Oven Baked Mozzarella Sticks – Cheesy mozzarella sticks, baked in the oven to perfect crispiness! So easy and much healthier than traditional ones!
Mozzarella sticks are one of my favorite appetizers. The cheesy gooey goodness inside a crispy golden outer crust?? Irresistable! The thing is, are they healthy? No. Are they even in the middle, like not healthy but not not healthy? No. They are definitely no-so-healthy. But they’re so good! But they’re unhealthy.
You see my embarrassing restaurant ordering dilemma?
Fortunately, in addition to loving cheesy gooey things wrapped in crispy golden breaded crusts, I also love turning not-so-healthy deliciousness into totally-guilt-free deliciousness. Enter healthier Oven Baked Mozzarella Sticks.
These mozzarella sticks are done in basically three simple steps.
1) Freeze the cheese.
2) Coat the cheese with crumby goodness.
3) Bake the cheese to crispy golden melty gooeyness.
Eat. Enjoy. Repeat! (Repeat = Not necessary but totally recommended).
Oven Baked Mozzarella Sticks
Ingredients
- 25 part skim string cheese sticks - chopped in half
- ½ cup flour
- 1 egg - slightly beaten
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 2 teaspoosn garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons salt
- optional: ranch or marinara sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray heavily with cooking spray.
- Freeze mozzarella sticks until hard (about 30 minutes). Place flour in one bowl and egg in a second bowl. In a third bowl, add bread crumbs, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, and salt and whisk to combine.
- Toss the cheese sticks in the flour to coat, then in the egg mixture, then in the crumb mixture. Dip each coated cheese stick into the egg mixture one more time, and then back in the crumb mixture one more time. Freeze sticks about 15 minutes. (This will keep the cheese from melting too fast while the coating gets crispy in the oven).
- Place cheese sticks in a single layer on prepared baking sheet. Spray thoroughly with cooking spray. Bake 5-8 minutes, then turn and cook another 5-8 minutes on other side until golden and crispy. Allow to cool slightly before serving with ranch or marinara dipping sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
Can you make these ahead and freeze batches in freezer bags? And what would be the best way to do it? I would love to just be able to take a bag out of the freezer to be able to bake up when company comes over.
Hi Rosalie! I think you could freeze these. After breading them I would lay them out on a single sheet of nonstick foil and put them in the freezer for 15-20 minutes. Then transfer them to a plastic zip lock bag and return them to the freezer. This will help them to not stick together in the bag. Then when you want to cook some, I’d probably let them thaw 5-10 minutes before putting them in the oven. 🙂
Thoroughly enjoyed them but require a small amount of experimentation on temperature and freezing time.
Can these be made gluten free? Is it possible to replace the regular flour with gf flour and keep the same structure of the mozzarella stick?
To be honest, I have never tried making these gluten free. I can’t say for sure! I’d love to hear the outcome for you though!
the MOZZARELLA exploded a little but overall very good
These turned out really good! Very tasty and I’ve bookmarked the recipe as I will be making them again in the future.
So glad you enjoyed this recipe!