This roasted veggie risotto features tomato, chili peppers, and shallots for bold, spicy, and smoky flavor. It makes an elegant date night dinner or colorful side dish!
Jump to RecipeThis post may contain affiliate links. As Amazon Associates and through other affiliate programs, we earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a link – at no extra cost to you. We only promote products we actually use and truly love!
Did you know you can make delicious, smoky, and juicy roasted veggies in a cast iron skillet in under 10 minutes? When it’s that easy to extract amazing flavor and textures from fresh produce, it’s not hard to incorporate roasted veggies into your favorite dishes. That’s why we love making this spicy roasted veggie risotto.
This simple recipe packs a ton of flavor into a creamy, decadent Italian dish you know and love. We took this risotto in more of a fusion direction and spiced it up with Spanish smoked paprika, Turkish oregano, and turmeric to complement the roasted chili peppers, tomatoes, and shallots. The end result is a colorful, fun, and flavorful risotto you can serve as an appetizer, side dish, or light meal – whatever you’re in the mood for!
Roasted Veggie Risotto Ingredients
Our vegetable risotto features a flavorful medley of roasted tomato, chili peppers, and shallots. Here’s the full list of ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe:
- Vine tomato
- Fresno peppers (or other chili peppers)
- Shallots
- Olive oil – regular and extra virgin
- Garlic
- Arborio rice
- Vegetable broth
- Lemon juice
- Grated parmesan cheese
- Smoked paprika
- Turkish oregano
- Ground turmeric
- Salt and pepper
If you want a non-spicy alternative to chili peppers, we recommend using bell peppers instead of Fresno peppers. You can use about half of a medium bell pepper in place of two Fresno peppers.
This veggie risotto recipe gets its delicious, spicy flavor from charred veggies and powerful spices like smoked paprika and turmeric. The grated parmesan cheese adds extra creamy texture and nuttiness to the dish; however, you can skip this ingredient to make this roasted veggie risotto vegetarian or vegan.
How To Roast Veggies In A Cast Iron Skillet
The first step in making our spicy vegetable risotto is to char the veggies. The easiest way to do this is in a cast iron skillet, since you’ll get a nice, even char without worrying about the veggies sticking to the pan.
Here’s how to roast the veggies on cast iron:
- Preheat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until it’s very hot.
- De-stem the tomato, peel the shallots, and leave the peppers whole and carefully place the vegetables on the cast iron pan.
- Roast the veggies until they’re charred on the bottom, then use a pair of metal tongs to carefully rotate the veggies. Char everything on all sides, turning the veggies around as needed and using the tongs to help hold the tomato in place.
- Remove the veggies from the pan once they’re blistered on all sides. The shallots will roast more quickly than the peppers and tomato. Don’t wait for everything to be charred before removing the veggies from the pan – just take things off one at a time as they’re finished cooking. This whole process should take about 5 to 8 minutes.
- Transfer the cooked veggies to a cutting board and let them sit for at least 5 to 10 minutes before handling.
How To Make Roasted Veggie Risotto
Making roasted vegetable risotto is fairly straightforward, especially if you already know how to make a basic risotto. (If you don’t, check out our guide to making risotto here!). First and foremost, you’ll have to char the vegetables and make sure you have all your ingredients within reach, since you’ll have to be tending to the pan the entire time.
After that, it’s simply a repetitive process of stirring vegetable broth into the rice as it cooks, a little at a time, until you achieve that perfect chewy texture.
Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how to make our spicy vegetable risotto recipe:
- First, heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat until shimmering, then add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, just a minute or so. Next, add the arborio rice and stir it around to quickly toast it in the oil, about 30 seconds.
- Stir in a half cup of the vegetable broth. Bring the rice to a simmer and stir occasionally as it cooks to keep the rice from sticking to the pan. Adjust the heat as needed to keep it at a simmer.
- As the broth gets absorbed by the rice and the pan starts to dry out (after about 3 to 5 minutes or so), stir in another half cup of the broth. Continue simmering, stirring the rice occasionally, and adding vegetable broth in half cup increments every time the pan starts to look dry again. Continue this process until all of the broth has been used and the rice has expanded.
- Next, remove the risotto from heat. Carefully de-stem and de-seed the charred peppers, then dice them. Dice the tomato and shallots as well.
- Then, flavor your risotto by stirring in the lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, grated parmesan, smoked paprika, Turkish oregano, turmeric, salt, and pepper. Finally, fold in the diced vegetables and serve.
Roasted Veggie Risotto Serving Suggestions
You can serve roasted vegetable risotto as an appetizer, side dish, or lighter main course. You can even use it as a component in a more complex main dish, like as a base for serving chicken breast over topped with a sauce or slaw.
Roasted veggie risotto also makes a fun date night dinner you can make with your boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse. It’s easy to prepare with two cooks: one of you can roast the veggies while the other starts cooking the risotto. Having two sets of hands in the kitchen cuts down on prep time, so you can spend more time enjoying cooking together – and eating the good food you’ve made!
Try our roasted vegetable risotto recipe and don’t forget to rate, comment, and share if you love it. For more unique recipes like this one, sign up for our free email newsletter here.
Love this recipe? You may enjoy these recipes, too:
To browse more of our latest recipes and seasonal dishes, visit our homepage here.
Like this recipe? Don’t forget to share it and follow us on Pinterest!
Roasted Veggie Risotto
Equipment
- Large frying pan
Ingredients
Roasted Veggies
- 1 medium vine tomato whole, de-stemmed
- 2 medium Fresno peppers or other chili peppers, whole
- 2 medium shallots peeled
Risotto
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- ¾ cup arborio rice
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- ¼ tsp Spanish smoked paprika
- ¼ tsp Turkish oregano
- ⅛ tsp ground turmeric
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
Roasted Veggies
- First, prepare the roasted veggies. Preheat a cast iron skillet over medium-heat until it's very hot, then add the tomato, peppers, and shallots to the pan. Char the veggies on all sides until blistered, turning them over as needed, about 5 to 8 minutes total.
- Remove the roasted veggies from the pan as they're done cooking and transfer to a cutting board. Let sit for at least 5 to 10 minutes before handling.
Risotto
- To make the risotto, first heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat until shimmering. Once the oil is hot, add minced garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Next, add the arborio rice, stirring it for about 30 seconds or so to briefly toast the rice. Then stir in a half cup of the vegetable broth and increase the heat to bring the rice to a simmer. Stir occasionally to keep the rice from sticking to the pan, and watch for the rice to start absorbing the liquid. Once most of the liquid has been absorbed, after 3 to 4 minutes or so, stir in another half cup of the broth.
- Continue cooking the rice, stirring occasionally and adding broth in half cup increments as the pan starts to dry out, until all the broth has been used. Keep the rice at a simmer (lower the heat if needed) and taste a few grains of rice towards the last addition or two of broth, to check for doneness. It should taste both creamy and chewy.
- Once the rice is done, remove from heat. Stir in the lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, grated parmesan cheese, smoked paprika, oregano, and turmeric until well-combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Next, carefully de-stem and de-seed the chili peppers. Dice the peppers, tomato, and shallots, then gently fold them into the risotto. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.
Looking for kitchen inspiration? Head over to our shop to see what we cook with every day, plus recommendations for foodie gifts and eco-friendly products.