Easy Parmesan Risotto

Risotto may sound intimidating, but I promise this parmesan risotto is easy to make! Serve it with any protein and immediately make the meal sound fancy! 🙂

When I first started cooking I would watch a lot of Hell's Kitchen and Gordon Ramsey was always yelling about the risotto being made incorrectly. I'd never had it, but how hard could it be to make a rice dish?

So, I tried out a few risotto recipes. We liked them and I kept making them. Then a few years ago I was lucky enough to eat at Hell's Kitchen in Las Vegas, so of course I had to try the risotto. It was delicious and pretty similar to what I had been making at home.

What is risotto?

Risotto is an Italian dish made with rice, typically arborio rice, white wine, stock, butter, onion and parmesan cheese. The rice is cooked slowly with additions of chicken stock to get the creamy texture. It can be served alone as a main dish, but is frequently topped with seafood such as shrimp or scallops.

🥘 Ingredients for this recipe

• arborio rice - this is the most commonly used rice for risotto
• vegetable stock - can be replaced with chicken stock
• white wine - dry white wine is best
• onion - finely diced
• garlic - mince your own cloves or use the pre-minced kind
• olive oil - extra virgin or light is fine
• butter - unsalted is my go-to, but make sure to taste before adding more salt if you use salted butter
• parmesan cheese - freshly grated parmesan cheese is great, but you won't ruin the dish by using the stuff in the shaker can
• fresh parsley - dried can be used as well
• salt and pepper

🔪Instructions for this recipe

• Heat stock in a saucepan over low heat.
• Add olive oil, onion and garlic to a large skillet over medium heat. Cook for 2-3 minutes until garlic is fragrant and onions are translucent.
• Add rice to the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently until rice is toasted and golden in color.
• Next, add in the white wine and reduce the heat to medium low, stirring frequently, until it is absorbed by the rice.
• Then add in stock and let the rice absorb it. Stir every minute or so and when the rice leaves a creamy trail, like in the bottom right image above, add additional stock. Repeat until all stock has been used, then stir in the butter and parmesan cheese, stirring until melted.
• Divide onto plates, season with salt and pepper and garnish with fresh chopped parsley.

Tips for making easy parmesan risotto

• It's easier for the rice to absorb the stock if it is warm. Don't skip the first step of warming up the stock in a saucepan!
• Rice, other than instant rice, takes a while to cook and become soft enough to eat. Don't rush making risotto, as there's nothing tasty about crunchy rice. On average, risotto takes 30 minutes to make. Sometimes it takes 25 minutes and other times it takes 40 minutes. The temperature of your stove comes into play here.
• Nearly all of the stock must be absorbed before adding more. My technique is to stir in the stock, let it sit until it begins to bubble, then stir again. Repeat that process until nearly all of the stock is absorbed and when you push the rice to the side there is a glistening trail left in the pan.
• Add the stock in slowly! I never add more than ½ cup of stock at a time to make sure the rice can fully absorb it before adding more.

Serving Suggestions and Substitutions

• Pan-seared scallops
• Garlic Oil Pan-Seared Scallops
• Peppercorn-Crusted Filet with Gremolata
• Try additions like: mushrooms or asparagus
• Onions can be replaced with shallots
• White wine can be replaced with red wine, but your risotto will be pinkish

Recipe