Do you love stovetop risotto but find it too time-consuming? You can make flavorful and creamy risotto in your instant pot.
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What Makes Instant Pot Parmesan Risotto the Perfect Side Dish?
Parmesan risotto pairs with many different foods, making it an incredibly versatile side dish for your next home-cooked dinner. It tastes phenomenal when you serve grilled chicken, seared scallops, or shrimp on a bed of this creamy risotto.
This side dish has comforting, savory flavors with a creamy texture that will make your mouth water. With chicken broth and wine in the base, it takes on a deep flavor that enhances the taste of the Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Why This Recipe Is So Good
This Instant Pot risotto recipe is very easy to make. It is sophisticated enough for a dinner party but quick enough to upgrade your average weeknight meal.
Traditional risotto is very time-consuming because you must stand over the pot and stir continually.
Using your Instant Pot, you will prep your ingredients, stir everything together for a couple of minutes, put the lid on, and then, in about fifteen minutes, voila! – you have instapot risotto. It’s almost like magic!
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make risotto in an Instant Pot:
- Butter
- Shallots
- Garlic
- Medium grain or arborio rice
- Dry vermouth or dry white wine
- Chicken broth
- Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- Salt
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
Here’s some helpful information and options for substituting risotto ingredients:
Rice for Risotto
To make this pressure cooker risotto, you can use arborio or medium-grain rice. Both kinds of rice have a lot of starch, making the dish creamy.
Medium-grain rice isn’t the most common type sold at your average grocery store, but it is sold there. Read the label. This recipe is not suited to long-grain rice. If you have long-grain rice, try my rice pilaf.
Wine for Risotto
I use vermouth in this Instapot risotto recipe, but you can use dry white wine like Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, or Sauvignon Blanc. Julia Child often substituted Vermouth for white wine.
Vermouth is dry, and since it is fortified, it won’t oxidize once opened like white wine. I always keep a bottle on hand for cooking. You can find vermouth, where wine is sold. It will be near other fortified wines, such as sherry or marsala.
I also use shallots in this recipe. If you can’t find shallots, you can substitute chopped white onion—it’s up to you.
How to Make Parmesan Risotto in an Instant Pot
- Place the Instant Pot on sauté, add butter, and when the butter has melted, add the shallots.
- Sauté the shallots until they have become translucent.
- Add garlic and sauté until the garlic becomes fragrant.
- Add rice and stir until the rice is coated with the melted butter.
- Cook rice for about 1 minute.
- Add half of the vermouth and stir to combine with rice.
- When the vermouth has been absorbed by the rice, add the remaining Vermouth, chicken broth, half of the cheese, and salt. Stir to combine thoroughly.
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot and cook for 8 minutes on high pressure.
- Turn the valve to release naturally, or you can quickly release the pressure.
- Add the remaining cheese before serving.
You can garnish it with chopped fresh parsley or fresh thyme.
What to Serve With Parmesan Risotto
As mentioned above, serve this risotto with rosemary chicken, scallops, or shrimp proteins. It’s also an excellent match for baked pork chops, salmon, or veal.
If you want to enjoy a vegetarian meal, try making it with vegetable broth instead and enjoying it with stuffed portobello mushrooms. The combination is simply irresistible!
Any of the proteins listed above can be served with the risotto and other sides like air fryer asparagus, steamed peas, or sauteed mixed vegetables for a complete, hearty meal.
How to Store the Leftovers
Please wait for the risotto to cool down before you transfer the leftover risotto to an airtight container and cover it with a lid (or tightly wrap it with foil). For the best quality possible, enjoy it within 3-5 days!
What Is the Best Way to Reheat Parmesan Risotto?
Risotto typically thickens when it cools, so you likely need to add more liquid to help loosen its texture when you reheat it.
The best way is to reheat it on the stovetop. Stir in the liquid, heat it over medium heat, and cover it. Make sure to mix it to distribute the heat occasionally.
You can also microwave it. Cover it with a damp paper towel for best results, and stir it every 30 seconds to prevent hot spots.
