Name: Fried Risotto Balls
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 9 each
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 3 cups leftover risotto; 2 ounces muenster cheese, cut into small pieces; 3 eggs for egg wash; All purpose flour, for breading; Fine panko breadcrumbs, for breading; Minced herbs, parsley and basil, for garnish; Freshly grated parmesan, for garnish

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Fried Risotto Balls, Suppli di Riso, is the perfect way to use up leftover risotto… if you happen to have any. Stuffed with muenster cheese and served with warm marinara, this infamous Roman street food can easily be made at home.

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Have you ever had the problem of leftover risotto and not know what to do with it? This might be a rare conundrum if you’ve made risotto because it’s so darn tasty. I would have a hard time allowing there to be leftovers myself. What if I told you that there was a delicious and fun appetizer that could be made from leftover risotto? I’m about to blow your mind!

What is Arancini?

There’s this awesome Roman street food called Arancini and is the most popular use of leftover risotto. Arancini are fried risotto balls stuffed with meats, cheese, or sauce, breaded and deep fried and served with a side of marinara. It. Is. Amazing. However, this dish isn’t called Arancini; simply because arancini is made from saffron risotto.

Since I was making a wild mushroom risotto and not saffron, I didn’t feel comfortable calling these fried risotto balls “arancini.” Luckily, I have a very inquisitive husband and he looked up what exactly arancini is. Much thanks to The Deluxe Food Lovers Companion, we discovered that there is a cousin to arancini that is made without saffron risotto, suppli di riso.

Making Suppli di Riso

Suppli di Riso is super easy to make! If you’re familiar with making arancini, it’s the exact same steps (really, these things are super similar). If you have never made arancini or suppli di riso, it’s super easy.

First, you need to make risotto, this wild mushroom risotto is the bee’s knees, and cool the leftovers. After the risotto has cooled, use an ice cream scoop and scoop the risotto into balls. Next, press a small dent into the ball with your thumb and place your filling inside (in this case, small pieces of muenster cheese) and cover the filling over with the risotto ball.

Then bread the risotto ball. This is accomplished with the standard breading procedure: flour, egg wash, breadcrumbs. I opted for using panko breadcrumbs because I find them to be less heavy than traditional breadcrumbs; I also ran them through my food processor to make the crumbs extra fine.

As I’ve talked about frying specifics in this post, I’ll reiterate them again. You need to have good, hot oil to ensure a crisp and crunchy crust. Because these suppli di riso were so big, I placed them in the oil with a spider, which was perfect because they have huge slots in them to allow the oil to pass through when you take the risotto balls out of the oil. Make sure to also season the suppli with a sprinkling of salt afterward!

To finish it off, garnish the suppli with freshly grated parmesan (not that green canned stuff) and minced herbs! Fried risotto balls are typically served with marinara to dunk them in; for a fool-proof and flavorful, fresh recipe, check out this post on Homemade Tomato Sauce.

I hope that you find this recipe to be fun and, most importantly, delicious! Suppli di Riso is a great way to use up leftover and is a perfect appetizer for a party!

Happy eating.

China –Chicken Lo Mein
France – Classic French Macarons Olympics-Style
India – Chicken Biryani
India – Orange Honey Lassi
Italy – Suppli di Riso {Fried Risotto} with fresh Marinara
Korea –Korean Beef Tacos (Bulgogi)
Sweden –Swedish Chocolate Balls