This classic Italian rice dish is creamy and hearty, getting its big flavor from a variety of mushrooms, as well as garlic, balsamic vinegar, and tarragon.
Mushroom Risotto
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4 to 6 (makes about 6 cups)
Ingredients
- 7 cups water
- 1 cup chopped shallots, leeks, or yellow or white onion
- 6 medium shiitake mushrooms, sliced (about 2¼ cups)
- 1 medium portabella mushroom, sliced into small pieces (about 2 cups)
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic (4 or 5 medium cloves)
- 1½ cups dry/uncooked Arborio rice
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar (use ⅛ cup if you prefer a milder flavor)
- 1 teaspoon granulated onion
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh tarragon, plus a little more for garnish
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest (optional)
- 1 ounce raw, unsalted cashews, ground (about ¼ cup for garnish; optional)
Instructions
- Bring the 7 cups of water to a low boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Reduce the heat so the water is steaming but not boiling. Leave it on the stovetop.
- On a separate burner, heat 1 tablespoon of water in a 4- to 5-quart, heavy-duty saucepan over medium-high heat. When the water starts to sputter, add the shallots (or leeks or onions), and cook while stirring for 3 to 5 minutes until soft, adding a little water, as needed, to prevent sticking.
- Add all of the mushrooms and garlic, and continue stirring for about 3 minutes, adding water as needed. Add the rice and stir until the edges of the rice are translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar and granulated onion, and stir until you can no longer see any vinegar in the bottom of the pot.
- Pour in 1 cup of the hot water, stirring until it has been almost completely absorbed (2 to 3 minutes). Continue to add 1 cup of water at a time, stirring nearly continuously. This gradual technique is the key to getting the rice to release its starch, thereby making the dish creamy. This process takes 30 to 40 minutes and uses 6 to 7 cups of the hot water. The risotto is ready when the rice is soft but still has a bit of chew to it.
- Stir in the tarragon and lemon zest (if using). If desired, garnish with chopped tarragon and/or cashews (grind nuts with a rotary cheese grater, which gives the effect of parmesan cheese). When reheating leftovers, stir in a little water or unsweetened nondairy milk, as the risotto will have thickened considerably.
Notes
If you don't have access to fresh tarragon, you can use basil instead, but in my opinion, the tarragon really makes this dish.
If you want to use salt-free, homemade vegetable stock in place of the water, you may.
If you want to use salt-free, homemade vegetable stock in place of the water, you may.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: ⅙ recipe (1 cup) Calories: 230 Fat: 3.4g Saturated fat: 0.4g Carbohydrates: 45.0g Sugar: 4.7g Sodium: 20mg Fiber: 2.8g Protein: 8.2g Cholesterol: 0
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must make this – last night I had a grilled portobello mushroom with sautéed mushrooms on it so this is right up my alley. Looks wonderful!!!
Could I use 2 tsp of dried tarragon when the mushrooms are added if I don’t have access to fresh?
Sure! Let me know if it works well; I’ll add it to the recipe. 🙂
White arborio makes the creamiest risotto . If you use short brown rice because you want to eat healthier it will not be creamy and you need to cooked it for 50 minutes . I add some cauliflower or zucchini to create some creaminess and some nutritional yeast or some vegan cheese .
oooh, i really like the addition of the cauliflower and zucchini to create creaminess. I make many cauliflower based sauces, but never thought about that or zucchini in this context. THANK YOU for the excellent tip!
I made this and it was delicious. I’m not a big fan of shiitakes so I just used more of the other. Also hubby allergic to onion family foods (except garlic) and this dish was still very flavorful. I didn’t use all of the water/broth, so saved it in the fridge to add to the leftovers for reheating as it gets VERY sticky after it cools and sits.
Thanks for the feedback, Jan-Marie! 😉
I’ve read that arborio rice is a white rice — which I assumed meant the bran was removed. Is that correct? I avoid all flours and “broken grains” these days. If arborio is a broken grain, I may try this recipe using short grain brown rice and deal with the overnight soaking and longer cooking time. Thanks for another tasty-looking recipe, Cathy!
It is a white rice, which I rarely eat, but I am fine with once in a while. Let me know how the brown rice works. 🙂 Thanks!
I love the thoughtful reply Cathy. Basically how I think about this is “if I eat an A+ diet all week long and one night my diet is an A because I added a white arborio, I can live with that as I have a pretty good average going for myself” 🙂
I’ve just made this following your recipe. It is really delicious. Wanna say big thanks to you!
Thank you Cindy! 😉
Planning to make this. Just curious, did you use white balsamic?
No, just regular. 🙂 But you can probably use white.
