Air Fryer Mozzarella Sticks

Air Fryer Mozzarella Sticks are a quick and easy appetizer made with just a few ingredients and perfect for game day, parties, or snacking.

Do you love snacks? I’m all about the snacks and could quite possibly live off appetizers for the rest of my life and be perfectly happy.

So when I found out that I could make mozzarella sticks in my air fryer, I was pretty happy. Not only are they so easy to make, but there’s a little less guilt with making them in the air fryer too.

Whenever we dine anywhere that serves fried cheese sticks I never pass on sampling them. I can’t seem to get enough but never wanted to go through all the trouble of frying my own.

But once I got my first air fryer, it was a game-changer when it comes to snack foods like this. These are positively irrestistable.

mozzarella sticks air fryer

Here are some commonly asked questions

Can I use a gluten-free flour?

I have not personally tried this – but I don’t see why using gluten-free wouldn’t work for this. You could even use gluten-free breadcrumbs too. I have been meaning to give this a try but haven’t had a chance. Please come back & tell me how they turned out.

mozzarella sticks in air fryer

How Air Frying Works

While air fryers are relatively new to the market, the technology isn’t really a new concept. They basically work like tiny convection ovens that you can use on your countertop.

Similar to a convection oven, it circulates the hot air within the cooking area using a high-powered fan. This helps evenly distribute the heat around the food which not only creates more evenly cooked food but also reduced cooking times.

By circulating the hot air, which contains the fine oil droplets from adding a light mist layer before cooking, and allows you to remove the need for submerging our foods in heavy oils to create the deliciously crunchy foods we all love.

air fryer cheese sticks

cheese sticks in air fryer

air fried mozzarella sticks

Air Frying Doneness Tip

Every air fryer is a bit different and they all cook at different rates – so in general, all cooking times are approximate based on the pan and temperature.

You can always cook the recipe longer if needed and reduce the heat a bit. If needed, you can tent the top if it is browning too much.

mozzarella sticks

how to make mozzarella sticks

I have a bake option and other special features on my air fryer, is that the setting? Or do you put it on “air fry” setting?

All of my recipes were created with an air fryer that had only a temperature & timer setting – since not all air fryers have all the additional settings.

You can use the bake setting when making recipes that you would traditionally bake – but if possible, please just set the temperature & time for this recipe.

mozzarella sticks recipe

air fry mozzarella sticks

Why is my food dry, chewy, or not crisp?

Most people think that air frying is done completely without oil. However, you need just a little bit of oil so the machine can circulate those tiny oil droplets, which is what makes air frying create deliciously crisp and crunchy food.

So when your food isn’t turning out as expected, it is usually that you aren’t actually adding enough oil to the recipe. If those oil droplets aren’t present, all you are doing is baking your food, resulting in a less flavorful taste and texture. Be sure to not skip the step of spritzing the food with oil if the recipe calls for it.

recipes mozzarella sticks

What are the benefits of air frying?

Healthier

It’s no secret that fried foods are more fattening – but did you know that there are 9 calories in every gram of fat? With air frying, we can reduce the fat by removing most of the oils usually needed to create crunchy foods. This helps to drastically reduce fat intake and calories.

Convenience

I love being able to cook with my air fryer and eliminate the need for large baking sheets and lots of pots and pans. Most of my air fryer recipes can be made with just a mixing bowl or two or a small saucepan in addition to my air fryer.

Energy Efficient

Someone said to me once, “why make this in the air fryer if you can do it the conventional way in the same amount of time?” Well, air frying helps eliminate the need for a conventional oven.

Not only can you keep your home cooler in the summer by not using the oven, but you are saving money with reduced energy consumption costs as well.

Time Saver

I don’t know about you, but if I can avoid turning on the oven and having to wait 20 minutes for it to preheat, I’m happy about that. Most air fryer recipes either don’t require that you preheat the fryer – or the preheat time is 5 minutes or less. That is a huge time saver over using the oven.

Take it on the go

I love that the air fryer is compact and easy to take along on trips. We pack ours in our RV and find that air fryer cooking while camping is so much easier than trying to deep fry foods on a small RV stove or camping burner.

mozzarella cheese sticks

• air fryer
• all-purpose flour
• panko
• Italian breadcrumbs
• garlic powder
• Italian seasoning
• oil sprayer
• parchment liners

If you love this Easy Mozzarella Stick recipe, you’re going to love these other snacks too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!

If you love this recipe for Air Fryer Mozarella Sticks as much as I do, please write a five-star review, and be sure to help me share on Facebook and Pinterest!