Italian Rice Ball Bake 🇮🇹 🍚
We are making the beloved Italian rice balls, but easier and baked in a pan! If you have never had rice balls, they are deep fried balls of rice stuffed with cheeses, and it is absolutely, stunningly delicious! My Italian Rice Ball Bake is not balls at all, they are the exact same ingredients, but baked in a casserole dish so the workload is slightly easier, the serving of it is more family friendly, and the flavor is just the same! This is the PERFECT dish to bring to any party you attend or host! When you walk through that door and your guests peep your italian rice ball bake, they won’t see any other dish! “Scalloped potatoes, who?” So let’s talk about when you actually try it, when you taste this rice bake unfortunately every other side dish will probably sit untouched because this is the triple threat, it girl of the party! Are you ready for a little Italian comfort food? Then you came to the right place! Let’s make it!
I absolutely love this Vietri Bakers Blue Small Rectangular Serving/Baking Dish! This dish is durable, provides even heat distribution, and it is perfect for your deep dish casserole baking dish needs. I also love that it is dishwasher, microwave, freezer, and oven safe!
Click Here for my outfit details!!!
🗒 More Delicious Rice Bake Recipes
👝 How to Store Leftovers
Store in an air-tight container for 3 – 5 days in the refrigerator.
🤔 Common Questions
Yes! You can assemble it the night before, cover it tightly, and refrigerate it. When you’re ready to bake, just bring it to room temp for about 30 minutes and then pop it in the oven.
Not at all! It adds great flavor, but regular unsalted or salted butter works perfectly. You can always mix in a little garlic powder and dried herbs if you’re using plain butter.
Absolutely. Stir in cooked ground beef, sausage, peas, or spinach for a heartier version. Just be sure any add-ins are fully cooked and not too wet!
🎥 Items Featured in the Video
Click the Image Below to View their Products ⬇️
Italian Rice Ball Bake
Ingredients
- 2 cups long grain white rice uncooked
- 1 stick of Kerrygold garlic and herb butter (or regular butter), divided
- ¾ cup seasoned panko bread crumbs
- ¾ cup italian breadcrumbs
- 32 oz ricotta cheese
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 12 oz mozzarella cut into cubes
- 4 slices of provolone cut into cubes
- ½ cup grated pecorino romano
- 3 eggs whisked
Instructions
- Cook 2 cups of uncooked white rice on the stove or in a rice cooker according to package directions, this will yield about 5 – 6 cups of cooked rice. Let the cooked rice cool completely before using in this recipe.
- Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish with 2 tbsp of butter (make sure you get the sides too!). In a bowl combine the seasoned panko bread crumbs and Italian bread crumbs and divide the mixture in half. Take half the bread crumb mixture and sprinkle it evenly into the greased baking dish (set aside the other half of the breadcrumbs for later).
- In a large mixing bowl, add in the cooled cooked white rice and ricotta cheese. Fold that together just until incorporated. Then add in salt, cracked black pepper, cubed mozzarella, cubed provolone, grated pecorino romano, and eggs. Fold that together until combined. Transfer that rice mixing into the baking dish over the breadcrumbs. Sprinkle the other half of the bread crumb mixture evenly over the rice mixture. Lastly, slice 6 tbsp of butter into thin slices and arrange them evenly over top of the bread crumbs.
- Bake it in the oven at 375°F for 55 minutes to 1 hour. If you used the herb butter and it melted into green little squares, half way through the baking time, take it out of the oven, use a fork to gently mix the butter with the breadcrumbs only at the top, and then pop it back into the oven and let it cook for the remaining time left.
- Once it’s done, let it rest for about 20 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
Would you like to save this? 📌
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Sounds yummy. Gonna try this for Easter dinner! Thanks
Enjoy 😊