These chorizo arancini are classic Italian risotto balls with a Spanish flair from chorizo, saffron and manchego cheese. These cheesy rice balls encased with a crunchy golden crumb coating are slightly addictive too.
- Full of flavour – both Italian and Spanish.
- Cheesy, gooey and delicious.
- Fun to make.
- Perfect for appetisers, finger food and potlucks.
- You can even use leftover risotto.
When made right, arancini are rich and hearty but not stodgy at all. They’re best served hot since they’re cheesy centres get all gooey and luscious and the flavour shines.
Get cosy with these mushroom arancini or make the most of summer corn with these tomato arancini.
This recipe was first published right here on January 10th, 2016. It’s been update with new images, a clearer step-by-step section and a simplified method.
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What is arancini?
Arancini are fried Italian rice balls. More specifically they’re a rice mixture, a little like risotto, rolled into balls, coated in bread crumbs and fried until golden brown. Often stuffed with ragu or even just cheese, these ones have chunks of chorizo throughout them for a little Spanish vibe.
While you could eat them cold, they’re typically eaten hot so the filling is hot and gooey and the rice is a nicer, softer texture.
Ingredients in chorizo arancini
Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.
- Chorizo: Well it’s in the name, right? You’ll need a cured Spanish chorizo, though an uncooked chorizo will work. Don’t feel like chorizo? Just swap it for some Italian sausage (mild or spicy is up to you) or even bacon bits.
- Arborio rice: The traditional rice for risotto is arborio rice and since arancini are risotto rice balls, this is what we’ll use here too. Of course, you can use leftover risotto that you may have made the day before and add the chorizo and saffron to it.
- Onion and garlic: Classic ingredients for flavouring many dishes, just use a brown onion and fresh garlic is a must.
- Celery: Celery is another vegetable very common in the base of Italian dishes.
- Saffron: Like the chorizo, the saffron is a little Spanish kick of flavour in these cheesy rice balls.
- Chicken stock: You can use chicken stock (chicken broth) or vegetable stock (vegetable broth). I like to use a low salt version so that I can season to taste.
- Cheese: There are two types of cheese in these arancini balls – mozzarella cheese and manchego cheese to finish out the trio of Spanish flavours. Mozzarella gives us ultimate gooeyness and manchego is loaded with flavour. The manchego can be swapped for Parmesan cheese.
- Parsley: Fresh parsley adds a wonderful freshness with all the bold flavours. You could also use a little lemon zest instead or alongside it.
- For Breading: The rice balls are breaded using the flour, egg and breadcrumbs method. Any bread crumbs will work – you can use homemade breadcrumbs, panko breadcrumbs or fine dried breadcrumbs.
You can serve your chorizo arancini balls with an Italian pasta sauce / marinara sauce but, in keeping with the Spanish theme, I’ve served them with mojo verde here and it’s sensational. The zingy, herbaceous flavour is just wonderful with the rich and comforting arancini. Even on their own though, these arancini incredible.
How to make arancini?
These chorizo arancini balls are a two-step process which you can start the day before but can also all be done within one day.
Admittedly, before making my own, I hadn’t been a huge fan of arancini. I often found them bland or stodgy but, when seasoned correctly and with perfectly cooked risotto, they’re so, so right. I mean, cheesy, creamy rice, in a handy little ball, deep fried to crunchy yet tender perfection! Sure they take a little effort but they are WORTH every single moment!
Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.
1. Heat the stock
Bring the stock to a simmer in a saucepan with the lid on (so none evaporates), then turn the heat off and add the saffron to infuse into the stock. Let that sit while you get on with the rice.
2. Cook the chorizo
Now, cook the finely chopped chorizo in a separate pan just for 2-3 minutes until parts start turning golden.
3. Cook the vegetables
Add the onion, celery and garlic to the pan and cook for another few minutes until softened.
4. Add the rice
Now, add the rice and let it cook just for a minute or two until it starts looking translucent in places.
