Balsamic Mozzarella Stuffed Grape Tomatoes
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This stuffed tomatoes appetizer is a quick, easy, and delicious dish to serve at parties – or as a totally yummy low-carb snack. These tasty little warm tomatoes burst with flavor in your mouth, thanks to ingredients like balsamic vinegar, garlic, and of course mozzarella – they’re an Italian delight! They even taste great when cold, so can be prepared in advance too.
This appetizer would be perfect for springtime and I’ve got a collection of Easter Recipes you might like to try. Right-click and open them in a new tab to read next.
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Stuffed Tomatoes Appetizer
What is it about bite-size party foods that make them so cute?! Well… it is human nature to find small things adorable – puppies, kittens, babies – so I guess that translates to food too!
This appetizer fills the role of being small and cute, as well as being absolutely scrumptious! Plus they are ridiculously easy to make. They can be prepped in advance, and cooked just before party guests arrive so that they can be enjoyed hot; but as I already mentioned, they taste great when cold too. So if there are leftovers, you can snaffle them up and still savor the flavor!
You could also serve them as an appetizer/starter for dinner, or enjoy them as a snack – they’re fab if you follow a low carb way of life. They’d work inside packed lunch boxes too. I love it when recipes are so versatile!
RELATED READING: 21+ Yummy Finger Foods & Food On Sticks
We’re celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary this year, and throwing a party for our family and friends. Some bite-size foods will be finding their way to the party table, including this stuffed tomato appetizer. They’re so good, that I simply must share them with you!
We served several bite-size appetizers at our wedding during the photography session – I guess in the US this would be classed as the cocktail hour. We knew photos would take a couple of hours, and didn’t want our guests to get bored and hungry! We had mini burgers, mini baked potatoes, mini fish and chips, as well as several other apps. Sadly, our photographer didn’t get any photos of them, which is such a shame. All that exists of our wedding appetizers are a few photos I took during the tasting we had before the big day.
Lack of good photos of those appetizers aside, I know that they went down really well with everyone, and that’s because mini foods are good to look at, easy to pick up, and fun to eat!
Ingredients used in this recipe
The clue to the ingredients is in the title – balsamic vinegar, mozzarella and grape tomatoes. (In the UK we call them baby plum tomatoes, or you could use cherry tomatoes if you wanted to.) The mozzarella is just cheese strings – if you don’t want to use those, you could use small mozzarella balls instead, just cut to size.
You will also need some store cupboard ingredients – olive oil, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.
So all in all, nothing fancy in the ingredients list. Some herbs would pair nicely with these stuffed tomatoes. Try a little finely chopped fresh basil or rosemary, or you could use some dried rosemary or oregano.
The recipe is for around 25 stuffed tomato appetizers – but can easily be scaled up to make and serve more.
Kitchen equipment used in this recipe
This recipe uses basic kitchen tools, and you probably have most, if not all of them to hand:
- Small sharp kitchen knife
- Teaspoon
- Baking dish
If you are making these to serve at a party, you might want to prepare them in advance, so an airtight container will be super handy; and for serving to your guests, a serving platter or large plate would be marvelous.
How do I make this stuffed tomatoes appetizer?
This recipe is by no means difficult – yes, you have to scoop out the seeds from the tomatoes so that they can be stuffed, which I guess is a bit of a nuisance (or as I would say, a faff!) but treat it like an assembly line and you’ll have them ready in no time at all.
Cut the tops off the tomatoes – not too much, as you won’t be needing these, and then cut a tiny sliver from the bottom of the tomatoes so that they can stand up.
Then scoop out the seeds from inside the tomatoes – do whatever is easiest for you to remove those seeds. It could be a knife, spoon, or even your finger. I find the handle end of a teaspoon works well.
Now cut each cheese stick into 6 pieces – you may find you need to cut these down further so that they fit into the smaller tomatoes. If you decided to go the small mozzarella ball route, cut them to size so that a piece fits inside the tomatoes.
If you are cooking these straight away, place the cheese stuffed tomatoes into a baking dish. Or if you are prepping to cook later, put them in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator until needed.
Now mix together the olive oil and balsamic vinegar in a small bowl, and stir the dry seasonings together in another bowl.
Drizzle the oil and vinegar mixture over each tomato with a spoon, and then sprinkle the seasoning over the tomatoes.
I mentioned about using herbs if you wanted to. You could mix them into either the oil or the dry seasonings – both ways will work fine.
All that is left to do now is bake in the oven until the cheese is melted and the tomatoes start to blister. Enjoy!
You will find the mozzarella stuffed tomatoes recipe video on my YouTube Channel – save it to your Playlists for future reference! Don’t forget to subscribe while you are there!
Balsamic Mozzarella Stuffed Grape Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 25 grape tomatoes
- 3-5 mozzarella cheese sticks
- 1½ Tbsp olive oil
- 1½ Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp onion powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5
- Slice the tops off the tomatoes.
- De-seed tomatoes using a small knife, spoon or even your finger. Discard seeds, juice and tops.
- Cut a small sliver from the bottom of the tomatoes so they can stand.
- Cut cheese sticks into 6 pieces.
- Stuff a piece of mozzarella inside each tomato – you may have to cut some of the cheese to fit.
- Place each stuffed tomato into a baking dish.
- Mix the olive oil and balsamic vinegar in a small bowl and then spoon a little over each tomato.
- In a small bowl, combine the salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder, and sprinkle evenly over each tomato.
- Bake for 5-7 minutes, until cheese starts to melt and tomatoes start to blister.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is always approximate and will depend on the quality of ingredients used and serving sizes. If you need exact calories and macros, please do your own calculations.
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Make It A Meal!
Looking for some mealtime inspiration to go with this appetizer? I’ve got you covered!
- Main Dish: Sheet Pan Steak Dinner: Garlic Parmesan Steak with Asparagus
- Beverage: Cucumber Cantaloupe Mint Fizz
- Dessert: Affogato – The Coffee Lovers Quickest + Easiest, Dessert Ever!
More Recipes Using Fresh Tomatoes
More Party Food Ideas
Want more party foods and party appetizers? Here are some for you to check out: