Sausage, Pepper and Mushroom Risotto
This sausage, pepper & mushroom risotto is a hearty meal – just add some Italian bread and a big salad!
This risotto recipe has been a huge family favorite for nearly ten years now.
It’s one of the first “fancy meals” that I learned how to cook back in my mid-20’s, and it was an instant hit. is one of the very first meals that I taught myself how to cook and it quickly became a favorite with my family. Each year when my mom’s birthday rolls around, I offer to make her whatever she’d like for dinner… and every single year since I first made this risotto recipe, it has been her request. Yesterday was her birthday and when I asked what she wanted for dinner, she didn’t even hesitate… “the risotto with sausage, peppers and mushrooms!”
I can probably stop asking at this point 😉
MY OTHER RECIPES
If you’ve never made risotto, it is most definitely a labor of love… while not a difficult dish in terms of complexity, it is a little time-consuming and requires constant attention. Once you have sauteed the sausage, peppers and mushrooms, deglazed the pan with wine and added the arborio rice, the stirring begins! Risotto gets its wonderfully creamy texture from broth being added a little bit at a time and stirred into the rice until mostly absorbed before adding more. The result is absolutely worth it and from start to finish, it still takes less than an hour to make.
(I’ve seen some recipes for oven-baked risotto, but I’ve never tried it, so I’m not sure if it would result in the same creamy consistency. Have any of you tried it?)
This risotto recipe is a perfect special occasion meal; it can be served as a main dish and goes great with a loaf of Italian bread and a salad.
One year ago: Beef Enchiladas
Four years ago: Honey Cake
Five years ago: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple-Cream Cheese Frosting
Sausage, Pepper and Mushroom Risotto
This sausage, pepper & mushroom risotto is a hearty meal – just add some Italian bread and a big salad!
Ingredients:
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 8 ounces Italian sausage, casings removed
- ½ medium yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
- 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 parsley
Directions:
- Add the broth to a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cover and reduce the heat to low.
- In a large heavy saucepan or Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the sausage and saute, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks, until golden brown and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add the onion, pepper and mushrooms, and saute until tender, stirring occasionally and scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the rice and stir to coat. Add the wine and simmer until the wine has almost completely evaporated, about 1 minute.
- 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 the rice is tender and the mixture is creamy, about 25 to 30 minutes total. Remove from the heat and stir in the Parmesan cheese.
- Transfer the risotto to a serving bowl and sprinkle with the parsley. Serve immediately with additional Parmesan cheese to pass at the table.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
(Adapted from Giada DeLaurentiis)
All images and text ©
This recipe was originally published on September 27, 2009.
I’ve never made risotto before, it really intimates me!
I’ve just recently had my first experience with Risotto…and now I need to expand with all the fun flavors. This looks great!
I love risotto, and this sounds like a great combination of flavors. The speckles of red and green give it a nice look!
I love risotto. This is nice and simple and I would add salami to mine! YUM!
Oooh – beautiful and perfect for this fall weather!
ohhh, that looks wonderful. I dont know why I never made risotto before! I should start
I’ve never try Arborio rice before…would like to try some.
i love how creamy arborio rice gets. your pictures captures that!
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!
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
i could have risotto every dinner! yours is my perfect choice!
you take really good pictures too!
Hi
I was wondering could I use Italian Turkey sausage in this recipe, also what brand of dry white wine did you use.
All I can say is Yum!
What a beautiful risotto! I love the combination of ingredients in this!
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!
This risotto has comfor written all over every grain of rice. I absolutely love the recipe.
YUM! Looks great!
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.
Excellent recipe!
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
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!
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!
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!
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!
Any ideas of what brand of faux sausage (or other product) to use for the vegetarian folk? Looks yumm!
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?
I bet this would be great with some TVP from Morningstar Farms or Boca, especially if seasoned like Italian sausage.
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!
Yay! Happy birthday to your sweetie!
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?
