Italian Sausage, Red Pepper and Mushroom Risotto
54 comments » 
This risotto dish is one of the very first meals that I taught myself how to cook and it quickly became a favorite with my family. Yesterday was my mom’s birthday and I offered to make her dinner and told her to pick the menu and I’d make whatever she wanted. It took her all of about 30 seconds to decide that this risotto is what she wanted for dinner, and she chose Dark Chocolate Chip Scones for dessert. In addition to all of the creamy goodness that is risotto, this recipe includes Italian sausage, red pepper and mushrooms that add a tremendous hearty flavor. This should definitely be served as a main dish and goes great with Italian bread and a salad. Definitely plan on something light for dessert!
1 year ago: Cream of Mushroom Soup
2 years ago: Cornbread
Italian Sausage, Red Pepper and Mushroom Risotto
Yield: 4-6 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
5 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons butter
8 ounces Italian sausage, casing removed (or you could use ground sausage)
¾ cup finely chopped onion
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
4 ounces white button mushrooms, coarsely chopped
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1½ cups Arborio rice
¾ cup dry white wine
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tablespoon chopped Italian parsleyDirections:
1. In a medium saucepan bring the broth to a simmer. Cover the broth and keep warm over low heat.
2. In a large heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the sausage and saute, crumbling, until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the onion, bell pepper, and mushrooms and saute until tender, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Add the rice and stir to coat. Add the wine and simmer until the wine has almost completely evaporated, about 1 minute.
4. Add ½ cup of the simmering broth and stir until almost completely absorbed, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking the rice, adding the broth ½ cup at a time, stirring constantly and allowing each addition of broth to absorb before adding the next, until rice is tender but still firm to the bite and the mixture is creamy, about 25 to 30 minutes total. Remove from the heat.
5. Stir in ¾ of the Parmesan. Transfer the risotto to a serving bowl. Sprinkle with the parsley and the remaining Parmesan. Serve immediately.
(Adapted from Giada DeLaurentiis)
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I’ve never made risotto before, it really intimates me!
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I’ve just recently had my first experience with Risotto…and now I need to expand with all the fun flavors. This looks great!
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I love risotto, and this sounds like a great combination of flavors. The speckles of red and green give it a nice look!
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I love risotto. This is nice and simple and I would add salami to mine! YUM!
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Oooh – beautiful and perfect for this fall weather!
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ohhh, that looks wonderful. I dont know why I never made risotto before! I should start
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I’ve never try Arborio rice before…would like to try some.
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i love how creamy arborio rice gets. your pictures captures that!
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This looks delicious. I recently had a risotto with smoked lardon in it, next time give it a try. It adds a campfire smokiness that is not only addictive but kicks up the delicate flavor of risotto into a real main course!
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What a beautiful dish! I never had risotto with sausage in it but this is the second sausage risotto I’m seeing today and it’s only 9 am! If you want to see Dajana’s here’s the link. http://dajana-bakerscorner.blogspot.com/2009/09/sunday-lunch-3.html
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i could have risotto every dinner! yours is my perfect choice!
you take really good pictures too!
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Hi
I was wondering could I use Italian Turkey sausage in this recipe, also what brand of dry white wine did you use.
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All I can say is Yum!
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What a beautiful risotto! I love the combination of ingredients in this!
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Hi Jackie,
You could definitely use Italian turkey sausage in this recipe. As far as white wine, I actually don’t remember which brand I used – I typically just use whatever I already have on hand, which is usually always a pinot grigio.
I hope that helps and that you enjoy the recipe!
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This risotto has comfor written all over every grain of rice. I absolutely love the recipe.
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YUM! Looks great!
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I make sausage only a few times a year so why is it that tonight, while it is cooking, this is the third blog, that has a recipe. I love the rissoto with it. Why didn’t I think of that. Sounds delicious.
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Excellent recipe!