5. Add the stock and cook the rice
Now, we start to turn that rice into a risotto but with a simpler method. You start by adding just a ladelful of stock to deglaze the pan, then stir the rice mixture until it’s completely absorbed. This stirring, just like with risotto, aims to massage some of the starch out of the rice but don’t worry, you don’t need to stand over this rice, stirring the entire time it cooks.
Add all the remaining stock, cover the pan with a lid and let it come to a simmer before turning it right down to low and letting the rice cook for 15-20 minutes until most of stock has been absorbed and the rice is tender but not mushy.
6. Add the cheese and chill
Add the grated manchego cheese and give it a good stir. You should now have a thick risotto. Transfer it to a plate and let it cool for 15 minutes at room temperature. Stir in the parsley and chill for at least 2 hours or until very cold. You can speed up the cooling process in the freezer but make sure to stir it every so often so the mixture doesn’t freeze around the edges.
7. Roll the rice into risotto balls
Now, it’s time to assemble your chorizo arancini. Roll the mixture into roughly golf ball-sized balls then flatten it out on your hand. Place a cube of mozzarella in the centre and fold and roll that rice tightly around it.
8. Panné your Italian rice balls
Panné simply means to coat in breadcrumbs and the way you do that is to first, roll the ball in flour. Shake off any excess then roll it in beaten egg. Finally, roll it in breadcrumbs making sure it’s thoroughly coated.
9. Fry the arancini
Bring a deep saucepan with around 2 inches of oil in it up to 180C/350F on a deep frying thermometer. Using a slotted spoon, lower 3- 4 arancini balls into the hot oil and cook for 6 minutes. Providing you keep the temperature between 170C/340F and 180C/350F, 6 minutes is the perfect timing to get the outside crunchy and the mozzarella melted inside.
Let your arancini balls drain on some absorbent paper on a plate then serve them straight away.
Tips and tricks
- A thermometer is your best friend for frying and I highly recommend using one. The oil temperature rapidly changes when you fry food. Without one, the oil could become too cold (rice won’t heat through, mozzarella won’t melt and the arancini will be greasy) or too hot (outside will burn before or become bitter while the inside is still not heated through).
- How much oil to use? The amount of oil will depend on the size of your pan but you’ll basically need enough oil to cover the balls by at least 1-2cm.
- Which oil to use: You’ll want an oil with a high smoke point. Vegetable oil (like rice bran oil or sunflower oil is your best bet). Olive oil is not suitable and it’s flavour will just be wasted here.
- Can I reuse the oil? You can reuse the oil again, since the breading on these rice balls is not spiced and will not taint the flavour of the oil. Let it cool completely then strain it before pouring into it’s own container – don’t add it to a container with unused oil. Label the container so that you use it for similar ingredients next time (you don’t want to use it to fry churros or sweet doughnuts, for example). Also, reusing the oil can tend to give a darker colour to your fried foods the more times you use it.
Storage
You can store any leftover arancini balls in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. They reheat well in the oven at about 200C / 395F for 12-15 minutes.
The risotto portion can be made a day ahead of making the arancini and the arancini can be made a day or two before serving (though the fresher the better).
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Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups chicken stock (625ml)
- 1 good pinch saffron (30-40 threads)
- ¾ cup Spanish cured chorizo chopped finely (100g/3 ½oz)
- ½ tablespoon oil (2 tsp, notes 1)
- ½ medium onion finely chopped
- 1 stalk celery finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic minced
- ¾ cups arborio rice (150g/~5 ½oz)
- 40 g manchego cheese finely grated
- 60 g mozzarella (cut into 12 cubes)
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley finely chopped (notes 1)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- ⅓ cup plain flour (all purpose flour)
- Vegetable for deep frying not olive oil
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- Saucepans (small, medium and large-deep)
- Plate for chilling
- Slotted spoon
Instructions
- Pans for the stock and rice will both require lids in this recipe.
