Ranking Frozen Mozzarella Sticks From Worst To Best

Growing up, appetizers were my favorite part of the meal. Though appetizers certainly venture out of the fried food arena, I fondly remember the selection of cheese curds, jalapeño poppers, fried pickles, and, of course, mozzarella sticks. Each lovingly, crispy golden treat made for a savory delight to get those taste buds cooking. Who am I kidding? They're still my favorite part of the meal. Even if making fresh mozzarella sticks compared to frozen is preferable, the ones from the grocery store certainly make a tasty alternative. So, when the assignment to sample a slew of frozen mozzarella sticks rolled across my desk, I preheated my oven and got to it.

The freezer cases at the grocery store are positively packed full of treats, dinners, and appetizers. To determine the best options at your local grocery store, I acquired every variety of mozzarella stick I had access to and tasted them over a period of several days. My husband and I had several late-night snacks devoted to mozzarella sticks, and even some lunches powered by these cheesy appetizers. 

Many bites tasted pretty similar from brand to brand, but there were also several outliers, both good and bad. In the end, my favorite mozzarella sticks surprised me, but I was also a little shaken by just how much I disliked the lowest of the bunch. Clearly, not all mozzarella sticks are the same, so I hope this ranking will help guide your shopping when putting together your next appetizer spread.

While it is true that many of the mozzarella sticks simply tasted nearly the same, there was one that really stood out from the pack, and not positively. Snapps Mozzarella Cheese Sticks only cost $1.24 at Walmart, and they were most definitely the worst mozzarella sticks I tried. Though they were the least expensive of the mozzarella sticks, Snapps also came in the smallest package I came across. It reminded me of the individual meals also sold in the freezer aisle.

Like the others I sampled, I cooked these in the oven. Unlike the others, though, the mozzarella sticks burst open, leaving quite a bit of cheese on the pan. For the other brands, I found only one or two sticks (at most) would open, but with the Snapps variety, each of them reached this sticky end. While this explosive habit is excusable if the cheese and flavor are good, that wasn't the case either. The cheese was gooey and runny rather than strongly stretchy. The cheese was so gooey, in fact, it was more like the liquid cheese you might dip a soft pretzel in. 

While the cheese wasn't a reasonable texture, the flavor was bland, lacking much seasoning at all. The sticks tasted cheap and were nothing I can recommend grabbing from the grocery store, especially with other sticks available from Walmart in the same freezer case.

In 1977, FarmRich was the first brand to bring the delight of premade, frozen mozzarella sticks to the grocery store, forever changing appetizer offerings at home gatherings and saving hosts a whole lot of preparation time. Across the several brands I tried over the course of this tasting, FarmRich was the only one that offered multiple sizes of mozzarella sticks in 10 ounces, 22 ounces, and 48 ounces boxes. This is certainly convenient because it gives you the flexibility to choose a larger box of mozzarella sticks if you need it for a larger gathering. Though FarmRich offers both mozzarella sticks and a variety with Italian sausage, I chose to sample only the original offering for this ranking.

While FarmRich's mozzarella sticks were a significant step up from Snapps', they still weren't great. Flavorwise, these were similar to other brands and were a little boring, but the breading was much thicker. As a result of this thickened breading, I found these terribly dry fried mozzarella sticks in need of sauces or at least a dip. Granted, the cheese was melty and stringy, which I enjoyed, but the breading was what ultimately dragged FarmRich's mozzarella sticks so low in my overall ranking.

With an option like Publix just down the road, I'll freely admit that Walmart generally isn't my grocery store of choice. And though I've come around on the quality of store brands as a competitive alternative to name-brand items, Walmart's Great Value brand has rarely been my favorite store variety offering. The same was true of these mozzarella sticks, and Great Value just didn't hold up to the quality of name-brand options or even other store brands, like those from Target, for instance.

Great Value's mozzarella sticks were nothing more than okay. They certainly weren't craveworthy, but if these sticks are offered at a gathering, you'd probably nibble at a few. When it comes to processed frozen foods, it's not uncommon that you'll get a sense that the food had previously been frozen simply by tasting it. There's a distinctive bland background flavor I've had many times. However, I found this less of a problem with the mozzarella sticks I sampled. In fact, the Great Value mozzarella sticks were the only brand of mozzarella sticks that had this same taste. The stretch of the mozzarella was also pretty minimal, leaving them feeling even less fresh.

