Sicilian Rice Ball Casserole Arancini Casserole

Sicilian Rice Ball Casserole

I’m obsessed with this rice ball casserole. It’s filled with ground turkey and a little Italian sausage which adds lots of flavor, plus peas and sauce. More casserole recipes I love are Chicken Sausage and Peppers Macaroni Casserole, Spiralized Turnip and Potato Au Gratin Casserole and Tuna Noodle Casserole.

I can’t take full credit for this, this is pure genius from my friend Julia of Julia’s Healthy Italian. I tweaked her recipe to lighten it up a bit, but she takes full credit for the creativity. Servings are large and very satisfying, you could serve a simple green salad on the side if you want more greens. If you don’t like peas, swap it with another vegetable. I’m thinking of trying a broccoli and sausage version next. Julia usually makes double and freezes the second casserole to use later. I halved her original, but it makes sense to make two for the same amount of work it takes to make one. I serve mine with a little extra sauce on the side and have also made this with brown rice and it works great. To make this quicker you can make the rice ahead of time as well as the sauce. I used my filetto di pomodoro recipe, but you can use your favorite sauce or even use jarred. I recommend either using the 93% lean turkey, I found the 99% lean turkey was too dry and the points remain the same.