Italy’s Best Grilled Cheese: Mozzarella in Carrozza

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Cooking With Anadi

12K subscribers · fresh mozzarella and basil between bread, then fried golden

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What Is Mozzarella in Carrozza?

You saw this tempting cheesy and crispy sandwich and you may be wondering what on Earth does “Mozzarella in Carrozza” mean? “Carrozza” means “carriage,” so the mozzarella’s carriage in this case is the crispy exterior! This sandwich is essentially the best grilled cheese sandwich you could ever imagine - simply stuffed with mozzarella (mine has a touch of basil!) wrapped in its carriage (bread), deep fried to a golden brown goodness with hot and gooey cheese inside! To say “yum” is indeed an understatement!

If you didn’t know, I visited Italy in 2024 for my honeymoon. It was a life-changing experience indulging in all of the wonderfully flavorful and fresh food! Now I can’t wait for my next venture to Italy. I went to Positano, Rome, Florence and Venice. While the whole trip was incredible, Positano was the destination at the top of my list. Positano is on the coastline of Italy, in the Campania region. Other famous cities that are part of the Campania region include Naples and Pompeii. The beach I went to in Positano is absolutely beautiful and the food there was incredibly tasty - expensive, but indeed worth it! To relive my honeymoon in a small way, I wanted to prepare a recipe that originated from Campania. Now, when you see a cheesy fried sandwich, who can honestly say no?

If Campania is a destination unseen for you, then this fried cheesy sandwich is a little way to allow you to explore what this region of Italy has to offer! I encourage you to try this Mozzarella in Carrozza recipe as part of your Live to Cook one-month challenge! Get started on your cooking journey for free today by signing up to my email newsletter, plus all of my latest recipes will be sent directly to your inbox!

I would appreciate it if you could please subscribe to my YouTube channel if you haven’t already, and be sure to hit the bell button so you receive the notifications when the recipe videos go live. Let’s get frying!

Why You’ll Love This Italian Fried Mozzarella Sandwich Recipe!

• Crispy bread
• Gooey and warm cheese
• Easy to make
• Minimal ingredients
• Addictively good!

Important Tips for the Best Mozzarella in Carrozza

• The best cheese choices are either buffalo mozzarella or fior di latte. Other cheese can be used, however keep it authentic by including at least one of these varieties.
• Some modern variations of this recipe makes use of mayonnaise on each slice of the bread to help the cheese adhere to the sandwich to make the breading process simpler. The mayonnaise also adds a bit of tang to the sandwich.
• Fillings like ham, prosciutto or even bacon can be added to the sandwich to make it better as per your preferences.
• Olive oil is the preferred medium to fry in since it adds a fragrant flavor to the sandwich that you just wouldn’t get with something like vegetable oil.
• If you are not serving the sandwiches right away, you can easily preserve the cheese pulls by heating up the sandwiches for a few minutes in an oven heated at 350 F.

Tools Needed

• Salt crock
• Pepper mill
• Mixing bowl
• Cutting board
• Bread knife
• Chef’s knife
• Stainless steel pan
• Fish spatula
• Wire rack
• Ramekins: For the dipping sauce!

What Goes in Mozzarella in Carrozza?

You can find all ingredients and their quantities in the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD by scrolling to the bottom of this post or by pressing the “Jump to Recipe” button. You can also use the recipe card to scale the recipe based on how many sandwiches you want to make so that you know how much cheese and breading you’ll need for the best fried mozzarella sandwiches ever!

• Bread: I used sourdough because I love the flavor and it will hold its shape well when being fried.
• Mozzarella: You’ll want to use buffalo mozzarella or fior di latte. If using buffalo mozzarella, you’ll need to allow it to drain for one to two days to ensure that there is no excess moisture.
• Eggs: Large eggs to dip our breaded sandwiches in so that the breadcrumbs stick onto the bread.
• Breadcrumbs: Regular Italian breadcrumbs without seasoning.
• Olive oil: Needed for shallow frying. I recommend olive oil because it’ll give a satisfying flavor to the coating of your sandwich.
• Basil: Freshly chopped basil will be added in the sandwich to add a nice pop of flavor to the sandwich.
• Salt and pepper: Seasoning to add over the sandwich after we’ve fried it.
• Marinara sauce: I made my own marinara sauce for dipping the sandwich in! I definitely recommend you try out this marinara sauce recipe - it only takes about 15 minutes to whip up and it will complement your sandwich so well!

