Oven-Baked Mozzarella Sticks

With it being the first week of NFL Football, I was itching to make a delicious appetizer to accompany the occasion.   Yes, football is an occasion in my household!  We are still beaming over the Buffalo Bills win this week.    I decided that Monday Night Football would be a great night to test out a new recipe, and the first thing that came to my mind was mozzarella sticks.  I have a weak spot for mozzarella sticks, and everyone who knows me, knows this to be true.  But let's face it, deep fried strings of cheese aren't the healthiest.  I, however, found a recipe that is!  By using skim mozzarella cheese and using the oven instead of a deep frier, I cooked some delicious 43 calorie mozzarella sticks, and was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

Ingredients
12 sticks part-skim mozzarella string cheese
1 large egg
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs
2 teaspoons parmesan cheese
1 Tablespoon dried parsley (or basil)
Nonstick cooking spray
Marinara sauce for serving



I started by freezing the cheese sticks for 30 minutes.  Following that, as pictured above,  I cut them in half and then rolled them in flour, dipped them in whisked egg yolk, and covered them in a mix of breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese and dried basil.  After freezing again, I put them in the oven, at 400 degrees, for 5 minutes on each side.  Full directions are available on "The Comfort of Cooking Website", where I found this simple and easy recipe.


Although my mozzarella sticks didn't look quite like the ones on the original recipe, as they never quite do, they definitely had the flavor!  If you decide to make these tasty treats, I would suggest cutting the cheese so it is thinner.  I would also suggest breading the sticks very heavily, so that the cheese can fully melt inside before the outsides get golden brown.

Don't get me wrong, I will still indulge in some deep fried mozzarella sticks when given the next chance, but this recipe definitely opened my eyes to the healthy possibilities that are out that when it comes to cooking!

Thanks for reading!
-Jamie