Secrets of Italian cooking. TOP 5 delicious risotto recipes: in creamy sauce and wine, with the addition of various additional ingredients - vegetables, mushrooms, herbs, cheese, etc.
Chicken risotto is an Italian dish that is made from specially prepared rice with the addition of chicken meat and other additional ingredients. Risotto is one of the dishes that appeared thanks to a happy accident: according to legend, the cook forgot about the rice soup, and all the broth was evaporated, but he found in the saucepan not a dubious brew, but delicious delicious rice. The first recipes for the dish spread throughout Italy already in the 16th century, and today there are thousands of variations of risotto cooking all over the world. Chicken risotto is one of the simplest, yet delicious recipes.
Features of cooking risotto with chicken
The technology for preparing risotto is simple: first, the prepared filling is fried in a deep frying pan in butter or olive oil (often a mixture of them), then dry rice is added, and the dish is cooked without liquid for a while. Finally, broth is poured into it, often along with wine, and cooked until completely evaporated.
The broth can be used in a variety of ways - meat, fish, vegetable, but, of course, chicken broth will sound more harmonious in recipes for risotto with chicken. Instead, you can always use plain water, but in this case, the taste of the dish will turn out to be less saturated.
It would seem that the recipe is very simple, however, in order to get the perfect risotto, it is important to take into account some peculiarities. Firstly, for this dish you need to take special varieties of rice, rich in starch, which, when cooked, give the risotto a special creamy taste. The most popular of these are Arborio, Baldo, Padano, Roma, Vialone Nano, Maratelli and Carnaloli. At the same time, the last three varieties are considered the best of all those listed. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to find them on the shelves of our stores, however, arborio, which will also sound very good in risotto, is now available in almost every major supermarket. Also, you can always safely take a pack that says "Rice for risotto".
The second important point is the proportions of adding broth or water. Since rice always takes a slightly different amount of liquid, there is no exact proportion for a classic risotto with chicken; it is determined in a fairly wide range - 3-4 glasses of liquid are taken for 1 glass of rice. That is why, in order not to be mistaken, it is recommended to add broth gradually and top up as needed.
The third feature of the dish is the use of high-quality oil, which also greatly affects the taste. For the classic chicken risotto recipe, use either butter, olive oil, or both.
Finally, another "trick" of risotto is the addition of a small amount of butter and / or finely grated Parmesan at the end of cooking. This technique helps to enhance the creaminess of the resulting dish and make it especially tender.
TOP 5 recipes for making risotto with chicken
Making chicken risotto at home is not difficult if you have prepared the broth in advance and purchased the right products - the right kind of rice and quality oil. It's also great if you have Parmesan on hand, although the latter can be replaced with another good hard cheese as a last resort, as well as saffron - in Milan, they don't even start cooking without this spice.
Risotto with chicken and cream
The simplest, perhaps, and at the same time very tasty risotto recipe is a recipe in a creamy garlic sauce. An additional plus - you can make risotto with chicken very quickly.
- Caloric content per 100 g - 250 kcal.
- Servings - 3
- Cooking time - 30-40 minutes
Ingredients:
- Chicken breast - 200 g
- Rice for risotto - 200 g
- Water - 750 ml
- Onions - 1 pc.
- Garlic - 5 cloves
- Parmesan - 50 g
- Cream - 100 ml
- Olive oil - 1 tablespoon
- Butter - 30 g
- Italian herbs - a pinch
- Salt, pepper - to taste
Step by step preparation of risotto with chicken and cream
- Preheat a skillet, pour in olive oil and add butter.
- Cut the chicken breast into cubes, finely chop the onion and garlic.
- Put the onion in a skillet first and fry it over medium heat until soft.
- Now add the chicken breast, garlic, Italian herbs, cook until the chicken turns white.
- Put rice in a frying pan, mix well, pour in water.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice has taken up all the water.
- Meanwhile, grate the cheese, whisk the cream lightly and mix with the cheese.
- Pour the mixture into the hot risotto, stir and turn off the heat.
This risotto is a great dinner dish and is ideal with finely chopped fresh herbs and a glass of white wine.
Risotto with chicken and vegetables
Another win-win combination is risotto with chicken and vegetables, and you can take a variety of vegetables to your taste. We give a recipe for risotto with chicken, bell peppers and corn.
Ingredients
- Rice for risotto - 350 g
- Onions - 2 pcs.
- Chicken fillet - 400 g
- Canned corn - 200 g
- Sweet pepper - 1 pc.
- Semi-dry white wine - 200 ml
- Parmesan - 100 g
- Chicken broth - 1, 2 l
- Olive oil - 30 ml
- Salt - 1 tsp
- Saffron - on the tip of a knife
- Pepper - 1/4 tsp
Step by step preparation of risotto with chicken and vegetables
- Finely chop the onion, diced chicken and pepper strips.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion first, after a couple of minutes the chicken and, when it turns white on all sides, pepper.
- Cook together for about 5 minutes, add saffron, salt, pepper and finally rice.
- Stir the contents of the pan very well so that the rice is saturated with oil and spices, after 2-3 minutes start adding wine - pour in a small portion, wait for it to evaporate, and then add a new one.
- When all the wine has been added, proceed to add the broth, it also needs to be poured in in small portions, leave a little broth.
- Finally, add the corn, stir and simmer until the rice is done, add more broth as needed.
- Finely grate the cheese, sprinkle it on the finished risotto.
Risotto with chicken, vegetables and cheese is important to eat straight off the stove, very hot, as long as the cheese retains its semi-liquid texture.
