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A light and comforting meal that you can have ready in no time! Vegetable Risotto is perfect for those warmer spring evenings! You could easily serve this as a vegetarian meal or as a side with some Baked Chicken Legs or Roast Chicken.
Vegetable Risotto| Easy one-pan meal
Vegetable Risotto is tasty, creamy, cheesy, and simply delightful. AAAND, not hard to make at all! It’s one of those things that sounds really fancy but at the end of the day, it’s just rice and vegetables. Don’t be intimidated. It’s really simple to pull this one-off. Simply perfect for a busy weeknight dinner that is easy, filling, and just hits the spot!
Main Ingredients Needed
To make Vegetable Risotto, start by gathering these ingredients from you pantry. I like to make this dish when I have left over veggies in my fridge that I need to use up.
- Savory Butter & Olive Oil Sauté Express Sauté Starter – if you can’t find this replace with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
- Onion + Carrots – sautéd together bring a flavorful combo.
- Arborio Rice – is used in risotto dishes because of its higher starch levels, which gives to the creamy texture in a risotto.
- Chicken Broth or Vegetable Broth – adds flavor and helps create the creamy texture.
- Heavy Cream – brings the rice and veggies together in a creamy sauce.
- Frozen Peas + Asparagus – I like to use these veggies together, but you can use whatever veggies you have on hand and need to use up.
- Parmesan Cheese – grated. This adds a nutty cheesy flavor, yum!
- Salt + Pepper – to taste.
Variations
You can use whatever vegetables you have on hand for this recipe! Scour your fridge (or freezer) to see if you have any of these on hand:
- mushrooms
- zucchini or yellow squash
- cauliflower
- broccoli
- edamame
- spinach
- celery
How To Make Vegetable Risotto | Directions
Vegetable Risotto is a wonderful one-pan meal that is ready to serve in 30 minutes! For full details see the recipe card down below 🙂
Step 1: Sauté Onion in Hot Skillet + Add Rice
Preheat large skillet or large pot and sauté onion in melted Savory Butter & Olive Oil Sauté Express® Sauté Starter over medium heat. Pour in arborio rice and stir to incorporate evenly.
Step 2: Add Carrots + Chicken Broth
Stir in carrots and sauté until the rice starts to get toasty and onion and carrot start to get tender. Pour in 1 cup of chicken broth at a time, stirring frequently until the rice soaks up the liquid. Stirring is what makes the risotto creamy!
Step 3: Stir
After a few minutes, the rice will have slurped up the chicken stock and you can add in another cup. Keep stirring as you cook the risotto and after the 4 cups of stock have been absorbed, the rice should be just about cooked completely. Rice should be cooked al dente.
Step 4: Add Veggies, Cheese and Heavy Cream
Stir in heavy cream, peas, asparagus {or any extra veggies you have in your fridge} and parmesan cheese. Taste and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. Serve immediately. Feel free to top your risotto with extra cheese. Mmmm….so tasty!
Storing Leftover Vegetable Risotto
Vegetable Risotto will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for 5 days. Which makes this a great make-ahead meal or meal prep for the whole week! Consider making a double batch if meal prepping sounds up your alley, that way you can have dinner and leftovers!
More Risotto Recipes to Try!
This dinner is light, yet comforting. You’ll want to lick your plate clean :). Be sure to print and save this recipe! The printable recipe card is below. Enjoy, friends! 🙂
Vegetable Risotto
Ingredients
- 2 squares Savory Butter & Olive Oil Saute Express Saute Starter or 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 cup arborio rice
- 1 cup carrot diced
- 4 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup asparagus sliced + steamed
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese grated
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat large skillet with high sides over medium heat. Sauté onion in melted Savory Butter & Olive Oil Sauté Express Sauté Starter over medium heat. Pour in arborio rice and stir to incorporate evenly.
- Stir in carrot and sauté 5 minutes until rice starts to toast and onion and carrot start to get tender. Pour in 1 cup of chicken broth, stirring frequently until rice soaks up the liquid.
- Continue in this fashion until all the chicken broth has been absorbed by the rice. Rice should be cooked al dente.
- Stir in cream, peas, asparagus and parmesan cheese. Taste and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.
I have never had or made risotto! Will give this a try….and those saute starters look so convenient! Definitely trying those.
I’m hoping I can find those starters around here! I make my own croutons – I’m wondering if I could use these in place of my usual butter & oil.
I love risotto and I would love to try this recipe!
I love risotto and yours looks delicious, it would probably be the first thing I’d make with a saute express kit because it looks so yummy 🙂
I would totally make this!!!
Mmmm….I think I would make the risotto!
