Pumpkin Risotto (Instant Pot Method)
This rich, creamy, flavor-packed Pumpkin Risotto recipe in the instant pot is pure comfort food. It’s a knockout vegetarian dinner for Fall or Winter. Substitute butternut squash if you can’t find pumpkin.
The instant pot is an easy and efficient cooking method that takes the traditional stovetop risotto and transforms it into a hassle-free dish while maintaining all the richness and velvety texture. The pumpkin adds a subtle sweetness and vibrant color.
I find that the Instant Pot does a really good job with risotto. Pressure cooking streamlines the cooking process (and long stirring times) while producing equally delicious results as the traditional way on the stovetop. It creates a consistent heat distribution, allowing the rice grains to effortlessly absorb the flavors of pumpkin, Parmesan cheese, and aromatics.
If you’re craving comfort food or planning a fall season gathering, this Instant Pot pumpkin risotto will hit the mark for a hearty and delicious meal or side.
What to expect
Ultimately, this pumpkin risotto recipe is creamy, but not mushy, and the pumpkin, herb and cheese flavors shine through. It’s a satisfying vegetarian, gluten-free meal on its own or as a side for fish, turkey or chicken. And I love how it looks so Fall-ish.
Ingredients – tailored to your taste
Rice: For the best results, you will need short-grain rice like the Italian Arborio rice or Carnaroli rice. These have a higher starch content allowing the rice to absorb more liquid to create a creamier risotto.
Pumpkin: I wouldn’t start with a whole fresh pumpkin as you only need one pound/450 grams. Some stores sell chunks in a package. When I see that, I grab it to save the pumpkin gutting effort. Otherwise, I make butternut squash risotto instead which has a slightly lower water content so reduce the liquid by 1/4 cup (or don’t worry about it and adjust with more cheese if needed).
Seasonings: Instead of thyme, try dried or fresh sage leaves or poultry seasoning. You can omit the curry if you want. Just taste and add something else you like.
Wine: You can substitute the wine with 1/4 cup/59ml extra broth or water if you prefer.
Variations:
- Omit the spinach if you want. I just love the color and extra nutrition it adds to this instant pot risotto recipe. You can also stir in chopped parsley or chives instead.
- Omit the Parmesan for a vegan version (and reduce the broth to 4-4 1/4 cups) or use a vegan-style parmesan cheese. You can also swap the butter with vegan butter.
- Try adding a tablespoon of maple syrup for some sweetness.
Step by step instructions
Helpful Tips for the perfect risotto
Build the flavors: You can play around with the seasonings. I use thyme mostly, but lately, I’ve been using poultry seasoning and highly recommend it. Poultry seasoning is a combination of sage, thyme, rosemary, marjoram nutmeg and pepper – all of which complement pumpkin perfectly.
Get the right consistency: Mostly this comes from the ratio of rice to liquids, but you can cheat quite easily by adding more Parmesan (to make it thicker) or more broth (to make it looser) at the end.
Keep some pumpkin cubes for show: Some of the pumpkin disintegrates and mixes into the risotto when cooked, but a few chunks remain. If you like more chunks, dice the pumpkin into slightly larger pieces and don’t sauté part of the pumpkin with the onions. This tip is included in the recipe card notes below.
What to serve with pumpkin risotto
The risotto is a wonderful main dish on its own, perhaps with a nice fig salad with pomegranate seeds, a themed chopped salad, or a soup starter such as our root vegetable soup.
It’s also delicious dish to serve as a side with roasted herb salmon, grilled rack of lamb, sous vide tri tip, and Mediterranean grilled chicken.
Make Ahead
- Creamy pumpkin risotto is best served fresh, but if it needs to hang around for a while, you can leave it on warm in the Instant Pot and stir in extra broth before serving to loosen it up if you need. (It always thickens on standing.)
- If you have leftover risotto, store it in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat it gently over medium heat on the stove top or in the microwave, stirring part way through and adding extra broth or water if needed. Don’t freeze.
More risotto instant pot recipes
Also, check out our super easy slow cooker pumpkin risotto recipe.
Other pumpkin recipes
- pumpkin scone recipe (rustic-style)
- spiced pumpkin pancakes
- roast pumpkin salad with couscous
- slow cooker pumpkin risotto recipe
- how to roast pumpkin seeds (if you are gutting a pumpkin for the recipe)
Pumpkin Risotto (Instant Pot Method)
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup chopped onions
- 3 teaspoons minced garlic (3 cloves)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or 4 tsp fresh thyme (or use poultry seasoning or sage)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (plus more at end if needed)
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 cups short grain Arborio rice or Carnaroli rice
- 1/2 cup dry white wine or cooking wine (or substitute with broth)
- 4 1/2 cup vegetable or chicken broth (or use 1 litre box + 1/2 cup water)
- 1 pound peeled, seeded uncooked pumpkin, diced in 1/2 inch/1.3 cm cubes, Note 1
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese (or more to taste)
- 2 cups fresh baby spinach, roughly chopped (optional)
Video
Instructions
- SAUTÉ VEGETABLES/AROMATICS: Press the SAUTÉ function button. When indicator button says 'hot', add onions and oil. You can also add 1/3 of the diced pumpkin at this point if you like (Note 1). Sauté for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic, salt, pepper, thyme and curry powder. Stir for 1 minute. Add rice and stir for 2 minutes to toast it (rice will stay white). Add white wine and stir until completely evaporated – 1 minute.
