Spring Risotto (With Instant Pot Directions)

With roasted asparagus, torn mozzarella, crispy prosciutto, a medley of herbs and a squeeze of lemon, this fresh-tasting spring risotto is a delicious way to enjoy the season's bright flavors. And for maximum convenience, I included Instant Pot directions as well as the traditional stove-top preparation.

Risotto is a funny little number. With the warm, creamy sauce surrounding the soft rice, risotto is a stick-to-your-ribs kind of comfort food that I normally associate with the fall or winter. But throw in a few fresh, seasonal ingredients and you have yourself the perfect spring meal.

Given the abundance of fresh ingredients available right now, narrowing down my mix-ins was the biggest challenge. I wish I could say I had some kind of streamlined thought process to pick my ingredients, but I didn't. After cruising the produce section, I picked out a few items that looked fresh and delicious.

Being that it's spring and the risotto is already on the heavy side, prosciutto called to me. I generally like to include some type of protein in my meals, but I wanted something light. Prosciutto is perfect for those times you want something a little salty and briny without weighing down the meal.

I've also been craving fresh mozzarella lately, so it needed to make an appearance in this dish. Rather than shredding it and melting it into the finished risotto, I tore the mozzarella into bite-size pieces and placed them on top of the warm risotto. This method allowed the mozzarella to slightly melt, resulting in extra creamy bites of risotto.

How to Make on the Stove-Top

Let's start cooking. We start by tossing our asparagus with a little olive oil and roasting in the oven. Asparagus doesn't take long to roast, so once it's done, I keep it warm in a 200-degree oven. The risotto requires a lot of attention, so I like to make sure this step is taken care of before we get too involved in the risotto.

Now we cook our prosciutto with a little butter to make it nice and crispy in a saucepan or Dutch oven. For the prosciutto, I like to use the cubed cut, but if your store doesn't carry this type of prosciutto, you can tear the thin slices into little pieces and cook those instead.

With our prosciutto perfectly crispy, we put those aside and cook our leeks for a few minutes. When preparing the leek, we want to make sure we wash it well to get off all the grim and then cut off the leafy portion and root end. From there, we simply slice off rings until we have a half a cup's worth.

We now add a little fresh garlic and then dry arborio rice and allow to toast for a few minutes. After the rice is nice and fragrant, we pour in the wine and stir until it's mostly absorbed.

Here's where the process starts to get more involved. We ladle in about a half a cup of chicken stock and keep stirring until it's nearly absorbed. Then, we add another scoop of chicken stock and repeat. We continue to do this until we go through about six to eight cups of chicken stock and the rice is tender.

Keep in mind, the chicken stock needs to be warm, or we won't get the right texture. I like to simply heat the chicken stock in another pot on the stove until it simmers and then keep warm.

Once our risotto finishes cooking, we stir in some butter and provolone along with fresh mint, basil and chives and give a nice squeeze of lemon. Top each bowl with the roasted asparagus, crispy prosciutto and torn mozzarella, and we're ready to eat the perfect spring meal.

How to Make in the Instant Pot

If you've never made risotto in an Instant Pot, you will fall in love. Honestly, I was a little hesitant at first. What about all the stirring? How can it possibly be as good as stove-top risotto?

But then I saw Rick Bayless, who is an incredible chef, praise Instant Pot risotto. Seeing a respected chef go all in for Instant Pot risotto was enough for me to give it a try, and I'm so glad I did. We still get that creamy, tender bite but with a significantly reduced cooking time and less hands-on work, which makes it perfect for entertaining.

And don't get me wrong. I still love the traditional stove-top method of cooking risotto and won't give it up entirely. But the Instant Pot is perfect when I want to quickly put risotto on the table or am too busy to constantly stir.

In the early stages of making Instant Pot risotto, the process is similar to the stove-top. We still go ahead and roast our asparagus, and we use the saute button to cook the prosciutto, leeks and garlic as well as toast our rice and deglaze the pan with wine.

Now we add all of our warm chicken stock at once, put on the top and cook on the manual setting. When I researched Instant Pot risotto, I noticed most recipes said six minutes. For me, that's not quite long enough because I'm at high altitude, so it takes food a bit longer to cook. In the recipe card, I call for six minutes, but if you're also at high altitude, know that you'll probably need eight minutes.

Once the timer goes off, we use the quick-release valve, carefully remove the top and stir in our herbs, cheese and butter. The mixture will initially look soupy, but stirring will fix that. Now plate your risotto and enjoy.

Perfect Pairing

Asparagus can be tricky to pair with wine, but an unoaked chardonnay or citrus-forward, acidic sauvignon blanc work well with this recipe. For beer options, consider pairing this risotto with a pilsner or Belgian witbier. Both styles will cut through the risotto's richness and cleanse the palate.

Even if you typically think of risotto as a fall or winter dish, I hope you give this spring version a try and share your thoughts. As far as I'm concerned, there's never a bad time for a giant bowl of comfort food. Please let me know how you enjoyed this spring risotto in the comment section and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter. You can also catch me on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.

Cheers!

Looking for More Spring Recipes?

• Salmon-avocado burgers with lime-sriracha aioli
• Mint-cucumber lemonade
• Morel mushroom pasta in Parmesan cream sauce

Print