Deep Fried Cheese Curds

Only because I have spent many years working in restaurants and spent quite a bit of time actually talking with a vendor at the MN State fair who explained his process, I feel the need to weigh in on these reviews. The cheese curds should be fresh, at room temperature and when they at room temp, shake them around in little bit of flour to lightly coat them. When the curds are at room temperature, they "sweat" out some of the natural fat so that the flour will adhere to the curd. This step also ensures that that the batter will stick to the curds in the fryer. The batter should be made with beer, not milk and be fairly thin. Excess batter after dipping the curds should be drained from them in a wire mesh strainer (they actually had a very large flat one for this part) but a larger mesh strainer at home works too. The temperature of the oil is critical, the gentleman I spoke with said they keep their fryer at about 375 degrees. Also, the amount of oil used is very important; keep in mind that at the fairs they are using fryers that hold several gallons of oil, a home fryer uses 1.5 to 2 quarts on average so you can't fry very many at a time if you want them to turn out to be the delicious, golden, melty cheese curds we all love at the fair. I have been making these this way for 15 years or so and always get raves for these. Hope this helps anyone who has had problems with the batter sticking or everything turning into a gooey mess.

Being an expatriate Cheesehead for the first time in my life, I planned a large get together for the opening Packer game this year. My roommate found a dairy in Marin County that sold cheese curds at the farmers market on Saturday's in San Francisco. She went down and picked up three pounds, and I proceeded to practice the night before the game using this recipe. Much to my dismay, they were not the flaky nuggets of molten cheese heaven I craved; they instead tasted like lumps of cold curd wrapped in a burnt pancake. Check out the beer batter intended for fish also found on this site and use that recipe instead: it will give you a much better taste of real Wisconsin cheese curds.

I havent tried this particular recipe, but as the wife of a transplanted born and bred Wisconsinite, I have learned the tricks of making cheese curds and this recipe is missing the most important step...you have to FREEZE the cheese curds after you coat them for AT LEAST an hour before you fry them!

I hoped that this recipe being from wisconsin would be an allright tasting way to make homemade cheesecurds. So I tried it out. Followed it to a tea....it tasted somewhat like burnt pancakes with a hint of cheese. I'm used to minnesota state fair cheese curds so maybe my expecations were a little lofty but these curds were way too fluffy and there was barely any cheese left after being fried. I fried them in a deep frier which shouldn't matter since they're submerged in oil either way but in the end I was left with a fluffy pancake type substance with more cheese floating in and stuck to my deep frier than were in the curds. I would not recommend this recipe to anybody unless they want a huge mess with nothing to show for it. P.S. As LIBBYWYNN said in her review "They were just like the ones at the Minnesota State Fair!!". THEY WERE NOT EVEN IN THE SAME BALLPARK OR LEAGUE AS MINNESOTA STATE FAIR CHEESE CURDS. N-O-T-H-I-N-G Close.

Cheese curds are the best carnival and fair food around. I am formerly from Minnesota and recently moved to a Southern state and they don't have cheese curds down here at fairs and carnivals. In fact, no one has even heard of them! I have been searching for this recipe for a long time on the internet and am really glad I finally found it. I made them and they were a hit in our house!! Thanks for posting this recipe!!!

I made the recipe and it came out great. I used my flash fryer and never had a burnt curd.

This recipe was great! I get my cheese curds out of Elsworth, WI and I've been trying to find a batter recipe. It's alot more cheeper to make it on your own than buy those expensive batter mixes. Thanks

I was a little nervous to try these as some of the reviews were negative, but I am really glad I did. They were just like the ones at the Minnesota State Fair!! It was a little tricky to get the temp of the oil just right, but once I did they were a breeze. Thanks for the great recipe!!!

These were pretty good. I think I prefer cheese curds plain, but if you're going to combine them with fried dough, it's a good recipe. Pretty messy to make, though.

Good recipe for fried cheese curds although I had expected them to fry up crispier...maybe it was my frying technique.

This recipe was great. I have tried many batters, but the cheese would never stay in and it just made a huge mess. This batter held up and worked just like the MN state fair! I will be making these many more times.

Perfect!!! After reading all the reviews I was super worried if they would work, and they work great! I overnight shipped some fresh cheese curds to Wyoming for my fiancee's (from WI) birthday- trust us we KNOW fair cheese curds and these are really pretty close! Only thing I would change would be to thin/add with beer in the batter also: * I froze the curds for an hour already battered as was suggested in another review- and THIS IS KEY!!! I dont think it would work otherwise! * Don't have you oil too hot! they taste really wrong if the oil is too hot. Keep it low and fry until you can see oozing cheese (about a minute) you want a nice blond curd not dark. Good luck! great recipe!

