This Instant Pot mushroom risotto recipe is a favorite quick and easy dinner in wintertime. It’s warming and hearty and packed full of nutritious mushrooms. This flavorful risotto is sure to be a hit with vegetarians and meat-eaters alike.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- It’s quick and easy to make. Cooking mushroom risotto in the Instant Pot takes a fraction of the time it would take on the stove, and there’s no need to stand and stir like with traditional risotto recipes.
- Pressure cooking makes it easy to cook the risotto to perfection, the pressurized environment ensures that the rice cooks evenly and the broth is absorbed fully, resulting in a creamy and delicious risotto every time.
- It’s a one-pot meal, so you don’t need to use (and clean) multiple pots and pans.
Scroll down for the printable card for this Instant Pot mushroom risotto recipe, or read on for all the details.
What do you need?
Pressure cooker
I use an Instant Pot to make this recipe, but you can use any brand of electric pressure cooker with a saute function, or a multicooker with a pressure cook function.
Key ingredients and substitutions
Risotto rice
This recipe uses arborio rice. You can substitute another type of risotto rice if that is what you have, however, you should check the amount of liquid required for another rice to ensure that the rice-water ratio is correct. Add a little more chicken stock or water if required.
Mushrooms
You can use any type of mushrooms that you like, but I tend to use Portabello or brown mushrooms. I’d recommend staying away from button mushrooms as they can be rather tasteless and bland, and this is a dish where you want the flavor of the mushrooms to shine.
Yellow onion
You can use red or white onions if that is what you have. If you have no fresh onions you could substitute onion flakes. Use approximately 3 tablespoons in place of a medium fresh onion.
Garlic
This recipe uses freshly crushed garlic cloves. Alternatively, you can use crushed garlic from a jar – use one teaspoon per garlic clove.
Stock
I usually use chicken stock to make this recipe, however you can substitute chicken stock if you want to make a vegetarian mushroom risotto.
Parmesan cheese
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese adds a lot of flavor to this recipe. You can also use Parmesan powder if you don’t have any fresh, but don’t skip it!
Alternatively, you can easily convert this recipe to a vegan risotto by substituting nutritional yeast for the Parmesan (and also remember to swap the butter for olive oil).
How to make mushroom risotto in the Instant Pot
This recipe is very simple to make, there are just a few key steps to getting it just right:
- First saute the onions, garlic, mushrooms and celery to release the flavors from these aromatic ingredients.
- Add the rice to the pan, and stir to coat the rice grains with the liquid in the pan.
- Add the stock and deglaze the pan (note: this just means gently scraping the pan with a wooden spoon to release any cooking residues into the stock).
- Bring the stock to the boil, then cancel the Saute programme. This starts the rice cooking and will help the pressure cooker to come up to fully pressure more quickly once you start the pressure cooking programme.
- Close and lock the lid, with the valve set to ‘Sealing’. Then pressure cook on High for 5 minutes.
- Once the cook time is up, use the quick release option to open the Instant Pot immediately, so that the risotto doesn’t become over-cooked.
- Stir the Parmesan, lemon zest and butter through the risotto, and serve topped with parsley.
Serving ideas
You can serve this mushroom risotto as a side for a main dish of grilled chicken or fish. Here are some easy recipes you could serve it with:
Or, make it a main meal by adding a fresh green salad and some crusty garlic bread.
Instant Pot Mushroom Risotto
Ingredients
- 2 cups Arborio rice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 8 oz / 225 g mushrooms (sliced)
- 1 stalk celery (finely diced)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 onion (finely diced)
- 4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese (grated)
- zest of half a lemon
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley (chopped)
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Prepare the risotto
- Set Instant Pot to ‘Sauté’. Add a drizzle of olive oil.
- When it is hot add the onion and garlic and cook until fragrant (approx 2 minutes).
- Add the butter, mushrooms and celery and cook until soft (approx 4-5 minutes).
- Add the rice and stir for 1 minute until coated by the liquid in the pan.
- Add four cups of water and crumble stock cubes in.
- Stir to release all the cooking residues from the pot, then allow it to come to the boil.
Pressure cook the risotto
- Press ‘Cancel’ to end the Sauté program when the risotto has come to the boil.
- Close and lock the Instant Pot lid. Ensure that the steam release handle valve is set to ‘Sealing’.
- Press the ‘Pressure cook’ button, and set it to pressure cook for 5 minutes.
- When the time is up, use the quick release option to open the Instant Pot (press ‘Cancel’ then carefully turn the steam release handle to the ‘Venting’ position). When the float valve has dropped, open the Instant Pot.
Serve
- Stir through Parmesan, lemon zest and butter, season to taste. Serve garnished with chopped parsley.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is an estimate and provided for informational purposes only.
