Have you ever brought home an additional serving of last night’s yummy risotto but wondered what you are eating after reheating it?

That’s because in order to retain its creaminess, one does not simply reheat a risotto.

Despite acquiring different flavors and growing with regional variations over the years, creaminess remains as one of risotto’s most sought-after attributes.

Don’t fall into the usual fault of reheating risotto into flavored rice.

Get your stuffs ready and let’s start to rejuvenate your left-over risotto back to that delightful risotto of last night.

Table of Contents

What You Will Need

The steps and ingredients I outlined here are for those who want to take home eat risotto with the same or close to the same enchanted creaminess as how it is when it was first served.

If done right, the reheating should take no less than just 5 minutes.

I’m excited as you are to begin.

Well Preserved Risotto

Only reheat risotto that has been frozen or was chilled quickly after it was left uneaten.

By quick, I mean about two hours after it was served.

Risotto needs to be chilled right away if we wanted to reheat them the next day.

Uncooked rice has good possibilities of containing resting cells or spores of normal cooking temperature heat-resistant bacteria called Bacillus cereus.

They are activated by water during cooking process and they germinate, grow and produce toxins if left at room temperatures for over an extended period of time.

Uncooked rice has good possibilities of containing resting cells or spores of normal cooking temperature heat-resistant bacteria called Bacillus cereus.

They are activated by water during cooking process and they germinate, grow and produce toxins if left at room temperatures for over an extended period of time.

Wide Frying/Cooking Pan

How wide should your frying pan be?

Depending on how much risotto you wanted to reheat, the rule of thumb is it should be wide enough so you do not to stack your risotto vertically over half an inch.

The purpose of have a wide cooking pan is for the risotto to be evenly reheated so also make sure that your heat source is well spread over the base of your pan too.

Butter

Two tablespoons of butter (not margarine) for 1 cup of risotto.

Buying Tips: Read the print of your product to make sure you have the right thing – butter. Butter and margarine may look closely related but they should not be interchanged.

Butter is flavorful and natural while margarine is derived from many materials and does not add as much taste and texture as butter.

Butter-flavored margarine is still margarine and is still not a substitute to butter.

White Wine

I typically use about 3 teaspoons (15 ml) of white wine for every cup of risotto that I want to “reheat”.

Alternative: You may also use stock broth or plain water but cooking rice in white wine helps soften your rice without it releasing too much starch.

Olive Oil

About 3 teaspoons for every cup of risotto. Olive oil will help seal your risotto with a glossy finish while helping out with the rejuvenating of the risotto’s meat contents.

If you are not so keen to estimating your oil when pouring, save 1 teaspoon for the finishing in another container since you will only use 2 teaspoon of olive oil for the start part of the reheating.

Step by Step Instructions

1. Preparations Before Reheating

Make sure all ingredients are ready including your serving plate which if I may highly suggest, should be ceramic.
Remove your risotto from the fridge to make its temperature slightly above room temperature.
If your risotto is from the freezer, it takes around 30 minutes to thaw and around 15 minutes if it’s just chilled.

If you do this too soon, there is a big chance that your risotto will not be heated thoroughly.
Hasten the process of thawing or getting the risotto to room temperature, scatter it around a bowl.
If you are in the hotter regions, when your risotto has been thawed enough (it is close to room temperature already) do not leave it hanging around for more than 20 minutes without reheating.
Take note that previously cooked rice may easily spoil and you may be in danger of food poisoning.

2. Reviving the Risotto

If one simply reheats a risotto, it loses most of the characteristics that makes it a risotto.

Creaminess being one of the greatest and distinct characteristic that separates the risotto from regular rice must be kept when planning to revive a chilled risotto.

1. Make Sure That Your Pan Is Dry on the Inside before Putting It on to the Fire.

Wipe your pan with a tissue to ensure that your risotto will not be contaminated by any other tastes and also to disinfect your pan.

Remember that in cooking, mastery lies is in the little details.

2. Turn on the Flame or Induction Heat to Two Notches above Low but below Medium.

We do not want to overcook the risotto and there is also no need for so much heat since the risotto is already cooked.

I usually feel out the air around the pan by putting my hand over the pan around 2 inches above it.
Be careful not to touch the pan as it may already be hot.

3. When You Feel that Heat Is Already Well Spread around the Pan, Place Your Butter around It.

Butter should melt readily and turn to liquid in about 20-40 seconds.

If it does turn to dark brown right away, it means your heat is too strong.

4. Pour in Your Risotto.

Once the butter is melted, pour in your risotto while spreading it gently over the whole face of the pan.

5. Right after that, Pour Your First 2 Teaspoons of White Wine All Over the Risotto.

If you’re using broth or water, take care not to pour them directly the pan because it will cause splashes when mixed with butter.

6. Gently Mix the Whole Fusion for about 2-4 Minutes.

What you want is to evenly heat the risotto while mixing it with the butter and wine.

It should feel almost wet at first but it would not take more than 5 minutes for the liquids to be well integrated into the risotto.

Gordon Ramsay describes that the rice in the risotto must be not too wet just coating.

You will know that your risotto is back to life if your ladle or spoon can pass easily on the rice and the risotto will make a wall around it.

If your rice goes back right away after some time of mixing, it could mean that it you have placed too much liquids.

If your spoon could not pass on through the rice easily, that means that your risotto is already over heated.

7. Add another Teaspoon of Olive Oil on the Last Few Seconds of Mixing just before Serving.

Do not put too much oil as our goal is to make it creamy not soupy.

8. Heat Your Bowl before Serving.

Heat your service bowl before serving to keep your risotto from cooling quickly when touching your bowl.

You can do this by rinsing the bowls with hot water.

Then clean it dry before transferring your risotto.

9. Plate to Serve.

Plate to serve. And bless your dinners the Italian way, “buon appetito!”

The Bottom Line

Say this with me: “No one simply reheats a risotto.”

You have to prepare for it to properly prepare it.

Who knew risotto was so high maintenance even after cooking it the first time?!