Risotto with chicken and mushrooms
Mushrooms are no longer such a safe component as vegetables, not everyone loves them, and such a product is contraindicated for young children. However, it is a very popular ingredient in risotto. So you can't do without a step-by-step recipe for mushroom risotto with chicken in our TOP.
Ingredients
- Rice for risotto - 400 g
- Onion - 1 small
- Red onion - 1 small
- Celery stalk - 1 pc.
- Chicken broth - 1.5 l
- Chanterelles - 200 g
- Chicken breast - 200 g
- Garlic - 4 cloves
- Parsley - 20 g
- Cream - 100 ml
- Butter - 100 g
- Olive oil - 50 ml
- Salt, pepper - to taste
Step by step preparation of risotto with chicken and mushrooms
- Chop the mushrooms and soak them in clean warm water.
- Dice the chicken breast.
- Peel the onion and chop finely. Also finely chop the celery stalk.
- Heat half of the olive oil and butter in a skillet, add prepared vegetables and cook until soft.
- Rinse the mushrooms and add half to the pan, put the chicken there, simmer until the mushrooms are soft - as a rule, at this stage there should be enough oil and juice from the chanterelles and chicken to cook the contents of the pan without burning, but if the liquid is too a little, do not risk it and add a little broth.
- Add rice, mix well with the contents of the pan, cook together for a couple of minutes.
- Pour in about a third of the broth, add salt and pepper, simmer over low heat, gradually adding the broth.
- Meanwhile, in another pan, heat the other half of the oils, put the remaining half of the mushrooms in it. When they stop giving water and start frying, add the finely chopped garlic, cook for a couple of minutes, then add the finely chopped parsley and turn off the heat.
- When the rice is almost ready, pour in the cream, mix well into the total mass, turn off the heat.
- Divide the risotto into portioned bowls, top with the mushrooms fried in garlic.
This risotto with chicken and chanterelles in a creamy sauce will not only become a great festive dinner in an ordinary family, but will also amaze even a seasoned gourmet.
Risotto with chicken, spinach and cheese
Spinach is another fairly popular ingredient in risotto, thanks to which the dish becomes not only more interesting, but also healthier. Next is one of the options for recipes for risotto with chicken and spinach.
Ingredients
- Chicken breast - 1 pc.
- Rice for risotto - 1 tbsp.
- Spinach - 1 large bunch
- Onions - 1 pc.
- Garlic - 2-3 cloves
- Butter - 60 g
- Dry white wine - 100 ml
- Broth - 3 tbsp.
- Salt, spices - to taste
How to make risotto with chicken, spinach and cheese step by step
- Cut the chicken breast into cubes, marinate in your favorite spices.
- Grease a skillet with a little butter, heat and quickly fry the chicken until golden brown on both sides.
- Finely chop the onion and garlic.
- Put the remaining oil in a frying pan, put onions and garlic, fry over medium heat until soft.
- Lay out the rice, stir well, cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add chicken and cook for a few more minutes.
- Start pouring in the wine gradually, do not pour in a new portion until the old one has evaporated.
- When all the wine is in the platter, start pouring the broth in the same way gradually.
- Prepare spinach: rinse, drain.
- Place in a dish about 10 minutes before the rice is done, stir.
- Rice in risotto is considered ready when it is no longer hard, but not yet boiled - when it reaches this stage, add the grated cheese and serve immediately.
Often arugula is also added to risotto with spinach to make the dish brighter and more spicy.
Milanese chicken risotto with tomatoes and wine
It's hard to imagine any Italian dish without the addition of tomatoes, and of course there are quite a few recipes for risotto with tomatoes, such as this Milanese recipe. Please note that in Milan there is a special attitude to saffron, and therefore if cheap powdered saffron is suitable for any other recipe, then for this dish you need to find an expensive one in stamens for brewing. There are also special requirements for tomatoes as they are used fresh for serving, and therefore it is important that they are sweet and firm, like the Italian ones. In our conditions, cherry trees replace them quite well.
Ingredients
- Rice - 400 g
- Chicken broth - 1.5 l
- Chicken breast - 200 g
- Onions - 200 g
- Leeks - 100 g
- Garlic - 2 cloves
- Saffron - on the tip of a knife
- Parmesan cheese - 50 g
- Tomatoes - 100 g
- Butter - 100 g
- Olive oil - 50 ml
- Dry white wine - 200 ml
- Parsley - 20 g
- Salt, pepper - to taste
Step by step preparation of Milanese chicken risotto with tomatoes and wine
- Pour saffron with boiling water (50 ml).
- Finely chop both onions and garlic, save most for the risotto and quite a bit for serving with the tomatoes.
- Heat butter and olive oil in a frying pan, put prepared vegetables, cook until a bright garlic aroma appears.
- Add chicken, cook for 5-7 minutes, then add rice and stir well.
- When the rice is well saturated with oil, you can start pouring in the wine and broth - in this recipe, all the wine and a third of the broth are poured out at once, the rest of the latter is added gradually.
- 5 minutes after adding the wine, pour in the saffron infusion.
- To determine readiness, taste the rice when it seems to you that it is almost all soft and only somewhere deep in the very center is a little hard, the risotto needs to be salted, pepper, add chopped parsley to it and turn off the heat after a couple of minutes.
- Meanwhile, chop the tomatoes, mix with onions and garlic, drizzle with olive oil.
This risotto is served as follows: a portion of warm rice with chicken is laid out on the plates, and a little salad of fresh tomatoes, onions and garlic is placed on top. Finally, the dish is sprinkled with grated Parmesan cheese.
