Pressure Cooker Risotto Bolognese
Creamy risotto cooked in a flavorful bolognese sauce is a hearty meal that’s quick and easy to make in the pressure cooker. It’s comfort food at it’s best.
This is a recipe originally posted on Barbara Bakes. I adapted Nigella’s recipe to a pressure cooker recipe. Making risotto in a pressure cooker is quicker and easier – the rice is very tender and creamy without all the stirring.
Making Risotto Bolognese in an Instant Pot
I made other changes to the recipe as well. I didn’t puree the vegetables and I added sausage to spice it up a bit. I used a chicken sausage that my local grocer, Harmons, makes that I love, but pork sausage would work well too. Be sure and brown the sausage well before adding it to the rest of the ingredients in the pot.
If you’ve never made risotto in the pressure cooker, you’re in for a treat. It really is rich and creamy without using any cream, and without all the stirring you need to do when making it the traditional way.
Pressure Cooker Risotto Bolognese
Ingredients
- 1 lb. country style pork sausage
- 6 slices of bacon, diced
- 1 onion, peeled and diced
- 1 carrot, peeled and diced
- 1 stick celery, diced
- 1 small clove of garlic, minced
- 2 cups risotto rice (Arborio)
- 1/2 cup marsala
- 5 cups beef broth, divided
- 1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan plus extra to serve
- handful of fresh parsley, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Select browning and brown sausage in the pressure cooking pot. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels.
Add bacon to pressure cooking pot and cook until crisp. Add the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic, and saute until tender, about 3 minutes.
Stir in rice and cook, stirring frequently, until rice becomes opaque, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Add the marsala and cook 2 minutes. Add 4 cups beef broth, tomatoes, tomato paste, milk,bay leaves, and cooked sausage. Cover and lock lid in place. Select High Pressure and 6 minutes cook time. After 6 minutes, turn off and use a quick pressure release.
Select Simmer and stir in remaining 1 cup of beef broth. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally for 1 to 2 minutes until most of the broth is absorbed and the rice is creamy.
Stir in Parmesan and parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with an extra sprinkling of Parmesan.
This recipe is delicious. i used brown rice to make it a little healthier. followed the recipe exactly up to the pressure cooking. PC’ed it for 16 mins, added a package of sliced baby bella mushrooms, PC’ed for 6 mins more (brown rice requires 22 mins). Followed the rest of the recipe. It’s a mouthgasm!!!!
Thanks for sharing your changes Klair! I’ll have to try it with brown rice one day.
Is simmer the same as low sauté?
Hi Judy – yes it is the same.
This is an amazing recipe. So many rich, delicious flavors!!! An absolute keeper, incredible how easy it is to make!
Thanks Stephanie!!
What’s marsala? Marsala wine I’m assuming? Not like an Indian marsala?
Hi Jackie – yes, marsala wine, not masala. Enjoy!
The recipe is delicious. All of my family scarfed it down. After I released the pressure, my rice was still very crunchy, but after another 12 minutes or so on the low saute on my Instant Pot, stirring every minute or so, it was perfect. Definitely plan to make it again and again! Thanks!
Thanks Beverley – so nice to hear your experience and how much you loved it.
I don’t understand! I followed this recipe exactly and yet after twelve minutes in the instapot on high pressure my rice is still incredibly soupy!! I guess I will just finish it on saute like a regular pot…
Hi Jenn – perhaps your pressure cooker isn’t coming to pressure properly? Rice should definitely not take 12 minutes.
Amazing! I omitted the celery since I didn’t have it. I didn’t end up needing to use the entire cup of broth at the end. So good! I love all your recipes and have been using my Instant Pot several times a week!
Thanks Kristin! Glad you adjusted to suit your tastes 🙂
I accidentally bought white rice, can I use that instead of arborio? Thank you
Hi Sondra – yes, white rice will work just fine. Enjoy!
Thank you, I’m trying this Monday can’t wait!!
