I fell in love with risotto when I made it a few months ago. We’ve had that one particular side dish several times since then. But each time I made it, I kept thinking that I really wanted to make it into a main dish. I toyed with several different ideas until I settled on this one.
Italian Sausage Risotto just made sense to me on so many levels. First of all, we love Italian sausage. Secondly, the classic flavors of a meat or marinara sauce also go over big every single time they hit our table. So, toss all those things together and this is what I ended up with. It was a winner! The creaminess of the rice blended with the sweet-spicy flavors of the sausage and sauce perfectly.
Italian Sausage Risotto
Ingredients
- 1 lb Italian sausage, bulk or links with the casings removed
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/8 tsp rushed red pepper flakes
- 1 bunch green onions, sliced
- 2 cup rice (I just used a medium grain)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1 8 oz can tomato sauce
- 3-4 cup chicken stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Combine sausage, onions, peppers, garlic and crushed red pepper flakes in a large skillet. Stir and cook over medium-high heat until sausage is no longer pink and onions are tender. Stir in green onions and rice.
- Slowly pour in tomatoes, tomato sauce and 3 c. chicken stock. Stir in seasonings. Bring to a slow boil, reduce heat and slowly simmer until rice is tender, about 20 minutes, stirring frequently.
- If needed, slowly stir in the remaining cook of chicken stock while cooking. Remove bay leaf before serving. Garnish with grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.
