Gooey, cheesy rice enclosed in golden crunchy crumb. Need I say anymore? The Italians are genius, GENIUS!
I received one of those “no brainer” questions a few weeks ago. It went like this:
“Nagi, would you be interested in attending a small lunch to sample and learn about Riccadonna sparkling wines? Massimo Mele will be cooking up an Italian feast!”
It took me about 2 seconds to hit Reply and send “YES!” straight away.
Oh, then I went back to check the date and make sure I was actually free – but really, I would have made it fit into my diary. 😉 I mean, who in their right mind would turn down a champagne lunch with Chef Massimo Mele cooking?? Even if you haven’t heard of him, with a name like Massimo, you can’t mistake his heritage!
At this lunch, Massimo cooked up a 4 course Italian Feast which was, unsurprisingly, phenomenal. A modern, fresh take on classic Italian ingredients, all paired with a different Riccadonna sparkling wine. And guess what? I got the RECIPE CARDS!! You can download a copy of them here. 🙂
In addition to dining on an incredible 4 course Italian feast, I got to learn more about Riccadonna sparkling wines. We had a different sparkling wine for each course, all delicious!
The fact is, when it comes to champagne, I am a bit of a snob. I love real French champagne but as luck would have it, I can’t actually afford a $70 bottle to indulge in every week. 🙁 So for every day purposes, I am quite careful about which champagnes and sparkling wines I purchase because unlike wine, you don’t always get what you pay for. The quality of champagne and sparkling wines you get for $15 varies quite a lot – in my personal, humble opinion.
Riccadonna Prosecco for me is a guaranteed hit every time. What I find unique about it is that the bubbles are so delicate, it is almost like drinking a wine but with the extra little fizziness. Also it’s really light, quite dry and not sweet – it’s refreshing actually. More refreshing than most wines, less fizzy than cheap champagnes. All round – great value for money which is what I’m all about! 😉
So in the spirit of sharing something a little special today that pairs so beautifully with Riccadonna Prosecco, I’m doing something a little different.
I LOVE deep fried food. I have a theory that anything can be made to taste great when it’s deep fried. But I rarely do it myself at home because of clean up and… well, my hips. 😂
HOWEVER…these Cheesy Italian Arancini Balls are WORTH the effort! Besides the fact that they are eye-rollingly delicious, they are so good for make ahead. I’m thinking about a party I’m catering for my mother for Christmas and was keen to test these out.
Also, I didn’t actually use as much oil as I expected to. I used a saucepan, I just feel safer. And because of the small size of these balls, they are easy to handle as opposed to, for example, fried chicken which you would struggle to fry in a saucepan!
How to re-use oil
The oil can be reused twice because the Arancini Balls aren’t heavily seasoned with spices, as opposed to heavily seasoned food like Southern Fried Chicken which taints the oil with flavour.
To re-use the oil, cool in pot, line mesh colander with a single layer of paper towel, strain oil. Store until required – personally would stick to savoury rather than sweet.
Try Stay-Crispy Honey Chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork, Japanese Karaage, Mongolian Beef, Schnitzel or Southern Fried Chicken!
I was actually quite amazed at how well they reheated in the oven! They honestly tasted like they were cooked fresh, the shell was incredibly crisp, the round shape held up perfectly, and the inside was molten and delicious!
They can be served plain. I personally do not think a dipping sauce is required because they are loaded with cheesy flavour. However, I have also provided a quick marinara dipping sauce. Just don’t make the mistake I made, hmm…! Fishing out that Arancini Ball out was rather messy! 😉
Oh – do you need more convincing that these are worth making? Will this photo convince you? 😉
Before I sign off, one last thing. Most Arancini Ball recipe either require 30-40 minutes active stove time to make the risotto rice for these balls OR they are made with precooked ordinary rice which I personally feel does not have anywhere near the same creaminess.
So I use a compromise. I make BAKED risotto so you get the same creaminess, with far less effort. 🙂
Party season is coming up. Thanksgiving, Christmas…..
These are a MUST try! Honestly, I would not share these if I didn’t think they were worth the effort of (semi) deep frying. – Nagi x
PS Instructions for how to consume: sip of Riccadonna Prosecco, bite Arancini, sip Prosecco, bite Arancini….and continue repeating until the earlier of: no more Arancini balls left or bottle is emptied. 😉
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Cheesy Italian Arancini Rice Balls
Ingredients
Baked Risotto
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 small onion , finely diced (white, yellow, brown)
- 1 1/2 cups risotto rice (arborio)
- 1/2 cup white wine (or substitute with broth/stock or water)
- 3 1/2 cups chicken broth/stock
- 1 cup milk
Rice Mixture
- 1 egg
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
- 3/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
- 2 1/2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley , or 1 1/2 tbsp dried parsley (Note 1)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Pepper
Coating
- 1/2 cup plain flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Black pepper
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups panko breadcrumbs
- Cooking oil (I used vegetable oil)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
- Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and cook for 5 minutes until soft.
- Add rice and stir until grains turn translucent. Add wine and turn up the heat to medium high. Cook until liquid is mostly absorbed/evaporated.
- Add chicken broth and milk. Stir, bring to simmer, cover, then transfer to oven. Baked, covered, for 30 to 40 minutes until all liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool. Add Rice Mixture Ingredients and mix to combine. Cover and transfer to refrigerator for at least 3 hours or preferably overnight.
