Recipe Tuesday: The Easiest Risotto Ever (dairy free)

Who doesn’t love risotto? 

No one, right? 

If you’ve never tried making your own risotto, you really should. It’s so easy! And people are so impressed by it! You don’t have to tell them that you literally stirred a pot for a half hour and then had risotto, right there, like it cooked itself for you. 

Dylan can’t have dairy, so I’ve made this recipe with no butter or cheese (risotto often has both) and also no wine (because wine is for drinking, right?). Oh and normally I would use an onion but we didn’t have one. Here it is! Hope you enjoy.

You’ll need:

3 T olive oil 

2-3 T herbs du provence

2-3 cups baby spinach

1 cup dry arborio rice

3 cups vegetable broth

salt and pepper

1. Start by heating olive oil in a large pot. Once it’s hot, add in raw spinach and let it cook down. Meanwhile, heat broth in a medium pot and leave it simmering. 

2. Add in rice and stir the oil, spinach, and rice together until the rice becomes translucent. Don’t let it stick to the bottom! Keep stirring! It’s really important to use Arborio Rice–the short grain creates the texture that makes risotto what it is. If you use any other kind of grain, you’ll just have rice cooked in broth. Still good. Not risotto.

3. Add 1 cup (or so) of the heated broth to the oil-spinach-rice mixture. Cook until the rice soaks up all of the broth. This is when I usually add the herbs. Don’t stop stirring for too long or it may stick to the bottom. Add the second cup of broth and cook until it’s absorbed, then add the third. 

4. Taste it! If the rice is soft and creamy, you win! Risotto time! If it’s crunchy at all, keep cooking and try adding a little more broth. 

Easy or what?

And so ridiculously creamy, you won’t believe there’s no cheese.