Air-fryer mozzarella sticks with a big bowl of marinara
30 min · 21 g protein · 335 cals / serving
Golden, crunchy mozzarella sticks with a garlicky, oregano-spiked panko crust that give way to a proper cheese pull. Freezing them first keeps the cheese inside while the crust crisps. The big bowl of warm basil marinara is part of the plate, not a thimble on the side: dunk the sticks in it, and the cool cucumber and pepper sticks too.
Ingredients
- 8 part-skim mozzarella sticks string cheese, halved crosswise
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup liquid egg white, or 4 egg whites, beaten
- scant 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 3/4 tsp garlic powder
- a light coat cooking spray
Marinara
- 2 1/2 cups marinara sauce
- a pinch red pepper flakes
- a handful fresh basil, torn
To dunk
- 1/2 large cucumber, cut into sticks
- 1 large red bell pepper, cut into strips
Steps
- Set out three dishes: the flour, the beaten egg white, and the panko mixed with the oregano and garlic powder. Roll each piece of cheese in flour, dip it in egg white, then press it into the crumbs. Dip it in the egg white and crumbs a second time; the double coat is what keeps the cheese in.
- Lay the sticks on a lined tray and freeze for at least 30 minutes, or until solid (they keep frozen for a month in a bag).
- Heat the air fryer to 400°F. Cook the frozen sticks in a single layer, sprayed lightly, for 5–7 minutes, until golden. Pull them the moment one starts to ooze.
- Warm the marinara with the chilli flakes, stir in the basil, and serve it in a big bowl in the middle of the plate with the hot sticks and the cucumber and pepper sticks around it.
Good to know
Why freeze them?
Frozen cheese takes longer to melt than the crust takes to crisp, so you get a crunchy shell around soft, stretchy cheese instead of a puddle in the basket.
One burst. What happened?
A thin spot in the coating. The double dip fixes most of them; if one leaks, it is cook's treat.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 105
- Protein
- (25%)
- 7 g
- Fat
- (41%)
- 5 g
- Carbohydrates
- (34%)
- 9 g
- of which sugar
- 4 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 360 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 1338 kcal goes into the pot and 1317 g of ingredients comes out as about 1275 g of food: 105 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.