Do Italians put mozzarella on pasta?

Pasta and mozzarella are the two foods that most remind Italy, perhaps second only to pizza, which is why it is normal to wonder whether we Italians put mozzarella in our cold or hot pasta dishes and especially how we put it.

In fact, there are no classic pasta recipes that call for adding fresh mozzarella, this is because the milky liquid that all fresh mozzarellas have inside does not go well with cooking or in combination with hot food such as freshly drained pasta.

If you really want to add mozzarella during cooking, you must first remove the dish from the heat. As a matter of fact, mozzarella should always be added with the heat off, otherwise, it will get mushy and become very chewy.

On the other hand, if we are talking about putting mozzarella in baked or even cold pasta, then the matter changes, in that case in fact we are talking about typical Italian dishes such as lasagna or pasta sorrentina or cold caprese pasta.

Below I will explain what mozzarella to choose for your pasta dishes and how to prepare it and add it to the pasta so that it does not become gummy, watery, or burnt.

Why not use fresh mozzarella cheese on hot pasta?

When cooking with mozzarella cheese, mistakes are always just around the corner. Whether with buffalo mozzarella or a fiordilatte mozzarella (only cow’s milk), you have to be careful not to make some mistakes.

Mozzarella is a fresh string cheese, which is why many people think they can put it on a hot plate to melt without any particular problems, but this is not the case.

You should never use it on a hot dish such as pasta, fresh mozzarella if it is the Buffalo mozzarella, is considered here in Italy (and in the world) excellence, in fact, it should be eaten alone when still fresh, it would be a shame to waste it by using it as a pasta topping.

Not only because they are much more appreciated in their natural state, but also because, compared to mozzarella fiordilatte (more suitable for cooking), buffalo mozzarella is richer in water and therefore risks soaking up preparations and releasing quite a lot of water (milk serum) into the hot dish.

In Italy it is considered rude to use fresh buffalo mozzarella to add to a recipe, whatever it may be, it is seen as wasteful.

What kind of mozzarella to put on pasta?

So if at all costs you want to put mozzarella on your hot pasta, then put fiordilatte mozzarella. Compared to buffalo, it is drier, more compact, and also cheaper and, if of good quality, gives excellent results in cooking.

I don’t advise you to buy, all those rectangular or otherwise square-shaped rolls, which often have a pizza drawn on the package: they are far from being able to be called mozzarella (in fact, many carry a generic indication of “mozzarella-type cheese“) and even those that display the name “Italian mozzarella” are industrial products with a flat taste and dubious texture.

Of course, I also advise you to stay away from pre-cut, pre-shredded, or low moisture mozzarella bags, simply choose mozzarella fiordilatte in brine, sold in plastic bags filled with liquid, they have the classic mozzarella ball shape.

If you are lucky enough to be able to buy mozzarella from a dairy factory near the place of production, be aware that even fresh cow’s mozzarella out of the dairy is very moist. This richness of liquid is what makes it taste so good raw, each bite is a juicy bite, but in recipes with hot food, as I explained above, too much liquid is not good.

Better then if the mozzarella is already a few days old, say 2 or 3: it will be drier, but equally fresh and tasty.

How to prepare fresh mozzarella to cook along with a dish?

Whatever the recipe, the mozzarella should be your first concern, so once you buy fiordilatte mozzarella, remove it from the water and let it drain out of the refrigerator.

You can put it in a colander over a bowl and then squeeze it gently with your hands.

This is a fairly crucial step especially if you put the mozzarella in the oven with layered preparations, such as eggplant parmigiana, where the excess liquid would drip to the bottom drowning everything in a whitish sea.

Another important thing is to cut the mozzarella before putting it in the preparation: mozzarella must be shredded by hand, resulting in little and irregular shreds that in the same bite will offer some of the “outside,” the more compact outer part, and some of the soft, juicy heart.

Especially in raw preparations, we avoid adding mozzarella cut into squares or strips with a knife, better to shred it into small pieces with your hands.

In conclusion: do Italians eat pasta with mozzarella?

As I explained above, mozzarella in pasta here in Italy is put more for baked preparations such as lasagna or pasta al forno, or on cold dishes such as pasta Caprese with mozzarella pieces and fresh tomatoes.

But you are unlikely to find pasta that is topped with mozzarella in an Italian restaurant, as there are no classic dishes that include this topping.

However, this does not mean that you can still find and try many Italian-style recipes where the pasta is topped with fresh fiordilatte mozzarella, in this case, is better to follow how I recommend that you prepare the mozzarella shred as I explained above.