While perusing the aisles of the supermarket, do your eyes ever fall upon those mozzarella sticks and poppers tempting you from the freezer section? While not the healthiest choice, fried cheesy goodness is often hard to resist, especially when there’s not much work involved. For all cheese lovers out there, here is something to consider: make your own poppers, right at home! This dangerously delicious recipe beats anything you might buy from the freezer. Better yet, you discover a whole new way to enjoy those delightfully cute Babybel cheese bites!
Cheesy Potato Poppers
Equipment
- Pot
Ingredients
- 4 Babybel cheese wheels
- 2 large red onions
- 8 tbsp mashed potatoes
- 2 tbsp basil pesto for a homemade option, see recipe below
- 2 eggs
- flour
- breadcrumbs
- vegetable oil
Instructions
- Remove the wax from the Babybel cheese minis. Cut the onions into wide, thick rings, and separate them. Ensure the rings are wide enough to hold a single cheese wheel. At least two rings per onion should be adequate.
- Spoon the pesto into the mashed potatoes and mix well. Transfer one tbsp. of pesto mashed potatoes to each red onion ring. Press one mini cheese wheel into each potato-filled onion ring. Add another spoonful of potatoes on top of the cheese so that the onion ring is filled to the rim. Smooth the top layer of potatoes with the back of the spoon, and freeze for 30 minutes.
- Bread the rings by dipping each one in flour, then egg, and finally breadcrumbs. For extra crispy poppers, dip the rings a second time in the egg and breadcrumbs.
- Fry the rings in a pot of vegetable oil until golden brown.
VIDEO
These bites certainly will not last for long. Needless to say, frozen alternatives simply cannot compare. The size of Babybel cheese wheels are perfect for such a recipe, and one has to wonder why nobody thought of this amazing idea before! Enjoy!