This creamy Pumpkin Risotto is packed with pumpkin puree and crispy pancetta, finished with parmesan and mascarpone, and topped with fried sage and pumpkin seeds. The perfect fall comfort food can be served as a weekday dinner or a dinner party entree or side.
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Of all the years I've been making risottos, I can't believe I've never made a pumpkin risotto!
Risotto is already the ultimate comfort food. Serve it in fall with pumpkin puree, mascarpone cheese, pancetta, and sage and you're going to be in heaven.
Pumpkin risotto is incredibly easy to make and can double as a weeknight dinner and an impressive dinner party entree or side dish.
🧡 Why this recipe works
I always try to keep my risotto recipes as simple as possible to eliminate any of the intimidation making risotto often brings.
Here's why this recipe works really well:
Pancetta base: A little bit of pancetta goes a long way. You'll render the pancetta first, fry the sage in the same fat, and then use it to sauté the onion and garlic. It's like built-in umami without dirtying additional pans.
Canned pumpkin is added in late: Canned pumpkin makes this risotto so easy to prepare. And since it's folded in near the end of the cooking process, the flavor stays bright and the color vivid.
Mascarpone and parmesan finish: Parmesan and mascarpone cheese are added off the heat, instead of heavy cream, for a smooth, all'onda finish (creamy, but not soupy).
Balance of flavors: This recipe uses low-sodium broth (vegetable or chicken), along with salty add-ins (pancetta and parmesan) and a hit of dry white wine, aromatic sage, and slightly sweet and earthy pumpkin puree.
Easy to make: Despite what you may have heard about risotto, it's so easy to make! And though this pumpkin risotto has a couple extra steps, it's incredibly easy to make. It's delicious as both a weeknight dinner on a chilly evening or for a dinner party.
🗒 Ingredients
Here's everything you need to make this pumpkin risotto (be sure to view the recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):
- Low-sodium vegetable broth or chicken broth
- Diced pancetta
- Fresh sage
- Unsalted butter
- Chopped onion
- Minced garlic
- Arborio rice
- Dry white wine: like pinot grigio (you can skip the wine and add a little lemon juice instead)
- Pumpkin puree
- Mascarpone cheese
- Ground nutmeg
- Salt & pepper
- Pumpkin seeds: optional for topping
🎃 Recipe tips
- Start by bringing your vegetable or chicken broth to a simmer in a saucepan. You'll be slowly adding this warm broth to the arborio rice.
- Cook pancetta in the same pan you're planning to make your risotto in. Once it's nice and crispy, remove it to a paper towel-lined plate and fry sage in the oil left behind. Once you remove your sage, you'll begin making the risotto in the same pan with the same oil. You can add a little butter before cooking your onion if necessary.
- The fried sage is used as a garnish. You can skip this step if you want (you'll also be folding chopped fresh [not fried] sage in at the end), but it's a lovely addition to the pumpkin risotto!
- When you first add the arborio rice to the aromatics, let it toast for about 2 minutes until the edges turn translucent. This will give the risotto better structure and prevent it from getting mushy.
- Adding white wine to the risotto adds a brightness to the dish and builds on the flavors. If you don't want to add it, you can skip this step and can always add a little lemon juice for brightness.
- Add warmed broth 1 cup at a time and don't add more until the liquid is absorbed. You'll want to stir it occasionally (to prevent sticking), but you don't need to be stirring the risotto non-stop!
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- This step will take some time, but it's easy. When you notice most of the liquid is absorbed, just stir in more broth. Do this until your risotto is tender and creamy, but still firm (not mushy). You want it to have an al dente texture.
- Once cooked, stir in pumpkin puree, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Cook for 2-3 more minutes, until warmed through.
- The final step is fold in all those yummy additions off-heat, including parmesan cheese, mascarpone, remaining butter, cooked pancetta, and chopped fresh sage. Feel free to add or omit any additions here.
