Real Arancini Balls are deep fried. They are insanely addictive, with a golden crunchy crumb and creamy cheesy risotto on the inside. I could eat them every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Which is why I am so glad that there are no Italian delis in my area, otherwise I’d be in real trouble. But I need an Arancini fix every now and then. Plus risotto is a regular in my midweek meal rotation and more often than not there will be leftovers, possibly because my subconscious makes me cook up an extra large batch just so I have an excuse to make Arancini Balls. I make my Arancini Balls by baking them rather than deep frying. Besides the health benefit, I generally don’t like to deep fry because I can’t be bothered with the mess of cleaning up afterwards. This is really simple to make. Firstly, mix an egg into leftover risotto. Then test the consistency of the risotto to see if you need to add breadcrumbs to make the risotto thicker so your balls will hold their shape when baked. To do this, make a test ball and leave it for a minute or two to see if it starts to flatten. If it does, then add some plain breadcrumbs, a bit at a time, until the risotto becomes a consistency so that it holds its shape for a minute. This step is optional. If you don’t mind the Arancini Balls turning out more like patties, you don’t need to worry about this step. It certainly doesn’t affect the flavour, just the appearance. Then refrigerate the mixture for at least an hour. This step is highly recommended, it firms up the risotto making it easier to roll into shape and hold their shape when they bake.
The next step is to coat the balls in panko. Here is how I do it, along with my logic and some tips and tricks!
- To get Arancini Balls golden brown, I mix olive oil into the panko. Spray oil after coating with panko doesn’t work – the one time I tried that, I literally blew all the crumbs off the top of the balls (from the force of the spray). The other option is to drizzle olive oil over each ball which I find did not work well because you can’t coat them evenly unless you pour about 1 1/2 to 2 tsp on each, in which case you may as well deep fry.
- Use an ice cream scoop to make the balls – it makes them pretty much round and also the perfect size.
- Use panko rather than ordinary breadcrumbs. This is a “must” for baked Arancini Balls because panko crumbs are larger than normal breadcrumbs so they add crunch, compensating for not deep frying them.
- Use a dessert spoon to coat the balls with panko. I use the ice scream scoop to drop balls into the panko, then I use a spoon to coat the ball with panko, then I pick up the ball with the spoon and use my fingers to press the panko. That way my fingers stay completely clean and free of sticky risotto stuck with breadcrumbs!
- Shape the balls into egg shapes (optional). And place them on the baking tray upright so they stand taller than they are wide. The reason for this is that the balls will flatten slightly when baking. This is optional because you may not care if your Arancini Balls are more like a pattie shape – in fact, when this happens you get a higher crunch to risotto ratio because the base of the Arancini Ball is the crunchiest part! 6. I don’t dip the balls in egg. I find that the risotto is wet enough for the panko to stick, and dipping it in egg also makes the balls harder to handle. Also because I use panko breadcrumbs, it creates a thicker crust than using breadcrumbs. If you use ordinary breadcrumbs, you need to use egg to make a thicker layer of the breadcrumbs stick to the ball. That’s it from me! So here’s the recipe – love to hear what you think if you try it!
