Americans love cheese, and I am no exception. Fried cheese curds are a personal favorite, but in New Jersey, cheese curds are extremely hard to come by—although we do have some amazing cheese makers in this state (very few of whom actually produce cheese curds). When cheese curds aren’t available—which is pretty much always—fried mozzarella makes the perfect appetizer.

Football season is finally back; preseason games have started, and in no time, Sundays will be filled with friends, football, and game day snacks. These mozzarella sticks are easy to whip up and so much better than the store bought kind. Another plus? You can make them as big or small as you’d like.

I prefer to double dip my mozzarella sticks, meaning coat them twice in bread crumbs, because it produces a thicker outside coating. It’s fine to only do it once, as long as you make sure to coat the cheese in its entirety, or else it will melt all over as soon as it hits the hot oil. This recipe uses an eight-ounce ball of mozzarella and makes about 8-10 mozzarella sticks, depending on how thickly the cheese is cut.

Ingredients:
8-ounce mozzarella ball
2 eggs
splash of milk
2-3 cups panko breadcrumbs
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon parsley flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup oil, plus more if needed

In a medium pan, heat oil to 350. Slice mozzarella into rectangular pieces, or as desired. In a small bowl, combine eggs and milk to create an egg wash. Combine bread crumbs, garlic powder, parsley, salt and pepper in a large resealable bag. Dip mozzarella in egg wash, then in breadcrumbs, then repeat process once more. Do this for each piece of mozzarella. Fry in oil until golden brown, about two minutes on each side.