Risotto Carbonara has the same traditional flavors of a classic carbonara dish – but swaps in Arborio rice for the pasta.
This Risotto Carbonara is my latest comfort food obsession! Creamy arborio rice is combined with smoky bacon and zesty Genoa salami in a rich and cheesy sauce.
This is absolutely delicious, and you can serve it for dinner with a simple salad on the side. Or, it can be served as a side dish alongside grilled or roasted meats.
What is Risotto Carbonara?
Let’s break it down:
- Risotto is a northern Italian rice dish cooked with broth until it reaches a creamy consistency.
- Carbonara is traditionally a pasta dish made with egg yolks, hard cheese (such as Parmesan and/or Romano), cured pork, and freshly cracked black pepper.
Our Risotto Carbonara is a delicious marriage of the two – combining the same smoky flavors of a carbonara in creamy risotto instead of pasta.
Ask my husband Jack – who will tell you that I almost always order spaghetti carbonara when we go out to dinner. So when I say that Risotto Carbonara is even better – then you know this dish must be good!
Before you run out to the supermarket to buy the ingredients to make this dish – I should note one thing. Jack came up with the idea of adding diced Genoa salami to our Risotto Carbonara, which is not a typical carbonara ingredient. (Most are made with bacon.)
Ever since we made this quiche recipe years ago, we’ve loved adding some lightly fried salami to some of our dishes. Genoa salami has a unique taste – and when fried – has a sweet/salty almost candy-type texture and flavor, and it was fantastic added to this Risotto Carbonara! If you prefer, you can just use all bacon instead.
You may enjoy these other risotto recipes:
- Mushroom Risotto
- Three Cheese Risotto
- Asparagus Lemon Risotto
- Butternut Squash Risotto
- Farro Risotto with Mushrooms and Tuscan Kale
Risotto Carbonara
Risotto Carbonara has the same traditional flavors of a classic carbonara dish – but swaps in Arborio rice for the pasta.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: entree
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
4 ounces bacon, diced
4 ounces sliced Genoa salami, diced
3 cups chicken stock, homemade if possible
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup onions, diced
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
Pinch red pepper flakes
1 cup Arborio rice
1/4 cup white wine
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated Romano cheese
2 tablespoons Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
Salt as needed (depending on how salty your stock is)
Instructions
- Before you begin, have all ingredients measured out. Risotto needs attention once you start cooking it.
- In a medium heavy bottomed pan or Dutch oven, over medium heat, add the olive oil and once hot, add the bacon.
- Cook the bacon five minutes until almost crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- Add the salami and cook only 1-2 minutes to slightly crisp, being careful not to burn. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to the bacon.
- Pour the fat into a bowl and wipe the inside of the hot pan with a wad of paper towels to pick up and dark pieces or sediment.
- Heat the stock in a separate small sauce pan and keep hot.
- Return the Dutch oven to medium heat and measure in two tablespoons of the bacon fat along with the butter.
- Once the butter has melted, add the onions and cook three minutes.
- Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook one minute then add the rice and cook for two minutes.
- Add the wine and once the wine evaporates, reduce the heat to medium low and start adding hot chicken stock one half cup at a time, making sure that each addition gets absorbed in before adding more.
- After about 15-20 minutes, all of the stock should be in and absorbed. Cover the pot and remove from heat and let sit five minutes.
- While the rice sits, in a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks and heavy cream.
- After the rice sat for five minutes, scoop out spoonfuls of the rice and whisk into the cream and egg mixture to temper the eggs. After adding a cup or so, stir this mixture back into the rice pot.
- Off heat add in the reserved cooked bacon and salami, the Parmesan and Romano cheese, the chopped Italian parsley and the white pepper.
- Taste and add only enough salt to season the rice. The bacon and salami are salty and your stock may be salty, so you may not need any additional salt.
- Stir and serve and if it gets too thick, loosen with additional stock or water.
How does this reheat? I like to make several entrees for he week on the weekend and reheat.
Hi Kelly – You can definitely reheat this. We use a microwave (although a pan would work too) and you’ll want to add some chicken stock to the risotto and stir that in as it reheats.
We’ve made this and loved it so much I want to share it with my family! Do you have any tips or tricks for doubling the recipe?
Glad you enjoyed the recipe Michelle – no special tips and tricks, just a large pan to hold double the ingredients as it cooks!
Do you think it would effect the recipe too much if I used light cream in place of heavy? I just happen to have that and it’s too cold for a trip to the store!
Hi Bridget – Light cream will be ok – just a little less decadent. (Stay warm!)
Second time making this and it’s amazing!
Thanks Jenny!
This is a great recipe,my family love it and it’s always a favourite in our house 🙂
Thanks Catarina!
Could you substitute regular white rice or jasmine rice for the other rice your recipe calls for? Thank you for your reply. 😊
Hi Tammy – For risotto, no…the arborio is the specific, starchy rice you would need to use to get that creamy risotto texture. You can, of course, make this with other rices, but it won’t come out creamy.
Does it matter what type of white wine used?
Not really – any white wine you would choose to drink yourself would work. (I would just avoid the shelf-stable wines sold at the supermarket which are mostly salt.)
This recipe was amazing! I followed it exactly and it was delectable. My husband agreed it was restaurant quality. Thank you!!
Thank you so much Madysen!
Looks yummy! Any idea how this would turn out without the eggs and the cream? We rarely use cream so I’d be buying a whole container of it just to use 2 tbsp which I’m hesitant to do haha.
Hi Rebecca – Sure – the eggs and cream give it the creamy Carbonara texture and flavor, but without those ingredients, it would be just a regular risotto and still delicious! You can just skip the step adding the eggs and cream.
I used pancetta in place of bacon and salami and added grilled chicken but the recipe is awesome! We like our risotto a little softer so I did add extra stock but absolutely delicious!
Thanks Kristine!
Can you do this in the instant pot? I’ve been doing risotto in the instant pot and would love to do this one
Hi Jane – We’ve only made the recipe as written, and I’m afraid we don’t use our Instant Pot very much to be able to guess how to adapt the recipe. If you try it, please let us know how it comes out!