Fried Mozzarella Balls

Directions

1. Start by getting a "dredging station" set up. You will need 3 shallow dishes. I used large shallow bowls, but pie pans are also a great option. Also get a tray that will fit in your fridge ready to place mozzarella balls once they are breaded.
2. In the first shallow dish, pour in flour. I used whole wheat flour this time, because it's the only thing I had, but you can use anything you have on hand. Especially now that stores don't have flour anymore 🙂
3. In the second shallow dish, crack 2 eggs and add milk. Whisk until egg and milk are well combined.
4. In the last shallow dish, add bread crumbs, Parmesan, parsley, salt and pepper. Again, you can use any bread crumbs you have on hand. I used Panko for these, because my food processor died while I was trying to make my own out of day old sourdough... I don't wanna talk about it.
5. Now that that's set up, we will prepare our mozzarella balls. They aren't very big, so if you want these as cheesy as possible you can leave them whole. I did cut mine in half, simply because I wanted to make them bite sized.
6. Dip the cheese into the flour first shaking off the excess before placing into the egg mixture. Completely coat in egg and again let excess drip off before tossing in bread crumbs to fully cover.
7. Do the last step again so the cheese has a double coating. Start with flour, then into the egg and finally into the breadcrumbs again. Place on the tray that is going into the fridge. Adding a second coating will make sure the cheese doesn't melt out of the balls during the frying process. It's a must!
8. Once all the cheese is breaded, place the tray into your refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
9. While the mozzarella chills, pour the oil into a Dutch Oven and heat to 350° When the oil is ready, add 5 mozzarella balls to the oil at a time to ensure you don't lower the temperature of the oil.
10. Fry for about 2 minutes each, or just until they are golden brown, then remove from the heat and place on paper bag or paper towels to drain some oil off.
11. While still hot, sprinkle freshly chopped parsley and shredded parmesan over the top and serve with your favorite marinara sauce.
12. ENJOY!