Arancini Rice Balls

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Arancini are delicious, crispy, deep-fried riceballs. They have a meat sauce and mozzarella cheese filling and crunchy breadcrumb coating. Full of cheese flavor, so flavorful!

The Arancini rice balls are really worth a try! Aside from being eye-rolling delicious, they are also great for making in advance. This is definitely perfect for snacks at any party or afternoon tea time. 

The Arancini rice balls that kids and adults alike enjoy. It was just taken off the stove, and crispy on the skin, stuffed with sticky cheese and milk, and freshly chopped mushrooms. It’s really delicious. When you are too lazy to cook, take 3 balls out of the fridge and bake them in the air fryer for 10 minutes before serving. Easy and convenient.

My encounter with Arancini Rice Ball

I had Arancini rice balls in my boss’s restaurant while on a business trip to Australia. The restaurant had a special event that day, and arancini rice balls were one of the dishes on the menu. They were all busy preparing, and I was just as busy observing them. When I first saw these Arancini rice balls, they caught my eye. It appears to be very tasty.

The pellets are shaped like tiny meatballs. I have thick facial skin, so the chef asked if I could try it. The chef is very nice, he gave me 4 balls. And as soon as I took a bite from one of them and tasted its crispiness and rich cheese flavor inside, I wanted more. When I thought 4 balls were too few, I found I was wrong, I was full after taking the second ball. 

I thought the flavor could be more distinctive, so I tried to improve it by adding cheesy tomato sauce and minced pork when I came back. It’s interesting. That’s the taste. Full of tomato sauce and cheesy flavor and crisp appearance is so delicious.

These Arancini rice balls can be served without any sauce. I personally don’t like to overwrite the original flavor of the Arancini rice balls because they are so fragrant and delicious. The rich milk flavor and cheese flavor are really great! But if you want to serve it with sauce, you can be coupled it with this unique sauce (homemade aioli sauce) putting this sauce on the balls really brings the taste of the Arancini rice balls to another level. It’s delicious and beautiful.

Will these Arancini Rice Balls taste very greasy?

Even if you don’t like “fried” food, you can try eating these Arancini rice balls. The Arancini rice balls are covered with a thin layer of breadcrumbs, and the rice is compacted, so they hardly absorb oil, nor do they have the taste or texture of fried food. This will really make you remember the taste, let you won’t feel guilty, and it feels full because it is made of rice.

In addition to deep fry, you can actually use decoct. Because this Arancini rice ball is actually already cooked, you just need to fry the surface in a bit of oil to make it more crispy. 

After all, I’m not a big fan of deep-fried foods. Although frying is delicious, it has very high calories and uses a lot of oil, which is not healthy.

Can the fried oil still be used?

Of course can. If you use a lot of oil for frying, in fact, this oil can be reused twice, because there are not a lot of spices in the rice balls, which will not give the oil a peculiar smell. So you don’t have to dump a pan of oil every time you fry it, what a waste. The remaining oil cools it in a pan, filters the oil with a wire mesh filter and a single layer of paper towels, and the filtered oil can be put into the bottle.

Can reheat these Arancini Rice Balls?

In fact, I was surprised that it still tasted the same and crispy even after being heated in the oven or air fryer. To be honest, it tastes freshly cooked, the surface is crisp, the round shape is perfectly held up, the inside is melted, and it is delicious!

How do refrigerate these Arancini Rice Balls?

Once Arancini Rice Balls are fried and cool to room temperature, you can store them in the refrigerator or freezer (in a freezer-safe container or Ziploc bag).

• Reheat frozen Arancini Rice Balls – There is no need to thaw. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and bake at 400˚F for 20 minutes. Or put it in an air fryer and bake at 165˚F for 6 minutes. After thawing, take it out and fry the surface with a little oil to make it more crispy
• Reheat refrigerated Arancini Rice Balls– bake on a rimmed baking sheet at 400˚F for 10 minutes. Or bake in an air fryer at 175 degrees for 5 minutes.

(This is the data of my oven and fryer, the temperature and time of each oven will be different, so you have to figure it out)

Take out the fried Arancini rice balls and place them in a bowl (put 2 tablespoons of melted butter in the bowl) quickly and evenly, take them out and place them on a plate, then sprinkle a little cheese and parsley. Put some Aioli sauce and serve hot with it, or skip the dip and enjoy!

How to make Rice Balls:

1. In a wok, add the vegetable oil and butter. Turn the heat down to low heat until the butter is completely dissolved. Turn the heat up to high, add the chopped onions, and stir-fry until fragrant. Then add the chopped white mushrooms, and fry until soft.
2. Add the chopped garlic and stir-fry until fragrant. Then pour in a half-cup of white wine. stir evenly.
3. Pour in the washer Italian rice and stir fry evenly. Then pour the whole milk and simmer over medium heat for about 20 minutes. (You need to be there all the time for this step because you need to stir every 5-10 minutes to avoid burning the bottom)

4. After the rice is cooked until soft, add salt, white pepper, and parmesan cheese, stir well and turn off the heat. Take out and set aside to cool. You need to let it cool, otherwise, you can’t rub it into a round shape, it’s too hot.

While waiting for the rice to cool down, let’s make minced meat filling with tomato sauce.

Tomato sauce minced meat:

1. Heat a little vegetable oil in a wok. Add the onion and fry until fragrant.
2. Add the minced pork and fry until cooked.
3. Add tomato sauce (black pepper, white pepper, paprika powder, salt and stir evenly.)

Alright, when the tomato sauce minced meat is generally done, the rice is also completely cold. At this time we come to complete the final steps:

1. Scoop out 55g of rice (the size of the rice ball is your personal preference), round it, press a hole in the middle, and add 1 tablespoon of tomato sauce minced meat, and mozzarella cheese. Then rub it into a round shape.
2. The kneaded rice balls need to be evenly glued with flour, then put in the egg liquid to make the rice balls stick to the egg liquid, and then take out and stick the bread crumbs.

3. Put oil in the wok, wait for the oil to heat up, and put in the rice balls. Fry the surface until golden brown and crispy. Take it out and put it in a bowl (put 2 tablespoons of melted butter in the bowl) quickly roll evenly, take it out and place it on a plate, then sprinkle a little cheese and parsley. (If you don’t want to fry them all at once, you can put them all in an airtight bag and freeze them in the refrigerator for up to three months. Be sure to squeeze out as much air as possible when sealing the bag.)

Watch Alice make Homemade Arancini:

Arancini. The word seems to elicit memories of Italy, or at the very least a gourmet restaurant. But it’s not just for the rich and famous – you can make Arancini in your own kitchen too! Learn all of our best tips and tricks for making the best Arancini! 

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