Fried Mozzarella Cheese Sticks with Homemade Marinara Sauce

These cheese sticks and marinara are so easy to make, and the cheese sticks freeze very well! Make a batch and keep them in your freezer to have fresh restaurant style fried cheese sticks whenever you want!

Fried Mozzarella Cheese Sticks with Homemade Marinara Sauce

Ingredients:

For the Cheese Sticks:

• 24 mozzarella string cheese sticks
• 2 5oz bags Garlic and Herb croutons
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons water
• ¾ cups flour
• vegetable oil for frying

For the Marinara Sauce:

• 3 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
• ½ onion (red or white)
• 6 cloves garlic OR 6 tablespoons pre-chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground rosemary
• 1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes with basil and garlic
• 1 6oz can tomato paste
• ¾ cup water

Instructions:

For the cheese sticks:

1. Unwrap all the sticks. Cut each in half, creating 48 shorter sticks.
2. Put croutons in a blender or food processor and pulse until finely crushed and no more large chunks remain. (You can also crush them by placing them in a large zipper bag and crushing with a rolling pin, but this will create coarser crumbs that won't stick as well.) Place crumbs in a bowl or shallow dish.
3. Place flour in a bowl or shallow dish.
4. Crack eggs into a bowl or shallow dish. Add water and beat well.
5. Take each mozzarella stick and, one at a time, dip in flour, creating a light coating, then dip in egg wash, then into crushed croutons. Take care to make sure each layer covers the entire stick, with no exposed cheese. Place coated sticks on a plate.
6. Place coated sticks into the freezer for at least five hours, or over night. At this point, you can transfer them to a freezer safe bag and freeze for up to a month, until you're ready to fry.
7. When ready to fry, place enough vegetable oil in a frying pan or electric skillet to be about ¾ inch deep. Heat on medium high. Test oil by dropping a small piece of crustless bread into the oil. It should bubble immediately, then turn golden brown in about 45 seconds. If it burns, the oil is too hot; if it takes longer or stays pale, the oil is not hot enough.
8. When oil is ready, place a few sticks at a time into the oil. Don't fry too many at one time, or you'll cool the oil off too much and they won't fry properly. Fry each stick for about 45-60 seconds on each side, until golden brown. When the cheese starts oozing slightly, they're done.
9. Drain on a plate lined with a double layer of paper towels.

For the marinara sauce:

1. Heat oil in a large pan.
2. Dice onion finely. Add to hot oil and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion starts to brown slightly and is softened, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and cook an additional 60 seconds, stirring constantly.
3. Add salt, oregano, basil, and rosemary. Stir well and cook for about 15 seconds.
4. Add entire can of tomatoes (with juice), tomato paste, and water. Stir well. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
5. Once sauce comes to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Sauce will thicken and darken slightly.
6. Remove sauce from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Pour into a blender and process until there are slight chunks left but sauce is mostly smooth. Serve warm with fresh fried mozzarella sticks.