It’s filled to the brim with creamy risotto perfection, roasted broccoli bits, tender pieces of chicken and lots of yummy sharp cheddar cheese. It’s an all-in-one type meal and we can’t get enough of it! Chicken risotto sounds like a fancy meal but in reality it’s really easy to make. It’s one of those meals you can make for a weeknight dinner but feels like a total restaurant quality dinner. Our pantry is rarely ever seen without a bag of arborio on the shelf. We use it in this mushroom parmesan risotto and love making these arancini rice balls with it too!
Ingredients you’ll need
Scroll down to the recipe card for the full list of ingredients and measurements.
Broccoli: Fresh broccoli, cut into small florets get roasted in the oven and then stirred into the risotto at the end. I love adding in roasted broccoli compared to steamed because it’s both crisp and tender and they’re just little irresistible bites of heaven. Arborio rice: It’s crucial to use arborio and not a long-grain rice such as basmati or jasmine. These varieties do not contain enough starch to achieve the creaminess we all adore about risotto. You can find arborio in most grocery stores in the grain section. Chicken: Boneless chicken breasts work great but in a pinch you can use a rotisserie chicken! Sharp cheddar cheese: Buy a block and grate the cheese fresh for the best flavor. Other ingredients needed: white onion, broth, olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic.
Pro tips to making perfect risotto
Use warm broth. Keep broth at a simmer in a saucepan. This will keep the temperature from dropping each time you add it to the rice. This process will help the rice absorb the liquid faster resulting in a better texture. Stirring the rice frequently is key. Not constantly, but frequently. You can take 30 second breaks! ? Stirring the rice constantly will add air into the risotto, cooling it down and making it gluey. Yet if you don’t stir enough, the rice will stick to the bottom and burn. It’s important to stir frequently because risotto’s creaminess comes from the starch generated when grains of rice rub against each other. So do stir often, but feel free to give your arms (and the rice) a break. The rice should be cooked at a medium high heat throughout the cooking because if you cook the rice on a low heat, it will never cook. But you also want to avoid extremely high flames and rapid boils. Don’t rinse the rice. Doing so will remove its sticky consistency. Washing the rice, strips off the starch that is the key element to maintaining that classic creamy texture. And we want creaminess! Toast the rice in the pan for only about a minute or two before adding in the broth. We don’t want the rice to get burned and we don’t want hard rice either.
