Hey all! Anyone else love comfort food? Of course you do , who doesn’t! 🙂 For me, risotto has always been a favorite comfort food. I love how creamy and filling it is and just thinking about it now makes me want a bowl of it asap!
I use to make risotto all the time in college (before I was vegan) and make it pretty traditionally with chicken stock, cream and parmesan cheese. Nowadays, I still keep it as traditional and simple as possible, only now I use vegetable stock and no dairy.
The mushrooms in this risotto add a delicious meaty texture that I love and adds SO much flavor. It is honestly my favorite way to make it although other veggies in risotto are also fabulous such as asparagus, roasted garlic, leeks, etc.
Now I don’t know about you, but if you are ever feeling stressed or anxious, risotto is a great dish to make as you have to be stirring it very regularly. It is almost therapeutic for me and when I need to release some stress, risotto is one of my go-to meals– along with some yoga and mediation too 🙂
For risotto you need to use a short grain rice. The best to use in my opinion is arborio rice. It absorbs a lot of liquid, which means more flavor, and cooks in about 20-25 minutes. You can find this at almost any grocery store.
This recipe is my quick way of making mushroom risotto, using just vegetable stock. However, if you have more time on your hands, you can boil up some dried mushrooms or the stems from the chopped mushrooms to make mushroom stock which will also add a depth of flavor to this dish.
We start off this meal by sautéing some onions, mushrooms and garlic in a large pot until translucent and cooked. You can cook them in about a tablespoon of oil, or just with some water if you want to keep it oil-free.
In the meantime, heat up your stock. If you’re using vegetable stock from a box, heat it up either on the stove or in the microwave. I usually do this but didn’t have it on hand for this recipe so I used my trusted Better Than Bouillon- Seasoned Vegetable Base, added it to some hot water and wa-la! Instant vegetable stock!
After your onions, mushrooms and garlic are cooked to your liking, remove them from the pan and set aside. In the same hot pan, add in your Arborio rice and sauté for just 1-2 minutes until LIGHTLY golden. Watch this the whole time as it will burn if you’re not careful. Once they look lightly golden, add in 1 cup of stock and start to stir. You’ll notice that the first cup of stock will soak up pretty quickly. After almost fully absorbed, add in your next cup. Continue to stir and add stock until you have none left. Stir, stir, stir to incorporate all the liquid.
Once all 3 cups are absorbed, taste the rice to check for doneness. If it still is too al dente and hard, add another ½ cup of either vegetable stock or water- or wine if its been one of those days! HA!
Add the mushrooms, garlic and onion back in the pot with the rice along with your seasonings and mix to combine. Taste to see if it needs any more salt or pepper and serve while nice and hot!
This serves two if you are having it as a meal- or 4-6 if as a side dish. Honestly, when I make risotto I want it as my whole meal! I’ll usually have a salad as an appetizer and then my risotto as my main meal. YUM.
Creamy Mushroom Risotto
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 8 oz mushrooms sliced
- 1 cup arborio rice
- 3 cups vegetable stock heated
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
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Begin by sautéing the onion, garlic and mushrooms in a large sauce pan. Cook for about 5 minutes until soft and translucent. Remove from pan and set aside.
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Add the arborio rice to the hot pan and cook while stirring for 1-2 minutes until lightly toasted. Watch this closely as it could burn fast!
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Add in 1 cup of your hot vegetable stock to the rice and stir, stir, stir. The rice will absorb the liquid fairly quickly.
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After the first cup is absorbed, add in your next cup of hot stock and continue to stir. It will be a little slower this time. Once, absorbed, add in your last cup of stock.
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Add in the mushrooms, onions and garlic back to the pot and mix through.
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Taste the rice. If the rice is too al dente, add about 1/2 cup more stock or water and let cook.
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Add in salt and pepper to taste and serve warm!
Recipe Notes
This is a very simple risotto. Feel free to add in some dried herbs! I love to add in thyme or italian seasoning 🙂
Enjoy!
Xo, Melissa
