Crispy Homemade Arancini Balls – Air Fryer Recipe with a Gooey, Cheesy Center!
Total Time: ~1 hour
Servings: 15-20 balls
Difficulty: Moderate
Perfect for: Appetizers, snacks, or a fun Italian dinner
Ingredients
For the risotto base:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ cups Arborio rice
½ cup dry white wine (optional)
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth (hot)
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons butter
Salt & pepper to taste
For the filling:
150g (5 oz) mozzarella cheese, cut into small cubes
Optional: cooked minced meat sauce (ragù), peas, or ham
For coating:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups breadcrumbs (panko for extra crunch)
Oil for deep frying (vegetable, sunflower, or canola)
🔪 Instructions
1. Make the Risotto (Let it cool!)
Heat olive oil in a pan, sauté onion until soft (3–5 mins).
Add garlic and rice, stir until rice is lightly toasted (2 mins).
Add white wine (if using), stir until absorbed.
Gradually add broth, ½ cup at a time, stirring until absorbed before adding more.
Cook until rice is creamy and al dente (~18–20 mins).
Stir in Parmesan, butter, salt, and pepper. Let it cool completely (chill in fridge if needed).
2. Shape the Arancini
With wet hands, take a small scoop of risotto, flatten it slightly.
Place a cube of mozzarella (or filling) in the center.
Enclose the rice around it and shape into a ball (golf ball size).
Repeat with remaining mixture.
3. Bread the Balls
Roll each ball in flour.
Dip in beaten eggs.
Coat thoroughly with breadcrumbs. Press gently so crumbs stick well.
4. Fry to Golden Perfection
Heat oil in a deep fryer or heavy pot (170–180°C / 340–360°F).
Fry arancini in batches until golden brown (about 3–4 minutes).
Drain on paper towels.
🧀 Serving Suggestions
Serve warm with marinara sauce or garlic aioli.
Sprinkle with extra Parmesan and fresh parsley.
🔥 Pro Tips
Make risotto a day ahead – it holds shape better.
Try different fillings: mushrooms, sausage, or spinach + ricotta.
Bake instead of frying for a lighter version (400°F / 200°C for 20–25 mins).
#airfryer #foodhacks #italy #food #chef #cheftips #cooking #foodlover
How to make aranchchini with a garlic mayonnaise. Hi guys. In today’s video, I’m going to be making aranchchini bowls that are going to have some nice cheese in it. Slight garlic taste with a little bit of onion. They’re going to be amazing. They’re going to be a fine dice. That’s right. just into nice fine dice. You can rub rub your knife through it slowly just to get that fine onion. Next step is heat your pan up and then we want to add a touch of olive oil. Mine’s h got rosemary, garlic, and thyme in. We’re just going to heat it up gently. Going to do a little bit of garlic. I’m just going to do it thin slices. So, it’s that rustic style. Not fine, just thin. Yeah. So, you got the garlic and onion on the chopping board. I’ve heated the oil up to a temperature. You don’t want it too hot because it’ll burn the onion. You want it so your onions are translucent so you can just see through them so they’re translucent. No actual brown or black, no coloring to them. Just so they’re translucent so they look lovely in the ratoto. So you don’t want the pan too hot. Too much or it’s going to be too hot. Keep watching the onion. You’ve got the garlic flavor in there. You’ve got the lovely onion flavor. You’ve got the fresh olive oil in there. Just going to give it that lovely flams of risotto rice. Then give it a good mix in. Obviously, if you want to make more an aranchchini bowls, you’re serving more people, you want to add a little bit more rice, double it up. And also, you just want to keep it mixed in. So, it’s getting all that olive oil in it, the onion. So, you can add a touch of white wine if you want to. If you feel like adding a little bit of white wine, you can add a little bit of white wine. Let that reduce down and give it a little bit more flavor, half a chicken stock cube, and about half a pound of water. And we’ve just warmed the water up and just and then just add a little bit of stock at a time. So, we’ve added a little bit. We’re just going to mix it in. We’re going to reduce that stock down. Let all the uh risoto rice soak up the stock. And then we’ll add a little bit more when it’s run out. And then we’ll just keep adding a little bit more. A little bit more. That’s going to gradually cook the rice and all around so it doesn’t catch while you’re cooking it. some at the final stages. You want to get as much liquor out as you can and then you want to trans transfer it onto a greaseroof tray. Put a little bit of grease proof paper down and put the risotto rice on it or you can get a grease proof tray or you can get a tray and put a touch of oil on it whichever way. So now and then spread it out evenly on the tray and just let it cool down. So, we’ve cooled the risotto down. We’ve added a little bit of black pepper, a little bit of salt, and a touch of olive oil, extra virgin. So, then what we’re going to do is we’re going to add some cheese. I’ve got uh vegan cheese. You can use cheddar cheese, parmesan, anything you want. It gives it that nice cheesy flavor. Just add a little bit in. And then give it a good mix. So, we’ve got our mixture here that’s got cheese in, olive oil, salt and pepper, and it uh smells amazing. So, you want to shape the bowls. the ratoto into nice even balls so they’re all the same shape and just round them up so they roll nicely in the flour and the egg. Just keep them a nice shape. So these are the aranchchini bowls shaped. We’re going to put them next into uh egg wash and then breadcrumbs. So straight in the egg and just roll it around gently and then straight into the breadrumbs and just cover it. You just want a light breadcrumb on them. How to make aranchchini with a garlic mayonnaise.
3 Comments
Looks delicious 😊
Good video 😊
Have you got a recipe?