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Ooey gooey melty Pesto Cheese Bombs with marinara sauce are super easy to make and will please any crowd. Make this appetizer for your next game day party!
I love me some bread and melted cheese. In fact, I think cheesy bread deserves its own food group, much like bacon does. Refrigerated biscuit dough is one of those staples everyone should have in their refrigerator. If not to use it for its intended use, biscuits that is, that dough should always be available for that emergency batch of Monkey Bread with biscuits that everyone loves to wake up to.
These cheese bombs are a thing of beauty. First of all, it doesn’t get much easier than cutting up some string cheese, and if you’re a mom you most certainly already have cheese sticks in your refrigerator. To make the pull apart, all you need to do is wrap some dough around the cheese. BOOM. Done. But wait. You know they could be oh so much better with a little something extra.
Enter the pesto. Don’t fret – you can totally buy a tub of store bought pesto. Not a problem. Me? I just happen to have some of my homemade macadamia gouda pesto (aka highly addictive green crack) in the refrigerator that was just begging to be used in an application like this.
I decided to use the springform pan with a dish in the middle perfectly sized for some warm marinara. I greased the sides so the dough wouldn’t stick and then lined the bottom with parchment. Be sure to place a piece of foil on the rack below because this will ooze in the naughtiest of ways during the cooking process.
Here’s a little before and after action to show you how much they expand during the cooking process.
The result? Similar to my Italian Cheese Bombs, these are a super easy to make gooey appetizer that everyone will love. Not sure how long to cook it? The sign they they are perfectly done is when the cheese starts to ooze out. Oh yeah.
Pretty good use of the left over pesto, wouldn’t you say? Enjoy!!!
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 16 ounces biscuit dough (the kind from the tube)
- 4 mozzarella string cheese sticks
- 1/2 cup pesto
- butter for greasing
- 1 cup marinara sauce warmed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Place a ramekin or ceramic bowl in the center of a springform pan and grease the inside edges of the pan as well as the outside of the bowl to prevent sticking.
- Split each biscuit into two by dividing the layers, totaling 16 ounces biscuit dough. Cut each of the 4 mozzarella string cheese sticks into quarters. Wrap each chunk of cheese in the biscuit dough and seal edges to create a ball.
- Add pesto to a small bowl and roll each ball of dough in the 1/2 cup pesto to coat. Add to the pan in a ring shape and cover with any remaining pesto. Bake with a layer of foil under the pan to catch any grease that might leak out for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown and some melted cheese is visible.
- Add warmed 1 cup marinara sauce to the center dish for dipping. Serve hot.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
these look fun. I wonder if you could make ahead and freeze? I was thinking of using a round foil takeout container, and then freezing them unbaked! that could work, not?
I think freezing them unbaked would work great! Just allow them time to come to room temp before baking.