This creamy risotto is topped with flavorful sun dried tomatoes and parmesan cheese. In addition to the sun dried tomatoes and parmesan cheese, this dish features garlic, spinach, lemon, and arborio rice. This recipe is gluten free, vegetarian, egg free, and nut free.
Substituting wine with lemon in risotto
While I am as big a fan of wine as anyone, I do not always have spare wine lying around at my house. Today I was craving risotto, but I had not planned to make risotto when I went grocery shopping. Luckily, I already had most of the ingredients on hand from cooking this creamy tomato and garlic pasta. The only thing I was missing was the white wine. I made a quick substitution and was able to enjoy a delicious sun dried tomato and parmesan risotto. I figured I would share the modified recipe in case you ever find yourself in this same scenario. If you are looking to make a more traditional risotto with wine, check out the substitutions section below the recipe card. I explain everything you need to know to make your risotto with white wine.
The first thing you should do when choosing a substitution for an ingredient in a recipe is think of what that ingredient contributes to the dish. In this case, the main element the white wine contributes to the risotto is acidity. Lemons are one of my go to ingredients for adding a little bit of acidity to a dish, so I decided to use lemon juice in place of white wine.
Recommendations for gluten free and vegetarian broth
Disclaimer: Everyone has a different tolerance for gluten and reacts differently to products. Make sure to do your own research before trying a new gluten free product.
As a vegetarian, the one meat product I miss the most is chicken broth. Finding tasty vegetable broth is not always easy. This difficulty is compounded when you have to look for broth that is both vegetarian and gluten free. Of course you can make your own broth, but it is nice to have some pre-made broth lying around for days when you make a last minute decision to make a recipe and do not have any broth prepared. If you are looking for delicious gluten free bouillon cubes, I would recommend Edward & Sons brand Not Chik’n Bouillon Cubes. They are both gluten free and vegan. They taste just like real chicken broth and are one of the best finds I have ever made at the grocery store.
Sun-dried tomato parmesan risotto
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups arborio rice
- 1 cup tightly packed spinach
- 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/3 lemon
- 3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
- 1/2 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese (vegetarian parmesan style cheese)
- 1/4 tbsp dried rosemary
Instructions
- Chop the onion, garlic, and spinach into small pieces
- Heat the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 10 minutes or until onions start to brown, stirring every 3-4 minutes
- Add garlic, spinach, and sun dried tomatoes. Cook for an additional 3-4 minutes
- Add the arborio rice and rosemary to the pan and toast the rice for 3-4 minutes
- Start adding the vegetable broth to the pan about a half a cup at a time. Wait 5-10 minutes until the broth starts to soak into the arborio rice then add another half a cup. Continue to add the broth half a cup at a time until it has all been added
- Turn off the heat and add the heavy cream and parmesan to the pan. Squeeze the lemon into the pan. Stir until the parmesan cheese melts
Substitutions
- As promised, I will provide instructions for how to make this sun-dried tomato parmesan risotto with wine. First off, you have to choose a wine to use. You want a dry white wine. You also want to choose a wine you enjoy drinking because you will have a lot leftover. I usually choose a dry Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio as those are my favorite types of wine to drink. You add the wine to your pan after you toast the arborio rice but before you start adding the vegetable broth. You should treat the wine the same as the vegetable broth and let the wine soak up into the arborio rice before adding the next round. If you use wine, you should omit the lemon juice from the recipe entirely.
- If you are looking to lower the calories on this recipe a little, feel free to omit the heavy cream. The cream makes the risotto extra creamy, but the dish will still be delicious without it. If you omit the cream, the taste of your broth will be more of a more prominent flavor so make sure to use a broth you love.
Other recipes you might like
If you like this recipe, you might also be interested in our creamy tomato and garlic pasta. This recipe also features parmesan cheese, sun dried tomatoes, garlic, and spinach. It has simpler ingredients than the risotto so it takes less time to prepare.
