DISCLOSURE: I serve as a Brand Ambassador for Riceland Foods. All opinions are my own. This is not a compensated post.
It’s both crawfish season AND Mardi Gras time, y’all. That means we’ll be doing our best to enjoy the goodness that both of those bring. We’ll not be riding in any parades or throwing any beads, but we sure will be enjoying several foods associated with the Mardi Gras celebration time.
I brought both seasons together this week for my segment on THV11 This Morning from a recipe inspired by a recent batch of crawfish étouffée, cheese and rice balls from Riceland’s web site, and a dish I read about in an issue of Louisiana Cookin’. Bringing the delicious flavors of crawfish, Creole seasoning, and spicy adobo, these appetizers are definitely going to be a hit at your fun times.
Plus, they’re fried, y’all.
Know what I mean?
The sauce that pairs with these is so super easy, you’re going to want to have it on hand for lots of things: French fries, chicken fingers, cheese sticks, veggies. Or, you could go full throttle and make up a batch of Comeback Sauce which is very similar to the ranch dressing sauce from this recipe.
You may find that you need to add additional bread crumbs to the mixture. That will depend upon the wetness of your ingredients. I prefer trying to drain off as much of the excess roux as I can and avoid adding too much breading.
If you like really spicy, just bump up the ground pepper and Creole seasoning.
These will keep, frozen and uncooked, 3-4 months so they are great to make up ahead of time and have ready for drop-in guests. They don’t take long to thaw at all once removed from the freezer.
Ingredients
Crawfish Rice Balls
- 2 cups leftover Classic Crawfish Étouffée; drained of excess roux
- 2 1/2 cups Italian bread crumbs, divided (or more)
- 2 cups cooked Riceland Long-Grain Rice, cooled
- 1/2 cup chopped green onions
- 2 teaspoons Tabasco
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked cayenne
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon Creole seasoning
- 4 eggs, divided
- 1 cup milk
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (or more)
- 2 cups panko (or more)
- Riceland Rice Bran Oil for frying
Sauce Ingredients
- 1 16-ounce bottle Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing
- 4 chipotle peppers in adobo
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/2 - 1 teaspoon Creole seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine Crawfish Etouffee, 1/4-1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs (depends on wetness of etouffee), rice, green onions, Tabasco, salt, cayenne, paprika, Creole seasoning and 2 beaten eggs. Mix well.
- Cover and set mixture in the refrigerator to chill at least 45 minutes.
- In 1 medium bowl, combine remaining 2 eggs and milk; whisk together.
- In another medium bowl, place remaining flour.
- In a 3rd medium bowl, add remaining bread crumbs and panko.
- Using a small cookie scoop, for crawfish-rice mixture into small balls. Roll each ball in flour, then egg-milk mixture, then in panko. Set aside on a parchment-lined baking sheet until all are formed.
- Refrigerate balls until firm or up to 24 hours. Balls may be individually frozen at this point.
To cook balls
- In a large fryer or Dutch oven, pour Riceland Rice Bran Oil to a depth of at least 4 inches. Heat over medium heat to 350 degrees.
- Fry balls in small batches 3-5 minutes until golden brown. (Thaw if frozen.) Serve hot with sauce.
