reduces the chance that cheese will melt out the sides when you’re frying them.
- You have to freeze them before frying! For at least 1 hour. Absolutely, under no circumstance, and in no world, can you skip this step. If you don’t freeze them and just skip right to frying them, they’re going to disintegrate into a melty cheesy mess right before your eyes and you will be very, very sad. We’re talking giant Disney character sad eyes kind of sad.
- Don’t save any leftover breadcrumb mixture for later use. You’ve been dredging a raw egg and flour covered piece of cheese through it… just toss it. It’s okay.
- You want the oil to be as close to 350°F as possible for best results. I always use my favorite ThermoWorks ChefAlarm to keep an eye on the temperature.
- Be careful! Another thing that I hope goes without saying, but you’re working with hot oil, so be careful when you’re dropping the sticks in and removing them. Using long handled tongs and a gentle touch works well.
How to make mozzarella sticks ahead of time
Mozzarella sticks are best served immediately after being fried, but they can be breaded up to 2 months ahead of time and kept frozen until ready to fry.
See below for more information about properly freezing and storing them!
How to freeze mozzarella sticks
Freezing before frying: After you’ve breaded each cheese stick and put them in the freezer for the hour as indicated around Step #6, you can transfer them to a freezer safe bag or other freezer safe container and keep them frozen up for to 2 months. When you’re ready to fry them, you’ll do the same thing you see in the recipe card, but you just might need to add a minute or two to the frying time.
Freezing after frying: Full disclosure, I actually haven’t done that myself yet so I can’t speak to the results personally – but others have told me they’ve done it with success by storing the fried sticks in a freezer safe bag, and then baking them at 350°F for 10 minutes.
How to make homemade mozzarella sticks in an air fryer
You’re going to follow all the step preparation steps as you would for frying them in oil, but the steps to cook them will be different.
- Double coating in the breadcrumb mixture is still important: It’s just as important to double coat each stick when you air fry, because if you don’t they could potentially explode! And we don’t want you to be trying to clean up that literal hot mess.
- Spray your air fryer basket with nonstick spray. This will keep them from sticking, and also a little bit of extra browning.
- If you have a toaster oven/air fryer combination unit, place a baking sheet lined with foil beneath your basket to catch any oil drips.
- Don’t overcrowd the basket. Only add as many sticks at a time that will comfortably fit in the basket, and work in batches if necessary.
- Time to fry: Set the air fryer temperature to 390°F, spray the basket with nonstick spray, and cook for 7-9 minutes or until the mozzarella sticks are golden and crisp.
How to dispose of cooking oil
First things first, if you know you’re going to do more frying soon – just save the oil to use again! Let the oil cool, then use a coffee filter or cheesecloth (aff link) to remove any crumbs, and store in an airtight glass container in a cool, dark place.
But if you’re not saving it for another round, make sure to take the proper steps to discard the oil at home:
- Pack it and throw it away. Let the oil cool completely, then pour into a non-recycleable container with a lid and throw it in the trash. Examples would be milk cartons, takeout containers, or other plastic or wax-lined paper containers.
- Pour it in the trash – carefully and strategically. Once oil has cooled, slowly pour into the center of your trash can on top of absorbent items like paper towels, or discarded kitty litter. You don’t want it to pool into the bottom of the bag, because that could go south.
- Freeze it and toss it. Pour cooled oil into an old can (think the kinds you’d have for black beans) and place in the freezer. Once it’s solid, dump it into the trash.
How NOT to dispose of cooking oil
Don’t ever do the following:
- Don’t ever pour hot oil… anywhere. Always let it cool before you move forward with disposal.
- Don’t pour it down the drain. Any drain. Not the kitchen sink, the toilet, nothin’. It could clog the pipes, and also make the water nearly impossible to be treated – potentially polluting local sewers.
- Don’t pour it into compost piles. Fats are bad for compost, and oil is nothing but fat.
How to get rid of the smell of cooking oil
The fried food was delicious while you were eating it, but it’s less than ideal when you can still smell the cooking oil odors the next day. Here are some ways you can eliminate the smell (or help prevent the lingering smell altogether):
- Ventilate! As soon as you start heating the oil for frying, turn on the hood vents. Weather permitting, open the windows, too. Air circulation is your friend.
- Line the area around your workstation with newspaper. It will catch the splatter and help make cleanup easier. But be careful it doesn’t get too close to the stove flames!
