Risotto ai Funghi
Risotto ai funghi is probably the most renowned of all risotto dishes, and should ideally be cooked with porcini mushrooms when they begin to come into season in July in Italy. However, dried porcini (or indeed any other mushroom) is fine. Being originally a dish of the common people it's easy, and very tasty.
Ingredients
- 250 g arborio, vialone nano, or carnaroli risotto rice
- 25 g salted butter
- 1 small (150 g) white onion, finely chopped
- 1 large clove garlic, minced
- ½ litre chicken stock
- 200 g fresh porcini mushrooms,or about 50 g dried
- 1 small bunch of flat-leaved parsley
- 1 cup white, dry wine
- 100 g freshly grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese
Steps
- If using dried mushrooms, soak at least 20 minutes in 200 ml warm water, regardless of packet instructions. Chop about ½ into small pieces and roughly chop rest. Fresh mushrooms need no soaking.
- Melt half the butter in medium frying pan or saucepan on medium heat.
- Sweat onion and garlic in butter until onion is translucent. Do not burn; if burned, discard and start over.
- Add rice. Swirl until coated in butter. Leave about 30 seconds. Do not burn.
- Splash in wine. Wait for it to evaporate.
- Add about half the stock slowly, one ladle at a time.
- Stir rice about every 2 minutes to release starch. Add more stock if rice might dry out.
- After about 5 minutes, add mushrooms and their juice. For dried mushrooms, avoid adding sediment from the container bottom.
- Cook rice until al dente, with a bit of bite, 15–20 minutes. Start testing small spoonfuls after about 15 minutes. Rice should be fairly glutinous, not too runny, and spread out on its own across the plate.
- When cooked, take off heat. Add chopped parsley, remaining butter and about 2 tbsp Parmesan. Mix in. Adjust seasoning.
- Stand about 2 minutes (Mantecatura). Serve.
Notes from the original
- A good indication is a large cupful of rice per person, although that makes two cupfuls of cooked rice, which is a lot of rice to eat without adding mushrooms, onion, cheese and a nibble of salad!
- Dried porcini mushrooms are almost better than fresh, as they flavour the water they are being reconstituted in with a wonderful mushroom flavour which adds to the taste!
- People have differing views on adding garlic. Mushrooms and garlic are a nice combination, but the garlic should never overpower the taste of the mushrooms.
- A common alternative is to add the mushrooms between sautéeing the onion and toasting the rice.
- Traditionally Italian risotto, and for that matter pasta, is served al dente, but for some people this will seem to be undercooked, in which case use more stock.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Risotto ai Funghi” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2026-01-04, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Steinpilzrisotto.jpg by No machine-readable author provided. Rainer Zenz assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.