Bone Broth Risotto with Mushrooms and Crispy Shallots

Bone Broth Risotto is rich, satisfying, and perfect for cold winter nights. It’s also a delicious way to get all the benefits of bone broth into you and your family! Read on, or jump straight to the recipe HERE.

Oh risotto, how much I love thee. Warm, rich, full of comfort-food goodness… and one of the most relaxing meals I know how to make.

Yes, that’s right, relaxing. I know risotto gets a bad rap. People say it’s a workout, that it will hurt your arm because you have to stir it THE WHOLE TIME.

Uh… no. Just no.

Unless you’re making a triple batch to feed the whole neighborhood — or working in a restaurant kitchen — I really don’t believe you’re going to hurt your arm muscles making risotto. It’s just not gonna happen. Risotto does need to be stirred, but that stirring is gentle stuff. You don’t need to break out your stand mixer with the bread dough attachment… it’s just moving a spoon around a pan. No one will get hurt if you stop to pour yourself a glass of wine (I recommend it) or switch arms (also recommended).

And the results? So totally worth it.

Standing at the stove stirring a pot of rice is pure bliss, in my book. It’s so much less frantic than other kinds of cooking. Wooden spoon in one hand, a glass of wine in the other… aaaah.

And, because I don’t walk away from the stove for more than a minute at a time, it’s virtually impossible to burn the rice. It’s about the most foolproof dish there could be.

While the rice bubbles and swirls, I can keep an eye on the crispy shallots on the next burner.

Frying shallots may seems like a pain in the rear, but if I could send you a virtual flavor transfusion through my screen right now, you would be running to your kitchen to make them. Or just… licking your computer screen.

Anyway, they couldn’t be simpler to make. There’s no need for a fancy thermometer, and no giant pot to clean… and they come out looking like this:

Golden curls of pure crispy goodness. I’m kiiind of addicted to them.

The shallots really are the show-stoppers here, but before we get to the recipe, I wanna take a minute to talk about another key player in this recipe. Bone broth.

Normally, risotto is made with chicken, vegetable, or beef stock. You can certainly do that with this recipe, but using bone broth is a great way to amp up the richness and flavor, while giving you all kinds of added nutrients. Bone broth has become uber popular recently, but it’s more than just a fad — as Alton Brown would say, it’s just plain good eats.

Bone broth is made, as you would expect, from bones. The thing that sets it apart from other kinds of broth and stock is how it’s made. In a good bone broth, the bones are roasted first, then boiled for hours and hours to extract all the healthy fats, collagen, and amino acids from deep within the bones themselves.

Okay, I know that doesn’t sound super appetizing, but hear me out. That natural trio, plus other vitamins and minerals like calcium that also come from the bones, is super nourishing for your hair, skin and nails, helps maintain healthy joints and strong bones, and can even help regulate digestion and fight inflammation. Which makes you wonder why we ever stopped cooking with bones in the first place!

The way I look at it, if I’m going to be a meat eater, I’d rather use all of the animal, not just the “meat.” Somehow in our busy modern lives, we’ve forgotten all about bones and how good they are… which is a shame.

Making your own bone broth is surprisingly easy, and it can keep in the freezer for months so you can make a big batch and have it last. (Here’s a great tutorial for making your own bone broth.) However, if you aren’t up for making your own, or you want to have some back-up broth to supplement your homemade stash, you can buy it online.

I’m a fan of the Kettle & Fire brand, because they use 100% grass fed beef bones, and organic vegetables in their broth. Basically, they make it the way I would make it, which is hard to find in a company these days. Their product isn’t cheap — especially compared to making it yourself — but for those times that I’m not making it from scratch, I like knowing I’m supporting a company that cares about where their ingredients come from.

This post is actually sponsored by Kettle & Fire (full disclosure!) but I have a policy never to share a product with you guys that I don’t personally use or would recommend to my own friends and family. Because you guys are my friends, duh!

Now that I’ve talked your ear off, you should totally go make this risotto, and then talk my ear off in the comments below. And if you make this recipe, snap a photo and tag #willcookforfriends — seeing your posts on social media makes me smile like a crazy person! (I really need to work on that.)

Do you have a favorite recipe to use bone broth in? Let me know in the comments below!

