Instant Pot Radicchio Risotto (Risotto al Radicchio)

Instant Pot Radicchio Risotto (Risotto al Radicchio). Pressure cookers make great risotto quickly, without all the stirring. This recipe is a red risotto with the bitter bite of radicchio to balance the sweet butter and cheese.

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My visit to northern Italy inspired this recipe. I was re-living my trip by going through my notes and saw radicchio risotto in the recipe booklet I got at Riseria Ferron, the rice factory we visited on my tour.

Radicchio risotto? What a great idea. Bitter risotto balances out the creamy rice, sweet butter, and salty cheese in a risotto. And it's colorful! That red rice is an impressive side dish, and it's easy thanks to pressure cooker risotto.

You know pressure cooker risotto, right? It's one of the secret weapons of pressure cookers. You can make risotto in minutes with no stirring! And it comes out just as creamy as if you spent the evening carefully stirring and adding stock, ladle after ladle.

For some other risotto recipes inspired by my visit to Riseria Ferron, see my Instant Pot Asparagus Risotto and Instant Pot Risotto with Pork and Cinnamon.

Ingredients

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• Olive oil
• Onion, minced
• Garlic, minced
• Fine sea salt
• Red radicchio
• Arborio rice (Or Carnaroli or Vialone Nano rice)
• Red wine
• vegetable broth or chicken broth (homemade or store-bought low-sodium broth)
• Butter
• Grated parmesan cheese

See the recipe card for quantities.

How to make Instant Pot Radicchio Risotto

Sauté the onion, garlic, and radicchio 

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in an Instant Pot using sauté mode adjusted to high until the oil starts to shimmer (Medium-high heat in a stovetop pressure cooker). Add the onion and garlic, sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of salt, and sauté until the onion softens, about 3 minutes. Stir in the sliced radicchio and sauté until it starts to wilt, about 2 minutes.

Add the rice, wine, and broth

Stir in the rice, coating it with the oil. Add the wine and scrape the bottom of the pot with a flat-edged wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits of onion. Bring the wine to a boil, pour in the broth, stir in the ½ teaspoon salt (if using homemade broth), and lock the lid.

Pressure Cook the risotto for 5 minutes with a Quick Release

Cook at high pressure for 5 minutes in an Instant Pot, electric pressure cooker, or stovetop pressure cooker. (Use Manual Mode or Pressure Cook for an Instant Pot). Quick release the pressure, then carefully remove the lid, tilting it away from you to avoid the scalding hot steam.

Stir in butter and cheese and serve

Stir the 2 tablespoons of butter into the rice until it melts, then stir in the grated cheese. Serve, sprinkling with a bit of extra grated cheese and minced radicchio. Enjoy!

Substitutions

• What kind of rice should I use? Traditional Risotto rice is short grain rice grown to have extra starch: arborio, carnaroli, or vialone nano. (Vialone nano is the specialty at Riseria Ferron.) Arborio is by far the easiest for me to find in my local grocery stores and makes a good risotto, so don't worry if you can't find fancier risotto rice. If you can't find risotto rice, you can try another variety of short-grain rice. But it won't have as much starch, so the risotto won't be as creamy.
• Vegetarian: This recipe is vegetarian if you use vegetable broth as suggested in the ingredients.
• Vegan: To make this recipe vegan, you must replace the dairy. I've read that you can substitute vegan butter and vegan parmesan cheese in risotto, but I've never tried them. If you're vegan and make this recipe with vegan substitutions, let me know how it goes in the comments section below!
• No alcohol: Most of the alcohol will boil off during the simmering step, but not all of it. To cook alcohol-free, replace the red wine with extra broth.
  

What is Radicchio?

Radicchio is a bitter, red, leafy vegetable related to chicory and has been popular in Italian cooking for centuries. They're naturally green once they ripen, but they get that beautiful red color because of a technique called imbianchimento, developed by a Belgian agronomist in the 1800s. The radicchio is harvested and stored in water in a dark shed, which stops chlorophyll production, so the radicchio stays red.

Equipment

A 6-quart pressure cooker

Scaling

This recipe doubles easily in a 6-quart pressure cooker. Cut all the ingredients in half, and this recipe will fit in a 3-quart pressure cooker. The cooking time does not change; it takes the same time to cook each grain of rice, no matter how much you put in the pot.

Storage

According to the USDA, Leftover rice lasts for three days in the refrigerator, or three months in the freezer, as long as it is refrigerated (or frozen) within an hour of cooking in an airtight container and as long as it is heated properly before eating. I portion out my risotto in 2-cup containers before I put it in the fridge or freezer. Be sure to reheat the risotto all the way through; an instant read thermometer should read 165°F in the middle of the rice.

Tips and Tricks

• Pressure cooking is the key to easy risotto. No need to stir for 30 minutes, carefully ladling broth into the pot. I can lock the lid on my Instant Pot, set it to cook for 5 minutes, and have a fantastic risotto without all the extra work.
• Besides the risotto rice, the broth is the next most important ingredient. If you have an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker, please try making your own homemade pressure cooker vegetable broth or homemade pressure cooker chicken broth for this recipe. You will be able to taste the difference in your final risotto.
  

What to Serve with Instant Pot Radicchio Risotto

This risotto is hearty enough to be a vegetarian main dish, but it also makes a hearty, starchy side dish. I love to serve it with seafood, like fish fillets or grilled shrimp skewers.

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Related Posts

Instant Pot Mushroom Risotto (Risotto ai Funghi)
Instant Pot Shrimp Risotto
Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Risotto
Instant Pot Venetian Peas and Rice (Risi e Bisi)
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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