This is my mom’s vegetable risotto recipe– and it’s so delicious! Made with onions, carrots, celery, peppers, zucchini, peas, mushrooms, and tomatoes, it’s filled with vegetable flavor. This creamy risotto comes together in 1 hour for a cozy vegetarian dinner.
My mom has been making this homemade risotto recipe for years (she's the reason I am now an Italian cook), so I figured it was time I shared it with you! It's a hit at her Sunday night dinners, and for good reason - it's full of flavor and packs in tons of vegetables.
She will usually serve this risotto first (as a primo) then serve these Italian chicken cutlets or Italian baked chicken thighs (as a secondo - main course).
I like this recipe because it's different from a traditional mushroom risotto - this recipe uses tomato sauce (passata) which almost gives it a pasta vibe, cool right?
By the way, if you are looking for a classic tomato pasta, check out my nonna's pasta pomodoro (my mom's mom's recipe! they were and are both great cooks)
For even more Sunday dinner recipe inspiration, definitely check out my other pasta and risotto recipes.
The vegetables (and substitutions!)
This risotto with mushrooms uses so many vegetables (8 in total!), and this particular set of vegetables work really well with the tomato sauce in my opinion.
But the beauty is that the dish is customizable - you can use whatever veggies you have on hand. For example, if you don't have zucchini, but have asparagus, that would be a great substitution!
If you don't have mushrooms at all, just omit them. Also, this should go without saying but you can use whatever color peppers you'd like/have on hand.
Besides the vegetables listed in the recipe, other great additions/swaps would be corn, green beans (cut small), artichokes, and (the already mentioned) asparagus.
Making it
This recipe requires two main steps:
- Cook the vegetables with the tomato sauce
- Cook the risotto, and add the cooked vegetables in
Let's go through it, step by step.
In a pan, cook your carrots, celery and onion. Then add the rest of the vegetables, except for the peas. Let those cook down a bit.
Add in the passata. Passata is simply crushed, strained tomatoes that usually comes in a jar. It's not seasoned or cooked, which is different from a ready-made pasta sauce from a jar.
Cook everything down for 20-25 minutes. When about 5 minutes are left in the cooking time, add the peas. Set aside.
While the vegetables are cooking, slowly heat up the vegetable broth.
In another pan over medium heat, add the olive oil. Once heated through, add the rice. Cook the rice in the pan for a few minutes. At this point, you are toasting the rice.
Add the white wine to the pan. Once the alcohol has evaporated off, add a few ladles of vegetable broth. Once the broth is mostly absorbed, add another few ladles. The process of cooking the rice like this is called risottare.
The risottare technique isn't just used for rice, however. Pasta dishes like this authentic cacio e pepe use the technique as well. It makes the final dish super creamy (without any cream!)
When the rice is about half way cooked, add in the vegetables/sauce mixture.
Continue to cook the rice by adding ladles of vegetable broth when the broth you added in before is mostly absorbed.
Once rice is cooked, take the pan off the heat. Add a generous amount of olive oil and stir. then add a generous amount of grated parmigiano reggiano and stir some more. This process is called mantecare.
Plate, top with more parmigiano and enjoy!
Leftovers
This recipe makes quite a large amount of risotto, and it's great the next day too. I remember bringing the leftovers for lunch when I was in high school (yes, my mom has been making this recipe for a long time!)
To heat it up, I add a bit of olive oil to a pan over medium heat and heat it through. I top with grated parmigiano reggiano and it's so good the next day, too.
It will keep for 2-3 days in the fridge.
Recipe
Mom’s Mixed Vegetable Risotto with Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoon olive oil, divided, plus more for finishing extra virgin
- ½ white or yellow onion diced
- 2 small carrots diced
- 2 celery stalks diced
- 1 small zucchini diced
- 1 red pepper diced
- 1 green pepper diced
- 8 white mushrooms, including the stems diced
- 2 cups frozen peas
- 1 can peeled plum tomatoes 796mL or 28fl oz
- 2 cups arborio rice
- white wine
- 3-6 litres vegetable stock
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add tablespoon olive oil to a pot over medium heat and add onions, celery and carrots. Sauté for a few minutes.
- Add the rest of the diced vegetables except for the peas. Let them cook for about 5-7 minutes.
- Mash the tomatoes with a fork or your hands and add them to the vegetables, along with salt and pepper. Let this sauce cook down until reduced, about 20-25 minutes. When the sauce has about 5 minutes left, add in the peas. In the mean time, heat up the broth.
- In a large pan or pot over medium heat, add 2 tablespoon olive oil. Add the rice and toast it for 2-3 minutes.
- Pour in the white wine. Let it absorb. Once wine is absorbed, add the tomato sauce to the rice and stir everything together.
- Add a good amount of broth and stir. Keep stirring or else the rice with stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Keep stirring the rice, and adding broth as needed, until the rice is cooked, about 30 minutes.
- Remove pan from heat, add a generous amount of olive oil and stir. Then add a generous amount of grated parmigiano reggiano then stir some more.
- Plate and top with more parmigiano reggiano if desired. Enjoy!
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
- You may not need to use the whole 6L of vegetable stock, but it's good to have on hand just in case.
- You can also use carnaroli rice instead of arborio if you'd like.
Eric says
Are Frozen peas part of the "add diced vegetables"?
"add the tomato sauce" is the veggie pot we made in step 1-3?
How much white wine?