Instant Pot Risotto

This is a basic no-cheese risotto for the instant pot, based on an extremely basic one in How To Instant Pot. The miso paste step is from serious eats.

Serves two as a main meal with extras (one person per half cup of rice), or 3–4 (per cup) as a side dish. I scale the full meal up to at least 1 ¼ c. rice when we’re hungry.

Ingredients

• 2 T. olive oil
• 1 shallot, sliced, or yellow onion, diced (optional)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (optional)
• 1 c. Arborio rice (or more)
• 2 c. chicken, vegetable, or meat stock (or twice the volume of the rice, if using more rice)
• 1 pinch saffron (optional)
• 1 T. dry wine (optional)
• ¾ tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. miso paste (optional)
• 1 T. nutritional yeast (optional)
• other spices to taste (e.g., pepper, turmeric, sage, etc.)
• optional extras (mushrooms, vegetables, etc.)

Directions

1. If using saffron, soak in some hot stock. (This is easier if you’re reconstituting your stock with some hot water.)
2. Optionally (in the instant pot), saute the onions in the oil on low to desired transparency. Add garlic and saute one more minute.
3. If the extras cannot stand up to pressure cooking, saute them now until cooked, then fish them out and set aside.
4. Saute the rice in the oil.
5. Optionally, deglaze the pot with wine and stir in the miso.
6. Add stock and any durable extras. Stir and deglaze the pot if not already deglazed.
7. Cancel saute, close instant pot, and seal the vent.
8. Pressure cook on high for 7 minutes.
9. Release steam artificially.
10. Open pot and stir in any fished-out extras.

If your extra is mushrooms, subtract the volume of mushroom juice from the broth when adding broth.

Variants

You can stir in cheese at the end or when serving.

You can replace some of the liquid with tomatoes.

Some pressure cook for 6 minutes with 5 minutes of natural release.

You can do the same sort of thing with farro in place of rice; see my IP Farro Risotto recipe. For Bob’s Red Mill farro the proportions 1 c. farro to 1 ½ c. stock worked for me, though the internet frequently recommends using more water and draining afterwards. The internet also recommends rinsing the farro first, which I haven’t tried. Cook on high pressure for 12 minutes and release naturally.

According to Plant Whys, you can add 8 oz. of crumbled tofu to the onions and garlic. Also add 2 T. of soy sauce and 2 T. nutritional yeast, then fry a bit before the raw rice step.