Green Risotto with broccoli
With this healthy recipe, you can make the perfectly creamy risotto easily in no time – vegan risotto with lots of green vegetables, spinach and hazelnuts!
Easy to make
Making a risotto is almost like learning to ride a bike: at first it seems very difficult, but as soon as you understand the principle, you can make a perfectly creamy and delicious risotto from just a few ingredients and in 20 minutes. You can then create your own risotto with different flavors and impress your family and guests.
I’ll tell you in this post my absolute secret for a creamy risotto, just like you get it in a restaurant! When I made my education as a cook, I learned all the little tricks and tips for the Italian rice dish.
This risotto is:
- vegan and lactose-free
- gluten-free
- prepared in only 20 minutes
- easy and well suited for cooking beginners
- wonderfully creamy and smooth
- like a risotto from Italy
- keeps you full for a long time
- a quick recipe for your lunch or dinner
- with lots of green, healthy vegetables: broccoli, spinach, cabbage, fennel
- garnished with hazelnuts, pomegranate seeds or apple pieces
The right rice for risotto:
To make a risotto perfectly smooth and creamy, you need the right rice: round grain rice = a very starchy rice. This starch in the rice binds and makes the rice nice and creamy. The Vialone Nano, Arborio and Carnaroli varieties from the Po Valley in Italy are perfect for this. You can find these types of rice in any supermarket in the rice and cereal section.
The difference between risotto rice and basmati rice is enormous. If you take the longer form instead of round grain rice, the risotto will definitely not have the desired consistency. Therefore, make sure that the rice has a oval shape and is not thin and long.
A perfectly creamy risotto
In addition to the rice, of course, the preparation also plays a major role. A risotto is always prepared in the same way: first the onion is fried in olive oil, then the rice is added and fried together with the onion until it becomes slightly glassy. After extinguishing the pan with a little white wine, hot vegetable broth is added consistently. It is important to cover the rice slightly with it, but not to add too much.
The secret to the creaminess
And this is where the biggest secret (and at the same time such a simple step) for creamy risotto comes into play: while constantly infusing the rice with vegetable broth, it should be stirred constantly. A wooden spoon is best suited for this purpose. As soon as you notice that the risotto is getting thicker, the rice has absorbed all the liquid and you can pour some vegetable stock into it again!
After exactly 16 minutes, the rice has reached its perfect cooking time and is still slightly grainy on the inside. Then add some cold margarine to the rice and you have the perfectly creamy risotto!
My pro tip:
Make double the amount of the recipe and make this vegan rice cakes of the leftovers. Like that, you save a lot of time and cooke once – eat twice!
If you make the recipe, feel free to give me a feedback or write a comment on how it turned out. And if you share your homemade dish with your friends on social media, I would be very grateful when you link me (Instagram @flavour. dreams) and set the hashtag #flavourdreams. Of course I am always available for questions. Enjoy to try the recipe!
Green risotto with broccoli
Ingredients
- 400 g broccoli
- 200 g fennel
- 1 l vegetable broth
- ½ onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 240 g round grain rice
- 100 ml vegan white wine
- 100 g cabbage finely chopped
- 100 g spinach fresh or frozen
- 25 g vegan butter or margarine
- salt and pepper
- to garnish: hazelnuts, pomegranate seeds or apple slices
Instructions
- Cut the broccoli into small rosettes, peel its stunk and cut into thin slices. Cut the green ends of the fennel into thin slices as well. Boil the pieces in salted water for 5 minutes, separate from the water and rinse immediately with cold water to preserve the green colour.
- Heat the vegetable broth in a pot.
- Finely chop the onion, garlic and the remaining fennel. Fry the onion with the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat for 5 minutes. Then add garlic, fennel and rice and fry for another 3 minutes until the rice becomes slightly glassy.
- Drain the saucepan with the white wine and then pour in the vegetable stock: so much that the rice is slightly covered with it. Then let the rice simmer for 16 minutes or longer if desired. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon and add more vegetable stock as soon as the liquid has reduced.
- Just before the end of the cooking time of the risotto, add the spinach and finely chopped white cabbage.
- After 16 minutes, remove the risotto from the heat, add margarine and cooked broccoli to the rice, salt and pepper it to taste. After a brief stir, cover the pan and let it stand for 3 minutes.
- Then stir again briefly and serve with hazelnuts, pomegranate seeds or apple slices.
More quick vegan recipes:
Sign up to the newsletter to get weekly cooking tips and recipes:
Pin the recipe on Pinterest to save it for later:
Check me out on Instagram:
