isithalal.food

Halal-conscious recipe

Arancini without wine

Crisp fried risotto balls with a melting mozzarella centre, made with hot stock in place of the white wine, Halal or vegan stock, and rennet-checked cheese.

  • Cuisine Italian
  • Meal Snack
  • Difficulty Moderate
  • Yield 18 arancini
  • Time 1h 45m
  • Last updated

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

Printable view
A plate of golden fried arancini rice balls on a checked tablecloth
Photograph from our ingredient library: a plate of arancini, not the finished dish.

Why Halal checks matter here

The risotto for these arancini is made with white wine, chicken stock is only Halal from Halal-slaughtered chickens, and the Parmesan and mozzarella need a rennet check.

Arancini are balls of cooled risotto stuffed with cheese, crumbed and deep-fried. The risotto is where the Halal questions sit. BBC Good Food's version reduces a glass of dry white wine into the rice, which this site does not treat as Halal once cooked (see wine), and it uses chicken or vegetable stock and Parmesan.

This version pours in the same amount of hot stock where the wine was, uses Halal chicken stock or a vegetable cube labelled vegan (see stock cubes), and asks for a hard cheese and mozzarella that name microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet. Parmesan made as Parmigiano-Reggiano uses calf rennet.

Let the risotto cool fully before shaping it, and fry at 170°C so the mozzarella melts as the crumb turns golden. When you buy arancini, the arancini page covers the fillings and fryer to ask about.

Halal-critical ingredients

  • White wine The original reduces 150 ml of dry white wine into the risotto. Cooking it does not make it Halal on this site. Use the same amount of hot stock, as here. See Wine and Risotto.
  • Chicken stock Chicken stock is Halal only from Halal-slaughtered chickens, and the UK chicken cubes on our Stock cubes page contain chicken fat or stock from birds not shown to be Halal-slaughtered. Use Halal-certified chicken stock or a vegetable cube labelled vegan. See Stock cubes.
  • Parmesan and mozzarella Parmigiano-Reggiano's rules require calf rennet, and other cheeses may use animal rennet. Scholars differ on rennet from animals not slaughtered the Halal way. Use cheeses that name microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet, or ones your school accepts. See Parmesan.

Safe substitutes

  • Dry white wine → The same amount of hot stock
  • Chicken stock of unknown source → Halal chicken stock or a vegan vegetable cube
  • Animal-rennet Parmesan → A hard cheese with microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet

Allergens

milk (butter, cheese), gluten (flour, breadcrumbs), egg

Ingredients

Risotto

  • 30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil
  • 15 g (1 tbsp) unsalted butter
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 large garlic clove, crushed
  • 350 g (1¾ cups) risotto rice
  • 150 ml (⅔ cup) hot stock, in place of the white wine
  • 1.2 l (5 cups) hot Halal chicken stock or vegan vegetable stock
  • 150 g (1½ cups) hard cheese with microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet, finely grated
  • 1 lemon, zest finely grated

Filling and coating

  • 150 g (1 ball) mozzarella with microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet, cut into 18 small pieces
  • 150 g (1¼ cups) plain flour
  • 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 150 g (1½ cups) fine dried breadcrumbs (panko works well)
  • for frying vegetable oil, for deep-frying

Method

  1. Start the risotto. Heat the oil and butter in a saucepan until foaming. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and fry gently over a low heat for 15 minutes until soft and translucent. Add the garlic for a minute, then stir in the rice for a minute more.
  2. Cook it without wine. Pour in the 150 ml of hot stock where the original adds wine and let it bubble until reduced by half. Add half the remaining stock and simmer, stirring, until most of it is absorbed, then add the rest a ladleful at a time until the rice is cooked through, about 20 to 25 minutes. Stir in the cheese and lemon zest, season, spread the risotto on a lipped tray and leave to cool to room temperature.
  3. Shape around the mozzarella. Divide the cooled risotto into 18 portions, each slightly larger than a golf ball. Flatten one in your hand, put a piece of mozzarella in the centre, close the rice around it and roll into a ball. Repeat with the rest.
  4. Coat. Put the flour, eggs and breadcrumbs in three shallow bowls. Dip each ball in the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs, and set them on a tray.
  5. Fry and serve. Half-fill a large, heavy pan with oil and heat it to 170°C, or until a piece of bread browns in 45 seconds. Fry the arancini in batches for 8 to 10 minutes until golden and melted in the middle, drain on a clean kitchen towel and eat warm, with a tomato sauce for dipping if you like.

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Arancini balls' (a lemony Parmesan risotto made with 150 ml dry white wine and 1.2 litres of chicken or vegetable stock, cooled, shaped into 18 balls around mozzarella, coated in flour, egg and breadcrumbs and deep-fried at 170°C for 8 to 10 minutes). We replaced the wine with the same amount of hot stock, specified Halal chicken stock or a vegan vegetable cube, and a hard cheese and mozzarella with microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Technique and ingredient sources

  1. Arancini balls — BBC Good Food Retrieved:

    Makes 18: olive oil, butter, onion, garlic, 350 g risotto rice, 150 ml dry white wine, 1.2 litres hot chicken or vegetable stock, 150 g Parmesan, lemon zest, 150 g mozzarella; flour, 3 eggs and 150 g breadcrumbs; deep-fried at 170°C for 8 to 10 minutes. We replaced the wine with stock and specified Halal stock and rennet-checked cheese.

  2. Arancini analysis — isithalal.food Retrieved:

    Fillings, cheese and fryer checks for arancini.

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