Arancini

The obscenities flew out of my mouth while making these balls, but boy did they fly into the mouths of my dinner guests! This dish is for a patient chef- allow 3-4 hours to make these. However, these are exceptional. Truly restaurant-quality. I eliminated the peas and didn't miss them (this probably makes it easier to shape the balls). Don't be concerned about the overwhelming flavor of the parmesan-risotto mixture, it's just right once the balls are battered and cooked. The oil I used to cook the balls didn't cover them, so I fried them for about 3-4 minutes on one side and then flipped. The less handling, the better. And they reheat beautifully in the oven to boot!

Have made these a few times, the first time I struggled greatly getting the rice to form into neat round balls however I found if you place the risotto in the fridge for a couple of hours it makes it really simple to shape. The only other thing I would suggest is using bacon instead of ham, you don't need much put it provides a more distinct flavour and also gives them an extra crunch. All in all a great recipe.

Pretty good. I have eaten these with a meat center. I mixed ground beef with peas and mozzarella and put it in the center of the ball. You only need small amount. Eat these hot, with marinara sauce! This is a day long process, so block out some time to make these. Worth it though!

I made this as an appetizer for a dinner party. I prepared them a week in advance and froze, then reheated in oven. Served with some mixed lettuce leaves and a small portion of ambrosia.....delish. I did find the mixture a little sloppy to form balls but struggled through and they were perfect. Will definatley be making again but maybe without the peas.

WORTH IT, I'D SAY SO...I ADDED A LITTLE BIT OF THE BREAD CRUMBS TO THE MIX TO HELP FORM THE BALLS. IT ALSO HELPS TO CHILL THE MIX. THE RESULTS ARE FAB.

These are excellent. But don't make the mistake I did: thinking the risotto was too thick, I watered it down with some additional chicken broth. Of course it needs to be thick to hold together well around the cheese. I have tried making these smaller for appetizers and they are a hit.

Messy and time consuming but absolutely worth it! I must admit, I did not add the peas or the ham...added a touch of saffron instead. The wine is essential! I made a marinara sauce for dipping as well, which was very well received. Reheats nicely.

This is incredible. I won third place in a cook off where you could make anything as long as you used rice. The only reason I placed third was because a judge was ?scared? of peas. I had a blast making it, and EVERYONE thought I should have won. My platter was cleaned out first. Thank you for an incredible recipe that I have now promised my whole family I will add to our Thanksgiving feast.

much easier to make using truly leftover risotto... the mixture is very wet and hard to form into balls. I added a smidge of flour to the rice/egg mixture to make it bind better. They are fine without the mozzarella center, use slices of mozzarella sticks to make that easy. It is easier to form the balls by using a cookie dough scooper... smash rice against side of ball, slip the mozzarella in, press into side again to tighten it up. Also, after rolling in bread crumbs, let the balls rest on waxed paper for 10-15 minutes while you heat the oil. Took me about 1 1/2 hrs.

I really enjoyed the flavor of this recipe. I had a very difficult time getting the rice to ball up. I had to cake on the flour just to handle them. Perhaps I cut the ham to large, I am not sure. But the flavors are great! Thanks!

This was an epic fail on my part. I'm giving 1 star not because of taste but because of assemble-ability...I could not get the risotto to a consistency that I could roll it at. I ended up having to bake them in a muffin tin to get something edible. What is the secret to rolling them? I make risotto all the time so it's not that. Perhaps I need to let the risotto get really cold first?? HELP!!!

My husband grew up eating these at the holidays and he gave them a big thumbs up, along with my seven year old. A couple of tweaks from me follow. I was concerned about them being bland as some suggested so I browned about a quarter pound of groud beef and then waited the onion and garlic in the same pan. I also used sushi rice because Ii think it is more sticky. I also used three pinches of saffron like another reviewer suggested. My husband prefers these without cheese in the middle so I skipped that part. Use Italian bread crumbs for more flavor too. Wonderful.

