This baked Pumpkin Risotto looks thoroughly unimpressive when it comes out of the oven. But with a few big stirs, it miraculously transforms into a luxurious, CREAMY risotto with a magnificent colour that no one can resist!
And to think that you can make this without standing over the hot stove, stirring constantly……. Believe it. You CAN make an amazing, creamy risotto in the oven!
ULTRA CREAMY, ULTRA EASY PUMPKIN RISOTTO
For pumpkin lovers, for risotto lovers, for good food lovers everywhere – this Pumpkin Risotto recipe is for you.
If you’re new to the wonders of baked risotto, this will be a life changing recipe for you. It is truly creamy, it looks and tastes luxurious, and it doesn’t even have a drop of cream in it.
And yet, rather than standing over a hot stove, stirring constantly for 20 minutes, it’s just plonked in the oven. Take it out, give it a few vigorous stirs – and this is what you get:
And it tastes even better than it looks!!!
HOW TO MAKE THIS BAKED PUMPKIN RISOTTO
You are going to be amazed how easy it is to make risotto in the oven.
It starts on the stove like a normal risotto, with sautéed garlic and onion. We can’t skip this flavour base. Nor do we want to skip deglazing the pot with a touch of white wine (or broth or even water) and toasting the risotto lightly in the pot.
From here, the recipe changes completely from a traditional risotto recipe. Add the liquids and pumpkin, give it a stir, cover, then bake in the oven for 25 minutes
No stirring. Not even once. In fact, I forbid you to open that oven. If you do, you lose heat and you’ll disrupt the cooking process!
WATCH THE MAGIC HAPPEN
Open the lid, and you’ll be greeted with the sight of some seriously stodgy looking rice, about as far from a creamy risotto as can be. But have faith. This is where the magic happens. Give it a vigorous stir, watch as the soft cooked pumpkin disintegrates and transforms into a puree which creates the creamy pumpkin sauce for this risotto
It tastes savoury yet sweet from the pumpkin. The rice is perfectly cooked – al dente, just the way I like.
The risotto is creamy rather than stodgy and gluey. And we haven’t used a single drop of cream!
INGREDIENTS IN PUMPKIN RISOTTO
Astonishingly few ingredients in Pumpkin Risotto! The key ingredient to ensure you get right is the rice – see below for more information.
Other than this, the other ingredients are actually fairly simple and adaptable. Don’t have wine? No problems, just use water or broth. Prefer olive oil rather than butter? Go ahead. Switch sage with other herbs, use canned or fresh pumpkin (yes really), use chicken or vegetable broth, or water + stock powder.
WHAT RICE TO USE FOR RISOTTO
Risotto needs to be made with risotto rice. It has a higher starch content which is what makes the creamy “sauce” without using cream.
There’s a few varieties but the most common at supermarkets is Arborio which is what I use.
OPTIONAL CRISPY SAGE LEAVES & BROWN BUTTER
I’ve garnished this Pumpkin Risotto with crispy sage leaves because pumpkin and sage are great mates, and it provides great texture.
The added bonus is that the butter used to crisp up the sage leaves turns into brown butter which is an incredible finish for any risotto. Just one or two teaspoons is all you need to elevate it to another level of luxuriousness.
But… this is optional……(she says, unconvincingly)
Let’s put it this way. It’s ok to skip it for an everyday meal. But it’s mandatory for company! – Nagi x
SUGGESTIONS: THINGS TO SERVE WITH PUMPKIN RISOTTO
Add chicken and spinach – see recipe notes
Sun Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breast or quick Crispy Garlic Chicken Thighs
Crispy Pan Fried Fish or Garlic Prawns/Shrimp – super quick and easy
Meatloaf – instead of the usual mashed potatoes!
Salmon Patties, Rissoles, Zucchini Fritters and similar
MORE RISOTTO RECIPES!
One Pot Baked Risotto with Lemon Chicken
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Baked Creamy Pumpkin Risotto
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp / 50 g unsalted butter , divided
- 1 1/2 cups arborio rice (risotto rice) (Note 1)
- 1 onion , diced
- 600 g / 20 oz pumpkin (weight after peeling and deseeding) , diced into 1.7cm/2/3″ cubes (about 4 heaped cups) (Note 2)
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 1/4 cup dry white wine (or water or broth)
- 3 1/2 cups vegetable or chicken stock/broth
- 2 tbsp sage leaves, roughly chopped (Note 3)
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese , finely grated
- Salt & pepper
Crispy Sage & Brown Butter (optional)
- 50 g / 3 tbsp butter , salted
- 12 – 20 sage leaves
To Garnish
- Grated parmesan
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
- Melt 1 tbsp / 20g butter in ovenproof pot (preferably with a lid) over medium high heat.
