Keto Arancini Balls – Cheese

Yes, you read right. KETO Arancini Balls.

It has taken me many years to create this recipe for Keto Arancini Balls, but not because it’s particularly hard.

I was genuinely scared of it.

I thought it would be impossible, my kitchen would end up a mess of cauliflower, cheese and basil and I would be too scared to ever try again.

I thought to get delicious Keto Arancini Balls I would have to spend hours trying to delicately shallow fry the balls so they wouldn’t fall apart.

Instead, by oven baking them but coating them in spray olive oil, they get deliciously crispy without all that hard work!

I bought one of these little oil misters a while back and put my favourite olive oil in it, rather than buying the cans constantly. It works a treat.

I was also scared that you couldn’t have Keto Arancini Balls without making some super complicated cauliflower risotto first, like real arancini balls.

Well, none of that was true! My fears were unfounded.

TA DA – They are actually quite easy to make!

The hardest thing is probably grating the cauliflower to get cauliflower rice. This is why I ALWAYS use my food processor.

I’ve seen cauliflower rice in the shops recently too, but it looks a bit chunkier than how I make my cauliflower rice.

If you’re using store bought cauli rice for these Keto Arancini Balls, I’d maybe cook them a little longer.

I use a pre-shredded mozzarella for this recipe as well as it tends to be a bit dryer, so is great for recipes like this where it needs to hold everything together but still be gooey and stringy at the end.

Look at that stringy cheese.

Serving these Keto Arancini Balls with passata makes for a delicious, filling meal, but some passata or marinara sauces can be higher in carbs or sugar so always check your nutritional label.

If in doubt, serve it with a home made tomato sauce.

This is my recipe for home made tomato sauce if you would like to make your own. 

There’s also some great Keto Marinara Sauce recipes out there, here’s one I like. 

This recipe was created after I put a call out on my facebook page for recipe requests, and one person asked for Keto Arancini Balls.

There’s something about getting a recipe request that fires me on, so I spent the next few days perfecting this recipe just for the person that requested it.

If you’ve got a recipe you’re dying to have a Keto version of and can’t find anywhere let me know! I love a challenge.

Wait until you see what the next few weeks have coming up.

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This recipe perfectly serves 4 for a lighter meal like lunch or brunch, and makes around 12 – 14 balls depending on the size.

You could easily make 20 or so smaller balls, just watch them in the oven as they’ll cook faster. This would be a perfect dish for entertaining as well.

Enjoy!

Keto Arancini Balls - 3 Cheese Flavour

Yield: 4

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Deliciously cheesy and easier than you think, these Keto Arancini Balls are to die for. One serve will be about 7 - 10 net carbs depending on the cheese and passata you use. 

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Ingredients

Arancini Balls

• 3 cups cauliflower rice, about 1/2 head of cauli
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon dried basil
• 1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder, or paste
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese
• 2 egg yolks

Crumb

• 1/3 cup almond flour
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• olive oil cooking spray

To Serve

• 1 cup passata, or marinara
• 2 tablespoons grated parmesan
• fresh basil leaves

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200C / 392F and line a large baking tray with baking paper. Prepare your cauliflower by grating or processing to form a fine rice consistency. 
2. In a large saucepan add the olive oil over medium high heat, and saute the cauli rice for 2 mins.
3. Add the dried basil, oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper and stir through. Cook for a further 4 - 5 minutes until dry, slightly soft and browned. 
4. Move the cooked cauliflower to a medium size mixing bowl and stir through the 3 cheese. Mix to combine thoroughly without squishing the cauliflower too much. 
5. Let cool for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile, on a flat plate, combine the crumb ingredients. 
6. Once the cauli and cheese mix has cooled slightly, mix through the egg yolks.
7. With wet hands, form the cauliflower mixture into balls then roll in the crumb mix to coat evenly then place on the prepared baking tray. 
8. Coat generously with cooking spray and bake for 20 - 25 minutes until golden.
9. Serve atop a bed of passata or marinara sauce with more fresh parmesan and basil leaves. 

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1 grams
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 404Total Fat: 29gSaturated Fat: 11gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 146mgSodium: 1454mgCarbohydrates: 14gFiber: 5gSugar: 6gProtein: 21g