Publised on 13/08/2019. Last Updated on 13/08/2019 by Richard
Vegan arancini packed with super stretchy vegan mozzarella, filled with fresh basil pesto. All covered in a crispy golden breadcrumb coating!
These vegan arancini are EMOTIONALLY and SPIRITUALLY very important to me. They're so fresh, with a delicious basil pesto filling. The rice itself is fragrant with lemon zest and creamy with super dramatic vegan mozzarella getting all stringy up in your face!
The coating is crispy perfection and that "wow moment" when you break one open is BORDERLINE SEXY!
Why Arancini??
Here come the emotions. My first brush with arancini was a particularly sad one, many years ago in Boston's Little Italy. As a (then) lifelong vegetarian, I had come to rely of risotto being a pretty safe space on the menu of pretty much all restaurants.
It was to my delight, then, to learn of a magical appetiser made from cheesy risotto, rolled into balls, breadcrumbed and DEEP FRIED! (Imagine a very sweaty vegetarian me with wide eyes learning about arancini for the first time).
I was visiting friends at the time in Boston, so the next morning I power walked over to little Italy with my guide-book in hand and straight into the first Italian bakery/restaurant I could find. They had, no joke, SHELVES of arancini, STACKED high, all glistening and freshly fried!
I used my school-boy Italian to translate the menu and, to my HORROR, realised that NONE of the arancini were vegetarian! I wen't from shop to shop that day, desperately searching for one I could eat, and I failed miserably. Unfortunately I went home empty handed and starving hungry.
Needless to say, if I returned to that same street today, I'd be EVEN LESS likely to find any VEGAN ARANCINI! So, this recipe is my attempt to absolutely nail a vegan arancini recipe (and I think I nailed it).
What are vegan arancini?
You've probably guessed from what I've written so far that vegan arancini (in fact all Arancini) involves risotto. 10 out of 10 for reading comprehension!
Arancini come from the south of Italy, namely Sicily. The name means lil' oranges (which is cute) and refers to how golden and round they look once fried!
The challenges I faced with this recipe were as follows:
- Make the vegan arancini taste CHEESY!
- Make the pesto filling without using parmesan cheese!
- Finally, to make these guys irresistible without their usual meaty filling.
It wasn't easy but I'm happy to say I nailed it! I use a variation of my vegan mozzarella recipe for the cheesiness. The pesto is kept cheesy with nutritional yeast and sharp with lemon juice. And trust me, you won't even miss the meaty filling - the pesto is incredible.
Made the Recipe?
Let me know what you think in the comments - and throw me a rating if you like!
Vegan Arancini with Pesto
Ingredients
For the Risotto
- 1 l water (boiling)
- 1.5 tablespoon bouillon powder (make sure it's a vegan variety)
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- ½ onion (finely diced)
- 1 clove garlic (finely diced or crushed)
- 215 g arborio rice
- 65 ml white wine (vegan stuff obvi)
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
For the Pesto
- 30 g fresh basil (stalks and leaves)
- 30 g pine nuts (toasted in a dry pan)
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
- 2.5 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1.5 tablespoon water
For the Vegan Mozzarella
- 110 g silken tofu
- 70 ml oat milk
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 25 g odourless coconut oil
- 2 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 3 tablespoon tapioca starch
- ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
For the Coating
- 3 tablespoon gram flour
- 1 tablespoon plain white flour
- 10 tablespoon plant milk
- 80 g breadcrumbs
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- vegetable oil (for frying)
Instructions
To Make the Risotto
- Mix together the boiling water and bouillon in a medium saucepan and set over a low heat to simmer. Place a second medium saucepan over a medium heat and add the olive oil and bring to temperature.
- Once your oil is hot, add the diced onion and cook for two minutes or until turning translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add the rice and stir to combine with the onion and garlic. Allow the rice to heat lightly for around a minute before adding your wine and stirring again.
- Once almost all of the wine has evaporated, us a ladle to spoon some hot bouillon (which should be still simmering) and pour over the rice while stirring constantly. Allow the rice to cook off most of the moisture and then add another ladle full of bouillon. Repeat until you have no bouillon remaining (around 10-15 minutes).
- After all the bouillon is gone, check the rice is done by tasting a small amount. If it feels gritty in the centre it's not done, but if it feels smooth but very slightly firm, then you're done. If the rice is not cooked, add a few more ladles of boiling water and continue to cook until it is.
- Once the rice is fully cooked, remove from the heat and stir in the lemon zest and nutritional yeast. Spread the risotto out on a baking tray to allow it to cool for at least an hour in the fridge, or, if you're not in a rush, cover it up and allow to cool overnight.
To Make the Pesto
- While your risotto is cooling, make the pesto. Place all the ingredients in a high speed blender and blitz until combined but still slightly chunky. Cover and place in the fridge to chill.
To Make the Vegan Mozzarella
- Place all the ingredients in a high speed blender and blitz until completely smooth.
