Bigly Mozzarella Sticks
Prep
20m
Cook
8m
Total
28m
Bigly says
Mozzarella sticks. Mozzarella sticks! We're doing them. BIGLY mozzarella sticks. The greatest mozzarella sticks on planet Earth — and possibly on other planets, we don't know yet, we haven't checked, NASA is dragging their feet on this one, very disappointing — but on Earth? Mine win. Hands down. Not even close.
Here's what nobody tells you. The secret to mozzarella sticks is not the cheese. Everyone thinks it's the cheese. WRONG. The cheese is the easy part. Mozzarella is mozzarella. The secret is the BREADING. You have to double-bread. You hear me? DOUBLE. Single-breaded mozzarella sticks are a tragedy in slow motion. They're a leak waiting to happen. You drop one in the oil, the cheese escapes, the oil is RUINED, your pan is RUINED, your whole night is RUINED, and now you're eating cereal at 11 PM crying over a stovetop. A disaster. Other so-called chefs tell you 'just bread it once, it'll be fine.' It will NOT be fine. Find a new chef. Believe me.
And then — second secret, free, no popup, no 'subscribe for our weekly mozzarella stick newsletter,' no cookie banner with 18 toggles where you have to manually opt out of being tracked by 200 advertising partners just to read a recipe, A NATIONAL DISGRACE — you have to FREEZE them first. Freeze the breaded sticks. Solid. Rock hard. Why? Because cheese melts faster than breading browns. Frozen cheese gives the breading time to do its job. It's basic physics. I had a guy with a PhD explain this to me. Took him 90 minutes. Worth it.
Ingredients
- 16 ozlow-moisture whole-milk mozzarella block(the block. NOT the fresh ball. The fresh ball will explode.)
- 1 cupall-purpose flour
- 3large eggs
- 2 tbspwhole milk
- 2 cupsItalian-seasoned panko breadcrumbs
- 1 tspgarlic powder
- 1 tspdried oregano
- 1 tspkosher salt
- 1/2 tspblack pepper
- 4 cupsneutral oil for frying(canola, peanut, or vegetable. Something with a high smoke point.)
- 1 cupwarm marinara sauce (for dipping)
Steps
- 1
Cut the mozzarella block into sticks about 3 inches long and 1/2 inch thick. You should get 16-20 sticks.
- 2
Set up three shallow bowls: one with flour, one with the eggs whisked with milk, and one with the panko mixed with garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper.
- 3
Dredge each stick in flour, then egg, then panko. Then go BACK through the egg and BACK through the panko a second time. Press the crumbs on firmly.
- 4
Place the double-breaded sticks on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze at least 1 hour, or until completely solid.
- 5
Heat the oil in a heavy pot or Dutch oven to 360°F. Use a thermometer — this is not the place to guess.
- 6
Working in batches of 4-5 sticks, fry the frozen mozzarella sticks 60-90 seconds, turning once, until the breading is deep golden brown.
- 7
Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate. Let rest 1 minute (the cheese is molten lava — respect it).
- 8
Serve immediately with warm marinara for dipping.
One more thing
Pull the cheese. Pull it. Take a picture. Send it to someone who doubted you. Send it to your high school cafeteria. Send it to every chain restaurant that ever charged you eight dollars for four sad limp sticks. You've beaten them. You've beaten ALL of them. The mozzarella stick game is OVER. You won. I helped, but you did the work, and the cheese — the cheese did the rest. Save me a piece.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about Bigly Mozzarella Sticks.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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