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.
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!
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.
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!!!!
Yay so glad you enjoyed this!
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.
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!
I’m going to give this recipe a shot tonight!
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!
You could omit them or just throw in more peppers.
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!
Hi Tara, I am working on that as we speak! Stay tuned for some updates soon!
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?
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!
I’ve made this risotto several times and it is amazing. My hubs is on a health kick lately. Is there any way to substitute the arborio rice with quinoa?
Hi Danielle, I have never made risotto with quinoa, so I’m not sure how it would turn out, but I have used barley before, and that has been good!
Delicious! Super easy to make. Instead of dry white wine, I used Marsala and it really intensified the flavors.
This has such a great colour!
xoxoBella | http://xoxobella.com
You had my heart and tummy with risotto!! I could eat a variation every single day. I’m excited to try your version.
Risotto was one of the first dishes I learned, too, and I used to make it ALL the time. I recently added it back to my “make ASAP” list and this recipe is making me crave it even more!
Looks great. As soon as we start getting some fall weather I am making it!
Thank you so much for posting this. I am going to try making it tonight. I can’t wait.
You should try the Americas test kitchen risotto trick. It eliminates the stirring by using a covered le cruset pan. I’ve made it several times this way and it still comes out with the awesome creamy consistency and saves your arm in the process.
Michelle, part of this post is off subject but felt this might be a helpful article for you. I don’t know if you subscribe to “the kitchn” but this article was in their email today. The comments left by the readers are very good as well.
Your risotto recipe looks fabulous and I will be making it very soon. We love all types of rice recipes here and I like the ease of one-pot meals. 🙂
http://www.thekitchn.com/i-just-childproofed-my-kitchen-and-heres-what-i-did-224143
Somehow I missed this recipe the first time around. But, this is an absolutely gorgeous dish! Love love love risotto and will have to try this one. It really is a fun dish to make. Perfect for a rainy fall evening meal. Can I ask what “kind” of salad you would pair with this, including your recommendation for the dressing? This would go so well with a nice glass of wine too. Risotto is a nice choice when you need a somewhat impressive presentation, and this one is really beautiful!
Hi Michelle, I would do a simple tossed salad with some croutons, cucumber, tomato, black olives if you like them (I don’t!). My go-to Italian dressing is my mom’s recipe: https://www.browneyedbaker.com/best-italian-salad-dressing-recipe/
I’ve never made risotto before so please excuse the dumb question – how can all the broth get absorbed and the final dish still be creamy? Is there a point during the addition of broth (say, after 4 cups or something) that it will no longer absorb but just start making a nice creamy mixture? I just want to make sure I know what to look for! Thanks!
Hi Claire, I’m not sure how the science of it works, but the arborio rice just continues to get plumper and plumper! You definitely aren’t left with any un-absorbed broth.
I’m so glad you reposted this recipe, it’s too good to not be shared. I LOVE mushroom risotto and sausage sounds like a great addition to the dish. I’m super excited to make this for my family!!
I have never made risotto as I have always felt rather intimidated by the babying of the rice. However this recipe made me want to try it.
I just made it for dinner today and it is definitely a winner!
I have to say, I read this recipe and started to make it a couple years ago, and it is one of my all time favorites! I go back to it often, thanks for sharing
This is a great recipe! I have made it several times. I am wondering if it can easily be doubled or even tripled?
Hi Vicki, Thank you! Yes, I have scaled it up many times for a larger group.
Doubled this for company this evening and it was a huge hit with everyone! I’ve never made one of your recipes that we didn’t love.
I’ve never made risotto before. It turned out really wonderful and creamy. My SO said I hit the ball out of the park! Thank you!
Michelle, This recipe sounds fantastic. However, I have a question for you. Whenever you make this, do you use the hot Italian sausage, or the sweet Italian sausage? Thanks, and enjoy your weekend!
Hi Valerie, I use sweet Italian sausage, enjoy!!