Risotto is one of my favorite things to make at home. I’m always amazed at how a few simple ingredients can be transformed into such an incredibly rich dish. But what I find most impressive is how easily it serves as a blank canvas to add any combination of flavors that you want. It doesn’t matter if it’s asparagus & peas, mushrooms, seafood, or even just a simple mixture of cheeses. If it’s something you like to eat, then it can be added to risotto. And today I want to share my recipe for the perfect flavor of risotto for the fall season, butternut squash risotto.
How Difficult is it to Make Risotto?
Risotto has always had this reputation as an incredibly difficult dish to make. Like, if you aren’t a classically trained chef with decades of experience on the line then you’ll never successfully make risotto. And because of that, a lot of home cooks never give the dish a try.
But I want you to forget about any preconceived notions you have about risotto being difficult to make. Because honestly, it’s not as tough as it’s made out to be. All you need to have in order to successfully make it at home is a bit of patience and the ability to perform two tasks.
- How to pour
- How to stir
That’s it!
You just pour some stock into a pan with arborio rice and stir everything while the liquid reduces.
Then pour in some more stock, stir, reduce.
Pour, stir, reduce.
Keep repeating these steps, have some patience, and after roughly 25 minutes you’ll have wonderfully creamy risotto.
Prepping our Butternut Squash for Roasting
Before we’re able to incorporate the butternut squash into our risotto we will first need to do a little prep work. And while there are a couple of ways to do this, I want to quickly show you how I get it done.
First things first we need to cut the butternut squash in half with a large knife and use a spoon to scoop out seeds. And if you want you can save these seeds and roast them just as we do in your pumpkin seed recipe. It makes a delicious fall snack!
Alright, next we will need to peel the tough skin off of the exterior of the squash. And the easiest way to do this is with a vegetable peeler. But if you don’t own one then you can also do this with a sharp knife, it’s just going to take a lot longer.
Once all that’s done you simply need to cut the flesh of the squash into cubes. Then arrange it on a baking sheet and drizzle a little bit of olive oil over top before placing it in your oven.
Tips, Tricks & Suggestions
- The most readily available rice for risotto is arborio so that’s what we’ll be using today. It is a great choice because it is high in starch content which produces the distinctive creamy texture of the finished risotto. That being said there are a number of other rice types like Vialone nano, Carnaroli, and Baldo that are great for risotto too. Just make sure that whatever rice you use has a high starch content, so avoid ones like basmati.
- Warming up your stock is not necessary but does speed up the cooking process. So if you got the time, then please do it. You can either heat it up in a pan or if you’re feeling lazy just microwave it for a couple of minutes.
- Also if you want to make this risotto vegetarian friendly then feel free to swap out the chicken stock with vegetable stock.
Butternut Squash Risotto Recipe
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 1 Hour
Servings: 4
Ingredients
For the roasted butternut squash:
2 Lbs butternut squash, cut into ½ inch sized cubes
Olive oil
For the risotto:
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
1 Cup of arborio rice
½ Cup of an onion, finely diced
2 Cloves of garlic, minced
½ Cup of dry white wine
5 to 6 cups of chicken stock, preferably warmed in a pot
2 Tablespoons of butter
½ Cup of shredded parmesan cheese
Salt & pepper to taste
Garnish:
Fresh sage leaves, minced
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400℉, 204℃
- Roast butternut squash: Arrange the butternut squash cubes on a baking sheet and drizzle about 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil over them. Toss with a spatula so that all pieces of the squash are coated in the oil. Place this in your heated oven and let it roast for 30 minutes, turning the squash cubes halfway through. Take them out of the oven and set them aside.
- Place half of the roasted butternut squash into a bowl and mash it into a puree with a fork.
- Sautee onion, rice, and garlic: Get out a large walled pan or skillet and pour the 2 tablespoons of olive oil in it. Place this over medium-high heat, toss in the onion, and sautee for 3 to 4 minutes. Follow this up by adding in the arborio rice and garlic, and continue to sautee everything for another 2 minutes.
- Pour in the wine to deglaze the pan, and let it reduce until there is barely any liquid visible.
- Toss in mashed roasted butternut squash and stir it into the rice.
- Add the stock: Pour in 2 Cups of stock, and let it come to a low boil.
Occasionally stir the rice until the stock has almost been completely absorbed by the rice. Then add a little bit more stock (about ½ cup) and stir until that has been absorbed. Keep repeating this process until you have gone through roughly 5 cups of stock.
At this point taste a piece or two of rice to see if it is tender enough for you. If you like your rice a little bit al dente then the 5 cups of stock should be fine. However, if you want softer rice grains then you will need to repeat the action of adding stock one or two more times until it is as tender as you like. This whole process should take anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes.
- Finish the Dish: Take the skillet/pan off the heat and toss in the butter and parmesan cheese. Stir until booth the butter and cheese have melted into the risotto. Taste the risotto and add salt & pepper to your liking. Finally, add in the remaining roasted butternut squash and stir to incorporate.
- Serve the butternut squash risotto into a bowl, garnish with minced sage leaves, and enjoy.
Butternut Squash Risotto Recipe
Ingredients
For the roasted butternut squash:
- 2 Lbs butternut squash cut into ½ inch sized cubes
- Olive oil
For the risotto:
- 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 Cup of arborio rice
- ½ Cup of an onion finely diced
- 2 Cloves of garlic minced
- ½ Cup of dry white wine
- 5 to 6 cups of chicken stock preferably warmed in a pot
- 2 Tablespoons of butter
- ½ Cup of shredded parmesan cheese
- Salt & pepper to taste
Garnish:
- Fresh sage leaves minced
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400℉, 204℃
- Roast butternut squash: Arrange the butternut squash cubes on a baking sheet and drizzle about 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil over them. Toss with a spatula so that all pieces of the squash are coated in the oil. Place this in your heated oven and let it roast for 30 minutes, turning the squash cubes halfway through. Take them out of the oven and set them aside.
- Place half of the roasted butternut squash into a bowl and mash it into a puree with a fork
- Sautee onion, rice, and garlic: Get out a large walled pan or skillet and pour the 2 tablespoons of olive oil in it. Place this over medium-high heat, toss in the onion, and sautee for 3 to 4 minutes. Follow this up by adding in the arborio rice and garlic, and continue to sautee everything for another 2 minutes.
- Pour in the wine to deglaze the pan, and let it reduce until there is barely any liquid visible.
- Toss in mashed roasted butternut squash and stir it into the rice.
- Add the stock: Pour in 2 Cups of stock, and let it come to a low boil. Occasionally stir the rice until the stock has almost been completely absorbed by the rice. Then add a little bit more stock (about ½ cup) and stir until that has been absorbed. Keep repeating this process until you have gone through roughly 5 cups of stock. At this point taste a piece or two of rice to see if it is tender enough for you. If you like your rice a little bit al dente then the 5 cups of stock should be fine. However, if you want softer rice grains then you will need to repeat the action of adding stock one or two more times until it is as tender as you like. This whole process should take anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes.
- Finish the Dish: Take the skillet/pan off the heat and toss in the butter and parmesan cheese. Stir until booth the butter and cheese have melted into the risotto. Taste the risotto and add salt & pepper to your liking. Finally, add in the remaining roasted butternut squash and stir to incorporate.
- Serve the butternut squash risotto into a bowl, garnish with minced sage leaves, and enjoy.
