This post contains affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
If you love burrata, you have to try this amazing stuffed version – loaded with pesto, so it bursts and explodes with amazing rich and creamy flavor.
This super simple and easy trick will take your favorite cheese over the top – you won’t believe the flavor! We’re adding lots of tips below, including what type of syringe to use to fill the burrata, and how to store if you will be using later.
Don’t want all the extras in a recipe post? We provide a skip to recipe button in the top left corner, as well as a clickable table of contents, just below, to help make this page easier to navigate.
Table of contents
Easy Pesto Burrata
If you think you love burrata – you haven’t seen anything yet! This amazingly delicious, creamy, and rich pesto stuffed cheese pops open, oozing out tons of delicious pesto flavor!
Burrata is a semisoft Italian cheese that is made from mozzarella and cream – it is shaped into a ball, with a creamy, liquid interior that “bursts” open, revealing a creamy, buttery flavor that is over the top. Burrata actually gets its name from the Italian word burro, which means butter, because of it’s buttery flavor!
Burrata is deliciously served with tomatoes, over salads (like our Easy Burrata Farro Salad), or with some thinly sliced tomatoes, bread, or crackers!
Following a low carb or keto diet? Burrata, like most cheese, is carb free!
I hope you love this easy recipe, and the tips to make it, as much as I do!
Check out my web story on this easy and delicious burrata recipe.
How to Stuff Burrata
To make this stuffed burrata, you’ll need:
- Flavor injector syringe (preferred); or sharp knife and turkey baster
- Burrata – burrata is a creamy, soft Italian cheese made from mozzarella and cream, that bursts open to reveal a soft, semi-liquid cream middle. Burrata has a mild buttery flavor that is delicious with vegetables, fruits, and bread!
- Pesto – you can use any pesto you love – whether it’s your own homemade recipe or a storebought pesto.
- Celtic sea salt – sea salt helps enhance the lightly sweet, rich, and buttery cream flavor of burrata. I
- Pepper
- Olive oil
To make this burrata, you need to first identify what equipment you have, and whether or not you want to store the stuffed burrata or eat it right away.
If you want to store the burrata, I recommend a fine-tip flavor injecting needle, so that you can have a very small hole in the burrata that will close back up a bit on it’s own when placed into the water the cheese is packed in.
If you’re eating right away, or don’t have a flavor injecting needle or a fine tip, longer necked piping tip and piping bag, you can use a turkey baster! This method will leave a bit of a bigger hole that you can easily hide for plating, but doesn’t store well, as the cheese won’t come back together tightly enough to not leak pesto out in the water you’ll need to keep it in to keep the cheese from drying out.
If using a flavor injecting needle or fine tip piping bag:
- Grind pesto in a food processor or blender. Flavor injector needles are very fine, and jam up easily with chunks – so you need to get an incredibly smooth pesto with lots of olive oil for it to push through easily.
- Fill the needle with pesto (you can run the pesto through a cheesecloth or strainer first just to be sure there are no large chunks), and carefully insert needle into the center of burrata.
- Fill cheese until you can see and feel it start to give resistance, or until a bit of pesto pops out of the hole you made – this will be about 2-3 tablespoons, depending on the size of your cheese and how much cream is in it.
If using a turkey baster or larger tip piping bag:
- Use a sharp knife to poke a small hole in your burrata.
- Fill your baster (or piping bag) with pesto, and carefully insert into the hole, trying carefully to not make a large tear in the cheese.
- Push pesto in until the burrata gives resistance and a bit of pesto comes back from the hole you made, indicating it is full (like the picture above.)
After you’ve filled your burrata:
- With clean, wet hands, lightly wipe away any pesto that may have dribbled over pesto. You can also rinse your burrata off with some water to get any pesto off the sides. This doesn’t impact flavor at all – just helps hide your surprise filling.
- Place burrata with the hole side down on a plate or salad when serving.
- Sprinkle celtic sea salt (we love using maldon flakes), fresh cracked pepper, and a high quality olive oil with a flavor you love.
Tips and Trick to Pesto Stuffed Burrata
Use superfine pesto. Pesto that is chunky will jam up a flavor injector needle, and prevent it from working properly. If it jams up, blend finer, or push through a cheesecloth.