I live in Minnesota and it is snowing as I look out my window today….. on the 19th of April. So I think I will go home and make my one pot chicken soup. I saute the chicken and vegtables in the Land O’Lakes Savory Butter & Olive Oil Sauté Express and add chicken stock. In no time we have a nice warm dinner on a cold snowy day.
It funny I made risotto on Sunday and I did cook my onions in that exact saute starter. It was fabulous.
I love risotto I make it all the time and now that you’ve blog about the saute starters I make everything with them they’re so good.
I would make this risotto w the saute starters. Looks so yummy.
I haven’t made risotto before but this Springtime Risotto looks really good!
Mmm, this looks so good!! I’ve never made risotto, I need to fix that by making this. My favorite one-pan recipe would probably be my shrimp stir fry.
Awesome risotto, my favorite one pan risotto reciepe has sunchokes in it!
I would like to try the risotto recipe, but with different veggies 🙂
I would love to try this recipe sometime. I like to make stir fry as a one pan meal.
This risotto looks so good! i love the spring time veg!
I am going to experiment with shrimp but that risotto recipe has really peaked my interest so I may just have to add shrimp to it. Looks wonderful!
I love risotto, so I’d use the Saute Starter to make a mushroom, chicken risotto. Yum!
well i can’t make up any recipes on my own haha but i’d ddefinitely follow yours for this easy springtime risotto! looks fantastic!!!
I would definitely try this recipe first!
I love risotto and this one looks delicious! I would definitely try this Sauté Starter as a new way to get started.
I would totally make this recipe. Perfect for Spring!!!
I’m going to make this Springtime Risotto, it looks yummy 😉
I’ve never made a risotto, but love to eat them, so I think I’d have to give your risotto recipe a try! Looks delicious and easy!
I’m gonna put this recipe on my meal plan for next week. This looks so good and Hubby loves rice so I know it’ll be a big hit.
I would make the Springtime Risotto in hopes that spring finally comes to Wisconsin! 🙂
I’m a big fan of making risotto – I actually find all of the stirring and slow cooking calming! One of my other favorite one pan meals is a sort of taco salad stir fry with bell pepper, onion, chicken and beans (which I then place on a bed of lettuce). Easy and yummy!
Yummy! I would make this recipe! I have some risotto now and I have never cooked any! This would be the perfect opportunity!
The risotto you just made with lots of veggies and maybe some chicken. It looks so tasty!
I would love to make this recipe. I recently tried making a mushroom risotto and loved it, and I was just looking for new risotto recipes to try. This one is perfect! Thanks!
Ha – I’m with you on sweet pickles! This risotto sounds completely wonderful! 🙂
This is so lovely, Lauren!
since I have never tried the saute express for risotto I would try this springtime recipe – I love risotto. I am trying to find my mom’s fricasee chicken recipe and that was a one pot meal.
When I want meat and i don’t always I like to make an easy stove top tamale pie that is one dish or “kay’s chicken” that is baked with one can of cream of chicken, chicken breast, slices of swiss cheese and topped with breadcrumbs.
Cheese enchiladas since it is approaching Cinco de Mayo are easy one pot meal too. Oh, I can go on all of a sudden 🙂
This looks so yummy! So far I’ve only made chicken and fish with the saute starter, but I’m planning to make a shrimp pasta with the lemon butter flavor this week. Our favorite one pan recipe is chili cheese macaroni.
Your Risotto looks wonderful, I’m going to give it a try..it has always seemed
intimidating to me.
I am such a huge fan of Risotto, but I hate peas. I know, I’m 25 and still won’t eat my peas. 😉 However, I think I would love this with another veggie subbed in!!
Mmmm…this looks so good! Perfect Spring recipe!
My favorite one pot meal, that can also use the sauteed starters – either savory butter and olive oil or garlic and herb, is my sausage skilled dinner. Boil pasta and set aside, then melt the sauteed starter in place of regular oil or butter, saute Italian sausage or spicy sausage until browned and cooked through, while cooking add in salt, pepper, Italian seasonings of choice and paprika. Once cooked add a can of basil and garlic diced tomatoes, lower the year, cover and simmer. Once the tomatoes have started to heat through, add the pasta back into the pot and cover once again long enough to soak up some of the juices. Top with a sprinkling of parmesan or mozzarella cheese! And done! Finish the meal off with a side salad and some fresh baked Italian or French bread or some garlic bread.
I would make this, because it looks wonderful!
This risotto looks pretty wonderful, so I think I’d make this with saute starter!
Yum!! I love this! Loving all the veggies!
I think this spring risotto looks amazing and I’d love to make it.
This sounds soooo good! I love a good risotto and this one looks awesome!
Mmm! This looks amazing. My husband loves risotto but I’ve never made it before. I should give this a try!