This Spring Pea Instant Pot Risotto is super easy to make – it’s rich and creamy with spring peas, asparagus and fresh parmesan cheese!
Ingredients and substitutions
- Butter – or your favourite dairy-free substitute like margarine.
- Shallots – white or yellow onions would also be good in this recipe.
- Garlic – use freshly minced or jarred minced garlic.
- Chicken broth – vegetable broth would be the next best substitute here.
- Dry white rice – swap out for another variety of short-grain rice.
- Parmesan cheese – nutritional yeast is a good dairy-free substitute for parmesan cheese.
- Lemon zest – if you don’t have any lemon zest, lemon juice would also work here.
- Peas – feel free to swap out for another veggie like mushrooms (just make sure to add the mushrooms when cooking on high pressure).
- Asparagus – see substitution notes above.
- Parsley – you can use any kind of microgreens for garnish or leave this off altogether.
How to make risotto in the Instant Pot
- Add the first five ingredients to the Instant Pot in order.
- Cook on high pressure for 3 minutes.
- Do a quick release of the pressure.
- Stir in the parmesan, lemon zest, peas and asparagus.
- Let sit for 5-10 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy!
Tips for making the best Instant Pot risotto
Making risotto in a pressure cooker is a bit different than a stovetop version. Here are a couple of tips to help you make this easy risotto recipe:
- Use less liquid. When you make risotto in a pan on the stovetop, steam is able to escape, causing the cooking liquid to reduce. In a pressure cooker, the steam stays inside the pot, so you won’t need to use as much cooking liquid.
- End cooking with a quick release to avoid overcooking the rice.
- Add vegetables and cheese after the risotto cooks. You’ll stir in the asparagus, peas, and Parmesan cheese after the cook time ends. If you were to pressure cook the vegetables, they would overcook, and nobody likes mushy peas or stringy asparagus, am I right?
- For the best tasting, creamy risotto, serve immediately. Have the table set, with everyone ready to eat, because you don’t want to serve up overcooked risotto!
Frequently Asked Questions
This Instant Pot risotto only needs to cook on high pressure for 3 minutes! Since it will take the Instant Pot 5-10 minutes to get up to high pressure, the total cooking time is about 15 minutes. It’s a great option for a quick and easy dinner idea!
You’ll need to stir in the peas at the end after the rest of the risotto mixture has cooked at high pressure, and let them sit for about 5-10 minutes with the lid on. Otherwise, you’ll end up with mushy peas, and no one wants that.
Perfectly creamy risotto comes from the starches in rice. As it cooks, the rice releases its starch, causing the cooking liquid to thicken. Being highest in starch, short-grain rice is the best choice for an Instant Pot risotto recipe even though you would traditionally use arborio rice in risotto. I would recommend staying clear of brown rice or jasmine or basmati rice for this risotto as they aren’t starchy enough and can have a longer cook time.
Storing and reheating
Unfortunately, risotto does not freeze well, but it does make good leftovers! This batch of rice will last in the fridge for up to 5 days.
When you go to reheat, sprinkle some water over top and microwave for 2-3 minutes. The water will prevent the rice from drying out – this is my best reheating tip when it comes to reviving old leftovers and it works so well with rice and pasta dishes.
If you want a rice dish that freezes well, make this meal prep recipe for Instant Pot Orange Chicken and Rice or this Instant Pot Greek Chicken and Rice.
More Instant Pot rice recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on turning this Instant Pot risotto into lunches for the week.
Spring Pea Instant Pot Risotto
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 5 shallots, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 3/4 cup chicken broth To make a vegetarian dish, use vegetable broth.
- 1 cup dry white rice
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 cup peas
- 1 cup asparagus, chopped
- Parsley/microgreens, for garnish
Instructions
- Add butter, shallots, garlic, broth, and rice to the Instant Pot, in that order. Place lid on Instant Pot and make sure the valve is set to seal.
- Press the pressure cook button and set to high, then cook for 3 minutes. Instant Pot will take about 10-20 minutes to come to pressure, then pressure cook for 3 minutes.
- Do a quick release of the pressure by flicking the switch at the top with a spoon, then open lid when pressure gauge has dropped and lid opens easily.
- Stir in parmesan cheese, lemon zest, peas and asparagus then replace lid and let sit on the “Keep Warm” setting for 5-10 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy!