Marinated Mozzarella Balls with Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Thyme

Mild and creamy mini mozzarella balls are brilliant for soaking up flavour. These easy marinated mozzarella balls are infused with garlic, thyme, chilli and sun-dried tomatoes for punchy Mediterranean vibes. They make the best cheese on toast and are also excellent for make-ahead entertaining, salads and general snacking.

Although it’s still officially spring, or at least it was when I wrote this recipe, temperatures have soared here in the UK. This means I want to eat summer food. And summer food for me means eating more salads, meze type meals and picky bits. Basically reducing the amount of time needed for the oven to be on or cooking over a hot stove. These marinated mozzarella balls fit the bill beautifully.

Dive Right In

Different Types of Mozzarella Cheese Explained

Made from pasteurised cow or buffalo milk, mozzarella is a semi-soft mild cheese that’s also a little chewy. It has a lovely fresh taste, but is more about the mouthfeel than the flavour.

It’s a good cheese for melting and is traditionally used to make both pizza and lasagne. However, it’s also a great cheese for eating raw and is particularly good in salads. Caprese salad is one of the best known and consists of mozzarella slices, tomato slices and basil.

Mozzarella cheese comes in many forms. The following are the most well known.

Fior di latte – the standard ball of mozzarella preserved in brine that most of us are familiar with. It’s made with cow’s milk.

Mozzarella di bufala – made with the milk of water buffalo. It’s sweeter and richer than cow’s milk and is the most common type used in Italy.

Burrata – a mozzarella ball filled with stracciatella. This is a mix of shredded mozzarella and fresh cream. It’s very rich and most delicious.

Mozzarella in filone – a firm, low moisture mozzarella which is over half as much dryer than fresh mozzarellas. This makes it particularly suitable for cooking.

Mini Mozzarella Balls

There are a whole plethora of mini mozzarella balls. These are essentially just smaller versions of fior di latte.

• ovalini – egg sized – best sliced
• bocconcini – (small mouthfuls) are made from cow’s milk. They’re roughly the size of a small egg and make a rather large mouthful.
• ciliegine – (small cherries) are smaller than boccancini and perfectly bite-sized, so no slicing required. Serve whole in pasta, salads etc or just eat them as a snack.
• perlini – the smallest of the balls. As their name suggests, they’re about the size of a large pearl. Excellent for both pasta and salads.
• nodini – (little knots) are hand-knotted twists of mozzarella and slightly chewier than other mozzarella balls. They’re a speciality of the Puglia region of Italy and look fabulous. Great for entertaining. They’re about the same size as bocconcini, so lend themselves well to slicing as well as serving whole.

Why You’ll Love These Marinated Mozzarella Balls

• Infused with the Mediterranean flavours of sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, thyme and chilli.
• Quick and easy to prepare with no cooking involved.
• Perfect for antipasti platters, picnics, summer lunches and easy entertaining.
• The mozzarella becomes beautifully soft and flavoursome as it marinates.
• Makes an impressive yet effortless make-ahead appetiser or party dish. Works particularly well as the flavours improve the longer the mozzarella marinates.
• Delicious served with crusty bread for mopping up the infused olive oil.
• Naturally low in carbs and high in protein.
• Easy to adapt with different herbs, spices or add-ins such as olives or roasted peppers.

How To Serve Marinated Mozzarella Balls

Marinated mozzarella balls are perfect for parties, picnics and eating alfresco in the garden. They’re wonderful dropped into salads. Or just keep them in the fridge for snacking.

Serve them as an appetiser or light lunch with crusty bread to dip into the, oh so tasty, oil. Alternatively use them for anything you’d normally use mozzarella for: on pizza, in caprese salad, as an arancini filler and on toast with pesto and sliced fresh tomatoes.

They’re delicious on toast, drizzled with lots of the marinade oil, then popped under the grill to melt. You’ll need to slice larger balls for this.

If there’s any leftover oil in the jar, don’t throw it away. It makes a wonderful finishing oil. Try it drizzled over Mediterranean style dips such as hummus, tahini yoghurt sauce or whipped feta. In the same vein, drizzle some over soup, omelettes or roasted vegetables just before serving.

It also adds oomph to simple pasta sauces and makes a sensational salad dressing. Just add lemon juice or vinegar.

You can serve marinated mozzarella balls straight away, but they’re better if marinaded for at least an hour and even better for twenty four hours, or thereabouts.

Store them in a jar so the balls are submerged in the marinade. Unless eating within three hours of preparing, keep in the fridge as their shelf life isn’t that long – about five days. But do remove an hour before serving as they’re best eaten at room temperature.