5.0 from 4 reviews

Bone Broth Risotto with Mushrooms and Crispy Shallots

 

Print

Cook time

1 hour

Total time

1 hour

 

Rich, satisfying, and perfect for cold winter nights. This risotto takes a little time from start to finish, but I find it wonderfully relaxing to make. Just get all your ingredients prepped and ready before you begin cooking, and the rest is a breeze!

Author: Willow at Will Cook For Friends

Recipe type: Gluten-free

Serves: 4

Ingredients

For the crispy fried shallots:

• 2 large or 3-4 medium shallots, peeled and sliced into ¼ inch thick slices (you want about 1½ - 2 cups sliced shallots, so if yours are particularly small, you may need more of them)*
• vegetable oil, for frying
• ½ tsp. kosher salt (or ¼ tsp. fine grain sea salt)

For the risotto:

• 2 TBSP butter, divided
• 2 TBSP olive oil, divided
• 6 - 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced (I used a mix of shiitake, oyster, and enoki mushrooms, but cremini or button mushrooms work just as well)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup arborio rice
• ¾ cup white wine (whatever you like to drink -- I like vouvrey, a light, slightly sweet wine)
• 2 cups bone broth (homemade, or Kettle & Fire brand)
• 2 cups water, or more broth, or chicken or other kind of stock**
• 1 cup fresh or frozen peas
• 2-3 TBSP fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves, chopped
• salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

For the crispy shallots:

1. Pour about 1 inch of oil into a small saucepan, and add the sliced shallots. The oil should just cover all of the shallots. Stir in the salt, and place over medium-high heat. Let cook for about 10-12 minutes, or until they've turned golden brown. Keep an eye on them so they don't burn, and stir gently every once and awhile so they cook evenly. They'll start to turn brown at the edges after about 6-8 minutes, and will go really quickly after that, so don't walk away -- as soon as they turn an even shade of golden brown, remove them using a frying spider (like this) or a heat-proof slotted spoon, and let them drain on a paper towel lined plate.

For the risotto:

1. Pour the bone broth and water (or more broth or stock) into a saucepan and set over low heat to warm up.
2. Add 1 TBSP butter and 1 TBSP olive oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, and a small pinch of salt, and cook for about 4-5 minutes, or until the mushrooms have softened and turned golden in some places. Add the garlic, and cook for another 1-2 minutes, stirring to keep the garlic from burning. Remove to a bowl and set aside.
3. To the same pan, add the remaining butter and olive oil. Add the arborio rice, and stir to coat all the grains with oil. Let cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, to toast the grains. The edges of the rice should become slightly translucent. If they start to brown, turn down the heat.
4. Add the white wine, and stir constantly until the liquid has almost completely absorbed/evaporated.
5. Add one ladle full of the warm broth/water to the pan, and again, stir constantly until almost all of the liquid has been absorbed by the rice. Continue adding a lade full at a time, letting the liquid absorb between each addition, stirring anywhere from frequently to constantly. (You may have heard that risotto needs to be stirred constantly, but seriously, nothing bad will happen if you switch hands or pour yourself a glass of wine. In fact, I recommend it!) Risotto typically takes about 25 minutes to make. If you find your broth is taking a long time to absorb into the rice, turn the heat up a little. If it's evaporating almost immediately, turn the heat down.
6. When you're almost out of broth, taste the rice for doneness. A "proper" risotto should have a tiny bit of chew left to it. If the rice is too chewy for your tastes, continue adding the last of the broth. If not, then you're good to go.
7. In the last few minutes of cooking, add the peas, parsley, and thyme. Season to taste salt and pepper, and stir in the cooked mushrooms.
8. Serve, and top with crispy shallots at the last moment. Enjoy!

Notes

*Be careful not to slice your shallots too thinly, or else they'll burn and turn bitter. Try to slice them all as evenly as possible, so they cook and become crisp at the same time.

**Because bone broth is so much richer than regular stock or broth, you can get away with diluting it 50/50 with water. However, if you want a richer risotto, feel free to use 100% bone broth, or use a mix of bone broth and chicken or veggie stock for more flavor.

You can find a tutorial for making your own bone broth right here.

3.5.3226

LIKE IT? SPREAD THE WORD:

Yummly

Facebook

Stumbleupon

Pinterest

Twitter

Google