If you didn't like this recipe substitute beer for the milk. Make sure your cheese curds are room temperature and not straight out of the fridge. Oil temp should be around 425-450 degrees.

I was dissapointed with the results of the cheese curd. No matter what I tried they either melted in the hot oil, or the cheese curd came out cold in the center. I have tried all variations of cooking techniques. Still looking for the ultimate Mn State Fair cheese curd recipe.

This is a good batter recipe, you might want to add some spice. I knew to drain my batter and shake off some. I have been looking for cheese curds for my son and finally found them this week. Thank you for the batter recipe. I think I like mixing the egg and milk together and leaving the flour seperate to dip back and forth between the two. I had made some chicken fingers the other night from another site and tried a few cheese curds in it and basic the same mixture only you add garlic powder and black pepper and dip back and forth that concept seems to work better. I just took this batter and dipped the rest of the cheese curds to freeze. I will let you know how that comes out.

After many variations we think we cracked the State Fair code..(MN that is...) Add garlic powder and a touch more salt. I used half mix of beer and mil. I found freezing the cheese curds overnight and having the oil between 400and 410 work best. I also foundyou had to continue move them around in the oil. I could only do 2-3 at a time other wise they weren't evenly done. Cook just under a minute (golden brown) Hope this helps!!!!

I did thin the batter quite a bit more because with the amount of milk called for, turned out VERY thick. I did freeze the curds for about 1 hour before frying as suggested by other reviewers. I had enough to fry 3 batches, and am not sure what happened with the 1st batch, but it lost most of it's batter in the oil. Scooped out all of the mess, and the 2nd and 3rd batches were just fine. Searched for this recipe because we are from South Dakota, and we went to the twin cities and stayed in Savage, MN and ate at a sports bar called the Buffalo Tap, and they have the MOST AWESOME Jalepeno Deep Fried Curds in the world. We were trying to duplicate those. These were good but nowhere near as good as those. Thanks for the recipe though.

This is my second attempt. With the tweaking and experimenting I did they came out perfect. Here is what you do, bring peanut oil up to 375 degress or a bit higher (this is a must). Bring curds to room temperature and roll in flour before battering. This recipe makes about 20 curds. I used (approx) 1/8 cp buttermilk, splash of beer, 1/4 cp flour,and 1/8 tsp baking powder and mix. Roll curds in flour and then in batter. Drop in oil and fry approximately 30 sec or until brown. I've found that by using buttermilk it gives the curds more flavor and they brown up nicely. Please give this a try, It worked for me! Finally!!!

I tried this recipe for the first time and loved it, as did everyone else who was here.

Turned out great, I added a little Emeril's Original Essence and they turned out very good!!!

This is super easy to make, but the outcome was undesirable. The batter didn't stick to the curds and the cheese melted before the batter browned. Suggestions welcomed!

YOU MUST FREEZE THE CHEESE CURDS BEFORE MAKING!!! OTHERWISE THEY CREATE A GIANT CLUMP OF CHEESE THAT IS REALLY GROSS!!!!!!!

The batter is way to thick, which leads to soggy curds. Try a half can of beer and a cup of flour mixed with an egg... for a lighter batter that gets crispy, deep fry at 350-375 until the float for 20 seconds and yes i would try to throw them in the freezer a bit before frying. I am still trying to figure out how to get them to not stick together it is tricky. Good luck. These are a midwest favorite when prepared correctly.

I just came back from a trip in the heart of Wisconsin, and brought home fresh cheese curds. I used those and followed the recipes exactly, and it does have a "pancake" taste batter. However, when I added some black pepper, garlic salt, and a little bit of Cajun seasoning it was fantastic! Otherwise, it is a bit bland for me.

This was really easy to make and my cheese did get all gooey and yummy. My biggest complaint is the batter. It was thick and doughy and not anything like state fair curds. I would not use this recipe again.

this was more a pancake covered cheese slug...sorry this batter needs to be crisper....temp was right...i am thinking a cornmeal/fishfry seasoned batter to be better...i had the same prob with a halibut recipe....so from now on egg dip and dredge in panko and louisiana fish fry batter...crispy and flavorful

Sounds like the last user had the oil way too hot and burnt the outside of the curd which left no time for the inside to cook.

