A 16-oz bag cost me $5.49.
The bag only includes instruction for the oven (425F for 9 to 10 minutes) but I put these in the air fryer at max temp (400F) for 6 minutes, which generally worked out fine but every cheese stick leaked in varying amounts. In subsequent attempts, I found that 5 minutes is the sweet spot where the cheese inside is gooey but not bursting out of the shell. At 4 minutes, the cheese core was mostly solid.
The cheese was really enjoyable and gooey at 6 minutes. It cooled rather quickly so was easy enough to eat without risking my tongue. The melt gave them a slightly buttery note to go with the standard mellow creaminess of mozzarella.
If you're planning on serving these to people, I recommend a hot plate or steam table to keep them at least a little gooey unless you're planning on just doling them out right from the oven or air fryer.
Regardless of whether I went with 4 or 6 minutes in the air fryer, the breading turned out nice and crispy but not oily. There was a light seasoned flavor (mostly onion and garlic powder with bits of parsley, which is pretty standard) to the breading to go with the mild crunch of breadcrumbs. It goes well with either ranch or marinara.
When it comes down to it, Trader Joe's Breaded Mozzarella Cheese Sticks turned out really well in both taste and texture. Because they were freshly heated, they had a better melt than most of the mozzarella cheese sticks that I've had from fast food restaurants, which will usually be pretty solid unless you luck out and get some that were freshly pulled from the fryer.
Nutritional Info - Trader Joe's Breaded Mozzarella Cheese Sticks
Serving Size - 3 sticks (77g)
Calories - 260 (from Fat - 140)
Fat - 15g (Saturated Fat - 7g)
Sodium - 480mg
Carbs - 18g (Sugar - 1g)
Protein - 13g
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for commenting. If it helps any, you don't need to type a URL to leave a name.