These Freezer-Friendly Baked Mozzarella Sticks are going to quickly become a staple in your house. Perfect for after-school snacks, late night munchies, and game day!
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Fried mozzarella sticks are one of my all-time favorite foods. Melted cheese, crunchy, flavorful coating, dipped in ranch or marinara…oh.my.gosh – what’s not to love?
I love cheese. Like, big, pink puffy heart the stuff. Pretty much any and all cheese but when said cheese is fried up into golden goodness…yeah, pretty irresistible. Fried mozzarella sticks are a total weakness of mine.
As much as a I love ordering these when we’re out, I love making them at home even more. Seriously, these are incredibly easy to make and with a little preparation and planning you can be enjoying restaurant-quality mozzarella sticks that are WAY healthier and dare I say, WAY better as well.
You’re going to find yourself making up a batch of these for the kids for after-school snacks, for you hubby when the late-night munchies hit, and for a whole slew of people that came over to watch the game.
So here’s the deal, you’re gonna want to double or triple this recipe, trust me on this. The messy party is dipping in flour, egg, and the breadcrumbs (FEB – as in February- is an easy way to remember the order). After that, the sticks need to be frozen, like, frozen SOLID. Otherwise, you end up with a melty mess that doesn’t even remotely resemble sticks. And while that’s incredibly yummy to eat with a spoon from a bowl, it’s harder to dip with 🙂
So, you’re going to freeze the sticks, for at least (AT LEAST) an hour before baking them. I say, why not make lots, freeze them up, throw ’em in ziploc bags and then they’re ready to be thrown in the oven at a moment’s notice – no mess required. Brilliant, yes?
Also brilliant is the KRAFT cheese sale going on at Target this week (9/14-9/20). I headed straight over this morning and stocked up on my cheese for the next several months. If you didn’t know, cheese can be frozen – yessss.
My boys and I eat cheese sticks daily so it’s a whole lot of fun to mix it up a bit and treat the whole family to these baked mozzarella sticks, totally easy way to score some extra mom points, for sure.
My hubby? His take on the whole baked version? Can’t tell the difference but demands that they be served with, and I quote, “marinara and/or ranch…emphasis on the and.” He’s a keeper!
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Baked Mozzarella Sticks
Ingredients
- 12 mozzarella cheese sticks
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup Italian flavored bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
- 2 tbsp shredded Parmesan cheese
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
Instructions
- Cut cheese sticks in half.
- Set out three medium bowls.
- Place flour in first bowl, beaten eggs in second bowl, and stir together both bread crumb and Parmesan cheese in the third bowl.
- Line a baking sheet with waxed paper.
- Dredge the cheese sticks in the flour first, then dip in the egg mixture, and finally coat with the bread crumb mixture.
- Re-dip each cheese stick into the egg mixture and bread crumb mixture for a second coat if desired. (This is optional)
- Place on lined baking sheet.
- Repeat process until all cheese sticks are coated. Place baking sheet in freezer and freeze for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Line a baking sheet with foil. Spray foil with cooking spray. Place frozen cheese sticks on baking sheet and spray with cooking spray.
- Bake for 3-5 minutes, turn, bake for another 3-5 minutes until golden.
- Cool for several minutes before serving with marinara or ranch.
Nutrition
Visit your local Target to take advantage of the Weekly Wow promotion featuring Kraft Cheese products! From 9/14 through 9/20, buy any 5 Kraft Cheese products for $10.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Kraft. The opinions and text are all mine.
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