Buffalo Chicken Arancini

Rosa came to visit this weekend and she brought papers. A mountain of papers — lesson plans, student assessments, professional development forms. She is twenty-four years old and she is already drowning in paperwork, which is what happens when you love children and the system that employs you responds to that love with more forms to fill out. She spread everything across my dining room table and I made her cafe con leche and sat with her while she worked, the way Mami used to sit with me when I did my college homework in the kitchen in Bayamon.

Rosa is my daughter who is most like me and this terrifies both of us. She is loud. She is opinionated. She loves with her whole body and has no volume control on any emotion. She cried during a parent-teacher conference last month because a student grandmother died and the child came to school the next day with no lunch. Rosa bought him lunch. Rosa has been buying him lunch every day since. She cannot afford to buy a child lunch every day on a teacher salary. She does it anyway because Rosa does not know how to see a hungry child and do nothing, and she gets that from me, and I get it from Mami, and Mami gets it from Abuela Consuelo, and somewhere in the Delgado bloodline there is a gene that makes it physically impossible to let someone go hungry.

I made her arroz con salchichas — rice with Vienna sausages, the quickest, cheapest, most comforting Puerto Rican meal in existence. It is not fancy. It is not something David would put on a menu in Brooklyn. It is what Mami made on nights when the money was short and the children were hungry and she needed to fill seven bellies with three dollars worth of ingredients. It is love in its most practical form. Rosa ate two plates and then fell asleep on my couch with student papers on her chest, and I covered her with the blanket — the same blanket, always the same blanket — and I let her sleep because my daughter is doing the most important work in the world and the least she deserves is a nap on her mother couch.

Eduardo came home from work and saw Rosa sleeping and said, Should I wake her? I said, Eduardo, if you wake that girl I will end our marriage. He went upstairs. He is a smart man. He knows when Carmen is joking and when Carmen is absolutely serious and this was the second one.

Called Mami later. Told her Rosa is working too hard. Mami said, She is a Delgado. We all work too hard. We do not know another way. That is not a complaint, mi amor. That is a diagnosis. And it is accurate.

Rice has always been how the Delgado women say I see you, I love you, sit down — and after watching Rosa fall asleep under that blanket with student papers on her chest, I kept thinking about rice in all its forms, the way it stretches and nourishes and never asks anything back. These Buffalo Chicken Arancini are my version of that same impulse dressed up a little — crispy on the outside, warm and pull-apart soft in the middle, with enough heat to wake you up and enough richness to slow you down. They are not arroz con salchichas, but they carry the same energy: fast, satisfying, made with love for someone who works too hard and deserves to eat something wonderful.

Prep Time: 30 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes (plus 1 hour chilling) | Servings: 8 (makes about 18–20 arancini)

Ingredients

2 cups Arborio rice
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups cooked chicken breast, shredded
1/3 cup buffalo hot sauce (such as Frank’s RedHot)
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded low-moisture mozzarella
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil, for frying (about 4 cups)
Blue cheese or ranch dressing, for serving
Sliced scallions, for garnish

Instructions

Make the risotto base. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and sauté onion until softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Add Arborio rice and stir to coat. Pour in white wine and stir until absorbed. Add broth one ladleful at a time, stirring frequently and waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding the next, about 20–22 minutes total. Stir in Parmesan, season with salt and pepper, then spread onto a parchment-lined baking sheet to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.
Prepare the buffalo chicken filling. In a bowl, combine shredded chicken, buffalo sauce, and cream cheese. Mix until smooth and well combined. Fold in the shredded mozzarella. Set aside.
Form the arancini. Set up a breading station with three shallow bowls: flour in the first, 2 beaten eggs in the second, and breadcrumbs in the third. Scoop about 3 tablespoons of chilled risotto into your palm, flatten slightly, and place 1 heaping teaspoon of buffalo chicken filling in the center. Fold the rice around the filling and roll firmly into a ball. Repeat with remaining rice and filling.
Bread the balls. Roll each rice ball in flour, then dip in egg, then coat thoroughly in breadcrumbs, pressing gently so the crumbs adhere. Place on a clean baking sheet. Beat the remaining egg and use as needed if the first runs short.
Fry until golden. In a deep heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven, heat vegetable oil to 350°F. Working in batches of 4–5, fry arancini for 3–4 minutes, turning occasionally, until deep golden brown all over. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and season immediately with a pinch of salt.
Serve. Arrange on a platter and drizzle with additional buffalo sauce if desired. Garnish with sliced scallions and serve immediately alongside blue cheese or ranch dressing for dipping.

Nutrition (per serving)

Buffalo Chicken Arancini — Rice That Holds You Together When the World Asks Too Much