- Add garlic and onion and cook until onion is translucent.
- Add chopped sage and cook for 1 minute.
- Add rice and stir so all the rice grains are coated with the butter and semi translucent.
- Add white wine and cook until the the liquid evaporates – about 1 minute.
- Add pumpkin and broth, stir. Let the liquid heat up but do not bring to simmer.
- Put lid on (or cover tightly with foil) and place in oven for 25 minutes, until rice is just cooked (firm but not raw) – don’t worry if there’s excess liquid. If rice is still uncooked, return to oven for 5 minutes.
- Add remaining butter and parmesan cheese.
- Stir vigorously until the pumpkin turns into a puree and blends into the risotto. If it’s too thick then add a splash of hot tap water. Should have a porridge like consistency so it sags a bit when served (see video), rather than staying in a tall, firm pile.
- Spoon into serving bowls. Garnish with crispy sage, 1 or 2 teaspoons of brown butter and parmesan cheese. Devour immediately!
Crispy Sage:
- Melt butter in a small pan over medium high heat. Once foaming, add sage leaves and stir gently.
- Cook for 1 1/2 minutes or until crispy.
- Immediately remove sage onto paper towel lined plate and pour butter into a heat proof jug (butter should be brown by now).
Recipe Notes:
- Salt – It is important to remember to season at the very end and not at the beginning as you never really know how strong the salt from the stock/broth is once absorbed into the rice.
- Leftover Brown Butter – It’s unlikely you’ll use it all. But you can’t use less otherwise it’s too hard to crisp the sage leaves (I tried). Drizzle leftovers on almost any protein, pasta, omelettes, onto soups. Just a tiny drizzle adds an extra element of luxuriousness to anything!
- Servings: Even though there is only 1 1/2 cups of rice, this makes a lot (because of the 3 cups of pumpkin). It will feed 4 hungry people or 6 normal servings.
- Baking time – if you are using a heavy cast iron casserole pot with a lid, then the cook time should be 25 minutes because it retains heat so well. If you are using a lighter weight pot covered with foil, then it might take closer to 35 to 40 minutes.
- Add protein: Turn this into a complete meal by adding chicken and spinach. Chop chicken, season with salt and pepper (add herbs if you want too). Add the chicken when the onion is translucent and cook until white (still raw inside). Then follow the directions of the recipe. When you stir the butter and parmesan into the cooked risotto, add the spinach as well – you can add as much spinach as you want, but 3 packed cups is ideal. The residual heat from the risotto will wilt it quickly. You may need to add a splash of water to loosen it up a bit.
- Veganise it by omitting the parmesan (check the salt level by taste) and using vegetable rather than chicken stock.
5. Leftovers – Risotto doesn’t keep well, it thickens. But leftovers make brilliant Arancini Rice Balls! Here’s a baked one, here’s a fried one. 6. Nutrition per serving, assuming 1 tsp of brown butter, excludes parmesan garnish and crispy sage (because I don’t know how to calculate nutrition for that).
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
Well, at least he’s out having fun in the water while suffering the indignity of Halloween dress ups…..
Delicious! Made this tonight on my stovetop using my Dutch oven. So quick, easy and tasty! I added chicken and next time I will also add bacon. The rest of the family loved it too. Can’t wait to turn the leftovers into Arancini Balls! Thanks for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed this Tania!!! Thank you for taking the time to leave feedback! N x
Oh, this was lovely! I used my multicooker/Rice cooker on the risotto setting. It was done within 20 minutes and was yummy! I added bacon strips for An extra flavour boost. Next time i will try to roast the pimpkin first as someone suggesties earlier. Thanks for this recipe!
LOVE HEARING THAT Nienke! N x ❤️
Love hearing how you make this with the press cooker Jenny! N x
Oh I roasted the pumpkin first for extra flavour
Hi there,
Do you think i could add precooked diced pumpkin?
Hi Jess – yep, that should be fine!
I baked this for 20 minutes in a cast iron dutch oven. The rice is just right, but the pumpkin is still hard. It doesn’t say to precook the pumpkin prior to adding it to the recipe. What did I do wrong?
