Arancini: Italian Rice Balls
You all may remember back when I made pizzelles earlier this summer that I had found the recipe in a book, Always on Sunday, written about Italian family traditions. As it turns out, the author’s daughter came across her mom’s recipe here on Brown Eyed Baker, shared it with her mom, who then emailed me to see if she could send me a copy of her book and the new accompanying cookbook that she just had printed. I was so excited to hear from her and imagine my surprise when we realized that we lived ten minutes from each other! Instead of shipping the books we decided to meet at a local Starbucks to chit chat. Marcia is such a lovely woman who is passionate about cooking and wanting to share her heritage with others. She was so kind in giving me signed copies of her books and we enjoyed a great visit about cooking, baking, and Italian families.
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These rice balls are from her new cookbook (not yet for sale), which I served with leftover sauce from the Eggplant Lasagna Tart. While Arancini are traditionally deep fried, I decided to go a healthier route and bake these at a high temperature instead of frying them. If you prefer frying, just fill a deep skillet with about 2 inches of oil, heat to 350 degrees, and fry in batches until golden brown. I thought these rice balls turned out fabulous, and the bit of cheese inside melts for a fabulous surprise when you bite into them. And because no Italian meal that includes sauce is complete without a great piece of fresh Italian bread to sop up the leftovers, I’ll give another local plug – Mazziotti’s Bread (from Arnold, PA) is back making bread again, so if you’re in the Pittsburgh area check to see if your local grocery store is stocking it! I’ve been sopping up a lot of sauce, eating bread and butter, and bologna sandwiches with it. Mmmm…
One year ago: Black-and-White Banana Loaf
Two years ago: Chicken Spread
Arancini (Italian Rice Balls)
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups (316 g) cooked rice
- 4 oz. (113.4 g) mozzarella cheese, cut in ½-inch cubes (about 1 cup)
- ¾ cup (90 g) seasoned bread crumbs
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- 1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- 2. Beat eggs lightly with fork. Add the rice and stir gently but thoroughly.
- 3. Take 1 tablespoon of the mixture, place a cube of mozzarella in the middle and then top with another tablespoon of rice. Shape into a ball and roll in the breadcrumbs. Place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the rice mixture.
- 4. Refrigerate pan of rice balls for at least 30 minutes.
- 5. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425°F. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil over rice balls.
- 6. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve with warm marinara sauce.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
i used already cooked bsmati rice. i don’t know if it was too dry, but it was like putting a haystack on the cookie sheet also i weighed 4 oz of cheese, meticulously cut up in l/2 in blocks, and ended up with about 40 blocks, but not enough rice to cover them. so i just stuffed them in with the others all in all i think this is going to be a tasty disaster. they are in the oven now. maybe i’ll just mash them all down into a sheet and cut them up. i think the rice being too dry is a factor. burt the amount of cheese cubes was not. stay tuned
I just made these for lunch today and they were great! I added some finely chopped broccoli to the rice and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese to the breadcrumbs. Instead of using regular mozzarella, I cut up two sticks of low fat mozzarella string cheese into bite sized pieces. They came out so lovely, I didn’t even dip them in the marinara sauce! I’ll definitely be making this recipe again! Thanks!
Made these today. They are delicious. Planning to make them for Thanksgiving also!
Yum! I’m planning on making a big batch of these, but want to make them in advance for a birthday party. Does anyone know/has tried cooking, freezing then re-heating? Thank you. Becky
Hi Becky, I haven’t tried freezing these; hopefully another reader can give you an idea of how well they hold up!
Well that’s appetizing! I like the history of the recipe too!
Hi Michelle!
Once again I am trying one of your Italian recipes, I don’t know if maybe rice here in Ecuador is different, but just like Brian from one of the last posts, I was unable to shape the rice into a ball, it just fell apart and when rolling in the breadcumbs it was even worse… I had to kind of throw the rice “ball” on the pan and try to give it a shape.
Do you think maybe I should put one less egg in the mixture? I’m thinking maybe it was too liquid and that’s why it did not hold together.
Anyway I ended up just putting the whole mixture in an oven plate and making one whole dish out of it because it was just impossible the other way! For next time, do you have a tip????
Thank you!
Hi Maria, Next time, if the rice is too soft, I would decrease the egg.
Just made these, came out awesome. A tip…. we put on gloves and sprayed them with cooking spray so the rice wouldn’t stick. You may not need to wear the gloves, but definitely spray your hands.
Not so sure about the “roll in breadcrumbs” part, there was no rolling happening for me…more like “slop them into the general form of a ball in one hand and sprinkle breadcrumbs on top using the other hand and then slop them into more of a ball and quickly drop them onto the pan before they fall apart” :) But as soon as they’re refrigerated and then baked, they’re balls alright…
But they were delicious. I made a few variations, in some I put raw cheddar and cream cheese and in others I put feta and and cream cheese…you could put just about any kind of cheese in there
I also didn’t have seasoned breadcrumbs so I made my own and just put italian spices, garlic powder, pink himalayan salt into panko breadcrumbs and it was fantastic
Next time, I use Risotto. I used white jasmine rice.
Thanks! Big fan of your site.
Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe!! My Italian grandmother used to make rice balls all the time, but I never got her recipe before she passed away. My mom doesn’t have it either. I just made some last night but I used leftover risotto instead. Total yumminess!!! Thanks again, and I’ve put that book on my wish list! :)
I just made these. The making was a bit goopy, but totally manageable. That said, they turned out beautifully-even with my using my leftover brown rice with peas/onions.
I haven’t seen any other post-making-them reviews on here, so I thought I’d leave one!
~M in Austin
this recipe sounds fantastic, and imagine my surprise when I read your local plug for Mazziotti’s in Arnold, PA! I have been eating their bread my whole life!
I can’t wait to try this recipe out, as well as using some local italian bread to sop up the sauce.
Thank you for this non-fried version!
i’m bringing these little morsels to a NYE party and I need it to be easy for the host to know what to do with it haha!
I think i’m going to add parmesan cheese to my rice mixture but this is incredible thank you so much!
(the pizzaria i worked at for 8 years used to add peas to theirs… i don’t know if that’s needed.)
-HLee
Love! Love! Love! They look fabulous. The best part of the post is about the recipe history. How cool is that! I say it all the time. The best thing about food blogging is the people that you get to meet!
I really dont understand why everyone keppts saying “awesome, gluten free!” it not gluten free.. calls for bread crumbs. duh read the recipe!
My take is that since they are gluten free household, they must have gluten free bread to get bread crumbs from.
Marcia, you’re famous already. I want one of your books. They look so very good.