Cauliflower the wonder veg strikes again! Is there no end to the usefulness of this normally bland and slightly stinky vegetable? These little Cauliflower Arancini bites stuffed with creamy boursin cheese and coated in crispy breadcrumb. YES PLEASE!
Cauliflower pizza crust? Not bad. I’ve yet to perfect this.
Coriander cauliflower rice (with thai prawns)? Sooo good
Creamy cauliflower soup? AM-A-ZING
And now, we have crispy, garlicky, creamy arancini. Ok, hands up, they’re not perfect little spheres. They probably could have been if I’d have to chosen to fry these like regular rice arancini, however, these are baked. Which means way less oil. In fact this whole batch only uses 1 tbsp of olive oil and 40 squirts of fry light. In my opinion, that completely paves the way for me to fill these little cauliflower bites with creamy boursin cheese and coat them in crispy breadcrumbs. Sounds calorific, but we're only looking at 76 calories per Cauliflower Arancini!
They’re a little messy to make, but the cauliflower doesn’t need any pre-cooking. So you can have them prepared in 20 minutes, and out of the oven 14 minutes later. No risotto making and overnight chilling required!
By themselves, hot out of the oven, these Cauliflower Arancini taste so good. If you fancy a bit of heat, you could also drizzle with a little sriracha.
More Cauliflower Recipes
Cauliflower Arancini
Ingredients
- 40 squirts fry light spray
- 1 small cauliflower - grated
- 1 egg - lightly whisked
- ¼ tsp garlic salt
- 50 g cheddar cheese - grated
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 45 g of Boursin cheese
- 50 g panko breadcrumbs
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat your oven to 170c. and spray a large metal baking sheet with 7 squirts of fry light.
- Take a large bowl and add in the grated cauliflower, egg, garlic salt, cheddar cheese and olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir to combine and put to one side.
- Take your boursin cheese and chop into 11 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball – about the size of a small marble. Put to one side.
- Add your panko breadcrumbs to a shallow bowl and season with salt and pepper.
- Now you’re ready to put everything together. Take a tbsp. of the cauliflower mix in your hand, roll it into a ball and flatten it with your hand (it will be messy). Place a ball of boursin in the middle and wrap the cauliflower mixture around the boursin to create a ball. It’s quite sticky, but so long as the boursin is covered it will be fine. Roll the cauliflower ball in the panko breadcrumbs and place on the baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the mixture. You should end up with about 11 cauliflower balls.
- Spray each ball with 3 squirts of fry light – so they’re nicely coated, and place in the oven to cook for 14 minutes - until golden brown.
- Serve straightaway.
✎ Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional info obtained from caloriecount.about.com per Cauliflower Arancini (recipe makes 11)
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Ann M says
Unfortunately it needed some breading in the mix. It was very watery and too much moisture after grating. Tried to cook for longer and raised temp to 400° to stiffen up.
[email protected] says
Very tempting Good
KC says
Delicious, bit messy to make, but so worth it. I could have eaten them all to myself!
this is lemonade says
I'm a whole year late to the party, but these look really yummy! Would you say they are quite firm after baking? Just wondering if they would be good finger food for a toddler as well as great for mum and dad too 🙂
Nicky Corbishley says
Yes, they make a great finger food once once baked, they should stay together pretty well. Hope mum, dad and toddler enjoy them 🙂
Evi @ greenevi says
Wow! I am really amazed by this! I love arancini, but I always feel guilty eating that much white rice. So cauliflower rice is the perfect solution is for me. I don't like deep frying, so great you baked them 🙂
Nicky Corbishley says
Yeah, it's a shame I couldn't get them into a nice little ball shape, but they do taste great!! Thanks Evi.
Ahu Shahrabani says
This recipe spoke to me when I saw not-fried arancini!!! Then the fact that you include boursin cheese?! Oh my! I must try this. Thank you Nicky!
Nicky Corbishley says
I hope you do, it's great Ahu 🙂
Elaine @ foodbod says
Nice!!!! I do so much with cauliflower but I haven't tried this, this might even be the answer to getting my son to eat some!
Nicky Corbishley says
My kids gobbled it up, so hope it works for your son 🙂
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
I really am loving your lightened up version of arancini. These cauliflower bites look so crisp, golden and crunchy that it's hard to believe they are baked and not fried!
Nicky Corbishley says
Thanks Thalia 🙂
I wish they'd have stayed round rather than flatten out a bit in the oven. They're really tasty though!