Big Mozz offers several flavors in its line, including original, Super Ranch, and Flamin' Mozz. As the name of the brand suggests, the shtick with Big Mozz is that the mozzarella sticks are quite big. They're more like mozzarella logs. Bigger isn't always better, and when it comes to mozzarella sticks, I must say, it just isn't better. There's a good reason you don't see mozzarella sticks sold in sizes closer to string cheese: It's just too much. 

Like Snapps, the cheese burst from the Big Mozz far too easily in baking. Granted, not every stick lost its cheese, but there were a fair amount of them. To complicate matters, the temperature was off with Big Mozz, too. I cooked these according to the package's recommended amount of time, but they were still a little cool in spots. I think much of this had to do with the size of the mozzarella sticks, as none of the other brands struggled the same way.

Though the selling point behind Big Mozz is their size, I found they tasted and felt like breaded string cheese. The cheese inside had a good flavor, but an unfortunately small amount of stretch. I think these could have been a whole lot better with some marinara sauce added in the package. The flavor here was good, but they're just not particularly enjoyable to eat.

While I've noticed many big box grocery stores have one private label brand, Target has several. In grocery basics alone, you can find Market Pantry and Good & Gather covering most of the items in your pantry. Many of these brands offer fairly run-of-the-mill choices with little variance, and the epitome of your average mozzarella sticks? Market Pantry. If you want basic, no-frills options, Target has you covered with Market Pantry. As a store brand, Market Pantry's mozzarella sticks were a significant step up from Walmart's Great Value, but not quite as enjoyable as Publix's offering.

I was impressed by the stretch of these sticks, and that's certainly a requirement for your basic mozzarella sticks. The flavor of the cheese and breading was pretty basic. There really was nothing special about these. They just tasted fine and were very much the definition of middle-of-the-ranking, though I thought they seemed a little smaller than some other brands.

Since moving to Florida, my family has both fallen in love with Publix and realized just how much more expensive it is than other grocery stores. The Publix private label mozzarella sticks were a whole two dollars more (at $10.99) than Target's Market Pantry variety. Furthermore, there was little separation between the different store brand choices. I had to give Publix's offering a slight edge because I thought the flavor of the breading had more seasoning and offered a little something extra.

I didn't get a whole lot of cheese pull from these, but I was willing to forgive this missing element since the flavor of the breading was quite good. At the end of the day, flavor was just a more important factor in the quality of mozzarella cheese sticks than whether the cheese had a pull-y texture. Since concluding that the Publix store brand is often a fantastic offering, I've found myself gravitating toward items from this Florida favorite grocery store.

When I opened the container of TAST!EZ mozzarella sticks, my first reaction was a giggle. As the name of the product suggests, these are smaller-than-normal mozzarella sticks. While I found that huge sticks from Big Mozz were just too much, making the sticks smaller was a nice switch. Bite size would be an apt description for these snacks, as they're easy to enjoy in a quick bite. Even though the box indicated that these are Italian-style, the origin of the mozzarella stick is much more American, hailing from the land of curds, cherries, and cheeseheads: Wisconsin.

If you're looking for a party appetizer, I recommend these. They were very poppable and easy to eat. If you were to put these out as finger foods, they'd be the perfect pieces to enjoy with minimal effort. While I typically find cheese sticks really need a sauce, the size of these sticks is the perfect size not to need it. And as small as these were, I was surprised to see that the little nubs actually had a fair amount of stretch.

As a kid, one of my favorite places to stop for some great appetizers was TGI Fridays. With the chain's line of frozen appetizers in grocery stores, you can bring that experience home, and though it'll be missing that ambiance of the restaurant, the flavor is great. Plus, these had sauce, a missing element from the vast majority of frozen mozzarella sticks I tried for this tasting. I will forever be a fan of nearly anything with a good sauce, so perhaps it was no surprise I enjoyed these as much as I did.