- Transfer the mixture to a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Whisking constantly, allow the mixture to thicken. Once bubbles start to rise, the mixture should be super thick and stringy and stretchy. Remove from the heat.
- Place all your cooled rice in a large bowl and add the vegan mozzarella. Stir well to combine until the mozzarella is evenly distributed. Set aside while you prepare your coatings.
To Make the Coating and Assemble
- In one medium bowl whisk together the flours and plant milk. In another medium bowl place the breadcrumbs.
- Cover the palm of your hand with a sheet of cling film or greaseproof paper. Holding your hand flat, spread out a circle of the cooked risotto rice around 5-6cm in diameter. Gently cup your hand and make a well in the centre of the rice with your other thumb. Place a half teaspoon of chilled pesto into the well then top with some more rice (don't worry if some pesto is showing through the sides, just do your best to seal up the gaps with more rice.
- Gather up the sides of the cling film to make a ball of rice. You can twist the top of the cling film gently to make sure the rice is gently compressed. Remove the cling film and set aside.
- Very gently, roll the rice ball first in the gram flour mixture and then the breadcrumbs. Set aside gently on a baking tray. Repeat this process until you've used up all your risotto.
To Fry
- Place a medium saucepan over medium/low heat and add around 2-3 inches of vegetable oil. Using a probe or candy thermometer, bring the oil to 170c. If you don't have a thermometer, drop small square of bread into the oil. If it bubbles straight away and browns gently, then you're at temperature.
- Reduce the heat to low and using a spider or slotted spoon, lower one arancini into the oil. It should bubble immediately (if not, your oil is too cold) and should brown in around 2 minutes on each side.
- Remove the arancini once cooked and place on a couple of sheets of kitchen towel to help drain. Repeat with all your arancini.
- I serve my arancini with another small portion of pesto or a side of marinara sauce for dipping!
Nutrition
dev
this recipe blew me away. both my husband and i were nervous about how involved it was - lots of room for oooopsies. but the instructions were so clear, recipe easy to follow and the outcome was PHENOMENAL!
used my own pesto recipe, subbed out vegan wine for ACV and ended up doubling everything. to save time i spread out the risotto on a baking sheet and left in front of a fan to cool. definitely a treat!
Anne
We like to do an Italian feast at Christmas 🎅🏼✨⛸🎄🎀🤍, and this is one of the starters. I’ve made this a couple of times before, and starting to prep them again for this Christmas this year. I have frozen these very successfully. I cook them, then freeze them and heat them in the oven. I have not made the mozzarella, but opted for store-bought vegan option instead. It’s a great recipe, takes a bit of time, I enlist my husband to do the finicky work. Definitely a hit and something special for a special meal.
Anne Boyd
These are delicious, and not as difficult to make, as you might think, and as the recipe looks. I love that the recipe is broken down into simple steps. This really helps. It also means that you can sub in another ingredient. For example, I used a different recipe for the risotto, and I took a lazy option of purchasing vegan mozzarella though I expect that the recipe version is even more delicious. I had arancini for the first time this year in Italy and have been craving them ever since (Getaway Co vegan holiday with chef & vegan blogger Mississippi Vegan!!). So glad that they are within my reach, and I can make them regularly now. Certainly they do require some extra time, but they are a great special treat. This is also the first SNV recipe I’ve made. I definitely need to explore this site more.
Meg
So delicious! Made these for a birthday feast so used store bought pesto and cheese for the filling to save time, and shallow fried the wee bebes and they turned out so so good. So much so my non-vegan friend made them for her next family event!
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Tristan Pantano
Thanks for this!
I grew up with arancini & missed them. The risotto, cheese & batter are perfect. Nutritional yeast isn't my fav flavor so I use a bit less with this, especially in the pesto. I'm currently making another batch replacing the pesto with a veggie crumbles ragu & peas, shaped into cones like Mt. Etna.
Tristan Pantano
Thanks for this!
I grew up with arancini & missed them. The risotto, cheese & batter are perfect. Nutritional yeast isn't my fav flavor so I use a bit less with this, especially in the pesto. I'm currently making another batch replacing the pesto with a veggie crumbles ragu & peas, shaped into cones like Mt. Etna.
Deborah Reeves
Excellent! Made butternut squash risotto (super fast in in the Instant Pot) for Christmas Day and purposefully made a double batch so I could make this arancini recipe the next day.
Instead of the cling film method, I used a medium ice-cream scooper to pop biggish dollops of rice mixture into those "Hot Chocolate Bomb silicone molds" that are exactly 5cm half circles. I wiggled out a little hole in the center using the big end of a chopstick (making sure not to poke through the bottom.) And, once I'd plopped a bit of pest in the hole, I just used my fingers to add a tiny bit more rice and close up the circle.
Cooked mine in the air fryer at 400 for about 10 minutes. Depending on your air fryer, you may have to adjust the time and shake halfway through.
I can see how this would be a time-consuming recipe if you do the whole thing start to finish. But I think using leftover risotto from a previous day's meal makes this very manageable and is a fun way to make two very distinct meals using the same basic ingredients.