Delicious, warm Air Fryer Arancini Rice Balls, crunchy on the outside and soft on the outside. Made with left over chilled risotto and rolled into balls then breaded, our Pressure Cooker Chorizo Risotto or our Instant Pot Gammon Rice make the perfect arancini.
I've been making these for years and they always turn out great. They make a nice quick lunch or dinner with a salad or with roasted vegetables (or both) or a fantastic snack.
In the freezer I always keep a bag of breadcrumbs which I make out of stale bread and keep topped up. I just blitz the bread in chunks in either the Thermomix or the food processor. Shop-bought breadcrumbs will be a bit lighter in colour and will not brown as much. Homemade bread crumbs work great and avoid so much waste.
By the way, I don't personally like using spray oil (definitely never the likes of Fry Light spray bottles, it will damage the non-stick of your air fryer). If you do, you can spray some, above all if using shop-bought breadcrumbs which are quite light in colour. But it will be more for aesthetic reasons, your breadcrumbs should still be crunch even if they're light in colour.
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📖 Recipe
Easy Air Fryer Arancini (Italian Rice Balls)
Equipment
- 2 deep plates
- 1 Air fryer
Ingredients
- 200 g chilled left over risotto best made the day before and chilled overnight, the weight is a guide, use what you have
- 2 eggs
- 50 g bread crumbs this is the starting weight
Instructions
- Chill the leftovers of your risotto (any risotto ingredient combination will work great, especially our Chorizo Risotto or Gammon Rice) for a good few hours or overnight so that it has a chance to thicken and "set".
- Prepare two deep plates, beat the eggs in the first one, scatter the breadcrumbs in the second.
- Scoop some of the chilled risotto, roll into golf-sized balls.
- Coat each ball in the beaten egg.
- Then coat in the breadcrumbs.
- Place in cold air fryer basket spacing them out, no need to preheat, and air fry with the times we've tested: - Instant Vortex and air fryers which have a built-in preheating time: 205ºC (400ºF if you're in the States) for 7 minutes.- Ninja, Cosori and air fryers that don't don't have a built-in preheating time: 205ºC (400ºF if you're in the States) for 9 minutes. - Ninja Double stack - 12 minutes at 240ºC (464 ºF if you're in the States). You could also place the balls on the metal rack that comes with the Double Stack to get closer to the heat source and reduce cooking time.- Air Fryer Lids: place close to the air fryer lid (so in the basket tray or provided rack): 205ºC (400ºF if you're in the States) for 9 minutes.
- Flip or turn a couple of times so that they brown and crisp up evenly. All air fryers vary so this is a guideline, add time if necessary
How to make arancini (with photos)
All you have to do is roll chilled risotto into a ball then coat in beaten egg, then breadcrumbs and air fry according to the instructions in the recipe card.
What breadcrumbs to use
We love using homemade breadcrumbs in the air fryer (we make them with stale bread blitzed in the Thermomix or food processor), they're also darker in colour.
If you start with a darker breadcrumb (shop-bought breadcrumbs tend to be very light in colour) then there is more chance of your arancini having a nice brown colour like if you had deep fried them but without the deep frying.
Risotto recipes to turn into Arancini Rice Balls
We already mentioned our pressure cooked Instant Pot Chorizo Risotto and Gammon Rice above. If you fancy a seafood taste, our Prawn, Courgette and Mushroom Risotto (or remove the prawns and leave it veggie only) or our Prawn, Trout and Pea Risotto would be great.
Our Chorizo and Red Pepper Risotto (recipe) is perfect if you want to cook it on the hob / stove and, if you prefer using a Thermomix, then try our Thermomix Chorizo and Red Pepper Risotto.
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