How to Make Crispy and Gooey Mozzarella in Carrozza

Drain the excess water from the fresh mozzarella packaging and place between kitchen towels. Squeeze to get most of the excess moisture out from the cheese. Place the mozzarella ball in a bowl/container and leave in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

Slice the mozzarella into 1/4 inch thick slices. On 2 slices of bread, arrange the mozzarella. Tuck in 2-3 basil leaves between the cheese for each of these slices of bread.

Close the sandwiches with 2 more slices of bread. Cut away the edges of the bread.

Press lightly atop the 2 sandwiches. Crack and whip 2 eggs in a large plate, add breadcrumbs to another. Carefully, dip the assembled sandwiches in the egg, covering each side.

Let an excess egg drip before placing it in the breadcrumbs. Cover each part of the sandwich and shake off any excess.

Repeat the same with any remaining sandwiches.

Fill olive oil about 1/4 inch of the way up in a large pan. Heat on medium heat until hot, test it by throwing in a breadcrumb piece and see if it sizzles right away. Make sure the oil is not too hot so that the breadcrumbs becomes dark right away.

Place the breaded sandwiches in the hot oil and shallow fry for 3-4 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

Remove the sandwiches once fried and season each side with salt and pepper.

Slice diagonally and serve right away with marinara sauce.

Variations of Italian Fried Sandwiches

• Bread: Any type of rustic bread will work. Experiment with Ciabatta, Italian bread, baguette, or even Belgian bread!
• Protein: This Italian grilled cheese sandwich is vegetarian, but if you eat meat and/or seafood, you can experiment by adding Prosciutto, anchovies or ham can be added as fillings inside the sandwich.
• Vegetables: You can also fill the sandwich with some grilled eggplant or zucchini, if desired.
• Simple: Just make the sandwich with mozzarella and enjoy! However, I really enjoyed the fragrance of the basil here. While I do mention in my free motivational guide to explore your potential in the kitchen, Make Cooking Fun!!, that using a suitable substitute for a certain ingredient is perfectly fine, when you don’t have something that has no substitute, omitting the ingredient in some cases can work fine as well! If you don’t have basil but you have everything else to prepare the sandwich, then don’t worry about it! It’s not a mandatory ingredient by any means. While it can enhance the flavor of the sandwich, if you just want to enjoy some warm and gooey mozzarella in a fried sandwich, then you’re set!

STORING LEFTOVERS

Transfer your extra sandwiches into an airtight container and keep them in the fridge. This vegetarian version of the sandwich should stay good in the fridge for about 4 days.

Other Satisfying Sandwich Recipes

• Bread Pakora with Potato Filling
• Authentic Croque Monsieur and Croque Madame
• Bacon Mac and Cheese Grilled Cheese Sandwich
• Crispy and Cheesy Chicken Parmesan Sandwich

No Flour, No Butter, and No Deep Fryer

The breading here is two steps, not three. Most things that get crumbed go flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, and there is no flour anywhere in this recipe. You whip two large eggs onto a large plate, tip a cup of plain breadcrumbs onto another, dip the assembled sandwich in the egg mixture, let the excess drip off, and press it into the crumbs. Bread is dry and porous enough to hold egg on its own, and a flour layer in between would only go pasty against the soft crumb.

It is also not deep frying. Olive oil goes about a quarter inch up a large pan, which is enough to shallow fry and no more, and there is no butter in the recipe at all. Get the pan to medium and test it by dropping in a single breadcrumb: it should sizzle straight away without darkening on contact. Too hot and the crumbs go past deep golden brown before the mozzarella in the middle has had a chance to melt. Three to four minutes a side is what you are aiming for.

One small thing that is easy to get backwards: the salt and pepper go on after frying, not before. Season each side as the sandwiches come out of the oil. A pinch of salt on the crumbs beforehand draws moisture to the surface and softens the crust you are about to make, and if you use kosher salt the bigger flakes sit better on a hot fried surface anyway.

The 24 Hours That Make It Work

This is the step people skip and then wonder why the middle went soggy. Buffalo mozzarella is sold sitting in water, and 227 g of it carries a lot. Drain the packaging, put the ball between kitchen towels and squeeze most of the moisture out, then leave it in a bowl in the fridge for at least 24 hours before you slice it a quarter inch thick. Wet cheese steams inside a closed sandwich while it fries, and it soaks the bread from the inside where no amount of crisp crust can save it. Paper towels do the same job as kitchen towels if that is what you have.

The bread matters too. I used sourdough rather than plain white bread, because it has more structure and holds up to the egg without collapsing, and the recipe does not need stale bread the way some fried sandwich recipes do. Four slices make two sandwiches. Trim the crusts off, and press the two assembled sandwiches together lightly before they go anywhere near the egg so they behave as one piece.