Hot Cheeto cheese sticks are a bold and crispy snack made with gooey mozzarella string cheese and a spicy Flamin’ Hot Cheetos coating. Quick to prep and air-fried to perfection, they’re a crowd-pleaser for game nights or casual appetizers.
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Freeze Time30 minutesmins
Total Time45 minutesmins
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Hot Cheeto Cheese Sticks Recipe
Servings: 24
Calories: 130kcal
Ingredients
8.5ouncesFlamin’ Hot Cheetos Crunchy,crushed into fine crumbs (approximately 3 cups)
¾cupall-purpose flour
½teaspoonsalt
4largeeggs,room temperature
1tablespoonwater,room temperature
12mozzarella string cheese sticks
Olive oil cooking spray
Garnish
¼ to ½cupbottled ranch dressing
Instructions
To a food processor, add the crunchy Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, and pulse for 30-60 seconds or until you have very fine crumbs. Transfer the crumbs to a medium sized dish suitable for dipping, and coating, the cheese sticks. Set aside.
To a second medium sized dish combine together the all-purpose flour and salt. Set aside.
In a third medium sized dish whisk together the eggs and water. Set aside.
Once you have your dredging station ready (the Cheeto crumbs, flour and egg dishes) place a medium rimmed baking sheet, lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat, next to the other dishes. You will need to have all your coatings ready before you start coating the cheese sticks.
Place a single cheese stick half into the egg wash and coat it completely. Using a fork, lift the cheese stick out of the egg and place it into the flour mixture to coat it completely with the flour. Return it back to the egg, coat completely then lift out of the egg again with a fork and allow any excess egg to drip back into the bowl.
Place the egg and flour coated cheese stick into the Flamin’ Hot Cheeto crumbs and gently roll to evenly coat the cheese stick in the crumbs. Remove from the crumbs and place onto the prepared baking tray.
Repeat steps 5 and 6 until all the cheese sticks are coated and placed onto the tray. Place the tray of Hot Cheeto Cheese Sticks into the freezer for a minimum of 30 minutes or up to 60 minutes. The cheese sticks need to be frozen for best air frying results.
Once the cheese sticks are frozen, remove them from the freezer and lightly spray them with olive oil cooking spray on both sides.
Preheat an airfryer to 390* F for 5 minutes.
Place 10 cheese sticks into the basket of the preheated airfryer, being sure to leave space between each cheese stick, and fry for 5-7 minutes or until hot and crunchy. Transfer to a plate and air fry the remaining cheese sticks.
Remove the Hot Cheeto cheese sticks from the air fryer and place them onto a serving plate with a side of ranch sauce for dipping when served.
Notes
For the most even coating of the hot cheetos, you need to make sure you get as fine of a crumb as possible. A food processor, or high powered blender, works best.
If you are only serving 1-2 people, you can cut this recipe in half, or you can just air fry a smaller amount (for the same amount of time and temperature as the recipe states) and store the leftovers in an airtight container in the freezer until ready to eat.
A low-moisture part-skim mozzarella string cheese stick (Sargento brand) was used for this recipe. You can use your favorite brand, or even a whole milk version of mozzarella string cheese stick works well.
A COSORI 6.8 quart Air Fryer was used to develop this recipe. You may need to adjust your fry time, or the amount of hot cheeto cheese sticks you can fit in the air fryer at a single time, according to the brand of air fryer you use.