burrata

noun

bur·​ra·​ta bu̇-ˈrä-tə 

variants or less commonly burrata cheese

plural burratas also burrata cheeses

: mozzarella formed into a ball-shaped casing that contains curds and cream

… give us a single ball of burrata with some olive oil and crackers, and we'll be more than happy.

—Olivia Harvey

It was not one of those petite, tennis-ball-size burratas. … Nearly as big as a cantaloupe, the wobbly burrata … was bursting on the plate, the oozing cream pooled around it.

—Melissa Clark

Roughly spread some creamy burrata … on the bread, then add some cherry tomatoes …

—Geoff Last

… Perry plates a dollop of soft, delicately flavored burrata cheese and dusts it in black pepper.

—Brenna Houck

Examples of burrata in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For a casual evening, start with pizza and burrata at the Waves Grill and then head to the Terrace Café, getting sushi and grilled seafood or steak at the buffet before nabbing a table outside. —Fran Golden, AFAR Media, 28 July 2025

Melon And Prosciutto With Burrata And Cherries Delp says this is another classic flavor combination that gets elevated with the addition of creamy burrata and seasonal cherries. —Aly Walansky, Forbes.com, 9 July 2025

Sandwich fixings include roasted eggplant, spicy zucchini, burrata and pistachio cream. —Carolyn Stein, Chicago Tribune, 8 July 2025

Toppings range from Italian classics like mortadella and burrata to spicy Calabrese sausage and pistachio. —Bahar Anooshahr, AZCentral.com, 4 July 2025

Sit on their back veranda looking out over the mountains and enjoy fresh flavors like tomatillo and cucumber gazpacho or burrata and grilled asparagus salad. —Heather Bien, Southern Living, 28 June 2025

Due to their dry style with high acidity, light and delicate rosés pair very well with soft cheeses, such as creamy brie, chevre (soft goat cheese), mascarpone, burrata, camembert, epoisses and other soft cheese styles. —Liz Thach, Forbes.com, 25 July 2025

The menu for that evening also included pretzels and cheese, burrata, and spanakopita. —Emily M. Olson, Hartford Courant, 23 July 2025

Get The Recipe 14 of 15 Crispy Prosciutto, Strawberry, And Burrata Salad With Maple-Balsamic Vinaigrette Creamy burrata is a perfect pair for sweet spring strawberries in this fun salad. —Alana Al-Hatlani, Southern Living, 16 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Italian, originally southern regional, noun derivative from feminine of burrato "flavored or spread with butter," from burra "butter" (borrowed from Old French bure, going back to Late Latin būtrum, by syncope from Latin būtyrum, variant of būtȳrum, būtūrum butter entry 1) + -ato -ate entry 3

Note: An early occurrence of burrata and description of the product is in Guida gastronomica d'Italia (Milan: Touring Club Italiano, 1931), p. 395, in a list of dishes typical of the city of Andria in Puglia: "Oltre i communi latticini, è prodotto tipico locale la burrata, sfera di pasta di caciocavallo contenente del latte di bufala con panna i filacci di pasta di provola o di mozzarella" ("Beside the common dairy items, a typical local product is burrata, a ball of caciocavallo [a cheese made from stretching fresh curds in hot water] containing buffalo milk with cream and strands of provola [another cheese made from stretched curds] or mozzarella"). The first maker of the cheese was allegedly one Lorenzo Bianchino Chieppa, who, perhaps in the 1920's, worked at the Piana Padula farm near Castel del Monte, a medieval castle in the Andria commune. The farm already produced balls of stretched-curd cheese stuffed with butter—as an innovation it was decided to fill the balls instead with strands of leftover mozzarella and cream. The innovation met with unexpected success, first in Andria, and eventually far beyond it. The traditional name for the butter-filled cheese containers was manteca. (An illustration of the product can be found at the Italian Wikepedia entry for manteca.) Presumably burrata was another name for this or a similar product, and it was transferred to the mozzarella-and-cream filled containers, despite their lack of butter. For references see the article "La burrata. Un prodotto made in Puglia" by Debora di Fazio in Peccati di lingua: le 100 parole italiane del Gusto (Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino, 2015), pp. 51-53. See also Lessico etimologico italiano, vol. 8, column 499.

First Known Use

1981, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for burrata

• agata
• bharata
• cantata
• costata
• ephrata
• errata
• falcata
• mahratta
• regatta
• serrata
• sonata
• stigmata