This Overnight Risotto Saves Me Time on Busy Weeknights

There’s a reason leftover risotto is not really a thing—it gets gluey and broken if you try reheating it. It’s considered normal practice to make risotto fresh, stirring constantly and ladling small installments of liquid into the pot for 30 minutes until it’s perfect. I wouldn’t blame you if that’s exactly why you never make risotto at home; what a chore. But there’s actually a less annoying way to make this creamy rice dish. It’s overnight risotto, and it’s my favorite way to prepare it. 

Perfectly cooked risotto is a thing of beauty—tender individual grains of rice loosely bound by a creamy, savory gravy of its own making. There’s a short window before this velvety dish becomes thick and claggy, and a limit for reheating it with more liquid. Overdoing it, whether on the stove with too much broth, or microwaving leftovers, overwhelms the starch capsules in the rice and causes them to burst. You’ll see this as gritty, broken rice grains (good risotto has visibly whole grains) and spoonfuls of risotto that look closer to stiff mashed potatoes than rice in a flowing sauce.  

This isn’t surprising; many starchy ingredients will act the same way. Mashed potatoes can get sticky if blended with a blade; oats can be overcooked; and mac and cheese will get too soft and break apart if you overcook the pasta. But there is a surprisingly effective trick that I remembered from Ina Garten’s cookbook Go-To Dinners, which I reviewed a few months ago to make her Overnight Mac and Cheese.

She only partially cooks the pasta so it’s still hard in the middle. She lets it sit in liquid overnight in the fridge. The next day, simply top it with more cheese and bread crumbs, and bake it off in the oven. The pasta gently absorbs some liquid when it’s in the fridge; it finishes cooking through in the oven, and the loose starches work together with the shredded cheese and cream to make a decadent sauce without the need for a roux. It's a truly stellar mac and cheese designed to be an easier work load. 

Overnight risotto uses the same idea: only par-cook the rice, so the starches don’t reach capacity, and finish it in a pan in about three minutes the next day. It’s absolutely perfect, and so much faster than the traditional way. You might be making risotto a lot more starting today. Here’s how to do it.

Overnight Risotto Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 shallot, minced

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• Pinch salt

• ½ cup dry arborio rice

• ¼ cup dry white wine

• 2 to 2 ½ cups broth (divided)

• ¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese

• ¼ cup frozen peas

• 1 tablespoon butter

1. In a large frying pan, add the olive oil, minced shallot, and salt. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until the shallot is translucent. 

2. Add the rice and stir for about a minute. Pour in the wine, and stir until it’s absorbed, about 30 seconds. Add one and a half cups of broth to the pan and let the rice absorb this completely, you can stir once or twice. Once it’s absorbed, taste a grain. It should have a soft ring on the outside and a stiff-chalky interior. Take the rice off the heat. This process should only take 10 minutes. 

3. Pour the rice mixture immediately out onto a plate or wide bowl and spread it out to cool for 10 minutes or so. Pour the rice into a storage container and pour a half-cup of the remaining broth over it. (Pouring the liquid in at this step is optional. You can, instead, just add the liquid when you’re ready to cook it tomorrow, but it might then take an extra couple minutes.) Cover it with a lid and put it in the fridge overnight. 

4. When you’re ready to have your risotto, pour the cold, par-cooked rice and liquid into a large frying pan. A little broth will have been absorbed but not all of it. Cook over medium low heat, stirring frequently. Once it begins bubbling vigorously, add the cheese, peas (or other delicate veggies), and butter. (There’s a half-cup extra broth built into the ingredient list in case you like a looser sauce.) Stir until the liquid is absorbed but the sauce still pools a bit. This takes about three minutes. Serve immediately.