Saffron Risotto

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups Arborio rice
• 5 cups Low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1 pinch Saffron threads
• 3 tbsp Unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 Shallot, minced
• ½ cup Dry white wine
• ¾ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• ½ tsp Kosher salt
• ¼ tsp Black pepper

Method

1. Keep the broth at a bare simmer in a pot beside you. Crush the saffron between your fingers into half a cup of the hot broth and let it steep — it should turn the liquid orange.
2. Cook the shallots in the oil and 1 tablespoon of butter over medium until soft, 4 minutes. Do not let them color.
3. Add the rice and toast it 2 minutes, stirring, until the grains look translucent at the edges with a white dot at the center. Never rinse risotto rice; the surface starch is the sauce.
4. Pour in the wine and stir until it has almost entirely gone.
5. Now add hot broth a ladleful at a time, stirring steadily, adding more only when the pan bottom stays visible for a moment behind the spoon. About 18 minutes. Add the saffron broth around the halfway mark.
6. Taste at 16 minutes: the grains should be tender with a firm center. Take it off the heat while it is still slightly looser than you want.
7. The mantecatura: beat in the last 2 tablespoons of cold butter and the parmesan hard, off the heat, for 30 seconds. It goes from rice-in-broth to glossy and creamy in front of you. Serve immediately, spread flat on warm plates.

Notes

✨ The restaurant touch

It should spread slowly on the plate, not stand in a mound. Italians call it all'onda — like a wave.

🧒 For the kids

Cheesy rice by another name. Leave the black pepper off theirs and serve it as soon as it is made — risotto waits for nobody.

🥡 Leftovers

Risotto does not reheat well, but leftovers make excellent arancini: chill, roll into balls around a cube of mozzarella, coat in panko, and bake or air-fry at 400°F.

Per serving

Computed from USDA FoodData Central values. A planning tool, not medical advice.