Baked Risotto Gorgonzola Recipe: Gluten Free

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Stirring rice with a wooden spoon while slowly ladling in cups of vegetable stock is relaxing, but it takes forever! Making risotto is a ton of work. I used to only make risotto on special occasions because it was so labor intensive.

Since you have to constantly stir the risotto you can’t do much else at the same time. When you bake risotto there is no work past the prep. Just set it and forget it!

Baked Risotto Gorgonzola is also a great recipe for those in your family who are gluten free or have celiac disease.

• Easy
• Vegetarian
• Paleo Friendly
• Gluten Free
• Nut Free
• Soy Free

If you’ve never heard of risotto al gorgonzola then you’re in for a treat! Risotto al Gorgonzola is Italian for Risotto or ( rice) with gorgonzola cheese. So this dish is simply regular risotto with a cheesy twist.

The Italian word risotto literally translates to rice in english. In the United States we eat rice in many different ways. But Italians tend to eat creamy rice that we call risotto to differentiate between the many types of rice dishes commonly consumed in America.

Italians enjoy their rice by cooking it with aromatics and then slowly stirring in the broth until the rice is fully cooked and creamy. The texture of risotto is similar to creamy oat meal. It’s rich, buttery and comforting!

Most risotto is gluten free by default since rice is a naturally gluten free grain. The other ingredients we use most often to make risotto are also naturally gluten free. These ingredients include:

• aromatics like garlic and onion
• herbs and spices like salt and pepper
• dairy like parmesan cheese and butter.
• Stock or Broth like chicken or vegetable stock.

Of course, every recipe for risotto is different. If you’re eating risotto at a restaurant you should always check with your server to make sure that the risotto is gluten free.

Why should you bake your risotto instead of stirring it on the stove top the old fashioned way you might ask? Well, because it’s less work! Why stand over a hot stove stirring rice for 30 minutes when you can throw all of the ingredients into a cast iron pot and bake it in the oven!

There is no stirring required to make baked risotto. All you have to do is stir in the butter and cheese at the end to wake up the risotto’s creamy goodness.

• Unsalted Organic Butter
• White Onion
• Salt
• Black Pepper
• Garlic
• Arborio Rice
• Low Sodium Vegetable Stock
• Gorgonzola Cheese

For the full ingredient amounts check the recipe card at the bottom of this blog post.

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter on the stovetop in an oven-safe deep skillet with a lid.
• Once the butter is melted, add the onions, salt, and pepper. Sauté until translucent. Next, add the minced garlic and sauté, stirring quickly until fragrant. Stir often so that the garlic does not burn.
• Add 1 cup of arborio rice and stir until the rice absorbs the liquid. Add 4 cups of the warmed stock and cover the pan.
• Place in the oven for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven, and use a fork to fluff the risotto. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and gorgonzola cheese. Stir vigorously for 1 minute, or until the rice is creamy, and serve!

You don’t need any special equipment to make gluten free risotto! All you need is a good oven safe deep cast iron skillet with a lid. I prefer to use cast iron because it cooks the risotto evenly and it’s non stick so clean up is a breeze.

• Measuring Cup
• Knife
• Cutting Board
• Offset Spatula
• Cast Iron Skillet with Lid

The ingredients you need to make baked gorgonzola risotto are likely already in your pantry. If you don’t have all of the ingredients, but you want to make this recipe right now here are some substitutions I’ve used successfully.

• White Onion: Instead of white onion you can use shallots, Spanish onion or yellow onions with similar result.
• Butter: If you don’t have butter you can use ghee or olive oil as a substitution. If you would like to make vegan risotto, olive oil is a great fat to use instead of butter.
• Gorgonzola: No gorgonzola cheese? That’s O.K. because you can use parmesan cheese or manchengo cheese.
• Fresh Garlic: If you don’t have fresh garlic on hand you can use 1 teaspoon of garlic powder or 1 tablespoon of jarred garlic.
• Arborio Rice: While arborio rice is the easiest starchy rice to find in the United States, you can also use vialone nano or carnaroli rice.
• Vegetable Stock: Chicken or beef stock also work well with this recipe. In a pinch you can use plain water.

Nothing goes better with risotto than cheese! In fact parmesan cheese is the most commonly used cheese to finish off a satisfying bowl of risotto. Keep in mind that you can use many types of cheese for risotto successfully. Like the gorgonzola I used in this gorgonzola risotto recipe!

Other types of cheese you can use include:

• Gouda
• Mozzarella
• Manchengo
• Buratta
• Parmesan
• Gorgonzola
• Goat Cheese

Shredded Parmesan cheese is the most common type of cheese used in risotto. However, you can use almost any type of cheese with good results. See the section above for my favorite types of cheese to add to risotto.

There are two secrets to get creamy risotto. After much trial and error, and not to mention research, I’ve come up with the best way to get the creamiest baked risotto every time.

1. Stir the butter and cheese into the risotto at the end of cooking. Stirring the risotto after it comes out of the oven will help release the starches from the arborio rice and make the risotto even creamier. When you stir butter into baked risotto the cold butter and cheese will emulsify with the starch released from the rice, creating a creamy “sauce.”
2. Use the right kind of rice. The ideal kind of rice to make risotto has a medium to short length grain and has a high starch content. Arborio rice is the most widely available high starch rice with a short grain length in the United States.

Risotto is a great base dish. You can complete risotto or completely change it by adding many different types of ingredients.

According to Cuisine At Home, the best type of rice for risotto should have a short to medium grain length and a high starch content. The starch that gets released from the rice when you stir it is what gives risotto it’s trademark creamy texture.

In Italy there are a number of varieties of rice that fit the bill.

• Carnaroli is known as the king of rice. It’s the best variety for making risotto because it has the highest starch content. Carnaroli is the most popular rice to make risotto with in Italy.
• Arborio is another great option to make risotto. Arborio is the most popular rice for making risotto in the United States because it is the most widely available. You can buy arborio rice in any supermarket across the United States with ease.
• Vialone Nano is another variety of rice commonly used to make risotto in Italy.

Risotto is typically made with butter and finished off with cheese. So yes, risotto almost always has dairy. However, you can make risotto vegan by swapping out the cheese for vegan cheese or leaving it out all together. The butter can be replaced with a non dairy fat source like olive oil.

The best way to store baked risotto gorgonzola is in an air tight container in the fridge.

Risotto will last for up to five days in the fridge if stored properly in an air tight container. Make sure to store the risotto in the back of the fridge for optimal results.

Yes you can freeze risotto for up to 3 months if you put it in an air tight container without much air space in it.

Gluten Free Baked Risotto Google Web Story!