This is the best mozzarella cheese for cooking

Mozzarella cheese is a personal favorite and I don’t think I’m alone in this regard. It’s salty, rich and may offer a bit of springiness when cooked, but should we really cook it? This stretchy cheese comes in several different varieties, one of which is perfect for high-temperature cooking. The others, on the other hand, not so much.

Cheese cooking will never stop, and it shouldn’t. Where would we be without grilled cheese, lasagna, cheddar omelets or pizza? Lost in sad, cheeseless oblivion. I don’t want that for anyone, especially not myself. When it comes to types of mozzarella that are widely available, I’m referring to low-moisture mozzarella, fresh, and burrata. (Burrata is a shell of fresh mozzarella encapsulating a creamy center, and I feel it’s worth mentioning here.) The best mozzarella for high-temperature cooking is low-moisture.

Mozzarella is a strong substance

Cheese is made up of protein, fat, water and acid (learn more at cheese components here) in different percentages. These different pieces of the puzzle work together to help melt, stretch and chew the cheese. Mozzarella has a strong protein network, which makes it good for stretching.

Fresh mozzarella and burrata are strong and stretchy, but unlike low-moisture mozzarella, they contain a lot of water. We could even consider them as high humidity Mozzarella. There are other cheeses with high moisture content and the water content contributes to its meltability. However, when heat is applied, the powerful protein networks (also called micelles) in mozzarella tighten and begin to remove the moisture and fat they retained at lower temperatures.

There is so much moisture available in these types of mozzarella that the first thing you will see as the temperature increases is the release of water. It releases and floods the casserole or homemade margherita pizza you worked so hard on, and it’s now soggy. Plus, once cooled, the once-melted cheese now turns into a slab of rubber that slides off in just one bite. Which give?

Fresh mozzarella tests and results

I reheated fresh mozzarella at different temperatures to see the difference. The puddle sucks, but the texture issues don’t arise when the cheese is on the stove (hot cheese is melty and, sure, there’s water, but that can’t kill my vibe ! – it’s when the cheese comes out of the heat) that the texture suffers. Let’s be honest: you don’t eat the pizza or lasagna while it’s bubbling. You know what’s going to happen to the palace. You wait for it to cool.

Left: Cooled cheese has been heated to approximately 140°F. Right: Cooled cheese has been heated to approximately 190°F.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

When fresh mozzarella is heated to between 130°F and 144°F, the mozzarella accumulates water but retains its fat. Once cooled, the cheese retains a slightly soft texture and creamy taste. At 150°F to 160°F, the mozzarella melts in the water and begins to expel some of its fat. After cooling, the cheese is firm and soft, almost like string cheese. Heated to around 190°F and above, cheese loses moisture and the fat globules break away. Cooled cheese is oily and the texture is hard, almost like chewed coconut.

Burrata acts the same way, but it’s even more tragic when the structure collapses. Since it’s essentially a balloon with cream inside, the protein will expel the water and the once creamy ball will become a watery puddle of milk with shreds of rubbery mozzarella floating around it. If you must reheat your burrata, keep it below 130°F.

Low Moisture Mozzarella Rules Them All

Low-moisture mozzarella comes in large bricks for slicing or shredded into bags. Its water content is obviously lower than that of its mozz cousins, resulting in a more balanced composition. It is drier and firmer, with a texture closer to cheddar or provolone.

When heated to higher and higher temperatures, there isn’t a ton of water available for the micelle networks to be expelled, and the available fat is busy breaking down the protein network – the melting factor. Low-moisture mozzarella doesn’t overheat to spit out a puddle and doesn’t get greasy. You can heat this type of cheese well above 350°F, which is ideal for our pizza needs, and the worst thing that happens is also the best thing: it crisps. Low-moisture mozzarella clinging to the edges of your pizzas and pressed against the sides of the casserole transforms into the crispy, chewy frico everyone craves.

Treat fresh mozzarella with kindness

Although fresh mozzarella has no place cooking on your brick oven pizza (unless you want it watery and rubbery), it still has a place in your refrigerator. Use this creamy cheese to top sandwiches or enhance cold salads; Caprese is famous for showcasing the wonders of fresh mozzarella. Serve it hot as a finishing touch to hot foods. You have all those degrees up to about 130°F to have warm, creamy (although a little watery) cheese. For reference, you can touch or pinch cheese below 130°F. Once the cheese approaches this temperature, pinching a pile of melting mozzarella starts to hurt. Not that I want to get into the habit of pinching hot cheese, but here we are.