Hi Nancy! 20 minutes is the check time, it will need 25 – 35 minutes 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi,
Just wanted to tell you how much I love this recipe! I make the chicken and spinach version at least once every three weeks and would make it more often except I would burn my husband out. My thoughts: wine is not necessary however celery is a must!
I have 18 month twins and this is their favourite dinner. The recipe makes so much that there is always plent to freeze for their tea. The whole family says ‘Nom’!
Thanks so much Fiona!! I’m so delighted to hear that your whole family enjoys this recipe – especially your 18 month twins! They already have great taste 😉
I admit, I really don’t like sage, so I made this with my own blend of herbes de provence… I also misread the amount of pumpkin to use and used only about half the amount (2 generous cups )of cubed pumpkin, but OTHERWISE, followed to the letter (ok ok ok, used apple cider instead of wine, please stop yelling at me–)
This is delicious and the texture is outstanding! Definitely added to the roster! Thank you!
I don’t yell for adapting recipes! 😉 I’m the queen of adapting!! I’m so glad you enjoyed this, isn’t it amazingly easy? Thank you for taking the time to let me know you enjoyed it!!
I’ve never really had pumpkin in this form but it does look like it is worth a try.
How will the recipe change if I wanted to use pumpkin purée instead of diced pumpkin? Would that ruin the recipe?
I made this tonight with chicken, spinach and the pumpkin puree and it turned out just fine! I used one 15oz can an decreased the chicken stock to 3 cups. After 20 min it was getting pretty dry and the rice was al dente so next time I think I’d still add the 3 1/2 cups of chicken stock. One note though, I live at high altitude so I know that had an effect. At sea level I would still recommend trying it with only 3 cups and at the end adding 1/4 cup stock at a time until you get a creamy consistency. Another suggestion I would add is to salt and pepper the chicken when cooking it with the onion and garlic at the beginning. It needed a little flavor boost but otherwise super tasty! Will make again!
Hi Melissa! Thanks so much for your tips about the altitude and affect on liquid absorption! I’m really glad you enjoyed it 🙂 It’s pumpkin season, I must make this again!!! N x
Hi Jessica! Unfortunately I haven’t made this with pumpkin puree so I don’t know whether it will be too soggy. Sorry! I will update the recipe if I try it with puree!
Hi, made a variation of your risotto with brown rice, baked it for about an hour. Turned out great!
Oh wow! I’m so glad it worked with brown rice because I’ve never tried it! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and let me know you enjoyed it! 🙂
Hi Nagi
Me again… THIS is dinner tomorrow.. It takes me half a say to chop up a pumpkin these says since I have RA/OA…
Looking forward to it… Although dinner prep started life as your chicken lemon risotto… Its morphed
2 questions…
1. Ive recently discovered USA and UK have different cup measures so it it possible you coil add fluid ozs/litre measures? As I’m not sure..
2. Ive looked up Panko and can see its a softer breadcrumb. The only ones I can get are hard orange coloured stuff in a box that doesn’t resemble bread… Im going to try chopping up fresh bread to see if I can make some…. Arancini balls if I can….
If u ever get up near Liverpool come and stay
Hey Nagi
Thanks for the advise Re measures
Looking forward to this… Friday
Hi Heather! Liverpool is fab, I was there briefly for work once 🙂 Regarding measurements, you can just use UK cups, tsp etc for all my recipes except where I specifically provide different measurements for different countries. ie. The difference is not big enough to make a difference to the recipe. But for baking, it IS important. So I always provide measurements for different countries – believe it or not!
Normal breadrumbs is FINE for arancini! In fact, that’s how it is traditionally made. I just make it with panko to get extra crunch! A great way to make homemade breadcrumbs that are even better than panko is to let a chunk of bread dry (anything – baguette, sourdough) and then grate it with a cheese grater. FAB to use as pangrittata as well! 🙂
Hope you love this! N x
I thought I may bake some pumpkin pieces and stir them in at the end.
That’s a really great idea! Just be aware that adding a baking tray into the oven will cause the overall temp to drop so it will take longer to bake 🙂
that is a seriously delicious looking risotto.. and so creamy! love that it’s baked too (means i can be extra lazy when cooking dinner). another awesome recipe nagi!
Thanks Thalia! Yes, it is really creamy – with no cream! 🙂