Try a turkey baster if you don’t have a needle. When my flavor injector jammed up the first time, before I blended again, I tried using a turkey baster. I pierced a small hole with a flavor injector needle, then carefully used a turkey baster to pump the burrata full of pesto. Then I used cold water on clean hands to wipe up pesto dribbles down the side of the burrata ball so the pesto was hidden inside.
Use other sauces. Feeling creative? Try sweet chili oil, marinara, hummus mixed with olive oil to be liquid – the sky is the limit!
FAQs
Burrata can be injected with pesto and refrigerated in an airtight container for up to four days. For the best results, place burrata back in the container and liquid it was sold in, with injection hole side down.
While the expiration date on the packaging might not be for a few days, that should be ignored, as your burrata’s vacuum seal will have been broken.
Burrata needs to be kept in an oily water solution to stay fresh – if you’re not eating right away, the skin will dry out. Keep the packaging your burrata comes in – with the liquid – if you’re making ahead of time and not serving right away.
If you don’t have a flavor injecting needle or turkey baster, you can use a piping bag with a #6 plain piping tip.
Use a syringe with a long tip and straight hole, if at all possible – but any needle will work, if your pesto is fine enough.
Needles with a little bit of a wider tip (unlike what I used in the photo above) work better to prevent jamming up.
What to Serve With Pesto Stuffed Burrata
Burrata is amazing over salads like our Easy Burrata Farro Salad, a simple and delicious Crunchy Lemon Parmesan Salad, or alongside meaty main dishes like our top-reviewed baked pork tenderloin.
Bake some fresh and easy no-knead bread to serve with pesto stuffed burrata, or slather it over Easy Keto Sandwich Bread for a low carb treat.
Burrata is also delicious over Roasted Beets and Sweet Potatoes, and with fruit!
If you’d like to see more of our favorite vegetable recipes, find our recent favorites below:
Pesto Stuffed Burrata Recipe
If you love this easy recipe please click the stars below to give it a five star rating and leave a comment! Pease also help me share on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!
Follow on Instagram
CONNECT WITH SWEET C’S!
Be sure to follow me on social media and get in on all the fun!
Only have 30 minutes to get dinner on the table? Sign up for my 30 minute dinner plans direct to your inbox!
Find and shop my favorite products in my Amazon storefront here!
Pesto Stuffed Burrata
Equipment
- Marinade Injector Syringe and Brushes Set, Meat Injector Syringe with 3 Professional Marinade Injector Needles, Creates Tender Meat & Poultry Flavors, for BBQ Grill Smoker & Turkey & Brisket
Ingredients
- 1 burrata ball
- 3 tablespoons pesto
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- fresh cracked pepper to taste
- maldon sea salt or other celtic sea salt to taste
Instructions
If using a flavor injecting needle or fine tip piping bag:
- Grind pesto in a food processor or blender. Flavor injector needles are very fine, and jam up easily with chunks – so you need to get an incredibly smooth pesto with lots of olive oil for it to push through easily.
- Fill the needle with pesto (you can run the pesto through a cheesecloth or strainer first just to be sure there are no large chunks), and carefully insert the syringe into the center of the burrata.
- Fill cheese until you can see and feel it start to give resistance, or until a bit of pesto pops out of the hole you made – this will be about 2-3 tablespoons, depending on the size of your cheese and how much cream is in it.
If using a turkey baster or larger tip piping bag:
- Use a sharp knife to poke a small hole in your burrata.
- Fill your baster (or piping bag) with pesto, and carefully insert into the hole, trying carefully to not make a large tear in the cheese.
- Push pesto in until the burrata gives resistance and a bit of pesto comes back from the hole you made, indicating it is full (like the picture above.)
After you've filled your burrata:
- With clean, wet hands, lightly wipe away any pesto that may have dribbled over pesto. You can also rinse your burrata off with some water to get any pesto off the sides. This doesn't impact flavor at all – just helps hide your surprise filling.
- Place burrata with the hole side down on a plate or salad when serving.
- Sprinkle Celtic sea salt (we love using Maldon flakes), fresh cracked pepper, and a high-quality olive oil with a flavor you love.