I am a pretty good cook. This is my firsttime making these or risotto. Seemed after the first 2.5 cups of broth was used up the rice was still hard so I kept adding broth,little by little until rice was cooked. The risotto was pretty moist, and I couldnt get it into ball form. Tried rolling & fell apart. I put it in fridge hoping the risotto will dry out & firm up. We shall see

This was delicious! I followed the directions to the T, omitting the peas and ham. I was nervous as it sounded difficult to do, but they turned out beautifully! Next time, I will cool the risotto in the fridge a bit before forming into balls and make them more "bite size" as I read to be traditional. Thanks for sharing the great recipe!!

Absolutely wonderful! I prepared this recipe exactly, but made slightly larger balls and ended up with 12. My fiance and I worked as a team... he shaped the balls, while I coated and fried them. I think this cut the time in almost half! Thank you for this keeper recipe. We are already planning on making them again.

I have been wanting to make arancini since the first time I had them in Italy in 1995! While this recipe is not the same as the ones I've had in Italy (which have a bit of ground beef, peas and marinara sauce along with the peas and mozzarella inside), these were still very good. I decided to make the risotto part in my InstantPot to save some time, and WOW, am I impressed! After sauteing the onions and garlic, and toasting the rice on the saute setting, I added the wine and chicken broth, set it on manual 6 minutes, and after the 6 minutes, I released the pressure valve and and let the pressure come down slowly - opened it up and had perfectly 'al dente' risotto! No kidding! I also used proscuitto instead of the ham, and continued on with the recipe. These were delicious little gems! Thanks for sharing the recipe.

Desperate for something to cook for dinner I decided to make Arancini without a recipe. I quickly realized that was silly and found this recipe. I had to wing it a bit but they turned out great. They only took about 40 minutes to make (I made a double batch). I did burn the heck out of my hands rolling them into balls, but it was well worth it.

Love it! I made it into a flat cake with my hamburger press, then breaded and pan fried it...very good. I'll add a bit more herbs aand garlic though next time. Alot like a red rice cake I had at a swanky restaurant.

Fantastic! Easier than I thought to make. I took the advice I read in one of the reviews and let the rice cool completely and also added a little breadcrumbs to the rice. Once the balls were formed I put them in the freezer to become firm. Delicious!

Forget the prep time and cook time of 55 minutes. More like double that. To get 18 servings from this amount, the balls would have to be so small that the rice would not hold together. I made them bigger and cooled the risotto overnight. Only got 7 larger balls. Good taste and I will be doing this again - but maybe double the recipe.

Tasty. Only try if you are patient - this is the key to a good risotto!

This dish was worth the prep time. I cooked the ham in the pan that I ended up making the risotto in to add some great flavor to it, and then added about double the ham that the recipe called for. Tasted wonderful, made it a little bit more hearty, and I didn't have the issue that other reviewers had about having a hard time forming it into balls.

Delicious! I used bacon instead of ham, and omited the peas. Very time consuming, but well worth it. I served them as appetizers with a side of red sauce.

Amazing - these were absolutely delicious. I had made cheese risotto and had a little left over so I used that and started at step 3. I added one egg and a little cream to the left over risotto and stuffed them with bacon I had fried and chopped and shredded mozzarella then covered in flour, dipped in the rest of egg and cream and then covered with panko and fried. They were gone, all of them, in five minutes... perfect and I will make again and again!

This was totally excellent!! My friend and I made this for our husbands and it went great. We added about double the amount of peas and ham and also used onion powder in place of regular onion. We served this with pasta sauce and a side of homemade Parmesan focaccia bread. I will definitely be making this again.

I made this for christmas eve but of course my tasters had to give approval!! The comments are all excellent. I made a few minor changes. I made the risotto a day ahead and chilled it completely. I did not add the egg to the risotto because I was concerned that since the rice was cold it would not incorporate. I rolled the rice balls in just egg, didn't use milk. I mixed panko bread crumbs (1 cup) with corn meal (1/2 cup). I think that the rolling went well because the rice was chilled - I had no problem. Used the suggestion of flour on my hands to make rolling easier. Corn meal added nice crunch to crust. Lots of work but REALLY worth it! I will be re-heating with the suggestion of cooking in the oven and I expect this will go well since the crust came out so crunchy.

