This mushroom risotto is a creamy blend of arborio rice, seasonings and an assortment of sauteed mushrooms. It’s the perfect side dish or meatless main course!
My family loves mushrooms, I often make garlic butter mushrooms, roasted mushrooms or this fabulous mushroom risotto. This risotto tastes like it came from a fancy restaurant thanks to a secret ingredient.
Risotto is one of those dishes that you’ll find in many high end restaurants, but it can be intimidating to make at home. This mushroom risotto tastes like it came from your favorite bistro, but is actually quite easy to make. Serve it as a side dish with a roasted chicken, or as a main course option.
How do you make mushroom risotto?
This recipe starts with mushrooms, which are sauteed in garlic butter until golden brown and tender. While the mushrooms are cooking, it’s time to make the rice base. The risotto consists of short grain Arborio rice, onions, butter and chicken broth. Some mascarpone and parmesan cheeses get stirred in for a creamy finish. Mix the mushrooms with the rice and you’re ready to eat!
Can risotto be made ahead of time?
Risotto tastes best when it is made fresh, as the rice will continue to absorb liquid and soften as it cools. If you need to make your risotto in advance you can make it up to 2 days before you plan to serve it. Just be aware that it will have a softer texture than freshly cooked risotto. Another option is that you can cook the rice halfway, then cool it and finish it later on. That is a better way to preserve the texture.
How do you know when risotto is done?
Risotto takes anywhere from 15-20 minutes to cook through. The best way to gauge when your rice is done is to taste it about 15 minutes into the cooking process. The rice should be “al dente”, or just slightly firm without any hard bits. If your rice is done at the 15 minute mark, you can stop adding broth and finish the dish with cheese. If your rice is not ready yet, continue adding more broth and taste it a few minutes later to see if it’s ready.
Tips for mushroom risotto
- I use an assortment of mushrooms for this dish including button, cremini, oyster and shiitake mushrooms. You can use any blend of mushrooms that you like!
- Risotto is traditionally made with Arborio rice, which is a short grain rice found in most grocery stores. If you can’t find Arborio rice, look for a different variety of short grain rice to use instead.
- Mascarpone cheese gives this risotto a silky smooth texture. This is a type of Italian soft cheese found in tubs in the cheese aisle or the deli section. If you can’t find mascarpone cheese, you can substitute cream cheese or heavy cream for a similar result.
Mushroom risotto variations
There are so many different ingredients you can add to mushroom risotto to make it your own creation!
- Protein: Shrimp, Chicken, Bacon or Sausage
- Greens: Kale, Spinach or Arugula
- Vegetables: Artichoke Hearts, Sun Dried Tomatoes, Asparagus
- Cheese: White Cheddar, Fontina, Mozzarella
Once you try this risotto, you’ll find yourself making it on the regular! It’s elegant enough for company, yet easy enough to whip up on a busy weeknight.
More delicious side dishes
Mushroom Risotto
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter divided use
- 1 pound assorted mushrooms sliced
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- Kosher salt and ground pepper
- 1/2 cup onion finely chopped
- 1 1/2 cups short grain rice such as Arborio
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Instructions
- Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large pan over medium high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5-6 minutes until tender and golden brown.
- Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Season the mushroom mixture with salt and pepper to taste and cover to keep warm.
- While the mushrooms are cooking, make the risotto. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes or until translucent.
- Add the rice and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the white wine and bring to a simmer. Cook until the wine has reduced by half.
- Add 1 cup chicken broth; simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mostly absorbed, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Continue to add broth, 1 cup at a time, stirring occasionally, until absorbed before adding more. Cook until rice is creamy and just tender, about 15-20 minutes (you may not need all the broth). Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Remove risotto from heat. Stir in mascarpone and parmesan cheeses.
- Add 3/4 of the mushrooms into the risotto and stir to combine.
- Place the remaining mushrooms on top of the risotto as a garnish. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Nutrition
This post was originally published on April 2, 2015 and was updated on April 16, 2019 with new content.
What can I use in place of white wine ?
You can use more chicken broth instead!
What happened to the Parmesan Carrot Risotto Recipe? When I trying to go to the recipe, I’m seeing a mushroom recipe instead.
You can find the old recipe here: https://web.archive.org/web/20170615014924/https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/carrot-parmesan-risotto/
I love Mushrooms this looks delicious!
Perfectly creamy and flavorful! So yummy!
Wow this looks so creamy and delicious; will make the perfect side for dinner tonight!
Those mushrooms look perfect on their own and your risotto looks so creamy and inviting!!
My whole family loves risotto. I know that this recipe will be a hit in our house!
Mushroom Risotto is my favorite! These sound delicious! Dangerously good…
What a great way to include some vegetables in a rice dish!
Orange rice, how fun! Risotto is one of my favorite weeknight meals. So easy and I find the stirring relaxing. 😉
LOVE the idea of carrots in a risotto. We all love risotto over here – perfect one pot meal and a great way to use up some veggies in my crisper. I will definitely be making this. (Also love that you have twins! Me, too!)
I love risotto, especially with Parmesan! I love the bright color the carrots lend.
Can’t get enough of creamy risottos and I love the addition of carrots!
I am completely entranced by the sweet carrot with the salty parm. YUM! Pinned!
One of my favorite recipes on my blog is a dish that features shredded carrots with mac & cheese! It so reminds me of this fantastic treat! The colors are outstanding and just beautiful! -Nic
Hi Sara! I just read your Photography journey page, It was the perfect timing! I’ve had my Canon DSLR for about 7 months now and want to learn how to use it better. I found clickinmoms and was wondering if it was worth the money… I also just found one on abeautifulmess blog, that was cheaper, but I think didn’t offer as much. So you would recommend the clickinmoms course? Did you do the full or study?
And your risotto looks yummy… 🙂
-Robin
Robin, I would definitely recommend Clickinmoms. I balked at the price at first too but there’s often coupon codes out there for a discount on the first year of forum membership. The forums themselves offer hundreds of tutorials generated by the users, that’s how I learned to shoot manual, select focus points, do creative editing, etc. If you want a more in-depth intensive study then you can sign up for the classes but I would start with the forum first, there’s enough material there to keep you learning for a while :). I have never paid for a full participation course I always do study-along and I’ve never felt like I missed out on anything. Clickinmoms does a flash sale once or twice a year where they offer the lifetime membership at a deep discount, at least 40% off. If you can catch that then it’s really not a bad deal. Hope that helps!
Thanks Sara, that really helps. I’m leaning toward it. I”ll let you know if I do. It’s funny that on your photography journey post you had little criticisms of your photos (too much of this or that) and I never would have thought of those things, the pics looked great anyways. I guess I’ll learn those fine photography details with studying more. 🙂
Feel free to email me directly if you have questions!
I’ve made risotto many times – but never a carrot flavoured risotto before. This is something i must try & I love the colour of it.
Beautiful pictures! Looks great!