How To Make Perfect Risotto Every Time

This is a risotto fundamentals post that will teach you how to make the perfect risotto every time by helping you understand what each step in the cooking of risotto accomplishes.

I include a recipe for a basic risotto at the end but I highly recommend you read all of the notes if you're looking to master making the perfect risotto at home on your own as I cannot include all of the intricacies of risotto or the reasons behind them in a recipe card. Although, if you must...

I recommend starting with a basic risotto because not only is it absolutely delightful as-is with minimal ingredients, but starting with the basics helps you master making the perfect risotto before moving on to more complicated versions.

[perfectpullquote align="full" bordertop="false" cite="" link="" color="" class="" size=""]I love the simplicity that drives traditional Italian cuisine. I think that simplicity is best demonstrated in risotto, a simple rice dish that can easily go wrong if you do not follow a few basic but key steps.[/perfectpullquote]

But why should you listen to me?

No, I'm not a chef. But I have made risotto countless times, constantly working on and experimenting with my recipe. I have notes on what I have loved and what I hated (like red wine.)

Risotto is a passion and obsession of mine. To me, it is the ultimate comfort food. I barely eat grains, but risotto will always be an exception.

So here we go: how to make the perfect risotto every time.

The Perfect Risotto Starts With The Best Meat Stock

Different varieties of meat stock can be used but chicken stock is most common. Vegetable and seafood stock is also used depending on the risotto recipe, but I have actually grown to personally prefer a deeply roasted and flavoured beef bone stock above all when making my own basic risotto.

You really cannot get away with an inferior stock. It will ruin the risotto.

This means homemade or bought from a high-quality grocer that makes real meat stocks from scratch. The stuff on shelves in cartons will ruin your risotto. This is not a stew or soup with many more ingredients added that can mask a less-than-stellar or flavourful stock.

Adding extra gelatin will not mimic true stock either.

So start with making a good homemade stock. If it is your first risotto, I recommend a chicken stock.

Have Everything Ready At The Stove

The risotto will not wait for you. So measure out your rice and wine. Heat up your stock. Finely dice your onions. Microplane your Parmigiano-Reggiano. Cut up your butter.

Keep everything by your stove except the butter and cheese. They need to be kept in the fridge -- I'll explain why further down.

Use High-Quality Risotto Rice

And use only Italian short-grain rice varieties:

• Arborio 

  The most common of the varieties. Chances are, you will have arborio rice in your local grocery store no matter where you live. It is not as starchy as other varieties and does not absorb liquid as readily.

• Carnaroli 

  My favourite rice for risotto and the preferred variety across most of Italy. Carnaroli rice makes for the best, the creamiest, the most perfect risotto. It is also harder to overcook this more forgiving variety. If you can find it, buy it. You will not regret it, especially if you have only ever had arborio rice in the past.

• Vialone Nano

  The preferred risotto rice in the Veneto region of Italy, this is my second favourite variety. In my experience, it is only slightly less forgiving and less starchy then carnaroli. It makes for a lovely, creamy risotto. If it weren't for the rice grains cooking up much plumper than the other varieties, I doubt I could taste the difference in a blind taste-test.

• Baldo 

  Grown in the Piedmonte in Italy, Baldo is not as starchy as other varieties and thus produces a less creamy risotto where the grains hold more of their structure. I have read that it does not scorch as readily if toasted, but I have never had a problem with scorched rice so I'm not sure about that benefit. I need to experiment more with Baldo to really get a feel for how it is best used.

Remember: NEVER rinse your risotto rice.

Why is this important? Italian risotto rice has a higher proportion of amylopectin, a type of sticky starch that is vital for the final creamy texture of a great risotto. Long-grain rice like basmati has a higher proportion of the less-sticky starch amylose.  

Butter or Olive Oil?

I use a mixture of both butter and olive oil to start the risotto, and I always finish off with only butter. I use high-quality grass-fed butter as alongside the stock, the butter flavour comes through in a risotto.

Never finish a risotto with oil after it has cooked. It will just become greasy and unpleasant and ruin any chance for the creaminess you are seeking.

Italian cooks have a passionate aversion to dairy being used in seafood recipes, but I am not Italian and this is one convention I'm firmly against.

Butter is a perfect complement to seafood risottos using lobster, crab, shrimp, prawns, langostino, or mussels. As is Parmigiano-Reggiano much of the time.

Fight me. Or just think for yourself and try it.

If you wish to be a purist, use only olive oil with seafood risottos, but I recommend breaking out of that mould after you have experimented a few times to see how you personally feel about the taste.

Start Your Risotto in a Cold Sauté Pan or French/Dutch Oven

I always use my 4.7L Le Creuset French Oven. If you are using a sauté pan (stainless or carbon steel is fine) make sure it is 10-inches or more in diameter. Do not use anything smaller. And do not use Teflon or non-stick.

Start your risotto by adding the first ingredients (butter and/or olive oil, onions) at the same time in a cold cooking vessel. Then turn on the heat and proceed.

Why? This is a crucial first step to a creamy risotto, which is your ultimate goal. I do not know the science behind this. Perhaps it has something to do with it being easier to not accidentally crisp or brown the onions as you would if adding them to a pan of hot oil/butter.

You do not want crisped or browned onions. You want them to emulsify and completely disappear into the risotto. It happens almost like magic right towards the end, usually just after you've decided they won't and that you've done something wrong.