Instant Pot Cooking Tips
It’s not unknown why an Instant Pot does not seal sometimes. When this happens, I make a quick evaluation. Do I need something to come to pressure, or can I wait for it to cook longer?
I either leave it alone (just cook it longer) or carefully remove the lid and check that there is about a cup of liquid in the pot. If not, I add more liquid. Then I carefully look at the silicone seal (sometimes the silicone ring slips), ensure it is in the correct position, and see if the pot will come to pressure.
Find more advice on fixing common Instant Pot problems.
I hope you enjoy this recipe!
Are you interested in the Instant Pot? You can check out the Instant Pot Stainless Steel 6-in-1 Pressure Cooker with Mini Mitts
on Amazon.
Great Instant Pot Recipes
- Mulligan Stew
- Instant Pot Italian Sausage
- Instant Pot Shredded Chicken
- Instant Pot French Onion Rice
- Instant Pot Beef Stew without Mushy Vegetables
- Instant Pot Macaroni and Cheese
- Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
Favorite Rice Recipes
- Cajun Rice
- Easy Broccoli Rice Casserole
- French Onion Rice Casserole
- Japanese Fried Rice Recipe
- Chipotle Mexican Grill White Rice
- Spanish Rice Casserole with Ground Beef
Be sure to check out more of my easy Instant Pot recipes and the best side dishes to make for dinner.
Instant Pot Parmesan Risotto
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup finely chopped shallots or white onions
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/3 cups medium-grain rice or arborio rice
- 1 cup dry vermouth or dry white wine, divided
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 2 ounces fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese , divided
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Place the Instant Pot on saute, add butter, when the butter has melted add shallots. Saute the shallots until they have become translucent. Add garlic and saute until the garlic becomes fragrant. Add rice, stir until the rice is coated with the melted butter. Cook rice for about 1 minute. Add half of the vermouth. Stir the vermouth in, it will be absorbed into the rice. When the vermouth has been absorbed add the remaining Vermouth and chicken broth. Add 1 ounce of Parmesan cheese and salt, stir in the cheese and salt into the liquid. Place the lid on the pressure cooker.
- Cook for 8 minutes on high, you can set this manually. After the rice has finished cooking you can either allow it to release naturally, or you can manually release the pressure. Before serving add the remaining cheese.
Anita H
Risotto in my family does not have garlic, but it does contain fresh rosemary and tomato paste. With these changes it turned out prefect and so much easier than standing and stirring. I let it release naturally for five minutes and then quick released. Thanks. This is my go-to method now!
Dawn
My first time using my instapot ip lux- used white onion and white wine in place .. absolutely as good as the stand over the stove for an hour recipe!! Amazing!!
Stephanie
I am glad you enjoyed it!
Margaret
I just made it in my instant pot Lux Mini, and it came out quite tasty! Of course I didn’t have all the required ingredients, but I subbed cooking wine for the vermouth, and white onion instead of shallots. Next time I’ll try the prescribed stuff. Would love to add some mushrooms to the mix. Thanks so much for a delish and easy dish!
joey
Can’t wait to try this again.
Jen
So, i just made this. I’m not sure if my pot never came to pressure or released super quick. I took the dog out for a minute, and it was done with no pressure to release. The texture is good, but the bottom burned, and I’m tasting too much of the wine for my liking. My friend said she’d used Marsala when making it on the stovetop, so i did that. I’ll try a different wine or maybe less next time.
Stephanie
I am sorry this did not work for you. It is not unknown for these not to seal sometimes. What I do when this happens is that I do a quick evaluation. Do I need something to come to pressure, or wait for it to cook longer? What I do is either leave it alone (just cook it longer), OR I carefully remove the lid, think, is there about a cup of liquid in the pot, if no, add more liquid. If there is enough liquid in the pot I remove the lid. Then I carefully look at the silicon seal and make sure it is in the correct position, and try to see if the pot will come to pressure, sometimes the silicon ring slips.
I am sorry your pot did not come to pressure, and your experience was bad.