They were greasy and messy. The cheese separated from the batter, and I was left with one big mess! The few that I did manage to make were marginal at best. Like everyone else stated: NOT LIKE THE MN STATE FAIR!

This recipe is great except it does need some additional Salt and Pepper and I used stale beer instead of the milk. I used cheddar cheese, which I left out on the counter long enough to get a little warm, coated it in the batter and dropped it into hot oil, 375 degrees. They were light and fluffy, YES....they tasted like the state fairs cheese curds. I did houwever use a restaurant fryer, if cooking them at home be sure to cook just a few at a time.

Awsome! whole family loved it. i'll add a pinch more salt though.

These worked out just fine, no freezing of the cheese needed. I did thin the batter just a bit with about 2-4 TB beer (I dont measure) and added maybe another 1/4 tsp of baking powder to lighten it up... solving the "pancake around cheese" problem. Also if you are burning it your oil is too hot. Get a thermometer and watch it. 350 - 365 is just fine. I eat these (regrettably!) every year at the MN state fair and this is the closest I've been to the real deal.

I'm happy to have found a great base recipe for cheese curds, as a homegrown Minnesotan now living in Seattle (where people haven't even heard of cheese curds!). I used garlic & herb cheese curds from the famous Beecher's Cheese at the Pike Place Market (they were out of plain). I followed many recommendations of the reviewers. I used 3/4 cup of beer instead of milk and drained off all of the excess batter before frying. Per recommendations I maintained an oil temperature of 375 which seemed to work perfectly! Also, I fried the curds at room temperature. Thanks for all of the reviews. These turned out light, fluffy and very crispy - just like at the MN State Fair!

Yummy. Works best to cook in turkey fryer. The house fryer is to messy.

Im a southerner living in minnesota. i had fried cheese curds for the first time last year at minnesota state fair. these curds were tasty but no comparison to state fair. they did get all gooey inside but i made a few changes. Since i used fresh curds which are less salty, i added some tony cacheries which gave it some extra saltiness and a little bit of a kick. i aslo omitted some flour and substituted corn meal. will try again with some more variations. thanks for the recipe!

Nothing like fair curds... at all. I should have taken heed to all the negative reviews.

these cheese curds are quick, easy, and delicious... but they're not midwest cheese curds. the batter forms a very thin crust almost like a tempura batter

Love it!!!! My husband and I are from Minnesota and we had to move to California for the Air Force, we have been craving cheese curds and looking at the fairs for them but nobody knows what they were except those from the midwest! My mom brought us cheese curds when she came to visit and I could eat them all day ever day!!!

Good recipie. The best fried cheese curds I ever had were deep fried buffalo wing flavor cheese curds.

Unless its whipped in the mixer the batter turns out too thick and the ending result is almost not even a cheese curd just over coated warm soft cheese. I used this recipe twice because I had no beer for the Real Wisconsin Cheese Curds which is the 5 star cheese curd recipe.

I also added garlic powder & some cayenne powder- some were delish, but I need a lesson in frying. The batter fell off!

These were great! I made exactly as written (I did let curds get to room temperature as another reviewer suggested). My family loved them!

Made for my boyfriend and his family but didn’t have baking powder. They loved it

This was pretty good. I froze the curds before hand. Only fried 4-5 at a time. Batter was a little thick, added about 1 tblsp more of milk. Also about 1/4 tsp salt.

Its really good but needs improvement. We added cornmeal to make it a little bit more crunch to them instead the fluffy curds. We also had problems with the cheese spilling out because the batter was too thin even though we followed the recipe and still added more corn meal. If you love fluffy curds and melty cheese you will love this recipe but if you want crunchy curds you might want to try a beer batter, panco batter, or just at more things to make it crunchier. Thanks!!!

This is a great recipe, but for my personal taste, I will omit the salt completely next time. Even the tiny amount the recipe called for made these VERY salty to me. Otherwise, they came out great.

Great recipe.........they were delectable!!

Now don't get me wrong, cheese curds are my all time favorite food (coming from Minnesota) but this recipe needs a little work. You need beer instead of milk and also need some spices such as garlic powder, cayenne, onion powder, pepper and paprika to really bring out the flavor.

YUMMY Great recipe to make, right now because of the Rona Restrictions, that everyone can enjoy!!

This was a great recipe. My first time making it, I'll definitely give it a try again. Next time, I'll take the reviews stating to try it with beer. I believe that'll give it more flavor.

The batter was too bland.