Toast Your Risotto Rice Grains

As the onions turn translucent, add the rice and slowly tickle the grains around the pot with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula. Do not brown the rice or allow the onions to brown either. Occasionally one or two pieces of onion will brown during this step, but this will not ruin the dish. Lower the heat slightly and continue.

As the rice toasts, the developing flavours from the butter/oil/onion begin permeating the rice grains making this an essential step.

The rice will start to crackle and make a low popping sound, as well as an infrequent faint whistling noise. This is what you are waiting for. It will only take 2-3 minutes and then you must immediately add your wine.

Can I substitute shallots for onions?

NO. The risotto will take on a sickeningly sweet flavour. I do not recommend this.

Wine or No Wine?

I always add white wine to my risotto. I actually tried red wine a couple of times to see how it would do -- I honestly hated it. The rice grains turned an unappetizing grey colour and the flavour of red wine was too pronounced in the finished product.

But maybe I'm mistaken and someone can point me to a fantastic red wine risotto? I am always open to trying new things and admitting I was wrong.

Some chefs leave out wine entirely claiming it can become bitter. I have never personally experienced that bitterness, but if you do, the culprit may be the wine. So try it without next time.

I have made risottos with and without white wine, but I very much prefer it with. I like a hint of acidity and freshness in the background, and this is what wine brings.

I have tried risotto with freshly squeezed lemon and once with apple cider vinegar instead of white wine -- it's not the worst thing, but it can quickly overpower the other flavours and add too much acidity.

I'm not a purist when it comes to wine variety. I prefer reds for drinking so I only really ever have Marlborough Sauvignon Blancs for whites and this is all I have ever used in my risotto as a result. I'm sure it's not the best possible choice or a traditional varietal, but I love the flavour.

In any case, the wine is added immediately after the risotto is suitably toasted and it is cooked off completely at a higher heat before you add your stock.

If you are not using wine, you would be immediately adding your hot stock after the toasting step.

Use HOT Stock

Do not use cold or room temperature stock. Do not use boiling stock. Bring your stock to a boil as you do the other steps -- and then turn the heat off and leave it. It will come to the perfect temperature by the time you need to use it.

Salt The Risotto

Okay, so this one might be controversial: I salt the risotto as I cook.

Risotto recipes will recommend that you salt at the end or maybe only once at the beginning. If your stock is already salted -- this is wise advice. Definitely don't start throwing salt around like crazy. And remember, the Parmigiano-Reggiano (if using) is also salty so you need to be careful.

My homemade meat stocks are never salted because I use stocks in multiple recipes throughout the week and don't want to risk over-salting any of them.

If you're using salted butter (which you absolutely should not, but whatever) then definitely do NOT add salt.

I add a tiny pinch of salt after each step. Yes, it is hard to quantify what a tiny pinch of salt looks like. Unfortunately, it is one of those things that can come with making a recipe so many times.

Err on the side of caution. If you're unsure, use only a small pinch in the beginning when you add the rice to the oil/butter/onion for toasting. Then taste and adjust at the very end by adding more if necessary.

Italian cuisine makes liberal use of salt, but it does not cross the line into over-salting. You will not be able to recover your risotto if that happens.

If you make note of how much salt you add at the end, you can remember that for next time and salt throughout the cooking process.

And yes I think there is enough of a difference in taste to learn how much to salt throughout the cooking process. Others will disagree.

Finish The Risotto With COLD Butter & Parmigiano-Reggiano

This is the final trick for the creamiest risotto possible. And it is crucial.

This is why it is important to read through the recipe notes, long as they may be, and this is definitely a long post.

(But I did omit meandering stories of my childhood for your convenience although I was very tempted to tell you how in Croatia we call risotto rižot and my mother made the best chicken and mushroom rižot for me growing up) 🙂

Use a microplaner to grate your Parmigiano-Reggiano and then keep it in the fridge while you cook.

For the butter, cut it up into smaller pieces and also store it in the fridge.

When your perfectly cooked risotto comes off from the heat, you will let it rest for 1-2 minutes and then beat in the cold butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano. A silicone spatula works the best for this but your trusty wooden spoon will suffice.

This final step makes for the creamiest risotto ever, I promise.

If you followed these steps exactly, and the onion was not over-cooked but allowed to melt and emulsify with the wine and stock, you will have a restaurant-worthy, creamy, flavourful risotto. And you will now be able to make perfect risotto every time at home by yourself.

Invest in Quality Dried Porcini Mushrooms

After you have mastered how to make the perfect risotto, I recommend trying a risotto with dried porcini mushrooms. Invest in high-quality ones and then add them (in their dried form) at the same time you add the rice grains for the toasting step.

The dried mushrooms will absorb the correct amount of moisture from the stock in just the right amount of time it takes the risotto to cook. This risotto variant works wonderfully with rich beef stock!

I will post more of my favourite risotto recipes over time, but for now -- enjoy this basic risotto flavoured only with homemade meat stock, butter, olive oil, onion, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. If you have never had a basic risotto, this is a revelation in how Italian simplicity shines through with quality ingredients. 

This is still the risotto I make most often.

Buon appetito/Dobar Tek!

What do you think? Am I missing a vital trip or trick that you utilize to make the best, the most perfect risotto every time? Let me know in the comments.

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