- PRESSURE COOK RISOTTO: Turn Instant pot to OFF. Add broth and remaining squash, Secure lid. Turn VALVE to SEALING. Turn PRESSURE or MANUAL setting on to High level. Set for 6 minutes using + and – buttons. Count down will start when pressure has built up (in about 10-12 minutes). Once time is finished (instant pot will automatically change setting to Keep Warm), do a Quick Release of pressure by turning valve to VENTING (keep fingers away from vent). When pressure is fully released, remove lid.
- FINISH RISOTTO: Stir risotto. It will be loose at first. Stir in butter and Parmesan and spinach if using. Stir until spinach is wilted (30 seconds). If too thick, add more broth or water if needed. Taste and adjust seasonings (e.g. add another 1/2 teaspoon salt if needed, more thyme, curry, etc). Transfer to serving bowl and serve immediately topped with additional Parmesan if desired.
Recipe Notes
- Pumpkin notes:
- Any pumpkin will work. Some good options are small sugar pumpkins (also called pie pumpkins) and cinderella pumpkin (bright orange, sweet).
- Here’s a video on how to clean a pumpkin for cooking purposes.
- Some of the pumpkin will disintegrate in the instant pot and mixes into the risotto when cooked, but a few chunks remain. If you like more chunks, dice the pumpkin into slightly larger pieces and don’t sauté part of the pumpkin (as noted in the recipe) with the onions.
- You can substitute butternut squash for the pumpkin. It has a slight lower water content so reduce the liquid by 1/4 cup/59 ml (or don’t worry about it and adjust with more cheese if needed).
- Risotto recipe variations:
- Omit the spinach if you want. I just love the color and extra nutrition it adds to this instant pot risotto recipe. You can also stir in chopped parsley or chives instead.
- You can also swap the butter with vegan butter.
- Omit the Parmesan for a vegan version (and reduce the broth to 4-4 1/4 cups) or use a vegan-style parmesan cheese.
- Try adding a tablespoon of maple syrup for some sweetness.
- To make ahead:
- Fresh is best for risotto, but here are some options:
- Keep on WARM setting in Instant Pot for 30-45 minutes. Stir and add both to loosen if needed.
- Or, if using later, turn off instant pot and warm in microwave before serving, stirring in extra broth as needed.
- Store leftovers in fridge for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
- Reheat risotto over medium heat on the stove top or in the microwave, stirring part way through, and adding extra broth or water if needed. Don’t freeze.
- Fresh is best for risotto, but here are some options:
Absolutely delish! I risked it all and made a double batch for my first time and it was soooo good! (Just doubled the cook time) Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Wonderful! Happy to hear it worked well and you loved the risotto 🙂
Do you mean if you’re using butternut squash to increase the liquid or decrease the liquid? It doesn’t make sense in the recipe.
Hi Erin, Perhaps you missed it in the recipe notes which say: ” You can substitute butternut squash for the pumpkin. It has a slight lower water content so reduce the liquid by 1/4 cup/59 ml (or don’t worry about it and adjust with more cheese if needed).” I hope that clears it up.
Hi Cheryl
Yes, I read that. If the squash has LOWER water content than pumpkin- why would you reduce the fluid? If you have less water content wouldn’t you need to increase the fluid. Sorry to be obtuse about this.
I changed nothing, used squash and seemingly no problem – I just don’t want to run into a burn error.
Hi Erin. Butternut squash does have a lower water content but only slightly. It is also denser and absorbs water more quickly than pumpkin, thus the additional liquid suggestion. I probably shouldn’t have bothered mentioning it. As you experienced, it came out fine with the squash. I like to cover all the angles, but in this case, I caused more confusion as I didn’t mention the density/absorption issue which is more relevant than the lower water content as you noted. Sorry about that! I will fix that in the recipe. Thanks for bringing it up.
This was delicious once I got it cooked, however, my Instant Pot said “Food Burn” almost immediately when it got to pressure. I safely released the pressure, checked all the usual suspects (food between the pots, something in the seal, etc.) and nothing was amiss. I stirred the food and some of the rice seemed to be sticking to the bottom of the inner pot. Once I had given it a good stir, I started it again and again it immediately said “Food Burn” once it got to pressure. Is there anyway to avoid this?
Ooooh, the dreaded burn message. Sorry to hear you experienced that Tonia. It sounds like you checked all the machine part, so it must be a food issue. You might have scorched the veggies and rice a bit. To prevent the burn message in the future, America’s Test Kitchen (more of an IP expert than I am!) says to a) scrape up all the browned bits left in the pot after sautéing food and before closing the lid (deglazing with wine should do the trick) and b) to make sure you use enough liquid. The recipe should account for the right amount of liquid unless you added extra rice or veggies. I hope it works out better next time. Glad you liked it once you sorted things out!
This was the first recipe I made using my new Instant Pot. I never dared making risotto on the stovetop so I was eager to make it when I stumbled upon this recipe. It was so goooood!! Perfectly cooked and very creamy. We will definitely be making this again!
Glad it worked out so well Jane. I find the instant pot is not great for everything, but it certainly does risotto well. Thanks for leaving a comment 🙂