Ingredients, Variations and Substitutions

Six simple ingredients are all you need for this most delicious of recipes. The key, as is so often the case, is in the quality of the ingredients used.

Aromatics

Chilli – What type of chilli you use depends on how mild or hot you like things. But don’t leave it out, it adds a lovely flavour.

Ideally, aim for a gentle heat so everyone can enjoy it. I used half a frozen fresh chilli, but didn’t remove the membranes or seeds. We could feel the warmth, but not excessively so.

You can use a dried whole chilli if you like things really mild. Just don’t cut it up. And if all you have is chilli flakes, they’re fine too. Just know that they’re likely to give the marinade a fierier kick.

Garlic – I ran out of our homegrown garlic a while ago and this year’s crop isn’t quite ready. Luckily, we have garlic scapes, which work well in many recipes requiring garlic. So I used garlic scapes, rather than regular garlic. A nice plump clove of fresh garlic is ideal though.

Sun-Dried Tomatoes – These are the real flavour bombs in this recipe. They’re quite sweet and have an intense tomato flavour. You want tomatoes stored in oil rather than dry-packed.

Unless you make your own, try to buy ones that are in glass jars of extra virgin olive oil. The ones I used were preserved in olive oil with garlic and oregano.

Thyme – Sprigs of fresh thyme are ideal, but if you only have dried, that’s okay. Just don’t use too much of it as dried thyme has a much stronger flavour than fresh.

If you grow lemon thyme, it’s particularly good in this recipe.

Mozzarella

For this recipe we’re after small balls of fresh mozzarella. You can use any of those listed in the different types of mozzarella cheese explained section. There are pros and cons to each of them.

The smaller the balls, the more the marinade will penetrate. It really depends on what you want to use the finished marinated mozzarella balls for. I used nodini this time.

Olive Oil

Use cold pressed extra virgin olive oil – preferably one with a good fruity flavour.

How To Make Marinated Mozzarella Balls

Marinated mozzarella balls are so very quick and simple to make. As you might expect, it’s best to make them the day before you need them though, so the flavours can do their thing. Patience does the heavy lifting here.

Please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for exact method and quantities of ingredients used.

Step 1. Prep

Drain the mozzarella balls through a sieve and leave them there to drip-dry whilst you prepare the aromatics.

You’ll need a clean glass jar that’s just about the right size to hold the mozzarella balls. Make sure it has a tight fitting lid. Clip-top jars are a good option.

Peel the garlic and thinly slice. If you’re using garlic scapes, chop them into small pieces. Discard any dried out pieces of stem.

Slice the fresh chilli, if using, into thin slices, then roughly chop the sun-dried tomatoes.

Step 2. Fill Jar

Pack half of the mozzarella balls into the jar, then slide the thyme sprigs down the sides. You may need to cut them in half to fit. Or, if you prefer, remove the leaves from the stem and add half of them to the jar.

Add half of the tomatoes, half the garlic, half the chilli and the salt.

Place the remaining mozzarella balls in the jar, then add the rest of the tomatoes, garlic, chilli and thyme leaves (if not using the sprigs).

Pour in enough olive oil to just cover the contents. Seal the jar and give it a good shake.

Step 3. Marinate

Marinate for at least an hour, but overnight is better and ideally twenty four hours. If not using the mozzarella balls within three hours or so, keep the jar in the fridge until needed.

If serving in a bowl for a meal or party, remove from the fridge an hour before eating so the cheese and oil have a chance to warm up.

Storage Tips

To keep the mozzarella fresh, make sure it and the other ingredients are fully submerged in oil. A lidded glass jar, as per the recipe, works perfectly for this. And if packed properly, you shouldn’t need to add any extra oil.

Store the jar in the fridge, where the marinated mozzarella will keep for up to five days.

The oil may solidify in the fridge and that’s fine as you’ll want to bring the mozzarella up to room temperature before serving. Just remove from the fridge an hour or so before you need it.

If there’s any sign of mould or the oil is fizzing, discard the contents. Likewise if it smells bad, it probably means it is bad. Get rid.

Technically, you can freeze marinated mozzarella balls, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Freezing changes the texture of the cheese and it looses its delightful mouthfeel. If you make the quantity given in this recipe, they won’t last long even if you’re the only one eating them.

Marinated Mozzarella Balls FAQs

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Keep in Touch

Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these marinated mozzarella balls, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or tips for making or serving them?

Please rate the recipe too. And do tag me @choclette8 on Instagram with your images, I really enjoy seeing your take on my recipes.

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Choclette x

Marinated Mozzarella Balls. PIN IT FOR LATER.