Coating
- Mix flour, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl, eggs in another (lightly beaten) and panko in a third shallow bowl.
- Measure out a level (packed) ice cream scoop of rice mixture (about 2 1/2 tbsp) and roll into a ball. (Note 2)
- Roll in flour, then dredge in egg mixture, then coat in panko, pressing to coat. (Note 3) Repeat with remaining mixture.
Cook
- In a medium saucepan, pour in 1"/2.5cm depth of oil and heat over medium high heat.
- Toss in a breadcrumb and if it starts sizzling immediately, the oil is hot enough.
- Carefully transfer a few balls into the hot oil, using a spoon. Turn frequently so they cook golden evenly, and when they are a deep golden brown, remove onto a paper towel lined plate to drain.
- Repeat with remaining balls.
To Serve
- Serve with Marinara Sauce (optional) (Note 4) sprinkled with finely chopped fresh parsley if desired.
Recipe Notes:
No nutrition today. Because these are…you know. Fried. 😉
This post is sponsored by Riccadonna who hosted the lunch and asked if I would like to share what I thought about Riccadonna sparkling wine. As someone who has been sipping on Riccadonna for years, I was pretty darn thrilled to accept! N x
Made these with the leftover chicken and mushroom risotto. The risotto was a bit average to be honest, but these arancini saved the day. Made with the marinara sauce. Very yummy! Perfect amount of cheesy goodness and fried crispiness.
I clicked on the link for Massimo’s recipes and downloaded the zip file. It is empty! Can you help please. I love your arancini, perfect xo
This happened to me as well.
I’m a believer! Wow! Fresh, easy but perfect – and the tasting sauce hit the spot. Even with GF panko-esque crumbs – ticked every box. Yum!
This was an easy recipe to scale down to 1/3 ( 1 T. egg in the rice, 2 T. for the coating). I made eight and fried them in a small amount of olive oil. Man Skills ate two as a side dish and said they were really good ( more than once ). I had one and froze the rest uncooked. If you are like me and have a two pound container of Arborio in your pantry that you haven’t opened in years because the thought of making risotto is overwhelming, this recipe is for you. I love the idea of making them smaller and serving with Rao’s marinara for an appetizer..
I would swear and declare that this recipe was written by an American, even done to using a skillet (Elizabethan English).
All the measurements are given in cups! Please, we live in Oz and use the metric system. The size of a cup is totally inaccurate, especially when dealing with ingredients such as grated cheese. Electronic scales can be purchased for less than $15 so measuring in grams is very straight forward and accurate.
As an American, I agree that the imperial system is nonsensical. However, I DO have that $15 digital scale. So if you get a $10 set of measuring cups, then we’ll both be well prepared for whatever life throws at us!
Amazing! Have made twice now. They freeze well after being fried and reheat in the airfryer like a dream. Thank you Nagi!
Made this recipe multiple times & its great but why does the rice never turn transluscent for me? Some grains do, but mostly they stay white…? It doesn’t seem to affect the outcome that I’ve noticed but I cannot work out what I’m doing wrong
Fantastic Arancini balls. Never made them before and they are delicious. Big hit all round.
Hi Nagi
Is there a gluten free version of Arancini that I can make? If not, what do you suggest for a GF appetizer. One of my coming guests is GF.
Cheers Alex
Hello Alex,
I make these GF all the time – GF breadcrumbs actually fry nicer than non GF. Simply substitute the flour and breadcrumbs for GF flour and breadcrumbs and check your chicken stock (most are GF – just a couple aren’t) – you can’t tell the difference either so no need to do non GF ones for other guests. Do make sure you have clean oil or oil that hasn’t had gluten ingredients fried in it – had my coeliac daughter get very sick from supposedly GF food that had been fried in oil that had non GF batter previously fried in it!
These were delicious! Did them as a starter and all loved them. Will definitely make again.
Worth the effort! Make a big batch. froze half so had two weeks of on-demand arancini for two weeks! Whats not to love. Thanks, Nagi <3
How did you reheat them? Would they be nice still, if they were defrosted and eaten cold?
Tracey, I’ve been making this recipe for years!
I make a batch and lightly fry them (as per the recipe), them I let them cool and I freeze them in a zip lock bag. When I’m ready to cook, I place the frozen arancini in the oven or in the air fryer until they’re heated through and crispy – they come out amazing every time!
Added some italian herbs as well and a bit of Ajvar paste. Also put a small cube of tasty cheese inside before frying. Flavours are amazing. Thanks Nagi. Love your work.
So yummy and well worth the effort. I make a truffle and aioli dip, which is heaven by itself !!! thanks Nagi
These are my go to for a snack or entertaining or when I need to take a side dish to family. This year I am gifting a batch as a Christmas present too. Xxooxx
Delicious 😋
Every recipe I use of yours is amazing.
Thank you for sharing your recipes 😊
I made these for a pre Xmas dinner party. They were delicious and easy to make and a big hit with everyone.
Will definitely make them again
Such a great recipe. Only thing is I would add a little more Italian spices in the risotto and garlic.
Easy instructions and fun to make!
Fantastic Risotto and even better use of any leftovers for Arancini balls
Game changer doing the rice in the oven. A complete success
I would love to try out your recipe, as I had arancini balls as a starter at this nice little Italian restaurant (and I know your recipes are always winners…!!!) and they served it with a blue cheese sauce….do you have a sauce recipe that I could adapt to this dish, instead of the tomato based sauce?