If you love grilled cheese, you are going to love these Italian grilled cheese sticks with tomato sauce. These grilled cheese sticks are super crisp on the outside with the perfect cheese pull experience and they are so easy to make! The perfect small bites for any occasion.
What are Italian Grilled Cheese Sticks?
Well, it is something I made up 🙂 This dish is my family's Friday night easy dinner and they love it. I think you will love it too.
They are grilled cheese sandwiches made with fresh mozzarella, shredded mozzarella, good Italian sliced bread, and olive oil.
It is basically grilled cheese but done Italian style then cut into strips for the perfect dipping experience with some delicious Italian tomato sauce. When you eat it, it tastes like fried mozzarella (one of my favorites!) Think about, what is fried mozzarella other than mozzarella coated in bread crumbs.
Here we are not bothering with crumbs and skipping straight ahead to the bread 🙂 It is so easy to make and so delicious.
What you will need
- Good Italian Sliced Bread: Not that mushy sliced white bread but good sturdy Italian sliced bread! I like to buy this in the bakery section of my grocery store.
- Fresh mozzarella: This gives the creaminess to the cheese sticks.
- Shredded mozzarella: The shredded mozzarella helps with the cheese pull (you know that delicious string of cheese that happens when you pull the sliced grilled cheese apart!)
- Olive oil: Olive oil makes great crisp grilled cheese.
- Kosher salt: For flavor.
- Italian tomato sauce: I like to use jarred sauce to make this a quick meal or homemade that I have made ahead of time. I've included a quick tomato sauce recipe below in case you want to make your own from scratch. You can also make an Italian meat sauce if you want a more substantial sauce for these grilled cheese sticks.
Making these Italian Style Grilled Cheese Sticks
This is so easy folks! You start by preheating a large heavy bottom pan (I have a great carbon steel pan that I use. Drizzle the bread with olive oil then place it on the hot pan and layer on the two types of mozzarella.
Now top it with the second piece of bread to make a sandwich and drizzle some olive oil on top of the bread. Cook the grilled cheese until it is nice and crisp. I like to sprinkle on a little kosher salt at this point.
Once it is a nice golden color, flip it and cook the other side until it crisps up the same way. When they are done, cut the grilled cheese sandwiches into ½-inch slices.
Place some warmed tomato sauce (marinara) into a small bowl then lay the grilled cheese slices around it and serve.
Watch how fast this will be eaten up! It is so good.
Top Recipe Tips
To make the best Italian grilled cheese strips, here are my tried and true tips:
- Use good quality Italian bread: Ciabatta bread, Italian boule sliced up, or if you are in a pinch, a good sliced country bread will work.
- Use both fresh and shredded mozzarella: Both types of cheeses add different textures to these grilled cheese sticks. Try to use both.
- Cook with a heavy bottom pan: If you want a really crispy exterior, try to use a heavy bottom pan. I use carbon steel when I make these. Enameled cast iron or a thick stainless steel pan will also work great. If you do not have these, just make sure to cook them until they are once and golden brown.
More Italian Small Bites
If you like these Italian grilled cheese strips, you may also like these:
Italian Grilled Cheese Sticks
Ingredients
- 1 cup jarred Italian tomato sauce or tomato sauce recipe below
- 4 slices Italian loaf bread
- 3 ounces fresh mozzarellla sliced thin
- 4 ounces shredded mozzarella
- ⅛ cup olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, add your tomato sauce and heat on low until hot.1 cup jarred Italian tomato sauce
- Preheat a large heavy bottom pan over medium heat for a few minutes.
- Drizzle 2 slices of bread with olive oil then place the bread olive oil side down in the pan.4 slices Italian loaf bread, ⅛ cup olive oil
- Add slices of fresh mozzarella and shredded mozzarella.3 ounces fresh mozzarellla, 4 ounces shredded mozzarella
- Top with more bread then drizzle the tops of the bread with olive oil and a pinch of salt.¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- Cook until the bread is nice and golden brown (use a spatula to lift the sandwiches and check them.)
- Flip and cook the other side until golden brown.
- Place cooked grilled cheese sandwiches on a cutting board and cut into ½- inch strips.
- Add the tomato sauce to a small bowl.
- Serve grilled cheese strips with the tomato sauce for dipping.
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