Refrigerate to completely cool before forming into balls.

This recipe was great! I have tried to make rice balls before, but this recipe helped me do it with success. Yes it was a little tedious, however worth it. My only complaint is that I wish this recipe made more. I think I made mine too big because I only had 11. I was hoping to freeze some for future dinners but they did not make it to the freezer because they were already eaten! My suggestion is to prepare everything prior to cooking, as if you were in a cooking show. That way, you can have a continuous stir while dropping the ingredients into the rice as it cooks. Take your time, and do not rush it.

This is an awesome recipe! The only thing I did differently was to omit the peas and ham (personal preference and used panko instead of regular bread crumbs. It was absolutely delicious. Thank you for sharing!

Took me 2 hours. The only thing I changed was panko instead of bread crumbs and I made my own heavily seasoned chicken stock. These were amazing and still crunchy and cold out of the fridge for a midnight snack haha. Tip to make the balls without a falling apart mess: DONT TRY TO ROLL THEM LIKE DOUGH. Dust your hands heavily in flour, drop a scoop with a spoon into your palm and then toss it back and forth palm to palm gently. Toss, dont roll lol. They will make perfect balls with no sticky mess. Dont be afraid to have palmfuls of flour!

Delicious! I made my nona-in-law's original risotto recipe using meat sauce and wanted a tasty option for leftovers and this was amazing. I did half with breadcrumbs and half with Panko crumbs. the light extra crispy coating of the Panko was hands down the winner. Even my hubby who never passes on putting sauce or gravy on his food was eating these without sauce. He said they were so good he didn't want anything else with them. A winning recipe!

This recipe was AWESOME! I've tried a couple other arancini recipes, but I was always disappointed. Fortunately, these came out perfectly, and I can finally end my search for a quality recipe. A few quick adjustments I ended up making: the risotto wasn't nearly cooked enough by the time all the liquid evaporated, so i probably had to add a total of 1-2 more cups of stock, and I'm not big on ham, so I substituted mushrooms instead. They're definitely time-consuming (and I had issues getting the balls to stick together while I was rolling them through the flour, egg, and breadcrumbs), but they were 100% worth it!

Yum!

Not as good as arincini I've had at Italian restaurants. Not worth the time and effort it required.

the recipe leaves out a few key things, which the previous comments talk to. This is best done with leftover risotto so it has cooled completely, making the assembly a snap. 2: once you've rolled your rice balls in bread crumbs let them sit in the fridge for at least 20 minutes - for better cohesion. That'll make your life much easier. 5 stars given for my artichoke hears and mint w/ a hunk of mozzarella in the center f the arancini. I also used home made ciabatta breadcrumbs. Super yummy, hot and stringy with the hot cheese centers.

This was really high maintenance and once my risotto cooled a bit, it was difficult for the balls to keep form. The flavor was pretty good with the ones I got done in time, but to me it was too much effort for the final result.

Very time consuming to make, but definitely worth it.. Mmmm!!!

These are well worth the effort. My family went nuts for them. Keep a bowl of cold water close by when making the balls to keep your hands relatively clean. Be patient also

Using the recommended kind of rice was key for me, as I tried it with "regular" white rice with not-so-much success (as far as shaping -- the taste was still great). I also purchased an arancini rice mold on Amazon that was super helpful in making them consistent and impressive to serve to guests.

Very hard to make the balls. Wouldn’t stay together. Don’t know if I measured something wrong?

These were great! I stirred (and stirred...) the rice just until it started to stick a bit on the bottom of the pan. Then I removed from heat and covered and let rest for 10 minutes before adding the parm. After parm the pot went into the fridge for about a hour before adding egg/making the balls. Kept my hands wet to prevent the rice from sticking while I was forming the arancini. After they were assembled, breaded and ready to cook I put the arancini back in the fridge for another hour before I fried them. Perfect! Thank you DEBMCD!

First time making rice balls ever and they turned out great. I decided to substitute the ham for double-smoked bacon and would highly recommend. I might try substituting the traditional break crumbs for panko.

