If you love the taste of cheesy mozzarella sticks and crunchy fried kosher dill pickles, do I have some great news for you. While this recipe almost seems like one of those 2 a.m. ideas after a night of enjoying apple cider moonshine (yeah, we've all been there), these pickle mozzarella sticks are actually delicious when you are sober.
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This recipe comes from none other than Delish, and they have posted a fun video showing you how to make these oven baked pickle mozzarella sticks as well. Serve these pickle mozzarella sticks with onion rings and sides of marinara sauce and ranch dressing. It's game food to the max.
How to Make Pickle Mozzarella Sticks
To get started preheat your oven to 400ºF and line a medium baking sheet pan with parchment paper. You can grease the pan with cooking spray, but we recommend using parchment paper for easy cleanup.
Next, take the pickle (kosher dill works best), cut off the ends, and use a small spoon to scoop out the inside of the pickles. The best tool for this is a small melon baller.
Once the pickle is hollowed out, insert the string cheese and cut the ends of the cheese to fit snugly in the pickle. Eat the excess string cheese. Yes, I'm adding that in as an actual step.
Once you have prepared all of the pickles, move on over to make the breading. I like to set up 3 bowls next to each other whenever I bread something to keep the area clean. In the first small shallow bowl mix together the flour, garlic powder and paprika and season with salt and pepper. The eggs go in the second bowl and the breadcrumbs in the third.
I like to dedicate one hand for the flour and egg and another for the breading. It keeps your hands a lot cleaner and you don't end up with fat chunks of breading on your fingers.
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Dredge the pickles in the flour mixture and then move to the egg mixture. Using the same hand, transfer the pickle to the breadcrumbs. Using your other hand roll the pickle in the panko breadcrumbs and place on the prepared baking tray. Repeat with the remaining pickles.
Once all of the pickles are breaded, place them in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, flipping them over halfway through.
One bite of these oven fried pickles and you'll never go back. Pat yourself on the back for being a part of this successful epicurean adventure. You deserve it.
