Mushroom Parmesan Risotto

Rich, creamy Mushroom Parmesan Risotto is the perfect meal for a cold fall or winter night. While this is a meatless dish, the sauteed mushrooms deliver a perfectly meaty vegetable bite. I love to serve this with a side of roasted brussels sprouts or winter squash and a nice light green salad. While this is almost always a main dish meal in our house, it works as a side dish as well. Pair it with roasted chicken or pork and I’m sure everyone at your dinner table will beg for seconds.

Risotto is one of those recipes that can be a bit intimidating until you actually try to cook it. Once you’re making it, you realize it’s not that difficult to master. The finished product should be a creamy mixture surrounding just cooked “al dente” rice. The creaminess comes from slow cooking starchy rice so that it creates its own sauce. That might sound complicated, but the secret to good risotto is really just a bit of elbow grease. It requires frequent stirring. You stir while the rice absorbs the stock a bit at a time. The key is to keep things moving so the starchy rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan and scorch.

Once you’ve stirred in a cup or two of stock, you’ll probably have the hang of the cooking method. Your job is really very simple — you just to make sure you keep things moving so nothing burns!

I prefer chicken stock for this recipe, but really any sort of stock will work. Homemade chicken stock obviously tastes the absolute best, but I rarely have any on hand. Storebought stock or stock made from bouillon will work perfectly well and you’ll end up with a perfectly delicious dish.

Mushroom Parmesan Risotto

3.6 from 38 votes

Recipe by Add Recipes

Course: Main

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

Parmesan makes this rice dish rich and creamy, and sauteed mushrooms add just the perfect umami note to make this a dish to savor.

Ingredients

• 8 cups Chicken stock

• 1 lb Mushrooms, sliced thin

• 2 cups Arborio or Carnaroli rice

• 1 cup Parmesan, grated

• 1 cup Water

• 1/2 cup Butter, divided

• 3 tablespoons Dry white wine

• 3 tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil, divided

• 3 cloves Garlic, minced

• 2 tablespoons Parsley, fresh minced

• 1 teaspoon Salt

• Salt & fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions

• Pour chicken stock into stock pot or large saucepan, place on burner over medium-low heat. Stock should not boil but remain at or below a low simmer.
• Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat add water, 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons butter, and mushrooms. Bring water to a simmer, stirring occasionally to coat mushrooms in water/oil/butter mixture. Cook at a simmer 5-6 minutes or until water evaporates.
• After water evaporates, allow mushrooms to cook to golden brown (add additional extra virgin olive oil if necessary) for 3-4 minutes. Season mushrooms with salt & fresh ground black pepper to taste. Remove cooked mushrooms from skillet and set aside.
• In same skillet over medium-low to medium heat, add dry white wine to deglaze, scraping up caramelized bits from bottom of skillet.
• Immediately add remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, garlic, and rice. Toast rice for 2-3 minutes or until rice begins to turn translucent and slightly change color. If garlic begins to brown, reduce heat. Stir in 1 teaspoon salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.
• Add 1 cup of simmering chicken stock, stirring to combine with rice. Continue to stir until stock is absorbed into rice, careful not to allow rice to stick or burn to bottom of skillet — adjust heat if necessary. Cook 1-2 minutes or until stock is absorbed, then add another cup of stock and repeat process of stirring until it is absorbed by rice. Continue to add stock using this method until all stock is used and rice is just tender. If stock is completely used before rice is tender, add hot water 1/2 cup at a time to finish cooking. Once cooked, remove risotto from heat.
• Stir Parmesan and remaining 2 tablespoons butter into risotto once it’s off the heat. Return mushrooms to the skillet and stir to combine with risotto. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if risotto tastes bland. Serve in soup bowls with minced fresh parsley sprinkled on top as garnish.

Notes

• Mushrooms may be substituted with your preferred variety of mushroom. Depending on type of mushroom used as substitute, cooking times in steps 2&3 may vary.
• Butter may be salted or unsalted according to your preference.
• Chicken stock may be substituted with vegetable stock, beef stock, turkey stock, or mushroom stock. Taste will change according to stock used.
• Parmesan may but substituted with asiago or romano.
• Dry white wine may be substituted with 1-2 teaspoons white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar.
• Not all rice is suitable to make risotto. Arborio or carnaroli are preferred, although any rice marketed as a “risotto” rice should work. Carnaroli rice can be difficult to find, but in our opinion it yields the best possible risotto.

I want to end this recipe post with a final word about seasoning. Risotto is one of those dishes that can just seem like stodgy porridge if you don’t add enough seasoning. The good news is, you don’t need anything fancy, just salt and pepper! I always advise people to taste any dish for seasoning before they serve it, but it’s rarely more important to do so than it is with risotto. So before you serve, try a spoonful. If it’s bland, that’s a very easy fix, you simply need more salt and pepper! Just add a little at a time until you’re happy with the taste. Remember the goal when seasoning with salt is that your food should simply taste better, not salty.