Homemade Marinated Mozzarella Recipe

Want to know a secret? I’m not a big cheese lover. I will sometimes pull the cheese off of pizza if there’s too much on top, and I definitely can’t eat a piece of cheese on its own without some kind of bread or meat sandwiched around it. However, the first time I tried bocconcini (marinated mozzarella balls) it was seriously love at first bite. If you’ve ever priced out those little balls of garlicky-herbed goodness than you’ll know your money doesn’t stretch very far, but today I’m showing you how to make your own marinated mozzarella that tastes even better than the prepackaged kind, and will probably cost you next to nothing because you already have the ingredients on hand.

Herb Infused Oil Ingredients-

2 cups light olive oil
1 large (crushed) garlic clove
1/2 teaspoon fresh Thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon red crushed pepper flakes
1 tablespoon sliced thin fresh Basil
pinch of salt and pepper
**You will also need cheese to marinate. You can use fresh mozzarella, cubed parmesan, even feta. All are delicious marinated in this!**

In a small sauce pan set to low/med, pour in your oil, toss in all the herbs, spices, and garlic
Let everything infuse the oil slowly for about 5-6 minutes
When you can smell the garlic perfuming the air, turn off the heat and leave everything in the pot to cool.
Once the oil is cool enough to handle, pour it into a glass jar and let it sit on the counter until its room temperature then you can still it in the refrigerator.
When the oil is chilled, take it out and set it on the counter while you slice/cube your cheese.
Put the cheese into the glass jar, close the lid, and give it a shake to combine

You can eat it right away, but the longer it sits in the oil the better it will be.

It will keep in your refrigerator up to a week. Anything longer than that and the garlic will begin to sour the oil. I guarantee you’ll eat it up before then though.

Use this marinated mozzarella on top of flatbreads, pizzas, salads, sandwiches…

Our favorite quick dinner is a panini using this mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, and prosciutto piled onto italian bread and pressed onto the panini maker (or you could use a grill pan)

And don’t worry if you run out of cheese, but still have the oil…pour it over rice, pasta, cooked shrimp, scallops, lobster, shellfish, chicken, etc… for incredible flavor or just do what I do most times and dip bread in it and eat on its own. Whatever you do, don’t throw it away! Its like liquid gold in this house 😉

I hope I’ve inspired you to make your own marinated mozzarella (or any other cheese you’d like to try) It really is easy to do, and will wow anyone who tastes it.

Talk to you soon guys, take care.