- Clean up immediately. As soon as you’re done cooking, dispose of the oil (see above tips), clean the pot you used and clean your stovetop and counters (and frankly, the wall behind the stove, too).
- Simmer some homemade potpourri on the stove. I like to fill a small pot with a couple cups of water, a few tablespoons of vinegar, and an assortment of spices and fruit peels and let it simmer until the water has evaporated to help eliminate the oil odors. I’m a big fan of orange and lemon peels with a cinnamon stick.
- When all else fails, bake! It feels like as good an excuse as any to make a batch of cookies or some banana bread. Your kitchen will smell great, and you’ll have even more delicious treats.
As my friend Jim said about these fried sticks of heaven, “They have parsley on them. Which basically makes them a salad.”
Obviously that’s a joke… or is it?
After you’ve made this recipe, please consider coming back to share your experience with others by leaving a comment below with a star rating!
Easy Homemade Mozzarella Sticks
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
Mozzarella Sticks
- 12 mozzarella string cheese sticks
- ⅓ cup all purpose flour
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 large egg
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- ¾ cup plain panko breadcrumbs
- 1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan
- ½ teaspoon dried basil*
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano*
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley*
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme*
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder*
- Pinch of crushed red pepper, optional
- Vegetable oil, for frying
- Marinara sauce, for dipping (see below for homemade recipe)
Easy Small Batch Marinara Sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1-2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 8 ounces crushed tomatoes, 6 ounces or tomato sauce
- ¼ teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- Large pinch of salt
- Pinch of crushed red pepper
Instructions
Mozzarella Sticks
- Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In three separate shallow dishes, prepare the following:
- Dish #1: Combine flour, salt and pepper and whisk to combine.⅓ cup all purpose flour | ⅛ teaspoon salt | ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
- Dish #2: Combine eggs and milk and whisk to beat and combine.1 large egg | 2 Tablespoons milk
- Dish #3: Combine breadcrumbs, Parmesan, garlic powder, parsley, basil, oregano, thyme and red pepper flakes. Whisk to combine.¾ cup plain panko breadcrumbs | 1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan | ½ teaspoon dried basil* | ½ teaspoon dried oregano* | ½ teaspoon dried parsley* | ½ teaspoon dried thyme* | ½ teaspoon garlic powder* | Pinch of crushed red pepper
- Working with one piece of cheese at a time, dredge each piece of string cheese in flour mixture, shake off excess. Dip in egg mixture, then coat in breadcrumb mixture and press to ensure it sticks.12 mozzarella string cheese sticks
- Repeat this process again for each stick, then transfer to prepared baking sheet.
- Transfer baking sheet to freezer and let freeze for at least 1 hour.
- Fill a large pot with about 2" oil over medium heat until a thermometer inserted in the oil reaches 350°F.Vegetable oil
- Working in batches of no more than 4, carefully drop sticks into hot oil and turn occasionally until they are golden brown and crisp (about 2 minutes).
- Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate, and sprinkle with a little salt if desired.
- Serve immediately with your favorite dipping sauce (try my small batch marinara sauce recipe below) and enjoy!
Easy Small Batch Marinara Sauce
- Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, then add garlic and saute until fragrant, 1-2 minutes.1 tablespoon olive oil | 1-2 cloves garlic
- Add tomatoes, basil, oregano and salt. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes. Add red pepper (if using), stir and let simmer another 1 minutes.8 ounces crushed tomatoes | ¼ teaspoon dried basil | ¼ teaspoon dried oregano | Large pinch of salt | Pinch of crushed red pepper
- Transfer to serving dish and serve immediately. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Italian seasoning: If you don’t have the individual spices (basil, oregano, parsley, thyme, garlic), you can substitute for 2 ½ teaspoons Italian seasoning mix (next time, stock up and make your own Italian seasoning mix).
- Marinara sauce can be stored in a covered container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Note: Nutrition info is just for mozzarella sticks and does not include marinara sauce.
- Make ahead instructions: Mozzarella sticks are best served immediately after being fried, but they can be breaded up to 2 months ahead of time and kept frozen until ready to fry.
- Freezing before frying: After you’ve breaded each cheese stick and put them in the freezer for the hour as indicated around Step #6, you can transfer them to a freezer safe bag or other freezer safe container and keep them frozen up for to 2 months. When you’re ready to fry them, you’ll do the same thing you see in the recipe card, but you just might need to add a minute or two to the frying time.
