I love to whip together risotto quite regularly. The great thing is it's so versatile - you can adjust the vegetables and spices to your preference of the day! Here's a nice light risotto recipe that works well as an accompaniment - or can work as an all-in-one meal! A variety of options are provided below. You can adjust the risotto ingredients depending on what vegetables you have on-hand. Enjoy!

Delicious risotto served with a side of roasted asparagus and salmon. 

Easy Veggie-filled Risotto

Over medium heat in a large wide saucepan, cook 5 - 7 minutes: 

2 - 3 Tbsp olive oil (you can add a bit of additional oil as needed throughout cooking)

1/2 - 1 onion OR 3-4 shallots, diced or sliced

1 leek, sliced & well rinsed optional

1/2 fennel, diced optional

1 - 3 carrots, diced or sliced

1 - 2 cups mushrooms, sliced optional

1 - 2 zucchini, diced and/or sliced optional - I will sometimes add the zucchini earlier, or will wait and add it a bit later if I'm using things like bell pepper, so it doesn't soften too much during cooking.

Add and cook 1-2 minutes: 

1 Tbsp minced garlic (Yes, you can use more garlic than this - I often do!)

Pan roasted the vegetables until crisp-tender, then added in the minced garlic.

Add and cook an additional 3-4 minutes (optional): 

1 - 2 zucchini, diced and/or sliced (if you didn't add it above)

1 - 3 stalks celery, diced optional

1 bell pepper, diced optional

Move vegetables to the side and add and cook ~2 minutes: 

1 Tbsp olive oil 

2 cups Arborio risotto rice, rinsed

Add and cook with the risotto for ~2 minutes. 

After the 2 minutes, it'll look like this and be ready to add the broth/liquid

Add, and let come to a boil over the same medium heat (feel free to play around with the spices used in this recipe - I tend to adjust them depending on my mood and what else we're having for dinner): 

6 cups chicken broth

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

1 - 2 tsp oregano

1 - 2 tsp basil 

1 tsp parsley optional

1 - 2 tsp fresh thyme optional

1 - 2 tsp fresh oregano optional 

Once simmering, stir every few minutes. You can keep it over medium heat, and after ~10 minutes, add to the simmering pot: 

~2 cups water

I usually add this as the liquid cooks off. I like to leave it simmering over medium heat vs lowering the heat to low/medium-low, so I add more water to compensate. 

Let simmer a total of ~20 minutes, stirring regularly.  Taste-test toward the end until you have the desired softness of your risotto.  I sometimes end up letting it simmer closer to 25 - 30 minutes, depending on how the risotto rice is tasting.  

Optional: For more of an all-in-one meal, during the last 2 - 3 minutes of cooking, you can add the following: 

1 cup baby tomatoes, sliced in half

1 cup cooked, diced chicken

While many cook risotto by cooking and slowly adding liquid over time, I prefer to keep it simmering and stir regularly, but not constantly, so I can multi-task in the kitchen. This means, it tends to look like this initially. 

It will look like this as the risotto absorbs the liquid.  I find I play around with the amount of water added depending on how soft/hard the risotto rice is, and what I'm in the mood for on that particular day. 

The final risotto, I like where there's still a bit of wetness to it, since I find once you add cheese, it thickens. 

The risotto is great as a side-dish, or if you added the chicken and tomatoes, like in the photo below, it's lovely served with some grated parmesan cheese on top! We enjoyed it for dinner with some friends recently alongside some yummy homemade rosemary focaccia bread. Enjoy! 

Veggie-packed risotto served with some Parmesan on top alongside fresh focaccia bread! Yum!

Easy Veggie-filled Risotto Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!