Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto with Crispy Sage
Luxuriously creamy, vibrant golden risotto — tender cubes of roasted butternut squash folded into slowly simmered Arborio rice, enriched with white wine, nutritional yeast, and aromatic sage. No butter, no parmesan, yet every bite is rich, silky, and deeply satisfying — naturally sweet from the squash, beautifully balanced, and topped with crispy fried sage leaves for that classic finish. Elegant comfort food at its finest!
Shared by jessy
Time
65 min
Serves
4
Difficulty
medium
🛒 Ingredients
- #Roasted Squash;
- 400 g butternut squash — peeled, seeded, cut into 1 cm cubes
- 1 tbsp olive oil.. ¼ tsp salt.. Black pepper — to taste
- #Risotto Base;
- 1 large shallot or small onion — very finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic — minced finely
- 1½ cups Arborio rice — uncooked, unrinsed
- ½ cup dry white wine (or extra stock + 1 tbsp lemon juice)
- 4–5 cups vegetable stock — kept hot
- 1 tbsp fresh sage — chopped, plus whole leaves for frying
- ¼ tsp nutmeg.. ¼ tsp white pepper
- #Creamy Finish;
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast.. 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1–2 tbsp olive oil or vegan butter.. Salt — to taste
👩🍳 Instructions
- 1
Roast the squash: Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F). Toss squash cubes with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread on a baking tray. Roast 25–30 minutes until tender and golden at edges. Mash roughly half the squash for creaminess; leave the rest whole. Set aside.
- 2
Warm the stock: Pour vegetable stock into a separate pot and keep it at a gentle simmer — warm stock absorbs best and stops the risotto from cooling.
- 3
Sauté aromatics: Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a wide heavy pan over medium-low heat. Add shallot — cook 4–5 minutes until soft and translucent, do not brown. Add garlic and chopped sage — cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
- 4
Toast the rice: Add Arborio rice. Stir constantly 2 minutes until grains turn translucent at the edges and smell nutty.
- 5
Simmer slowly: Pour in wine — stir until fully absorbed. Add hot stock one ladle at a time, stirring frequently. Wait until almost all liquid is absorbed before adding more. Continue 18–20 minutes until rice is tender yet firm to the bite, and mixture is thick and creamy.
- 6
Combine & finish: Stir in both mashed and whole roasted squash, nutritional yeast, nutmeg, white pepper, lemon juice, and olive oil or vegan butter. Remove from heat — let rest 2 minutes to thicken. Taste and adjust salt.
- 7
Crispy sage topping: Briefly fry whole sage leaves in hot oil 10–20 seconds until crisp. Drain on paper towel. Scatter over risotto and serve immediately!