If you had a hard time pronouncing the title of this blog, it’s cause it’s in Italian. I did it to refrain from using the word “balls” in my headline. Get your giggles out now, Court. (yup, I just called out a reader).

But I have no problem throwing that word around inside the post! So today I’m going to show you how to make risotto balls with your leftover risotto from Monday’s recipe. You know, if there is any.

These guys are super easy. They’re usually fried, but fried food never leaves me feeling good. Most of the time, it doesn’t even sound appetizing.

So I baked these risotto balls instead!

Oh yeah. I’m going into the weekend “healthy.” Now where did I put that Heath bar…

I didn’t follow a recipe, but Giada over at Food Network has one you can follow here. And she’s Italian so you know it’s gotta be good.

I just folded some fresh mozzarella into the balls I formed with the days-old risotto. A lot of recipes will tell you to add an egg or two to your leftovers to help with binding. But mine held up just fine sans egg.

Then I rolled them in a mixture of panko and parmesan/romano cheese and baked them for about 30 minutes. I gave them a quick shower of PAM cooking spray before sending them in to the 425 degree oven, though, to help with browning.

They came out so.damn.good. You know, for not being fried. Crispy outside, melt in your mouth inside. Cheeeeesy.

I served them with some homemade spaghetti sauce we had from the night before and a touch of more cheese. Sigh. And I didn’t think it was possible to love risotto even more.

Happy Friday, everyone! Anyone got some weekend cooking planned? It’s supposed to be monsoon-y here in SoCal, so I’m thinking a soup for Meatless Monday.

Have you ever had arancini de riso? Have you ever made them? Tell me in the comments!