Air Fryer Mozzarella Sticks

(serves 2)

Do you ever have left over ingredients from making a pizza at home? Well here’s an easy and tasty recipe to use them all up!

I got an air fryer as a gift last summer and have come to cherish it as one of my top three kitchen tools.

The other two are my Kitchen Aid mixer and my Ninja blender that also serves as a food processor, but I'll get into those another time. The air fryer is great for reheating items like chicken cutlets, cooking frozen snacks, and (of course) making homemade mozzarella sticks. They taste just like they would from your favorite sports bar, maybe even better, and they don't have all the added calories from deep frying them. This recipe is very easy to double or cut in half.

Mozzarella sticks always have been and always will be a favorite of mine. When I was younger, my childhood best friend and I would eat them after school every day, and I literally mean every single day. To this day, we still order them when we go out to eat together!

Ingredients:

- Fresh mozzarella (1/2 of an 16oz log)

- 1 1/2 cups of Bread Crumbs

- 1 cup of Flour

- 2 Eggs

- Herbs (fresh or dired)

- Parmesan - Salt and pepper - Tomato sauce / marinara for dipping

Instructions:

Preheat your air fryer to 375 degrees and start by putting your bread crumbs, flour and mixed eggs in 3 separate bowls. For the bread crumbs, I tend to use a mix of standard Italian and panko, but use whatever you have in the pantry! Add any seasonings you have on hand (to taste) such as fresh or dried Italian herbs, garlic powder, grated Parmesan, salt and pepper to the breadcrumb mixture. Next slice your fresh mozzarella log into 8 equal log-like shapes.

Dip each piece of mozzarella into the flour, then the egg, and then the bread crumbs. Repeat this process so that each mozzarella piece has two coatings of breading on it. This step is important. If you only do one coating, you risk all of the cheese leaking out during during the cooking process.

Cook the mozzarella sticks for about 6 mins, flipping halfway in between. You know they're done when the cheese ever so slightly starts to peek out. Let cool for a minute and serve with your favorite marinara or leftover pizza sauce.

Don'f forget to do a cheese pull check and see how long you can get it to stretch! More importantly, don't forget to always use salted butter!