Even the most entertaining cuisines occasionally require a little reviving. These mozzarella puffs are not only easier to make because no breading is needed, but they are also crispier and more enjoyable to eat than the traditional fried mozzarella stick! Please feel free to substitute different sauces; I haven’t forgotten the marinara.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr 5 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 40 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 12 puffs |
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup water
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 1 pinch freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 cup marinara sauce, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- 4 ounces low-moisture mozzarella cheese
- 4 cups canola oil for frying
- 1 anchovy fillet
Instructions
- Combine water, butter, and salt in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer; pour in flour all at once and reduce heat to medium. Stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until a dough starts coming together. Cook, scraping up and stirring the dough, for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Remove from heat; transfer dough to a mixing bowl. Let cool until no longer hot but still very warm, 5 to 10 minutes. Add egg and season with cayenne and freshly ground black pepper. Whisk vigorously until mixture combines into a very soft, sticky dough. Switch to a spatula and scrape dough into a ball.
- Seal dough and spatula with plastic wrap and refrigerate in the bowl until cool, about 1 hour.
- In the meantime, season marinara sauce with oregano, red pepper flakes, balsamic vinegar in a small pot over medium heat. Add anchovy fillet. Stir together and bring to a simmer. Let simmer for 10 minutes; turn off heat and let sit until ready to use.
- Grate mozzarella cheese over the dough and stir to combine.
- Heat oil to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) in a deep fryer or heavy-duty pan over medium heat. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F (93 degrees C) or any temperature for keeping warm.
- Scoop out about 2 tablespoons of dough per puff and form into a football shape using two spoons. Fry puffs, 5 or 6 at a time, in the hot oil until browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Keep puffs warm in low oven while frying the rest. Serve with hot marinara sauce.
- We have determined the nutritional value of oil for frying based on a retention value of 10% after cooking. Amount will vary depending on cooking time and temperature, ingredient density, and specific type of oil used.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 289 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 12 g |
| Cholesterol | 55 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 7 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Sodium | 645 mg |
| Sugars | 4 g |
| Fat | 24 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Made these today and they are absolutely delicious. I swapped out half the mozzarella for some quesadilla cheese. Doubled the recipe and ended up having to stop halfway through to strain the oil. Next time I’ll use a bigger pan to fry them in with more oil.
Absolutely delicious! I didn’t know what to expect with the flavor and texture as they are quite different from traditional mozzarella sticks. They did not disappoint. The texture is so light and fluffy so you can eat all of them and only feel slightly weighed down. These are delightfully addictive. I would add more cheese and salt next time but could imagine experimenting with different cheeses and dipping sauces would also be delicious. Don’t sleep on the marinara sauce. I don’t even particularly care for it most of the time but the flavor added with the anchovy and balsamic is excellent. Also, go ahead and double or triple the recipe because this will not last long. This would work great for a party and maybe even stash some in the freezer to reheat in the air fryer. Maybe the husband will get to try these next time. Thanks, Chef John!
I made this four ways, two recipe variations with two cooking variations. First was exactly as the recipe says with half fried in oil and the other half in the air fryer. The second recipe substituted the mozzarella for gruyere and a little Parmigiano with half cooked in oil and half in the air fryer. If you are looking at the picture the top left is the as given by Chef John, which were gobbled pretty quickly which is why there is only one left. From there going counter clockwise we have original air fried, gruyere fried, then air fried. One thing i did differently was to use a scoop instead of the two spoon method, i might go with a bigger scoop next time, although, these were great bite size appetizers. I enjoyed them all.
These are my favorite! Unbelievably delicious!
I followed the directions exactly and they were Perfection thank you so much for this recipe Chef John
I wondered whether I should give this a 5 star because I only ate two! The family ate the rest of them (asking for seconds) so since they loved them…5 stars it is. My comments are that he is 100% right when he says that when you add the egg it will look like something went tragically wrong. Even though I was aware of that fact I had my doubts. I ended up using a combination of spatula to mash and smash and whisk to…whisk. Eventually the dough came together. Lastly, I dispensed with the two spoon football method and used my hands to form the dough and dropped them in with a slotted spoon. I made different sizes and the really small ones (3 peas size) were not liked as much. So, I made inch to inch and a half tubes and they were the best received. One note for everyone. Get your oil up to temp of the puffs will sink to the bottom and stick there. I had this problem at first but once the oil was to temp it solved itself. It is on the unanimous remake list.
Followed the recipe exactly except I did them in the air fryer! Light and crispy.
These were so easy to make and super tasty. I did add a couple ounces of extra cheese because why not. They were totally delicious. I’m absolutely making it again.
Chef John never steers me wrong. From hash browns to pie to now amazing cheese puffs – I always get an amazing fished product when following along with his recipes. I made these as-is, with the exception of the cayenne (no one likes it). So much easier than homemade mozzarella sticks, and I’d venture to say these are tastier!
Ok. Probably wouldn’t make again. I love chef John but these were a bit oily and bland. His hacks to bottled marinara are 100%!
I’ve made these twice. The first time I followed the recipe exactly, and they were delicious, but a bit salty. The second time I followed it with the exception of halving the salt, and they were absolutely amazing! Great recipe, just gotta adjust for taste if you are sensitive to salt.
I have now made this 2 times and every time they have been a huge success! My kids love them. I also don’t bother rolling them with spoons. I spoon out the amount I want then use my hands to roll them lightly into the shape he makes with the spoons
I followed the recipe for the puffs exactly and they are very light and crispy and taste great. I would definitely make them again but I would add basil or Italian seasoning to make them more flavorful. I didn’t make the sauce. I just served them with spaghetti sauce. I will try the jazzed up version next time. Chef John always has great recipes!
These were delicious! I only had salted butter, so I would decrease the amount of salt added if I used salted butter again next time,. These are way easier to make than traditional mozzarella sticks! Very tasty!
Way too salty. But over all good. I’ll try again with less salt and ranch dip.
It was AMAZING!!!
These are fabulous! My oil was probably too hot because it took much less than 2 or 3 minutes to cook, but I went by the color on the outside and they were done. The taste and texture are unique yet comforting! Like, if mac ‘n’ cheese and a mozzarella stick had a baby! Delicious. Next time I’ll double the batch; there are just 2 of us but we ate them in record time. I’ve been a longtime fan of Chef John, and the video helped me know I wasn’t doing it wrong when it felt like I was.
I made them with almond flour and they were really good. I threw a little xanthan gum in to thicken the batter.
I made these without modifications in an air fryer.
These little things are awesome. As someone relatively new to cooking, I’ve never deep-fried anything before, but these were super easy to cook. I might try this recipe with other cheeses some day just to see how it comes out. Only thing I changed was that I doubled the ingredients. The amount of dough that came from the list here made enough for about 4 balls, not 8, but I may have just been making them too big. Either way, they taste amazing.
These are amazing. We kept some warm as suggested, and it was great. We didn’t make the sauce out of laziness, but they are so crispy and delicious.