Believe it or not, Italians have been “cheating” with pressure cookers to make easy risotto for decades. So heck, let’s give the Instant Pot a try. Here is the basic risotto recipe for the Instant Pot.

Ingredients

• 5 cups chicken stock
• 2 shallots finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic finely diced
• 3 TBS butter divided
• 2 cups arborio or carnaroli rice
• 1/2 cup white wine
• ¾ cup parmigiano reggiano cheesesalt to taste
• freshly ground pepper for serving

Steps

• Warm about 5 cups of stock on the stove while you finely dice two shallots and 3 cloves of garlic (heating the stock cuts the time the pressure cooker needs to come up to pressure by about half).
• Put the stainless steel cooking liner in your IP and turn on Sauté Medium.
• Sauté the shallots in 2TBS butter for about 2 minutes.
• Add garlic and sauté another minute.
• Add 2 cups Arborio or Carnaroli rice into pot and continue to sauté for 3-5 minutes until edges of rice become translucent and you can smell the rice toasting.
• And 1/2 cup white wine to deglaze, making sure no rice is sticking to the pan.
• Turn off IP and add 4 cups heated stock, lock the lid, make sure the pressure valve is closed, set to high pressure for 5 minutes. It will take 5-10 minutes to come to pressure, and then will cook for 5 minutes.
• In the meantime, grate 3/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
• After the 5 minute pressure cook is completed, do a quick release of the steam. Remove the liner from the IP With potholders to avoid overcooking. You may see a fair amount of liquid when you first remove the lid. It will evaporate rapidly.
•  Add in cheese, another tablespoon of butter, salt and pepper to taste. You can add additional heated stock if you feel it’s needed for consistency. Serve immediately.

You can use any number of risotto recipes with this. For example Risotto con Squacquerone e Pancetta can be used by adding the pancetta during the pressure cooking and substituting the squaccherone for the parmigiano. Or follow our directions for Instant Pot Risotto Con Bresaola, Rucola E Robiola

Just make sure that ingredients than need “cooking” are added into the initial sauté, and cheeses and more delicate ingredients are stirred in just prior to serving.

Enjoy!