- Freezing after frying: Full disclosure, I actually haven’t done that myself yet so I can’t speak to the results personally – but others have told me they’ve done it with success by storing the fried sticks in a freezer safe bag, and then baking them at 350°F for 10 minutes.
- Air fryer: You’re going to follow all the step preparation steps as you would for frying them in oil, but the steps to cook them will be different. Set the air fryer temperature to 390°F, spray the basket with nonstick spray, and cook for 7-9 minutes or until the mozzarella sticks are golden and crisp. See the body of the blog post for more details about air frying.
Amy Watkins
I have got to say the way you describe doing the freezing process and how not to skip it and how you describe what happens when you go straight to frying and how sad you will be was probably the best thing I’ve read in my life!! And just for that I’m trying this recipe tonight!’nn
Leslie Kiszka
Hah, I’m glad you enjoyed it! But seriously, don’t skip the freezing process! :-D
Julie @ Back To My Southern Roots
These look amazing! I can’t wait to make them.
autumn
I tried this recipe and it tasted really good! I used crackers instead of breadcrumbs and took out the salt as well but they still worked! The marinara was good as well.
Leslie Kiszka
That sounds great, I’m so glad you liked it! I’m curious, is there anything I could do to make it a 5/5 star recipe for you?
Nicole M.
Hi. I made these, but it seemed the cheese didn’t quite get soft enough. it stayed kinda tough, if you know what I mean. Should I maybe have the cheese sticks out for a little while before I bread them? Thanks!
Leslie Kiszka
Hm… you definitely want the cheese sticks to be as frozen as possible so they don’t completely disintegrate when you fry them, hah! What kind of cheese sticks did you use? I know some people have commented that when they’ve used more “discount” brands, they find their results can be a little meh.
Leah
Could a chunk of mozzarella be cut in strips instead of using string cheese?
Leslie Kiszka
It totally can, I’ve done it myself! Just make sure it’s not *too* big a chunk because you’ll find that the cheese will start spilling out while trying to fry them if it’s too much cheese to breading ratio (I know – who thought there could be a thing as too much cheese?! haha)
Michael Stewart
Made the recipe and it was delicious. Then i used the leftover cooking oil for making soap, lighting my charcoal grill and for fuel for my oil lamp
Leslie Kiszka
Love that resourcefulness!
BaKiNg FrEaK
THROUGH THE ROOF MOZZARELLA STICKS!!! Best mozzarella sticks I’ve ever had in my entire life
Leslie Kiszka
Ahhh I love to hear this so much!
Tana Slifko
I don’t know why, but anytime I follow a recipe for anything breaded, I never have enough of any of the flour, egg, breadcrumbs to make anywhere near what the recipe calls for. Following this recipe, I got 5 large cheese sticks. Which is fine, I just don’t know why this is always an issue for me, lol. They’re currently in the freezer, so will let everyone know how they turn out :)
Leslie Kiszka
I’m not sure why that would be, but at least you know it’s a predicament you always find yourself in with breaded recipes, and you can double up the ingredients for the breading accordingly :)
Tana Slifko
I typically do, and looking at it, I knew I wasn’t getting 12, but as I said 5 is good :)
Reynolds
What a horrible way to write a recipe, all you do is whine and moan about how you don’t like ordering them and then completely disregard an ingredients list. This isn’t a blog about your meaningless life it’s supposed to be a recipe. Get to it
Leslie Kiszka
It seems you completely missed the big “jump to recipe” button at the top of the screen, along with the rest of the post after the first couple paragraphs. And since this site is my property, it’s about whatever I want it to be about – and it seems unfortunately for you, that means it’s also about the human on the other end of the keyboard.
What a horrible, meaningless life you must have to spend your time whining and moaning in the comment section of a recipe that’s provided to you for free rather than just clicking the Jump To Recipe button to get the content you’re looking for, as well as having basic respect for other human beings and good manners of any kind.
If this is your biggest problem right now, I sure hope your life gets better, Reynolds.
Holly
This recipe looks delicious! I have one question though, once cooked can these be frozen and if so what would be the best reheating technique?
Leslie Kiszka
Thank you for asking, I apologize that I didn’t already have an answer to this in the post – going to remedy that right now!
After you’ve breaded each cheese stick and put them in the freezer for the hour as indicated around Step #6, you can transfer them to a freezer safe bag or other freezer safe container and keep them frozen up for to 2 months. When you’re ready to fry them, you’ll do the same thing you see in the recipe card, but you just might need to add a minute or two to the frying time.