While most of the frozen mozzarella sticks I tried looked basically the same, the TGI Fridays variety came in flat planks. This change in structure made the cheese a little easier to pull from the breading, but the cheese within was stretchy and the breading was flavorful. I found the sauce a tasty accompaniment, though it was a little on the tart and sweet side.

I was a vegan for several years, and one thing I learned during that time is that vegan cheese and meat alternatives are typically good, but are rarely better than the actual item. So, imagine my surprise when the Wholly Veggie! gluten-free vegan mozzarella-style sticks were one of my favorites I sampled.

Like the mini mozzarella sticks from TAST!EZ, Wholly Veggie! mozzarella sticks look more like tater tots than your typical mozzarella stick. While this doesn't impact the flavor, one thing that really affected the overall taste was the included sauce that I enjoyed even more than the variety offered by TGI. Predictably, the vegan cheese within had some struggle to achieve a true stretch and was much more sticky and gooey like other vegan cheese, but its flavor was still really enjoyable. It was like a slightly thickened queso. If you're hosting those who follow a vegan or gluten-free diet, don't second-guess this as an appetizer.

A few months ago, my family and I made a life-altering decision. We became Costco members, and now, we take weekly visits to the warehouse and treat it as our primary grocery store. In our time getting to know the different offerings at Costco, we've stumbled across many new favorites, from some stellar Costco pizzas to unmissable, inexpensive staples. As a Costco customer, I continue to look for great purchases at the warehouse, and I must say, the Petite Cuisine mozzarella sticks aren't just some of my favorite frozen appetizers, they're also a great Costco buy.

While my favorite mozzarella sticks were ones that took the typical appetizer in a different direction, Petite Cuisine's mozzarella sticks looked like the most basic of mozzarella stick, perfecting every aspect of the appetizer. They had a great flavor to the cheese and breading, consistently cooked up thoroughly to create stretchy cheese, and not one of them burst in the oven. They tasted like your favorite basic mozzarella sticks from a local pub or lounge. Since Costco sells to many restaurants, it's not unreasonable for these mozzarella sticks to feel like restaurant quality. They are. 

In addition, the packaging is really convenient. The big box has two large, resealable plastic bags inside. Like most items at Costco, you get a whole lot more food than you'll need right away, so having easy-to-store packaging is especially beneficial. My freezer is thankful.

I love mozzarella sticks, but after trying so many different brands, I can report that they're honestly a little boring. Not that this is a bad thing. Rather, there are other appetizers that are just more exciting and flavorful. Mozzarella sticks are comforting and cheesy, sure, but they need a wake-up. Good & Gather has the answer with its jalapeño and tortilla cheese sticks. While I typically didn't sample the uniquely flavored cheese sticks from various brands, the only mozzarella sticks from Good & Gather I had available to me were this specialty flavor. After one bite, I wasn't complaining.

These mozzarella sticks are actually more of a mixture between mozzarella sticks and jalapeño poppers, and for that reason, they're incredible. They're a little spicy, but cheesy enough that you're not going to forget what they actually are. Flavor, texture, and melty cheesiness are all on point. I should note that cheddar, mozzarella, and cream cheese all make up the cheese mixture in these sticks, so they aren't simply mozzarella sticks. 

It is noteworthy that the cheese spilled out on several of these mozzarella sticks. Though this isn't ideal, I didn't think it was enough cheese to hurt the overall experience. All told, I only had one complaint: There just wasn't enough of them. Consider this my formal plea to this Target private label to offer bigger boxes of these. Otherwise, I won't have enough to share!

To create this ranking, I tracked down as many brands of mozzarella sticks as I could find. For each of the brands, I tried the most basic flavor that was available. If a basic mozzarella stick wasn't an option, I selected an alternative flavor. To rank these mozzarella sticks, I baked each according to package instructions, setting the timer for medium time recommended on the instruction. I sampled each brand over several days. 

During my sampling of each offering, I noted the flavor of the breading and cheese, the stretchability of the filling, and how well they cooked up. Ultimately, those cheese sticks that cooked up with minimal spillage and had an enjoyable flavor with a decent cheese stretch were some of my favorites. I should note that the most important factor is flavor. So, if the flavor of the mozzerella stick was still outstanding, even though some had spilled out, I considered burst mozzarella sticks less of an issue.