Healthy Risotto Recipe (Vegetarian Instant Pot Risotto)

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Thick, creamy healthy risotto with mushrooms, garlic, roasted red peppers, carrots, and artichokes is bursting with Italian flavors. This simple and quick risotto will become one of your go to weeknight family meals. 

Risotto is such a classic Italian dish. And I love risotto, but it takes a lot of time, energy and patience. On top of that, it’s always been a little bit intimidating to make from scratch. But when I learned you could make risotto in the Instant Pot, I was thrilled! The complicated technique of adding broth and stirring in order to get that perfect risotto texture has been eliminated.

This easy vegetable risotto recipe creates a creamy dish without the need to add any cream! It’s a simple main dish that is impressive enough to serve for a dinner party! Cooking it in the instant pot takes a fraction of the time it takes to make it stove top, and gets you that perfect texture every time.

In 45 minutes of cooking time, you end up with a complete, hearty meal with this delicious, homemade Instant Pot risotto. The best part is, the use of arborio rice automatically makes this healthy risotto gluten free! It’s also full of veggies and has a creamy finish! It’s a healthy vegetarian Italian recipe!

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👩🏽‍🍳 Why This Recipe Works

• Perfect for a casual meal or for special occasions.
• Easier than the traditional way to make risotto.
• Easy recipe for the home cook.
• Total comfort food!
• Easy to customize with a variety of substitutions (see below for ideas!)
• Make restaurant quality risotto at home.
• A delicious recipe your family will love.
• Naturally Gluten-Free
• Super healthy risotto that tastes like traditional risotto!

🥘 Ingredients

This healthy risotto recipe calls for simple ingredients that can be found at most grocery stores! See the recipe card below for the ingredient list and nutritional information.

Arborio Rice: Used as the most common type of rice for risotto. It is a short, fat, oval-shaped rice. When you cook arborio rice it releases a starch that creates a creamy texture.

Veggies: You’ll need artichokes, carrots, sweet onion, green beans, cremini mushrooms, garlic, and red pepper. Feel free to add other vegetables, or use what is in season. Spring peas are delicious to add when they are in season, or butternut squash in the fall!

Spices: The rich Italian flavors in this dish come from garlic salt, seasoned salt, seasoned pepper, and Italian seasoning. If you don’t have seasoned salt, or seasoned pepper, you can use sea salt, or kosher salt, and black pepper. If you don’t have Italian seasoning, you can use oregano.

Vegetable Broth: More flavorful than water, and is used to cook this instant pot mushroom risotto. However, you can use chicken broth if you are not vegetarian or serving vegetarian guests.

📖 Variations

• Add Fresh Herbs: Fresh basil or fresh parsley would taste great in this recipe, or as a garnish. You could also top with some fresh lemon zest!
• Make It Vegan: It’s super easy to make this vegetarian instant pot risotto dairy free! Just use vegan butter and vegan parmesan instead of the regular butter & parmesan in this recipe.
• Try A Different Rice: Make this creamy rice dish with brown rice, carnaroli rice, sushi rice, or any high-starch rice!
• Farro Risotto: If you don’t need this to be a gluten free risotto, use farro instead of the rice for more whole grains, fiber and protein.
• Truffle Mushroom Risotto: Instead of all the veggies, just highlight a variety of your favorite earthy mushrooms in this dish! Add shiitake mushrooms, cremini, and other wild mushroom varieties. Stir in garlic and parmesan cheese, and shave truffles over the top before serving!
• Make It Low Carb: Use cauliflower rice instead of arborio rice!
• Spinach Risotto: Replace all of the veggies with spinach and other leafy greens.

🔪 Instructions

Prep Ingredients, Cook Veggies: Rinse the fresh green beans, and the carrots. Peel and chop the carrots. Chop the green beans and onion, and set aside. Place the butter and olive oil in the electric pressure cooker, and press the sauté function over high heat. When the butter melts, add the onion, fresh mushrooms, carrots, green beans, and peppers, and sauté until golden brown, about 5 minutes.

Add Broth: Turn off the Instant Pot, and add the vegetable stock, and de-glaze the bottom of the pot, scraping the bottom with a spoon to loosen any bits of sautéed vegetables (this will give your broth a delicious flavor).

Add Risotto: Once all the little bits are off the bottom of the pot, add the Risotto, minced garlic, parsley, garlic salt, seasoned salt, seasoned pepper, Italian seasoning, and brown sugar, and stir well to combine all the ingredients. 

Make sure all the Risotto and vegetables are covered in the broth. If they are not covered, add a little more broth. The artichoke hearts go in the dish after it’s cooked — they do not go in the Instant Pot with the other ingredients.

After you’ve stirred the Instant Pot ingredients, Place the lid on the Instant Pot, and turn it until it beeps and locks. Make sure the pressure valve is set to ‘Sealing’. 

Pressure Cook: Press the Manual Button, and cook at high pressure for a cook time of 6 minutes. When the Instant Pot is done cooking, allow it to set for 2 minutes, then do a quick release, releasing all the pressure. Once all the pressure is released, and the float valve is down, remove the lid and give the risotto a good stir. If all the liquid has not been absorbed, continue to stir the Risotto.

Keep Stirring: It will begin to thicken. Leave the Risotto in the Instant Pot, and open the artichoke hearts. Slice them, add them to the Risotto, and gently stir them into the dish. Add the Parmesan Cheese, and stir. You can save a few of the artichokes to top the Risotto when serving.

Serve: Plate or dish up the garlic parmesan risotto into bowls, and serve with a few roasted red peppers, and sliced artichokes, and Parmesan Cheese on top. Enjoy!

❓Recipe FAQs

👪 How To Serve

This healthy veggie risotto is a complete meal all on it’s own, but here are a few ideas of some side dishes you serve with it:

• Steamed Asparagus or Cheesy Baked Asparagus
• Mixed Green Salad with a Citrus Vinaigrette, or a Kale Salad with Cranberries
• Sautéed Mushrooms, Sautéed Spinach or Roasted Brussell Sprouts
• With a glass of white wine and crusty bread

💭 Expert Tips

• Use the sauté feature to cook the vegetables prior to adding the broth.
• Turn off the instant pot and then deglaze the bottom by scraping all the vegetable bits off the bottom of the pan. This adds a rich flavor to the broth.
• Do not add all the artichokes or red peppers until the arborio rice has cooked. You will stir these in after the risotto is done cooking.
• If you use pre-roasted red peppers, you can add them in with the artichokes after the dish is done cooking. If you’re using raw red peppers, add them in with the onions to sauté and cook with the arborio rice.
• Save a few red peppers and artichokes for garnish.
• Rice and vegetables should be covered in broth before sealing. If they are not covered in broth add a little more broth until they are completely covered.
• If all the liquid hasn’t been absorbed continue to stir. It will thicken as you stir.
• Use arborio rice to keep this recipe gluten-free. Farro is not gluten-free. Cook until al dente!
• If you’re making this for kids, and your kids aren’t a big fan of artichokes or red peppers, scoop out a serving for them before adding the artichokes and red peppers. Alternatively, you can chop up all of the veggies super fine and stir them into the dish so they’re hard to see, or switch them out for ones your kids enjoy. A little extra parmesan cheese on top always helps my kids get excited about this dish and clean their plates.

🍲 More Healthy Instant Pot Recipes!

• Instant Pot Vegan Pozole
• Instant Pot Chili Mac
• Instant Pot Applesauce
• Instant Pot Lentil and Cauliflower Curry

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