{"id":3621,"date":"2020-02-08T06:43:25","date_gmt":"2020-02-08T06:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/devourromefoodtours.com\/?p=3621"},"modified":"2025-10-18T14:19:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T14:19:24","slug":"suppli-vs-arancini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devourtours.com\/blog\/suppli-vs-arancini\/","title":{"rendered":"Suppl\u00ec vs Arancini: Key Differences & Fascinating History"},"content":{"rendered":"

Supplì <\/em>and arancini:<\/em> two words that are popping up on menus everywhere. They are both beloved Italian street foods<\/a>, and are both fried. But what’s the difference between them? 

Italians love fried food. In Neapolitan pizzerias<\/a>, there’s the frittatina<\/a><\/em> di pasta<\/em><\/a> (fried pucks of pasta).<\/em> In Puglia, no Sunday is complete without homemade panzerotti <\/em>(fried, stuffed pockets of dough). But two cousins, both fried balls of rice, stand out. <\/p>

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Tiny balls of fried cheesy goodness? Keep reading to discover all about Italy’s favorite fried bites, supplì<\/em> and arancini<\/em>! Photo credit: Evelyn Hill<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Roman supplì <\/em>and Sicilian arancini <\/em>are, on the crispy surface, quite similar. But they each reflect a unique culinary history, way of eating, and like everything in Italy, the story of a place.<\/p>

Supplì<\/h2>

Supplì<\/em> are oblong and round-tipped, like a pill big enough for a T-rex. To make them, you always need pre-cooked, short-grain rice (often arborio<\/em> or carnaroli<\/em>, the same rice used for Italian risotto<\/a>), mixed with grated cheese and whatever other flavoring you desire. In Rome, the rice is typically mixed with either plain tomato sauce or a light ragù <\/em>with ground beef. <\/p>

The most common embellishment is to prepare them al telefono<\/em>, literally “telephone-style.” A small knob of mozzarella is enclosed in the rice before the little football is breaded and fried. The heat partially melts the mozzarella, so that when you crack open the supplì <\/em>and pull the two halves apart, a wire of stretchy cheese connects them, like an old-fashioned telephone. <\/p>

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Supplì<\/em> will make all your Roman street food dreams come true.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Who invented supplì?<\/em><\/h3>

So what’s the history of this dish? As you’ve probably learned from our other blogs, establishing the origins of any Italian dish often involves a leap into mythology<\/a>.<\/p>

Supplì<\/em> seem to have originated as a street food in Rome<\/a> in the early 19th century. Street vendors would park themselves on a corner with a kettle of oil and prepare “rice meatballs,” which were made both cheap and filling by the use of rice and a mixture of ground chicken livers and cheese instead of meat.<\/p>

It was only later that supplì <\/em>began to be served in restaurants and dedicated friggitorie<\/em>, shops that only served fried food. Those shops have disappeared, and now supplì <\/em>are served in sit-down pizzerias as an appetizer, or in slice-pizza joints as a quick snack (especially when the bars close).<\/p>

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Check out suppli with a Devour tour guide!<\/p>