Spring Vegetable Risotto With Asparagus & Peas

A simple yet delicious Spring vegetable risotto with asparagus and peas is on all my dinner party menus at this time of year. The smooth and creamy risotto contrasts so beautifully with al dente asparagus, sugar snap peas, and petit pois and is finished off with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese, fresh mint, and a squeeze of lemon.

Jump to:

• Why you should serve Spring vegetable risotto
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Expert tips for a perfect creamy risotto (without cream)
• Asparagus and pea risotto wine pairing
• Serving suggestions
• Equipment
• Storage
• Top tip
• FAQ
• Other Spring recipes
• Side dishes
• Recipe Card

Why you should serve Spring vegetable risotto

Sometimes I like to go all out and impress guests with something complex and fancy when I'm hosting. But at other times, I like to serve simpler, easier-to-make dishes that use seasonal ingredients and just let them shine.

But what makes this Spring pea and asparagus risotto easy is the fact that you can do all the (minimal) prep ahead of time, and then it's super simple to throw together at the last minute. If I'm making this recipe for a dinner party, I'll serve drinks and canapes in the kitchen so that guests can keep me company as I whip it up.

My salmon en route with dill cream sauce is another elegant entree for dinner parties that I love to serve in Spring.

Ingredients

As with all Italian recipes, the quality of the ingredients is vital. But the best risotto recipe can be made from very basic pantry staples, and there's no fancy equipment either.

Risotto with asparagus and peas ingredients

1. Shallot: Shallots are naturally sweet and delicate in flavor, so I prefer using them to onions in risotto. They also make a great dish in themselves, like these sticky caramelized balsamic shallots.
2. Risotto rice: There are several types of risotto rice, but for this recipe, the best rice for risotto is arborio or carnaroli. Risotto rice is short grain rice with high starch levels and can absorb a lot of water without disintegrating. The starch is what makes risotto creamy, and as such, a traditional risotto recipe would not usually contain cream.
3. White wine: An Italian white wine will work best, for example, a Pinot Grigio. The alcohol content is cooked off so only the flavor remains, and the liquid is absorbed into the rice. The wine needs to be at room temperature.
4. Chicken broth: I prefer to use good quality, low sodium chicken broth for risotto as it gives depth to the dish, but you can use vegetable broth if you prefer. Veal broth would be another option, but beef, lamb, or fish broth will have too strong a flavor. The broth (stock) for risotto needs to be hot. You can use vegetable broth to make this a vegetarian asparagus and pea risotto recipe.
5. Asparagus spears: Fresh green asparagus spears are in season in Spring, and this is when they will have the best flavor. Trim any thick, woody parts from the base of the stalk. You can use white asparagus if you prefer.
6. Sugar snap peas: Sugar snaps have a nice bite to them, and we want to retain this, so we only blanch them before adding them to the risotto. If you cannot find sugar snap peas, you can use snow peas (Mangetout) instead.
7. Peas: Petit pois (petite peas) or garden peas are fine, and you can use fresh peas, canned peas, or frozen peas for this Spring risotto recipe.
8. Butter: I use unsalted European-style butter in all my recipes. As an alternative, you can use olive oil.

Serving garnish

1. Parmesan cheese: Salty and nutty, freshly grated parmesan cheese makes a great addition to most Italian recipes. You could also use another hard Italian cheese like Pecorino or Grana Padano.
2. Mint: Fresh mint leaves lend the ultimate Spring flavor to this dish, don't skip it!
3. Lemon: A squeeze of lemon juice just before serving really lifts all the flavors and adds an amazing freshness. For even more, add the lemon zest too.
4. Pea shoots (optional): I like adding pea shoots as a garnish, but you can leave them out as they can be hard to find in grocery stores!
5. Salt and freshly ground black pepper.

See the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full quantities and step-by-step instructions on how to make Spring Vegetable Risotto With Asparagus & Peas.

Instructions

Mis en place

1. Prepare the Spring vegetables. Dice the shallot, and slice the sugar snap peas on a diagonal into three smaller pieces. Trim any woody ends from the asparagus spears and slice them on a diagonal into 1-inch pieces.
2. Blanch the asparagus and peas in a saucepan of boiling salted water. Add the sugar snap peas first for 1 minute, then add the asparagus for a further 2 minutes, and finally add the peas for a final 1 minute (4 minutes total). Drain and immediately plunge into a bowl of ice-cold water to halt the cooking process. Do not overcook.
3. Heat the broth. We want to keep the risotto cooking temperature even, so do not add cold or even room-temperature broth. It doesn't need to be boiling, but heat it in a saucepan until it reaches a steaming point and then turn it down to low.

