Smoked Salmon Risotto (Instant Pot or Stove-Top)

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When you need an impressive dinner, you can’t go wrong with this smoked salmon risotto! Topped with tender smoked salmon and fresh herbs and finished with a squeeze of bright lemon juice, this elegant risotto is perfect for an at-home date night or fancy dinner party with friends. And despite its gourmet feel, making this risotto is surprisingly simple whether you use the Instant Pot or the classic stove-top method.

Looking down on a bowl of smoked salmon risotto with a small vase of white flowers and a gold spoon on the left.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Ingredients
Step-by-Step Instructions
Recipe FAQs
Expert Tips
Perfect Pairing
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Two proven cooking methods for your convenience: I love the leisurely process of making a risotto on the stove-top, and it’s obviously great if you don’t have an Instant Pot. That said, the Instant Pot does make a wonderful risotto without all that stirring, and it significantly cuts the cooking time.

Fresh flavors but oh-so comforting: Smoked salmon, herbs and lemon are some of spring and summer’s best flavors, but just because it’s outside of fall and winter doesn’t mean we have to totally abandon decadent comfort food. This smoked salmon delivers on both fronts. And while you’re at it, make sure you try my spring risotto as well!

Makes you look like a superstar chef: Risotto is often served at many fine dining hotspots, which inherently makes it seem more difficult than it actually is, especially if you use that trusty Instant Pot. Everyone will be instantly impressed when you serve this gourmet meal, but it can be our little secret how simple it was to prepare.

Related: For more elegant dinner ideas, try these smoked lobster tails, braised red wine short ribs and morel mushroom pasta.

Ingredients

Arborio rice: Risotto is made from arborio rice. Generally, if you see a package called risotto, that’s risotto in a box, which we don’t want. Also, make sure you don’t get just any kind of white rice – those other rice varieties lack the right starch to develop that cream sauce. Get the real thing and reach for arborio rice.

Smoked salmon: While you’re certainly welcome to use your favorite type of smoked salmon, I prefer a lox style.

White wine: Pick up a dry white wine here. Pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc are wonderful cooking wines with a nice acidity to add some zip.

Parmesan: I love the flavor Parmesan adds to risotto, but you can totally substitute it for your favorite cheese, like fontina or Gruyere, or use a combination of cheeses.

Seafood stock: To best complement the smoked salmon, I love using a seafood stock. Luckily for you, I have a homemade seafood stock recipe that’s loaded with flavor, and you can make a big batch and store it in the freezer. This way, you always have the absolute best seafood stock on hand.

You can also head to Amazon and buy Better Than Bouillon Fish Base, which is a concentrated paste that you make into a stock. While homemade is my favorite, this makes a good substitute. You could substitute chicken broth or stock in a pinch, but if you can get your hands on some sort of seafood variety, that’s my recommendation.

Step-by-Step Instructions

To make this smoked salmon risotto recipe, let’s first detail the Instant Pot method since this is a newer preparation method, and then we’ll chat about the differences of the stove-top version.

Instant Pot Method

Step 1: Our first step is to melt some butter and cook our onions until they soften on the Saute function. At the very end, we add some fresh garlic (photo 1).

Cooking chopped onions in oil with a spoon to soften.

Step 2: Now we add our risotto rice. To help develop the flavor, we let it cook for a few minutes to toast while stir frequently (photo 2).

Toasting the rice with a wooden spoon in the Instant Pot until it turns fragrant.

Step 3: At this point, we pour in that delicious white wine (photo 3) and continue to cook until it’s mostly absorbed.

Pouring white wine from a glass measuring cup into the Instant Pot.

Step 4: We’re now ready to add our chicken stock (photo 4), seal the pressure cooker and cook on the Manual setting.

Stirring in the chicken stock in the Instant Pot before cooking.

Step 5: When the timer goes off, we use the quick-release valve, carefully remove the top and give it a stir and taste to ensure the rice is cooked to our liking. For our final steps, we stir in a little more butter with the herbs, Parmesan and fresh lemon juice (photo 5).

Adding the cheese and herbs to the risotto after it finished cooking.

All that’s left is to scoop the risotto into bowls and top with that delicious smoked salmon. Some additional herbs and even a touch of fresh lemon zest make a lovely garnish. Grab a spoon and devour the most wonderful smoked salmon risotto!

Stove-Top Method

Stove-top risotto follows a similar process to Instant Pot risotto until we stir in the stock. When we get to this step, we instead ladle in a scoop of stock and keep stirring until the rice nearly absorbs it all. Now we repeat until we use 6 to 8 cups of chicken stock.

After the risotto is tender and perfectly cooked, we stir in the butter, Parmesan, lemon juice and herbs like above.

Recipe FAQs

Do you have to constantly stir risotto?

While you want to stir frequently on the stove-top, you don’t need to stir constantly. As the rice rubs against each other, it releases the starch that makes the cream sauce. That said, taking short breaks from stirring here and there is fine. Of course, Instant Pot risotto doesn’t require frequent stirring except for those couple first steps.

Should you rinse arborio rice before cooking?

While some rice calls for this step, do not rinse arborio rice. Arborio’s starch is what gives us that cream sauce, so rinsing will not give us the right finished dish.

Why is my risotto still hard?

If the risotto still has a crunch, it needs more time to cook. When the risotto is ready, the sauce will be thick and creamy, and the rice will be perfectly tender. Whether you use the stove-top or Instant Pot version, give the risotto more time to cook if it’s still hard.

A close-up shot of the smoked salmon risotto on pink netting with bright lighting to the side.

Expert Tips

Set the salmon out ahead of time: Smoked salmon is best at room temperature and will warm more quickly with that hot risotto. Simply place it on the countertop when prepping your ingredients to give it about 30 minutes to come down in temperature.

Don’t use cold chicken stock: Cold chicken stock will mess up the cooking process. The stock absolutely needs to be warm. For the Instant Pot, I simply heat it in the microwave before using, and for the stove-top, I keep it in a small saucepan at a low simmer on a separate burner.

Grate your own cheese: Canned or bagged Parmesan does not melt well and will leave you with a grainy texture. It's important you use freshly grated Parmesan.

Altitude can affect cooking times: If you’re at sea level, the standard risotto cooking time for the Instant Pot is six minutes and 20-30 minutes for the stove-top. However, living in Denver at 5,280 feet where the boiling point of water decreases, I’ve never found these estimates accurate and always add more time.

If you’re about 3,000 feet or above sea level, I’d start with eight minutes on the Instant Pot and expect to spend 35-45 minutes cooking the risotto on the stove-top. Taste as you go and let that guide the cooking time.

Perfect Pairing

With this smoked salmon risotto, you can’t go wrong with an American wheat beer. This style often shows off a clean, citrusy pop to complement our salmon, and its effervescent bubbles keep our palate refreshed with those thick textures of the fish and risotto. A saison is also a nice option.

Need a good wine pairing? An oak-aged chardonnay is lovely here. That buttery chardonnay quality matches beautifully with the texture of the rich, fatty salmon and decadent cream sauce.

For a cocktail, my garden gin and tonic is perfect. Smoked salmon and gin work together nicely, and you’ll love those muddled fresh herbs from the drink with our risotto. My Ramos gin fizz makes a delicious pairing with all that fresh citrus as well.

When you need the perfect elegant meal, look no further than this smoked salmon risotto. Everyone will love this gourmet yet simple dinner.

Cheers!

An aerial view of the smoked salmon risotto with a spoon and flowers on the side.

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