Is Risotto Gluten Free

If you're following a gluten-free diet and wanting to know what you can and can't have, you may have all sorts of questions floating around in your head. You know you can't have traditional wheat pasta, but does that mean all pasta and carbs are off limits?

Now, knowing that all risotto is naturally gluten free, you should be able to assume that risotto is safe to eat. However, it's often the stock or other ingredients added to the risotto recipe that introduces gluten into a risotto dish making it unsafe to consume.

Risotto is a traditional Italian rice dish that's creamy and full of delicious flavor. If it sounds like something you want to make, it would go well with Gluten Free Cacio E Pepe and would be tasty after a bowl of Zuppa Toscana (our recipe is also gluten free!)

Risotto is naturally creamy without adding any dairy. The starch from the rice breaks down as it cooks. It mingles with the stock to create a velvety, creamy sauce. It's amazingly flavorful and a real hit in the comfort food department.

So now that we know whether or not risotto is naturally gluten free or not, let's make a gluten free risotto recipe that everyone will love.

Why you will love this Gluten-Free Risotto recipe

• Creamy risotto has the perfect creamy texture
• This recipe is ready in about 45 minutes
• It can be used in various side dishes as it's easily customizable
• This recipe only uses gluten-free ingredients so you know it's safe
• It's easy to make this a one-pot meal by adding shredded chicken, fresh asparagus, kale or spinach, and any other vegetables that you prefer

Ingredients needed

• Stock: You can use vegetable stock, mushroom, or chicken stock if you aren't making a vegetarian risotto or vegan risotto
• Olive oil
• Arborio rice
• Yellow onion
• White wine
• Dried thyme

How to Make Gluten Free Risotto

1. In a small saucepan, add your stock of choice and heat till just below a simmer.
2. On another burner, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add the risotto rice and toast it for a few minutes until it starts to become lightly golden in color.
3. Add in the onions and sauté until soft and translucent. Then add the wine and cook down till about half the liquid is left.
4. Use a ladle to add a scoop or two of your stock over the rice and stir for a few minutes as it simmers. Allow the liquid to lightly simmer stirring occasionally.
5. When the liquid has reduced a bit, but before the pan is dry, add in another ladle full and repeat the process till the stock is gone and the rice is cooked al dente.
6. The goal is to keep enough liquid in the pan for the rice to soak up and for the risotto to release it's starches into (which is why you stir it after each addition of stock). You are both cooking the rice and creating the creamy sauce at the same time.
7. If you use up all the stock before the risotto cooks enough you can add more warm stock or warm water to the rice mixture to finish cooking the risotto.
8. Once the risotto is finished cooking, add in the thyme just before serving. Enjoy.

Storage

Once your risotto has cooled down to room temperature, you can transfer it to an airtight container. Place leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

The best way to reheat this is in the microwave or on the stovetop with a little bit of broth or stock to help it get to the proper texture again if needed.

We don't recommend freezing your gluten-free risotto. It will change the texture of your rice. Rice gets harder as it freezes and becomes grainy.

Tips and Variations

• We like to use Chardonnay as our white cooking wine, but you can use any white wine.
• I used dried thyme in this recipe, but if you want to use fresh, you can- use ¼ teaspoon of fresh thyme. Additionally, you can use a ½ drop of Thyme essential oil if desired.
• If you don't have stock, you can use vegetable broth or chicken broth, just be sure to you are using a gluten-free broth.
• Always check ingredient labels of all of your ingredients to ensure they're gluten free.
• Feel free to add some cooked chicken and other ingredients to make a chicken risotto rice creation.
• The more time you spend stirring the home-cooked risotto into the sauce, the creamier it will be in the end.
• If using mushroom stock, you can add some cooked mushrooms to create a gluten-free mushroom risotto recipe.
• I recommend heating your stock before combining it with the risotto, this helps make sure you don't disrupt the cooking process of the risotto as you add more in. Alternatively, you can make your own broth or chicken stock in the slow cooker and transfer it straight from the hot slow cooker right into your risotto.
• If aiming to make this a one pot gluten-free dish and wanting to add other things into it, I suggest using a large skillet so it can easily hold everything as it cooks.
• If you want to garnish, add some fresh parmesan cheese to really send the creamy factor off the charts.

What's the difference between risotto and orzo?

Risotto and orzo are very similar in texture and appearance. Orzo is a type of pasta and risotto is a form of white rice or short-grain rice. Naturally, rice and risotto are both gluten free, however it is what is added to the recipe that could have gluten.

Where your risotto is grown, packaged, and sold is at a higher risk of cross contamination, so it is not often advertised as a gluten free ingredient or meal.

Both risotto and orzo are small in size, texturally close, and both can be served perfectly as a side dish.

Why don't Italian restaurants serve risotto?

It's not often you go to an Italian restaurant and find risotto on the menu. It's unfortunate because it is a delicious traditional Italian dish that is so flavorful and goes with so many things.

Restaurants don't make this recipe often because it takes time and needs to be stored in a very specific way to stay good for as long as possible. It's not always doable in a restaurant setting. Not that it can't be done. It's just most Italian style eateries stick with pasta dishes that are easier and more time manageable.

What is Arborio Rice

Proper risotto requires using Arborio rice. If you don't know what that is, it is a short grain rice that has the perfect properties for making risotto. When cooked, the rounded grains are firm, creamy, and slightly chewy compared to other kinds of rice, due to their high starch content.

There are other rice choices out there that can be used to make risotto, but Arborio is the most common type of rice and widespread to purchase. I usually get mine in the bulk section of my grocery store. A little goes a long way.

Other Gluten Free Recipes

• Gluten-free double chocolate brownies
• Gluten-free chocolate chip cookies
• Gluten-free lemon loaf
• Copycat gluten-free Chick-fil-A nuggets

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