Chef's prepping tip

If you are making this asparagus, pea, and mint risotto for a dinner party, measure out all the ingredients and do steps 1 and 2 earlier in the day. Store the prepped veg and shallot in separate air-tight containers with a damp piece of kitchen paper on top to prevent them from drying out. Then 30 minutes before service time, heat the broth and move on the steps below. In the interim period, why not make some elegant petit fours like Ferrero rocher macarons to serve with coffee?

How to make perfect risotto

1. Melt butter over medium heat in a large saucepan or Dutch oven on the stovetop until it stops crackling, and then saute the diced shallot in butter until translucent.
2. Stir in the risotto rice and allow it to toast for a minute in the butter and shallot.
3. Pour in the room-temperature white wine and stir it through the rice until it is 80% absorbed, keeping it moving so that the rice doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and form a crust.

Expert tips for a perfect creamy risotto (without cream)

1. Don't rinse the rice: Starch is the key ingredient, and if you rinse the rice you'll lose some of it. As the rice cooks and absorbs the wine and chicken stock, it releases starch, and this gives it a thick and creamy consistency.
2. Don't add cold broth: We need the rice to cook evenly and maintain a constant temperature, and adding cold ladles of broth to the mix will play havoc with this. Keep it hot, either in a saucepan on low heat or in a thermos.
3. Don't forget to stir: The rice grains need to rub up against each other to release starch, and also, if you completely leave it alone, it will form a crust on the bottom and sides of the pan (similar to a paella), which we don't want. It needs to be gently moved around the pan as it cooks, but don't overdo it, or it can become gluey. Imagine an Italian Nonna having a chat at the same time as absentmindedly stirring; this is the vibe we're after.

Asparagus and pea risotto wine pairing

A white wine from Northern Italy, like a Gavi or Soave, or even Pinot Grigio, is the perfect wine pairing for asparagus and peas risotto. This dish will need something light and acidic to cut through it, and pairing by location is always a safe bet. Risotto originates from Northern Italy, hence why I'd serve one of these options.

For more food and wine pairing tips check out my basic guide and nail it every time.

Serving suggestions

1. Prosciutto: Serve with shards of crispy prosciutto, or melt a couple of teaspoons unsalted butter into the Spring risotto right before serving.
2. Salad: I love serving risotto with a crisp herb salad and tasty vinaigrette dressing.
3. Bread: Who doesn't love mopping up the plate?
4. Vegan: Use vegetable stock and vegan parmesan to make this dish plant-based. I often make this risotto with asparagus and peas this way for dinner parties, and if I have a vegan guest, I'll keep the parmesan on the side for other guests to add themselves.

Love asparagus recipes? Try my asparagus mousse amuse bouche appetizer. And my rhubarb pistachio pavlova is a wonderful Spring dessert to serve afterward.

Equipment

You will need a pan with good heat distribution to make risotto. I often use either one of my Le Creuset Dutch oven/casserole dishes or my 360 Cookware pan, depending on how many portions I'm making. It's so easy to scale up this recipe to serve more people, but be mindful that you'll need a bigger pot! This is an excellent recipe for Spring dinner parties.

I exclusively use a rubber spatula to cook risotto; it allows me to stir constantly with no fear of scratching the pan or missing any stubborn clumps of rice stuck to the bottom or corners.

I like to cook risotto with a smaller saucepan containing the hot broth on the stove next to my risotto pan, with a ladle that lets you easily add more liquid in measured amounts is also vital.

I use Robert Welch knives. They're great value and great quality.

Storage

Store any leftover risotto in the fridge; it will last 2-3 days. To reheat risotto, place it in a saucepan on the stove with a splash of water and gently bring it back up to temperature until it's bubbling. Alternatively, place it in a microwave-safe container and reheat it that way.

I don't recommend freezing asparagus, pea, and mint risotto.

FAQ

Other Spring recipes

Looking for other Spring recipes like this? Try these:

Side dishes

These are my favorite dishes to serve with Spring vegetable risotto with asparagus and peas:

Recipe Card