Amazing Arancini (Italian Rice Balls)

Arancini are delicious risotto balls stuffed with cheese and deep fried. What’s not to love about that? Serve with marinara sauce for dipping.

Arancini means “oranges” in Italian. These rice balls got their name because they resemble oranges. This is the perfect way to use leftover risotto (if that is even ever a thing). Or, you can make a batch of risotto for this purpose. Just make it the day before or at least a few hours before. You can find my recipe for risotto here.

You need: Risotto

Cubes of mozzarella cheese

Italian style bread crumbs

3 eggs

vegetable or canola oil for frying

First of all, you have to dig into this with your hands and get all messy. Add two of the eggs (beaten) to a bowl of leftover (preferably cold) risotto. Mix the eggs in with your hands.

Now, put some risotto in your hands, then add two or three cubes of cheese and then more risotto, forming a ball with the cheese in the middle.

Next, beat the other egg and place in a bowl (I use glass pie plates for this, but whatever you have is fine) and the breadcrumbs in another bowl. Roll the balls in the beaten egg, then the breadcrumbs.

In a large saucepan, heat a couple of inches of oil on medium high heat. To test the oil to see if it’s ready, just drop a pinch of breadcrumbs into the oil. If it’s ready, the breadcrumbs will immediately start to sizzle and fry. If that doesn’t happen, just wait a little longer. When the oil is ready, carefully drop 2-4 arancini into the oil (depending on how big your pan is – you don’t want to crowd them).

Once they are frying, turn your oil down to about medium. If you don’t, the oil will get too hot and then you’ll have smoke and smell and arancini that are burned. Fry them in batches until they are golden brown and place on paper towels to drain some of the oil. I like these best served as soon as possible, but they are also actually really tasty at room temperature as well.