As for freezing them *after* they’ve been fried, I actually haven’t done that myself yet so I can’t speak to the results personally – but others have told me they’ve done it with success by storing the fried sticks in a freezer safe bag, and then baking them at 350F for 10 minutes!
Sara
Dude what is your problem?? I like that this isn’t wirtten like a robot wrote it, and the recipe itself was great. Going to make these more than I probably should for my diet lol
Leslie Kiszka
I appreciate your support, Sara! And also really glad you enjoyed the recipe :)
Yo Momma
hey fuck face kill yourself
Yo Momma
that’s for the complaining too much
Amy Rae
I love this! Made it for my dungeons and dragons group with some spaghetti with homemade marinara and it was a hit!!!
Leslie Kiszka
Ahh, I’m so glad it was a hit! I hope you all had a great time, too :)
Brandon Herrara
You sound like the kind of person who beats their wife when dinner isn’t ready when you get home. I hope this isn’t the case, but you definitely have some issues.
Molly Carnall
I just made these and they are great!! I cut them in half and they were perfect! I do have some leftovers though, can these be frozen after fried?
Leslie Kiszka
I’m so glad you liked them! I like the idea of cutting them in half, too. I’ll be completely honest with you, I haven’t tried freezing them after making them – they’re always gone so quickly, hah! Next time I make them I will freeze them and see how they hold up to being re-heated and what might be the best method.
Jeraldine
How are there only a few comments on this recipe?!! I’ve made these at least 5 times over the last 6 months and they’re way better than what I used to get at a bar
Leslie Kiszka
Haha, thanks for leaving a comment – I love them too!
Gennie
I didn’t have any garlic powder so I used crushed garlic and I didn’t have parsley so I just omitted it, and they were still great! It’s good that I had my partner to eat some of them because otherwise I would be very sick today lol
Leslie Kiszka
Haha! I know what you mean ;) Thank you so much for coming back to leave a comment and rating, I really appreciate it!
Leah
These are super easy to make, and thanks for the jack ass that felt like being a dick to you, the comments were a blast to read.
Leslie Kiszka
LOL, I’m glad you enjoyed the comments too ;)
Elizabeth
Do I need to use milk I ran out and I don’t feel like going to the store
Leslie Kiszka
Hi Elizabeth! I haven’t tried it myself, but theoretically you could swap the milk for water – you will just lose a bit of the flavor and it might not coat as well as it does with milk.
Ed Stone
Awesome recipe! Thanks for sharing.
I used buttermilk BTW
Kimberlie Salgado
Everything is very open with a very clear description of the challenges. It was truly informative. Your site is extremely helpful. Thank you for sharing!
Jackson
I’d been craving mozzarella sticks from my local bar since they shut down because of the pandemic and making these totally got my craving!
Leslie Kiszka
So glad these could help with the craving – I’m missing so many foods myself, too!
Rebecca McGradie
I will def be trying this recipe. Just a couple of questions, that I would appreciate any & all feedback ;) First time making homemade sticks I’d like to get a gold star, but I’ll settle for a silver or even a blue star.
Breadcrumb question: The crunchiest crumbs I am aware are panko( as called for in recipe), but…the panko I’ve been buying in local stores (ex Progresso) aren’t much different. I remember years ago living in (ny)China Town- the independent shops/ stores had the best Panko crumbs (all most a tempura crust)
Ok, ok, sorry, I’m being long winded ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR THE BEST PANKO CRUMBS for this recipe???
Same for the cheese….ANY SPECIFIC MOZZ. WORK THE BEST???
If no response Im still looking 4ward to this gooey goodness, appreciate the recipe and your time!
Leslie Kiszka
Hi there, Rebecca – I want to help you get that gold star ;)
I always use 4C Japanese Style Plain Panko Bread Crumbs, but you could use whatever you’re able to get your hands on – just make sure they’re plain and not seasoned, since you’re adding the seasoning yourself!
As for the cheese, I’ve used Sargento and Galbani mozzarella cheese sticks and found them both to yield consistent results. I hope this helps – good luck, and enjoy!
Jena
@Rebecca McGradie, maybe try substitute flour for sweet potato starch or, half flour and half sweet potato. I love how Chinese chicken is crunchier when i fry with sweet potato cornstarch