Thanks for the recipe! This is delicious. I am eating it as we speak. I’m not sure how it has so much flavor with very little spices but Wow is all I can say. This is my first dish in my instant pot and it was a good choice. I had the power pressure cooker and returned it and got the instant pot instead. I made another one of your recipes in the powers pressure cooker a few weeks ago and my husband (who complains about something with every meal). Said it was really good so that is a huge compliment.
Hi Amy – so nice that you loved the recipe so much you commented while you were eating it. So glad I could help break in your new Instant Pot.
This looks really yummy. Can I use pasta instead of the risotto?
Hi Vicki – what kind of pasta were you thinking of using?
Nice recipe by the looks of it. To top it all, it is complete within 15 or 17 minutes! Would make a nice lunch. The only question here though is Marsala is a bit of a problem. I guess I’ll go with Valerie on this and omit it. I’m going to try this and give Barbara a thanks!
What can I substitute Marsala or can I just omit ?
Hi Valerie – yes, you can just omit it if you prefer not to use it.
I goofed and grabbed the long grain brown rice instead of the Arborio rice. Hope it still tastes ok.
Hi Laura – for brown rice you’ll need to cook it for 22 minutes and I’d probably add an additional 1/2 cup of water or broth. I’ve never had it with brown rice. Let me know how it goes.
This meal is fantastic and easy. We make it once a week. The leftovers are perfect for lunch during the week, or invite friends over for dinner (no leftovers…it’s so yummy).
Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe. We use the Fagor Lux Multi Cooker for all our pressure cooker meals. So easy to use and clean up is a breeze.
Thanks Carolyn! This is one of my favorites too.. I agree, the Fagor LUX is a great pressure cooker. Have fun!
Another great recipe! I used spicy sausage and the whole family
really enjoyed it. My husband was skeptical but pleasantly
surprised with the outcome. My daughter’s picky bf went
back for seconds. ?
Absolutely delicious!
Thanks Melanie!
I made this last night. I used 3 sweet Italian sausage links anda bout 1 pound of lean ground beef. I also swapped the marsala for white wine. It was excellent! All 3 of my picky eating kids liked it. One even went for thirds!! I will definitely make this one again! thanks for the recipe!
Ah, this looks delicious! Does anyone know if risotto freezes well? (Google is giving me conflicting answers.) If not, does the recipe pressure times change if you halve this? (Sorry…just got my first Pressure cooker!)
Hi Stephanie – I’ve had good luck freezing risotto, but you could easily divide this recipe in half. The cook time would be the same. Enjoy!
Don’t know about the freezing question, but I made this as a half recipe and it turned out great (and delicious)!
There was very little free liquid at the end, however. I think my rice was old and dried out so it absorbed more of the broth than I thought it would.
I have so many delicious memories of my mom cooking with her pressure cooker. She would have loved this! Now I want to invest in one so I can make this risotto.
Hi Liren – I have fond memories of the meals my mom made in her pressure cooker too. You really should get one and get cooking 🙂
Do you chop up the bacon or do you cook them whole? Making this tonight!
Hi Ray – yes, diced. Enjoy!
Well SIGN ME UP for this one…..everything we love in one dish. What a great idea. I can’t wait to make this-off to take inventory of ingredients-it looks like I might have all I need already.
Thanks so much Barbara-this is a meal that’s right up my alley for sure. 🙂
Thanks Carol – hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
this gets tried this weekend!! Harmon’s, eh? Are we Utah neighbors?
We are Utah neighbors. How could you not shop at Harmon’s Bob 😉
I do, I do! I was seduced long ago by their cheese bar and artisan bread!;)
I love the parmesan bowls… so cute!
This soup sounds delicious! Do you have any tips or advice on converting recipes for a pressure cooker?
Thanks! That’s a great question and I’m sure I’ll do an entire post about it one day. Until then, check out this guide on Miss Vickie’s site http://missvickie.com/howto/cooking101/adapting.html.
Wow! Interesting. The Parmesan frico bowls are inspired!
Congratulations on the launch of your new blog!
Ciao,
L