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Antonia on May 28th, 2012 at 3:37 pm
Mmm mushroom riotsto drool Sorry, I lost my trail of thought there for a second. My favourite video would have to be Episode 3 Pasta/Risotto. Why? Well, I didn’t really know what to make for dinner tonight and now I know. I will have to get your riotsto as a take away and claim it as my own handy work. Nifty huh!? OR I could win the prize and surprise my hubby with a fancy dinner and little Dutch rendezvous and totally say that I paid for it. He’ll be mine forever, and ever, and ever mmm riotsto
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Just wanted to let you know I was inspired by your beautiful photos and we made this risotto for dinner last night. Delicious! My photos aren’t as mouth-watering as yours, but the actual meal was yummy!
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This is one of our favorite recipes….My husband has also adapted it to make it in the pressure cooker. Have to agree with BE above — ours doesn’t look quite as good as your photo – but still yummy!
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This was delicious. Thanks so much for the recipe! I only had 4 oz of Italian sausage, and it turned out fine; in fact it was the perfect amount. With a side of roasted broccoli (from the amateur gourmet) and a simple salad with vinaigrette dressing, this was the perfect meal. Enjoying it right now with a glass of albarino!
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I’m a vegetarian and so I stuck in faux sausage and used veggie broth and WOW did it turn out AMAZING. My first time making it too! Lovely lovely recipie! Thank you!
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Any ideas of what brand of faux sausage (or other product) to use for the vegetarian folk? Looks yumm!
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Michelle on September 28th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
Hi Erica, I’m not a vegetarian and am not very familiar with faux sausage products so unfortunately I don’t have any suggestions. Can anyone else help out with recommendations?
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Kristen on October 28th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
I bet this would be great with some TVP from Morningstar Farms or Boca, especially if seasoned like Italian sausage.
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Okay, finally made this tonight for my honey’s birthday, and we cannot keep from eating out of the dish! It’s easy and delicious and perfect!! Thanks for the recipe!
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Michelle on October 30th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
Yay! Happy birthday to your sweetie!
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just a quick question about the risotto… can you omit the wine… also can you use chicken broth from a can or do you need to use homemade broth?
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Michelle on November 10th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Hi Cathy, Yes you can omit the wine, just substitute more chicken broth in its place. You can definitely use canned chicken broth (or in a carton) – I never make homemade stock.
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Michelle,
Just an FYI…this risotto was UH-Mazing! My other half has requested it again for dinner this evening. I usually just thick-slice a whole wheat bread to go with! Love it! Thanks so much!
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This looks yummy. I am going to try this. I love trying new things, just have to get my family to try it is the hard part.
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Michelle, once again another successful recipe!! This dish COMPLETELY rocked our world!!! We had never tried risotto, but now we are completely hooked!! I’ve already posted a baked recipe for today, but I’m going to do a bonus post because this was just WWAAYYYYYYYY too good NOT to share!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
BIG, BIG HUGS!!!!
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Michelle on July 13th, 2011 at 1:00 pm
Yay so glad you enjoyed this!
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I made this for dinner tonight, and all my husband could say was…”Wow, this gets better with each bite!” It was a huge hit! Thanks for sharing.
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I’ve made this a couple of times now for my parents, they love it! Even my Dad who is a carnivore when it comes to dinners – easily remedied, I just added more italian sausage! Now they want the recipe to take camping with them! Keep up the recipes – they’re ALL great!
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I’m going to give this recipe a shot tonight!
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This looks delicious and so perfect for this cold weather were getting finally in NY…. one question though… do you have any substitutes for the mushrooms? Unfortunately the fella wont eat them!
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Michelle on January 5th, 2012 at 5:03 pm
You could omit them or just throw in more peppers.
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Gonna try this tonight. Looks fantastic. One thing: would it be possible for you to enable printing of your recipes with the photo? That would be amazing. Thanks!
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Michelle on January 11th, 2012 at 12:36 pm
Hi Tara, I am working on that as we speak! Stay tuned for some updates soon!
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I think that this would also be a great side dish or part of a buffet if I was serving larger numbers…I know that it says “serve immediately” but can it also be made ahead and reheated without compromising the quality of the dish?
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Michelle on January 12th, 2012 at 5:28 pm
Hi Liz, With risotto the quality definitely gets compromised the longer it sits and it’s definitely not the same re-heated. It has a smooth and creamy consistency when it is first served that you really can’t replicate once it has cooled. It might not matter to you though; you could do a trial run, reheat it, and if you like it then go with it!
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