Fried cheese sticks are a classic, delicious appetizer coated in batter and deep-fried until crunchy and golden brown. They are a perfect snack to share with your family anytime with the perfect dip.
They also serve as a great appetizer before having lunch or dinner. The first bite gives you the delicious crispy taste of the bread crumbs coating, and you transition into the gooey, soft, cheesy middle. The good news is that you do not have to go out to find good-quality and tasty fried cheese sticks.
How to Make Cheese Fries
This fried cheese recipe makes it easy and enjoyable for you to make homemade restaurant-quality fried cheese sticks.
Ingredients
- Cheese string
- Bread crumbs
- Seasoning
- Large egg
- Oil
- Buttermilk
- All-purpose flour
- Cornstarch
Directions
- Whisk your eggs and buttermilk in one bowl until they are evenly beaten. Mix your bread crumbs with the seasonings you have. The seasonings depend on the flavor you want your cheese sticks to have. Some common ones you can use include garlic powder, paprika, pepper, and salt. In a third bowl, mix the all-purpose flour and cornstarch.
- Add your oil into a large pan and set your stove to 350 degrees F. let it heat as you prepare the cheese sticks.
- Cut your cheese sticks to your preferred size.
- Dredge a cheese stick into the flour and cornstarch mixture first, ensuring you get an even coat. Shake off the excess flour and cornstarch, then dip the cheese stick into the egg mixture, rolling it to get an even coat. Lift the cheese stick and let some excess egg fall into the bowl. Finally, dredge the cheese stick into the bread crumbs and roll to get an even coat.
- Set the cheese sticks aside until your oil starts bubbling.
- Dip the cheese stick into the hot oil and fry them until golden brown. Remove them from the oil and set them on a dripping rack or on a plate over several paper towels to remove the excess oil.
- Repeat the same process for all cheese sticks.
The Perfect Sauce
Many people prefer using the classic marinara sauce, made using tomatoes, onions, and garlic. You could also use Bolognese sauce if you want a meatier option or homemade ranch. Other sauce ideas you can try include:
- BBQ sauce
- Southwest dipping sauce
- Sriracha Aioli
- Garlic Aioli
- Comeback sauce
If you want to compliment your cheese sticks with other foods, you can try serving them with chicken wings, ham and cheese sliders, sausage balls, and potato skins. You can also enjoy them as side dishes with tomato soup to switch up your dinner or lunch.
Storing and Reheating
If you want to make fried cheese sticks for a few days, it is possible to store them and eat them still fresh from the refrigerator. First, ensure they cool to room temperature, line a container with paper towels, add your cheese sticks, and then cover the container with an air-tight lid.
The paper towels help absorb the excess oil that could make the top coat soggy. Ensure you store the cheese sticks in the furthest part of the refrigerator to prevent it from experiencing temperature changes. The cheese sticks will remain good in the fridge for five to seven days.
For more extended storage, you can freeze them. Let them cool completely, place them on a baking sheet in one layer, and then freeze them for several hours or overnight. Once frozen, place them in zip-locked bags, label the dates, and pop them back into the freezer. They can go for up to three months.
To reheat your refrigerated cheese sticks, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, then place the cheese sticks in the oven for approximately five minutes. You can add or reduce the time depending on if the cheese sticks are properly heated by the end of the five minutes.
For frozen cheese sticks, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. place the cheese sticks in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until they are evenly heated.
Tips
While this fried cheese recipe will help you make good cheese sticks, these tips will improve the results.
Use cheese strings
While you might be tempted to say any cheese is good cheese, this recipe will work best if you use cheese strings instead of regular cheese. This is because string cheese does not melt as fast as regular cheese, so it will not drip out.
Choose your bread crumbs wisely
Italian and panko bread crumbs are the best to give you a super crispy finish. However, if you can’t get them, you can use regular bread crumbs, but ensure to put on a thick layer.
Freeze your cheese
Before cooking, ensure to freeze your cheese for approximately one hour. This helps prevent it from melting too fast and leaking out.
Add your cheese sticks in batches
Even though you use a big frying pan, adding many cheese sticks at once will make them stick together, giving you a cheese clump that will not be as appealing or crispy. For the best results, add in as few as possible.
Have enough oil
Ensure that your oil is enough to cover the whole cheese stick. Otherwise, you will have to turn them, and they might not be as evenly cooked as if you used a lot of oil.
Cover the cheese stick with many bread crumbs and flour layers
If you want the best crunch on your cheese stick, you will want to add more bread crumbs and flour/ corn starch layers. You can repeat the dredging process twice on every cheese stick. Also, when dredging the cheese into the breadcrumbs, ensure you press them into the cheese and cover every inch of the cheese stick, including the top and bottom ends.
FAQs
People reach for mozzarella cheese when making fried cheese sticks because of how it melts. If you want to use any other cheese than mozzarella, you can. However, it would be best to look for semi-soft or soft cheeses that melt properly. Hard cheeses like parmesan cheese don’t melt properly.
You can find string cheese in numerous flavors, but most contain some mozzarella because it is the only cheese that naturally has the stringing quality. However, there is still a difference between the regular, soft, and smooth mozzarella and string cheese, mainly in the manufacturing process.
When making regular mozzarella cheese, the manufacturers keep it in brine or water while they dry out the string cheese. They then press the string cheese into long cylindrical pieces making it easier to pull off the cheese “stings” from the stick.
While you might find other types of cheese sticks like cheddar, they don’t have the same properties as the mozzarella ones, and those are called cheese snacks.
Cheese sticks are the fastest and easiest to cook because they require little time in the oil. They only take 30 seconds to a minute to cook if the oil is perfectly heated.
The biggest risk when making these is that the cheese could melt and start dripping. To prevent these, observe them and keep turning them as they cook. Also, remove them from the oil as soon as the top coating becomes golden-brown.
