Stanley Tucci Just Showed Us the Best Way to Use Leftover Rice

Stanley Tucci’s Instagram account truly is a wealth of cooking inspiration and one I am often glued to. From his simple secret ingredient to making creamy pasta sauce to his pasta casserole that’s so good he eats it for breakfast, the celebrity who once portrayed Julia Child’s husband in the movie “Julie & Julia,” is now a celebrity cook in his own right.

Sure, few of us will ever host a dinner party and make perfect fish for the likes of Robert Downey Jr. anytime soon, but we can all pick up some cooking tips and tricks from Tucci to cook for ourselves, our families, and our friends. (And we can also pick up Tucci's Greenpan cookware, too, but that's another story.)

Tucci recently posted a video of how he turns leftovers into breaded, fried yumminess. Risotto cakes, made with leftover risotto, are just one of his many delicious Italian dishes that anyone can make in their own kitchen. 

Stanley Tucci’s Tips for Making Risotto Cakes

There are a few interesting tidbits Tucci reveals as he walks his followers through making these risotto cakes made with Arborio rice. 

The first tip is that he fries the cakes in a mixture of olive oil (NOT extra virgin) and vegetable oil. Mixing the two is not unheard of when pan-frying. We imagine that the vegetable oil is for the higher smoke point and the olive oil is for flavor. If you fried the cakes in only olive oil, they would burn too quickly.

His second tidbit is a bit more cryptic. Tucci says he’s using a mixture of both homemade breadcrumbs and panko. Then he looks at the camera and sort of growls, “Mmmmm, mmmmm, mmmm,” as if the mixture of the two is some secret weapon. I will definitely try mixing the two at home now.  

How to Make Stanley Tucci’s Risotto Cakes

Tucci doesn’t give proportions. This is one of those dishes where you’ll do a lot of eyeballing. Here’s how he makes the risotto cakes:

1. To cold, prepared risotto, he adds some breadcrumbs, 2 eggs, cheese, and salt.
2. He then scoops some out and rolls it into a ball, then rolls each ball in a mixture of homemade breadcrumbs and panko.
3. Pour about 3/4 inch of vegetable and olive oils into a wide, shallow pan and heat to about 350 to 375 degrees F (177 to 191 degrees C). He doesn’t give a ratio for the oils, but we suggest about 50/50, or slightly more vegetable oil to olive oil.
4. He adds the rice cakes to the preheated oil and fries them for a few minutes on each side until browned and heated through. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate.

As one of the almost 3,000 commenters said, “Everything about this is heartwarming and delicious.”

Risotto Shortcuts

If these look good, but you never have leftover risotto because you don't have the time or the patience to stand over the stove and slowly stir risotto for an hour, you’re not alone. Neither do I. 

I make my risotto in the oven. It may not be as creamy as some of the dishes I’ve had at restaurants, but it’s still pretty darn good. You can also try your hand at slow cooker risotto or Instant Pot risotto. I think that risotto made using any of these shortcut methods would be perfect for making risotto cakes. 

Are Risotto Cakes Similar to Arancini?

Tucci called his creation risotto cakes. Some commenters wanted to know why he didn’t just call them arancini, fried Italian rice balls. The difference, it seems, between what Tucci made and traditional arancini is that arancini are stuffed with something in the middle, be it a large piece of cheese, peas, meat sauce, chunks of ham, or other fillings. They seem to resemble what one commenter called Calabrian crocchette di riso, or rice croquettes.

I will leave that debate to those who are much more Italian than me. Whether they are technically risotto cakes, arancini, or rice croquettes, I’m thinking I need to make risotto soon just so I can have leftovers.