Easy 3 Ingredient Fried Mozzarella Sticks

Thank you to the Idaho Potato Commission for partnering with me on this post. All opinions are my own.

Watch my best fried cheese recipe web story here.

What’s So Great About These

• First of all, they only contain 3 ingredients. Three!
• They’re also gluten-free, so you can serve them to gluten-free friends and family members without worry.
• You can switch up the flavors any way you like. Since dehydrated potatoes come in so many flavors, choose your favorite like Buttery Homestyle, Roasted Garlic, or even Four Cheese!

I mean, who wouldn’t want cheese outside and inside?

The dehydrated potato fries up super crispy, so it’s almost like eating tubes of potato chips stuffed with gooey, melty cheese!

It does not get much better than that, friends!

How to Make Fried Mozzarella

These are not at all hard to make, although there is a bit of a process.

If you’ve never deep fried before, worry not because I will walk you through it.

And if you have an air fryer, don’t hesitate to air fry these in a single layer. They will turn out almost as crispy as if you deep fry, I promise!

Ingredients

• beaten eggs: this is what adheres the coating to the cheese. If you cannot have eggs, you can substitute buttermilk or thick, plant-based milk such as oat milk
• string cheese: I like to use full-fat cheese sticks, but you can also substitute part-skim mozzarella sticks
• Dehydrated Idaho® potatoes: This is the fun part: use any flavor you like! One caveat: it’s probably best not to choose the versions with bacon bits in them, because they will probably burn in the hot oil. Otherwise, choose your favorite flavor or flavors of dried potatoes and have fun with it
• salt: I always add a pinch of salt to my egg mixture. This is optional

Procedure

As I said, this is a bit of a process, but I will walk you through all the steps and also give you some tips and tricks to make sure your delicious fried cheesy goodness comes out perfectly!

First, set up your breading station:

1. Put eggs and a pinch of salt in one dish and whisk with a fork until blended.
2. Put your dehydrated potatoes in the second dish and spread it out in a thick, even layer.
3. Put a cooling rack over a pan (to catch drips) and place it near your “breading.” (potato-ing?)

Now that you have all that set up, here’s how it goes:

1. Cut your mozzarella sticks in half cross-wise to make them easier to deal with.
2. Roll each half in the beaten egg, and then roll them really well in the dehydrated potatoes. Cover the whole stick, especially the ends.
3. Place on the rack to set up.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 with all the cheese sticks so you end up with a thick double-coating of potato.
5. Freeze for at least 30 minutes. If you’re freezing them for a longer amount of time, place them in freezer bags.

To Fry

Heat at least 3″ of oil to 350F.

Fry 4-5 cheese sticks at a time, but don’t crowd the pan or the oil temperature will take too long to recover and you may end up with greasy fried cheese.

Keep the cheese sticks moving so they turn an even deep golden brown color all over, about 4-5 minutes.

What To Dip These In

The sky is the limit.

For the most traditional dip, use jarred pizza sauce or pasta sauce, or make my short-cut creamy vodka sauce or my traditional vodka sauce.

You could also go with homemade ranch dressing or consider bechamel/besciamella sauce for extra creamy goodness.

Equipment

Since you’re essentially breading these cheese sticks, it’s nice to have 2 wide and shallow dishes to work with, one for your dehydrated potatoes and another for your egg.

I use 2 small glass bakers (or 1 baker and a random plate as in the video!), but 2 glass pie plates or even disposable pie pans would work as well.

If you do lots of breading and frying, you might even consider investing in an inexpensive “breading station” setup.

You’ll also want a wire cooling rack (or something similar) set over a tray for your guys to sit on to set up between breading sessions.

Tips for Success

1. Double dip these guys. Don’t feel like it? Do it anyway. Make sure you get two really good, complete coats of potato all over the cheese sticks.
2. Don’t skip the freezer step. Don’t feel like it? Do it anyway. Letting the sticks set up between coatings and then in the freezer once they’re double-coated helps to ensure your guys don’t leak and/or fall apart in the fryer.
3. Fry in batches. Don’t feel like it? Do it anyway. Do not crowd the pan or the oil temperature will drop too far, allowing your lovely fried cheese to soak up oil. Not so lovely.
4. Keep your fryer at the correct temperature. Keep the temperature as close to 350F as possible. Don’t go under 325F and don’t go over about 365F. Use a fry thermometer or an instant-read.
5. Between batches, use a skimmer to skim out any bits of potato coating that fall off during frying.

Fried Cheese Q & A

How to Safely Get Rid of Oil After Deep Frying

Don’t just pour your used oil down the drain, friends. It’ll wreak havoc on your pipes or worse, your septic system if you have one.

To safely dispose of cooking oil, pour it into non-recyclable rigid containers (old bottles would work) and put it in your trash.

You can also pour it over cat litter, saw dust, old newspapers, etc, and then seal that up in non-recyclable containers and put in the trash.

You can also check your area to see if anyone will take it off your hands to use in making biofuel.

Here’s a great article I found about all the ways you can use your used cooking oil or safely get rid of it.

Questions

If you have any questions about this or any other recipe or post on the site, there are a few ways to get in touch.

You can leave a comment on the post, and I’ll be back in touch within 24 hours.

If your question is more pressing, don’t hesitate to email me, and I should be back in touch within 4 hours (unless I’m asleep) or often much more quickly than that.

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Enjoy the fried mozzarella sticks, friends.

Thanks for spending some time with me today. Take care, and have a lovely day.

Watch my easy New Year’s appetizers web story here.