- I like to serve my pumpkin risotto in dishes and top it off with that yummy fried sage and lots of toasted pumpkin seeds for a little crunch.
- This risotto makes a great entree, but it can also be served as a side dish to pork, chicken, fish, and so many more main dishes!
Creamy, slightly earthy, and absolutely packed with fall flavor; this pumpkin risotto is likely to become a comfort food staple in your home.
⏲️ How to store
It's easy to store risotto leftovers, should you happen to have any. Simply put cooled risotto in an airtight container and keep it in the fridge for up to 3 days.
For best results, reheat the pumpkin risotto on the stovetop. Since risotto will be pretty stiff, you'll probably want to stir in some more broth while heating it, likely between 2 Tbsp-¼ cup. You can stir a little more mascarpone or butter in at the end.
If you do re-heat the risotto in the microwave, stir in 2-3 tablespoon broth before heating. Heat in microwave at 50% power in 45-60 second intervals, stirring between each. Stir in a little mascarpone or butter at the end.
If you want to repurpose your risotto, use leftovers to make pumpkin arancini balls!
🎉 Variations on recipe
It's easy to make this pumpkin risotto your own! Here are some fun ideas for what you can add:
- Mushrooms
- Charred corn
- Gorgonzola
- Goat cheese
- Baby spinach
- Chopped pear
- Chopped apple
- Italian sausage
- Chicken breast
- Bacon
- Proscuitto
- Truffles
- Walnuts
- Hot honey
🥣 More risotto recipes
Once you learn how easy it is to make risotto, you'll want to make all kinds of variations of it! There's no limit for how you can serve it.
Here are some of my favorite risotto recipes:
I even have a breakfast risotto recipe... Because there's no wrong time to enjoy the creamy rice dish!
If you're craving savory fall flavors in the form of cream comfort food, this pumpkin risotto will be right up your alley!
📖 Recipe
Pumpkin Risotto
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Ingredients
- 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth or chicken broth
- 4 oz pancetta diced
- 2 teaspoon diced sage plus 8 leaves for frying and using as garnish (optional)
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter divided
- 1 cup chopped onion (from about 1 small onion)
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic (from about 3 cloves)
- 1 ¼ cup arborio rice
- ½ cup dry white wine (like pinot grigio)*
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 3 tablespoon mascarpone cheese
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ cup toasted pumpkin seeds for topping
Instructions
- Pour vegetable or chicken broth into a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Lower heat and keep broth warm.
- In a large saucepan, cook pancetta over medium heat until browned and crispy, about 5-7 minutes. Remove to a paper-towel lined plate with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- If you want to fry sage for garnish, add 8 sage leaves to the same pan with pancetta oil and let fry for about 20 seconds, until crispy. Immediately remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to paper towel-lined plate.
- If saucepan looks dry, add 1 tablespoon butter and let melt. Add onion and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes until starting to soften. Add garlic and cook for another minute, until fragrant.
- Add arborio rice to the saucepan and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring a bit, until it's translucent around the edges.
- Pour wine into saucepan and cook, stirring until it's absorbed, about 2 minutes.
- Add 1 cup of the warmed broth to the rice. Stir and let the rice absorb the stock. Once the broth is absorbed, continue to add more, a cup at a time, stirring and letting it absorb before adding more. You don't have to stir non-stop, but stir occasionally to make sure rice doesn't start sticking to the bottom of your saucepan. Continue with the rest of the broth, or until the rice is nice and tender, but still firm.
- Stir in pumpkin puree, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Cook for 2-3 more minutes, until warmed through.
- Remove from heat and stir in parmesan cheese, mascarpone, remaining tablespoon butter, cooked pancetta, and 2 teaspoon chopped sage.
- Serve pumpkin risotto topped with toasted pumpkin seeds and fried sage leaves if using.
Notes
- If you don't have any wine or prefer not to include it, you can skip right to the next step. The wine does add a nice burst of bright acidity to the dish, but you can easily replace with some lemon juice.
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