Arancini-Inspired Baked Stuffed Rice Balls with Leftover Rice and Olives

These cheesy baked stuffed rice balls with olives is a fancy way to recycle leftover rice! These arancini-inspired baked stuffed rice balls will be the new stars of your appetizer platter, and are easy and quick to make. The recipe include a scrumptious tomato dipping sauce.

Why I ❤️ it • Recipe • Ingredients • Preparation

Why I ❤️ it

I am one of those people who can't find enough ways to eat olives. They make an amazing, simple-yet-refined part of an appetizer array. Imagine how much better they are wrapped in cheesy stuffed rice balls, and dipped in a flavorful tomato dip.

Surprise your guests with these baked arancini rice balls, they're creamy inside, very crispy on the outside (reminds me of Dominican concon).

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Utensils and tools

• Medium saucepan
• Baking sheet
• Silicone liner or parchment paper
• Oven

Ingredients

For the tomato sauce

• 2 cup large tomato, peeled, seeded and chopped (about 4 large tomatoes)
• ½ teaspoon sugar (white, granulated)
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ teaspoon oregano (dry, ground), crushed
• 1 garlic cloves, crushed
• ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste

For the rice balls

• 2 cup leftover cooked white rice
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk (whole or skim)
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 8 pitted green olives

Preparation

Before starting, please make sure you have all the ingredients and utensils ready.

Step 1: Prepare the sauce

To prepare the tomato sauce, in a saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat. Once heated, stir in tomatoes, garlic, and oregano, add the sugar and ½ cup of water.

Once heated through, lower heat and simmer covered until you obtain a thick (chunky) sauce. Season with salt to taste. You should obtain about 1 ½ cup of sauce. Remove from the heat, and set it aside.

Step 2: Combine

While the sauce is boiling, start to make the rice ball by combining rice, flour, milk and ½ cup of water in a medium saucepan.

Heat and simmer over very low heat, until almost all the liquid has evaporated. Mix in ¼ of a cup of Parmesan (set aside the rest) and cook stirring until it turns into a very thick mix. Remove from the stove and cool to room temperature.

Step 3: Heat the oven

Heat oven to 450 ºF [230 ºC].

While the oven is preheating, place the rice mixture on the clean counter or cutting board, and knead pressing for a minute to make it into a more compact mixture.

Step 4: Make the balls

To make the balls, place 2 tablespoons of the rice mixture on your hand and flatten, place an olive in the center and wrap the rice around it, shaping into a ball. Squeeze to make sure there are no cracks.

Coat the ball with the remaining Parmesan, and squeeze them to make sure the cheese sticks. Repeat to form 7 more balls. Place on a baking tray lined with a silicone liner or parchment paper.

Step 4: Bake

To cook the rice balls, bake in the preheated oven until the balls turn golden brown (15-20 mins).

Once browned, remove from the oven. Let them cool slightly before serving. Serve alongside the tomato sauce.

Top tips

Yield

The recipe yields 8 balls of slightly smaller than an egg, you can double the ingredients to make 16 if you wish.

Making ahead and storing

You can also make them and refrigerate or freeze right before baking, and bake soon before your guests arrive you wish.

Serving suggestions

I have served these baked Italian rice balls with a Mediterranean-inspired tomato sauce, but you can try other dips and see if you like the combination, my personal preference, aside from this tomato sauce, is an aioli.

Variations

If you do not want to stuff them with olives, these rice balls are quite nice just on their own, or you can stuff them with a small cube of mozzarella too.

If you're looking for another rice bite-size rice dish, then check out onigiri.

Nutritional information

Calories: 362kcal - Carbohydrates: 56g - Protein: 12gFat: 9g - Saturated Fat: 4g - Cholesterol: 15mg - Sodium: 546mg - Potassium: 258mg - Fiber: 2g - Sugar: 4g - Vitamin A: 625IU - Vitamin C: 6.9mg - Calcium: 268mg - Iron: 0.9mg

FAQs

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