What happens when I have leftover risotto from last night’s dinner? I make a tasty snack out of them, of course! I brought home some leftover and VERY delicious porcini risotto from one of my favorite local Italian restaurant, and turned them into scrumptious fried risotto balls the next day for a good afternoon snack. It’s quite simple, really! All I needed besides the risotto was an egg, some bread crumbs, cheese, and oil for frying. It took less than 20 minutes from prepping to pigging out.

Arancini di Riso

Ingredients

• Canola oil, for frying
• ~1.5 cup risotto (refrigerated, it’s much easier to work with when it’s cold)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs (I used Panko)
• handful of shredded mozzarella or Gruyere (normally I like to use 1/2″ cubes of cheese, but I only had shredded ones on hand that day)
• (Optional) marinara sauce, for dipping

Direction

• Heat 2″ of oil over medium heat in a heavy saucepan.
• Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out the risotto and form about 8-10 equal size balls, about 1.5 inch in diameter each.
• Wet your hands with water, so that the rice won’t stick to your hands. Flatten each rice ball slightly, and place a small amount of cheese in the center. Close and roll it back to a round shape.
• Once all the rice balls have been stuffed with cheese, roll them in egg mixture first, and then in bread crumbs.
• Carefully add the rice balls to the hot oil to fry, flip a few times until they are golden brown, about 3-4 minutes. Once they are done, drain them on paper towels and serve immediately with a marinara dipping sauce on the side (Of course I dipped them in that divine tomato paste!)

cheeeeeeeeese! Roll them tight so they don’t fall apart during frying.

Ready to take a swim in the hot oil!

“How good do we look?”

Trust me, I tried to get that perfect shot of the melty, stringy cheese when I pulled the arancino apart, but SOMEBODY complained it was too hot. Plus it smelled so good that we couldn’t wait to take a bite.

Too good! Very filling too. I ate so many of these that I didn’t eat dinner that night.