I love just about every kind of risotto that I’ve tried. I also love French onion soup, which I can every summer when I have a bumper crop of onions, so one weekend I decided to experiment with making a French onion risotto. I know that risotto is traditionally done on the stove and is a labor of love, but once I discovered I could make risotto in my Instant Pot, I never went back to the stovetop method.

A traditional risotto is 1 part rice to 2 parts liquid. I used a pint of my homemade French onion soup, which is 2 cups, so that’s where the liquid part comes from in this recipe. You can obviously use store-bought French onion soup. Just make sure that you have 2 cups of liquid from that. You only need to cook the risotto for 5 minutes under high pressure and then do a quick release so that it doesn’t overcook.

When I can my French onion soup, I use dry vermouth instead of white wine, so that’s what I used to deglaze the pot after toasting the rice. It’s fine if you want to omit the liquor – just make sure to scrape the bottom when you add your soup/liquid to get off anything that may be browned to the bottom of the pot.

French Onion Risotto

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup Arborio rice

Splash of white wine or dry vermouth (optional)

2 cups French onion soup

Using the manual setting, heat olive oil in the Instant Pot. Add the Arborio, and stir until toasted, about 3 minutes or so. Add a splash of white wine or dry vermouth, if using, to deglaze the bottom of the pot. Add in the 2 cups of French onion soup, and stir to combine.

Select the High setting and pressure cook for 5 minutes. After finished cooking, do a quick release to avoid overcooking the risotto. Remove the lid, and stir risotto to finish combining any remaining liquid (may or may not be necessary).

Yield: 2 servings

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