- Place the stock in a saucepan, cover with a lid and bring to a gentle simmer. Remove from heat and add the saffron. Leave the lid on to keep it warm.
- Add the chorizo to a pan over medium-high heat and cook for 2-3 minutes until you notice a few bits getting golden.
- Reduce the heat to medium. Add the oil, onion, celery and garlic and cook for a further 2-3 minutes until the vegetables have softened.
- Add the rice and cook for 1-2 minutes until it starts to look a little glassy and translucent in places.
- Bring the stock back to a simmer, then turn it off again.
- Add a ladleful (about 125ml / ½ cup) of the stock to the rice mixture. Scrape any colour (aka flavour) off the bottom of the pan and stir constantly until the rice has absorbed all the stock.
- Pour in all of the remaining stock and cover the pan with a lid. Let it come to a simmer, then immediately turn the heat down to low. You want the rice to cook at a very low simmer now for around 20 minutes until almost all the stock has been absorbed and the rice is cooked, tender with just a little bite.
- Stir in the manchego cheese then taste and add salt and pepper to taste (I usually add about ¼-½ tsp of salt and ¼ tsp finely cracked black pepper).
- Transfer to a plate and cool for 15-20 minutes at room temperature only, stir in the parsley, then transfer to the fridge for 1-2 hours until cold.
- FORM THE ARANCINI: Get about 2 inches of oil heating over high heat in a deep heavy based medium saucepan to 180C/350F. An oil or candy thermometer here will make your life so much easier and they’re very cheap.
- Place the breadcrumbs and flour in separate bowls. Whisk the eggs in a third bowl.
- With wet hands, roll the rice mixture into 12 balls, roughly the size of a golf ball. One by one, flatten the balls in your palm slightly, press a cube of mozzarella into the centre then wrap the rice around it again to a smooth, firm ball.
- Roll the rice balls in the flour, then the egg letting the excess drip off, then finally, the breadcrumbs until thoroughly coated. Transfer to a plate and chill until required.
- Once the oil is hot enough, use a slotted spoon to gently place 3-4 balls into the pan (don’t overcrowd the pan). Cook for 6 minutes, keeping the oil temperature between 170C/340F and 180C/350F, until golden brown.
- Transfer to a plate covered with paper towel to drain. Repeat until all arancini balls are done.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons). Check yours before measuring.
- This recipe can be doubled to make 24 arancini.
- Manchego cheese is a Spanish sheeps milk cheese with a firm texture and buttery, rich flavour. You can swap it for parmesan cheese but please grate it yourself from a block for the best flavour and texture.
- Nutrition details are approximate only – scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
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10 Comments on “Chorizo Arancini”
I will be making these for a starter this weekend. Adding chopped mushrooms and found some spicy Miguel chorizo. Will fry off the onion in the chorizo oil for that Smokey flavour. Thanks for your recipe. Yummo!
Sounds fantastic, Ruby. Enjoy 🙂
Could you let me know what kind of chorizo you’re using in this recipe? Is it the uncured Mexican type chorizo, or the cured chorizo? Really appreciate hearing from you as soon as you can please making it for a special dinner.
Making this for a special dinner this week. Would appreciate hearing from you soonest!
Thank you
Hello Tamara. I use Spanish chorizo that’s cured.
The recipe calls for 3/4 chorizo. Is that cup or pound?
Thanks
Hi Cheryl. That’s a cup. Sorry.
I made this as part of an anniversary dinner and DAMN did it start the night well. Was an easy to follow recipe and the end result was amazing. Will defiantly be cooking from sugarsaltmagic again A++++. Give it a go you wont regret it
Thank you so much, Ryan. I’m so happy you loved them 🙂
Hi Marie, could you bake these instead of deep frying them? Thanks.
Hello Laura, I haven’t tested this recipe in the oven. The crumbs won’t get so golden and crunchy and they may not hold their shape quite as well, however, it should cook fine and still crips up to a certain degree.