Just trying this in England – using “a cup” same cup for rice and other ingredients, seems like a huge amount of vinegar and is not doing well at the moment with one cup water to go and its cooked?? Any suggestions. We are at the beginning of getting used to the SOS….
Hi Julia, not sure what you mean; but the vinegar is just one-quarter cup (1/4 cup). You can keep adding water and cooking until the rice is tender; not sure where it went off the tracks. Sorry. 🙂
I did just use one quarter cup of balsamic. Followed all the proportions. But it ended up just too much vinegar flavour. ? But thanks will keep trying,,
The balsamic vinegar mostly cooks off in step 5, leaving its sweet flavors and less of the vinegar flavor. This is often done using cooking wine in other risotto recipes, but we do not use alcohol/wine at my center; but it’s the same idea. If you don’t want any vinegar flavor, just leave it out or use less. When the dish is complete, you should not be tasting vinegar, just a slight sweet tanginess, which is characteristic of ristottos.
Perhaps I didn’t cook it off enough in step 5…. thanks for the explanation.
I made this a few days ago and it was delicious and oh so easy to make!
hi cathy – do you think this would work in the slow cooker?
thanks
I’ve not done it, but I see there are recipes online when I search “risotto in crock pot.” Look through a few and give it a try. 😉
Made this and liked it prior to adding the tarragon. I think next time we will skip the tarragon and use maybe basil, as it changed the flavor of it drastically to something we did not care for.
Thanks Stacy. Tarragon is a strong flavor for sure (but in a good way for my tastes); substituting with basil is a good variation. Thanks!
I tried this recipe but I used brown Jasmine rice and it didn’t turn out creamy. I felt it was a flop and put it away in the fridge. Two days later I took it out for supper. The taste was amazing!!! Even Hubby, who is still a confirmed meat eater and dairy lover, loved it! Like I said, I wasn’t convinced at first but wow. The little bit of lemon zest and the tarragon really makes this dish sing.
Great comment, thanks Martine! 😉
I tried this recipe but I used brown Jasmine rice and it didn’t turn out creamy. I felt it was a flop and put it away in the fridge. Two days later I took it out for supper. The taste was amazing!!! Even Hubby, who is still a confirmed meat eater and dairy lover, loved it! Like I said, I wasn’t convinced at first but wow. The little bit of lemon zest and the tarragon really makes this dish sing.
Do you have pressure cooker instructions for it?
No, sorry. 🙁
Just made this and found the balsamic vinegar overpowering. If I make it again, I’ll halve the amount. Otherwise, it was nice and creamy.
The flavors in this dish have elicited different responses. That the tarragon is too much and also the lemon zest, but it’s a personal preference. I like the strong flavor of the vinegar (and lemon and tarragon), but if you don’t care for it, just scale it back next time you make it. I am also guessing that different balsamic vinegars have different intensities and qualities. But this recipe like all others on this blog is open to any variations that make you happy; so tweak until your heart’s content! 😉
Awesome !, i really like the addition of the cauliflower and zucchini to create creaminess. I make many cauliflower based sauces, but never thought about that or zucchini in this context.
Thanks.
Thanks Barbara! This recipe doesn’t call for cauliflower or zucchini; were you making a different recipe?
Instead of adding 7 cups of water 1 cup at a time and standing over the stove for 1/2 an hour or so, I’d try cooking the rice the ordinary way, then near the end of cooking I’d add maybe 2 cups of water + 2 T. of white rice flour and let it cook, approaching the stove and stirring once in a while.
As you can see, some of us haven’t studied classical cooking techniques and we don’t want to spend all that time in front of the stove. LOL
Tks. I like your oil free cooking suggestions. I have to stop with all the fat and oil.
You can do it however you like, of course, but the idea with risotto is that the more you stir this particular type of rice (arborio), the creamier it will become. It’s laborious, for sure, but the technique delivers a great, creamy texture in lieu of cheese, cream/butter/oil, or processed thickeners (like corn starch). I am a self-trained cook, I just looked online to see how others made their risotto. 🙂
The instructions don’t mention when to add the granulated onion?
Thanks Dana! I added it in step 5. 🙂
YUM! made this last night but couldn’t find fresh tarragon so added some dried (half the amount as it’s quite a strong flavoured herb). Even my husband came back for a 2nd helping. I found that 5 cups of stock/water was enough, I used a vegan style chicken stock.
I need more practice!! Came out way to stiff and sticky. Maybe next time. Nice flavor though I did cut back on the balsamic. I think the quality of the balsamic might make a difference also.
Your mushroom risotto looks so yummy! I love a good risotto and mushrooms are beautiful.