Prosciutto Wrapped Arugula Appetizer

Prosciutto Wrapped Arugula is the perfect crowd-pleasing appetizer. An arugula salad with lemon and parmesan cheese, transformed into irresistible festive finger-food. Friends and family will devour these delicious bites which my husband adores and has renamed Prosciugula!

This is one of my appetizer recipes that you will definitely want to keep on hand for your next party!

It's practically guaranteed that anything made with arugula, lemon juice, parmesan cheese and prosciutto will taste amazing. The extra excitement here is that these beloved Italian delicacies are formed into elegant, tempting, flavor-packed bundles that are perfect for parties.

Arrange them on a platter and watch the crowd gather around. These colorful, unique salad bundles are hard to resist!

Prosciutto Wrapped Arugula Appetizer Ingredients

You only need 4 ingredients for this recipe: arugula, prosciutto, lemon juice and parmesan cheese - plus a little olive oil, salt and pepper. The only challenge of this recipe is buying the right kind of prosciutto. 

What type of Prosciutto is best?

• For the best taste and texture, you'll want good quality imported Italian prosciutto and you'll want the thinnest possible slices that can be handled without tearing.
• While I can give you an estimate of how much prosciutto you'll need by weight, what's more helpful for determining the outcome, is to know how many slices you'll need and how thin the slices should be. 

If you buy pre-packaged prosciutto, pay attention to how the meat is sliced and the thickness of the slices. 

• Some brands, like Creminelli (pictured below right) slice their prosciutto paper thin - a lovely consistency but difficult to work with for a recipe such as this because the pieces are hard to separate from one another without tearing them. If you have patience though, it can be done and the result is excellent.
• Some brands have hard, thickly sliced prosciutto, which is also not ideal for this recipe. 
• My favorite prosciutto for making this appetizer is thinly sliced but not paper thin, such as the Citterio prosciutto pictured below left.  

If you have access to a deli counter that will slice prosciutto for you, you'll want them to slice it so you get approximately 2 slices for every ounce of prosciutto. So If you're buying 4 ounces of prosciutto, ideally you'll have 8 slices of prosciutto. 

How To Make This Prosciutto Wrapped Arugula Appetizer

• Slice the prosciutto into bacon-sized strips. Ideally you'll start with prosciutto slices that are between 3-4 inches wide and 5-6 inches long that can be sliced in half lengthwise, giving you two strips of prosciutto per slice. No worries if your prosciutto doesn't fit this description. Do your best to rip or slice it into strips that are about an inch or so wide and 4-6 inches long and you'll be good to go.
• Whisk up the simple dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, mustard, salt and pepper
• Toss the arugula with the dressing and a few tablespoons of grated parmesan.

• Place a small pile of arugula leaves about a half inch from the end of a strip of prosciutto - the end closest to you. Make sure some arugula leaves stick out about ¾ of an inch, on each side of the prosciutto. 
• Fold the end of the prosciutto over the arugula and press down to flatten the leaves underneath.

• Now it should be easy to roll up the arugula tightly, starting from the bottom, where the fold is, and working your way up. 

• This method of folding the prosciutto over the leaves before rolling, keeps the dressing on the arugula leaves and not all over your hands. (I learned this the hard way!)
• Roll the arugula leaves tightly in the prosciutto and then slice the roll in half, across the middle.
• Arrange prosciutto wrapped arugula bundles on a platter. Sprinkle them with extra parmesan cheese and black pepper, and serve.

Here's the Prosciutto Wrapped Arugula Appetizer Recipe. If you make this, I hope you'll come back to leave a star rating and a comment. I'd love to know what you think!