I had a hard time getting the balls to hold together. To make it work I ended up making them bigger than suggested in order to hold together. When finished they looked beautiful but needed more flavor.. Next time I will try more cheese in the middle or smaller balls.

Made it just as prescribed except gluten-free flour and breadcrumbs. Vewy good.

Excellent! No adjustments needed.

5 stars for flavor, but had to take a star away because of how frustrating these were to make. I chilled it quite a while, as other suggested, but it only helped a little bit. I ended up making the balls larger (maybe 3 tablespoons) and they were SOO much easier to shape. I will definitely be doing them larger from now on. Otherwise, they were VERY yummy!!!

This recipe came out amazing. I wound up using my ice ball mold to form them since by hand was a challenge in itself.

I left out the peas and ham and used shredded mozarella cause thats what I had. It was awesome! Making the balls was messy as can be and takes some gentle rolling. Did the best I could and put in the fridge for an hour waiting for dinner. After they were cold they were much easier to make into a perfect round shape from gumdrop and fried up in about 4-5 mins. They were pillowy and crispy and just plain awesome. My wife was very impressed too!

My wife and I loved this recipe. I made a batch and kept it in the fridge until the next day, then just dropped them in my deep fryer and they were perfect.

I followed the recipe, it was ok tasting, but hard to make the balls, they kept falling apart. Even even overnight refrigeration did not help much to give the risotto more consistency. It ended up making a mess in the kitchen, the few that succeeded tasted good (my wife loved it, so that made up for the hassle)

I made this without the ham and peas, not as tasty as I thought it would be, but still good. Pain to roll the balls without olive oil on the hands and it needs to be reapplied VERY often. This might be a once in a long while dish.

Loved it, I followed the recipe except I did crumble some bacon into it and used a large scallion instead of a small onion. I let it sit in the bowl for about a half hour to cool. I made sure to use the arborio rice because it's so much more sticky. A trick I found that helped a lot in forming the balls was to rinse and dry my hands between each - time consuming but made forming them much easier. Also, I used small cut pieces of string mozzarella for the center. Might try a stronger cheese the next time for extra flavor. For dipping sauce I think caesar dressing is an interesting twist on the traditional tomato based sauces. Would definitely make again.

Less salt

These turned out well, a bit too oniony (is that a word?) for my taste. I chilled the mix well and used fresh mozzarella instead of the firmer type inside.

My family went crazy over these! A little time consuming but well worth it!!

I made it exactly to the recipe and it turned out really good! Thanks for sharing the recipe!

This is a legit recipe! The one thing I would say to do differently is when the risotto is removed from the pan, put it in the fridge to chill for 15 mins or so, this way the mix sticks together in balls.

These were extremely delicious, but it was definitely a learning curve. I did notice it was easier to form the balls first, and once I had about 5-6, I dipped and rolled them. This prevented the flour/eggs/crumbs from sticking to my fingers when I was forming the balls. It also helped things go faster. That said, 20 minute prep time my foot.

Perfect, def need to cool before making the balls. This made 14 as started out too big, but all delicious.

Didn’t have the exact cheeses in the recipe and that didn’t matter. It was delicious.

I'm a great fan of Arancini and this is the first time I ever cooked them myself...and wow...am I proud of the outcome thanks to you! The only thing that I did different is, I added some cheddar cheese with the mozzarella since both my husband and I are great lovers of cheese. Taste is outstanding!!

This recipe was good, but it's way more effort, way less healthy, and doesn't taste demonstrably better than regular risotto. Was good to try once, but probably wouldn't do again.

I had Arancini at Carrabarras and loved it - so I decided to make it--------------I tried it without the peas and ham; but added green pepper to make it vegetarian. It turned out great, but I must say it takes much more ingredients for rolling; i.e. I used 4 eggs, 3 times as much flour and bread crumbs. (I used panko, which made them very crispy)

I made the recipe exactly as directed, and it really wasn't as hard as some people said. I just chilled the risotto first and used fresh mozzarella pearls inside each ball. Outstanding!

yummy!

These were fantastic! I used regular basmati rice and added a little chopped spinach.