I love Italian food but many traditional meals take tons of time that I don’t have. One of my favorites is risotto, an Italian rice that is cooked until it becomes creamy in a savory broth. Conventional methods for cooking this meal can be laborious, requiring constant stirring that you probably couldn’t manage with a kid in the house! That’s why I love this dutch oven version, with a hearty portion of chicken mixed in to turn this side dish into a main meal. All you need are the ingredients below and a dutch oven and you’ll be making the best risotto on the block!
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Ingredients
1.5 cups Arborio rice
5 cups chicken broth
1 pound chicken breast, diced and cooked
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup parmesan cheese
1 1/4 cup of frozen peas
3 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350, and add 5 cups of chicken broth to a stock pot. Heat until simmering.
Add arborio rice and 4 cups of the chicken broth to the pan with the rice. Reserve the final cup of chicken broth in the stock pot and cover for later, making sure it’s removed from the heat. Do a quick stir of the broth and rice, and then cover and cook in oven for 45 minutes. Be sure your dutch oven has a lid, because that’s how the rice will get it’s nice and creamy texture!
While your rice is cooking, dice and cook up some chicken to add to the risotto. You can just as easily omit the chicken for a meat free meal. I personally just take 1 chicken breast, dice it up and cook in some olive oil in a skillet until lightly browned. Set aside and wait for your rice to finish cooking. About 5 minutes before removing your dutch oven, reheat the last cup of chicken broth til simmering.
When the 45 minutes is up, remove your dutch oven and take off lid. Be careful, it will be super steamy! All the chicken broth should be absorbed, and your rice should look nice and plump.
Add the final cup of simmering chicken broth, white wine and butter. Stir well.
Add chicken and keep stirring!
Add parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and mix well. If you have a picky eater in the home, serve to the young’uns before adding the black pepper.Immediately before serving, add in the frozen peas and give one last stir.
Plate and enjoy!
This recipe adapted from Ina Garten’s Easy Parmesan Risotto.
Karly Wood
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