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Risotto really can be an easy family dinner with store cupboard ingredients and no excessive stirring!

This Oven-Baked Risotto with Bacon and Cheese is a comfort bowl-full of creamy goodness, ready in under 30 minutes and involves zero faff.

Oven Baked Risotto with Bacon Cheese and Peas in a Saucepan

Do I have a spare 20 minutes to stir a risotto? Nope. Do I have the inclination? Definitely no.

Instead I have devised a cunning plan to get around this excessive behaviour around risottos, which I truly love.

My own really simple cheat’s way of making Oven Baked Risotto – no stirring involved!

OK, it’s not quite what you’d get from giving it 20 minutes of TLC like the traditional dish, but I’ll forgive it for the lack of effort involved.


Why you’ll love this No-Stir Oven Baked Risotto recipe

⭐️ Made in under 30 minutes

⭐️ Uses store cupboard and freezer ingredients

⭐️ Easy comfort food


Baked Risotto recipe with bacon and cheese and pease

About this Oven Baked Risotto

As with all the best dishes from Italy, a traditional risotto is simple but special.

It’s an unpretentious meal that uses a few unfussy ingredients that has big results in terms of flavour and texture.

To make a really authentic risotto, however, takes practice and patience. Learn some tricks in this How to Make Authentic Italian Risotto for Beginners guide if you’re interested in going the extra mile.

Or you can cheat your way to dinner with my this easy recipe, or try my Butternut Squash Risotto recipe if you want a vegetarian risotto.


The ingredients for oven baked risotto laid out on a counter top, including peas, bacon, rice stock, tomatoes, parmesan, onion, garlic and thyme.

Ingredients for Bacon & Cheese Oven Baked Risotto

  • Oil
  • Onion – Frozen or fresh (I always use pre-chopped frozen)
  • Garlic – Fresh, jarred or paste is fine
  • Smoked bacon – Smoked will give the best flavour, but you could use streaky if you prefer or whatever you have
  • Arborio rice
  • Vegetable stock
  • Tinned tomatoes
  • Fresh thyme
  • Peas – Or petit pois
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Butter – Optional
  • Parmesan cheese – Stir in or sprinkle on top, or both!

How to make Oven Baked Risotto

Rice with bacon and onions cooking in a saucepan

1. Heat the oil in a lidded pan and fry the onion, garlic and bacon. Add rice and stir well. After a couple of minutes, add the stock, tomatoes, thyme and pepper. Stir, put the lid on and bake for about 20 minutes.

Bowl of oven baked risotto topped with cheese

2. Take out and add peas and butter. Check seasoning. Put lid back on and put back in the oven for a few minutes. Stir through cheese or sprinkle on top.

Hint: Check the risotto when it’s been in the oven for 15 minutes. If the liquid has all been absorbed, add a little more stock.


Substitutions

  • Bacon: You could try swapping the bacon for chopped up chorizo or pancetta instead, or leave out altogether if you want to make this a vegetarian risotto
  • Thyme: If you don’t have fresh, you could use dried thyme or Italian mixed herbs
  • Butter: This is optional but it does make the risotto deliciously creamy just stirred through at the very end

Risotto Leftovers

In the fridge Just be sure to follow cooked rice food safety guidelines (i.e. do not leave it hanging about at room temperature, cool it very quickly and then reheat fully before serving).

Top tips

Consistency

Make sure you serve it before all of the liquid has been absorbed. You want it to be a little saucy.

FAQs

Can I make this risotto with regular rice?

Yes you can, but it won’t have the same creamy, saucy (technical term) texture. You may also need to adjust the cooking time a little.

Do you have a good pan recommendation for this recipe?

I have tried-and-tested lots of one-pan pans and put together a pan review here. I hope it helps!

Let me know how you got on and what you thought of these recipes. Please rate the recipe using the ⭐️ below.

Also I’d LOVE to see your cooking creations. If you’d like to share yours with me, you can tag me on Instagram (@tamingtwins).

4.96 from 74 votes

Oven Baked Risotto {with Bacon and Cheese}

This is an easy Oven Baked Bacon and Cheese Risotto recipe with no stirring and super tasting, created using store cupboard staples. A brilliant family dinner favourite. 
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4

Ingredients 

  • 1 tsp Olive oil
  • 1 Large onion, See notes
  • 2 Cloves Garlic, Peeled and crushed
  • 200 g Smoked bacon, Cut into small pieces | See notes
  • 300 g Arborio Rice
  • 1 litre Vegetable stock, From a cube is fine
  • 400 g Tinned tomatoes
  • 1 tsp Dried thyme
  • 200 g Petit pois or peas, Frozen is fine
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper

To serve:

  • 50 g Butter, Optional | See notes
  • 75 g Parmesan cheese, Grated | See notes

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 180C.
  • Heat the olive oil in a heavy, oven proof/hob proof saucepan (which has a lid).
  • Fry off the onion, garlic and chopped bacon until the onion is soft and the bacon has started to brown.
  • Add in the rice and stir everything together until the rice is well coated.
  • Allow to cook for a couple of minutes, stirring, until the rice starts to look shiny.
  • Add in the stock, the tomatoes and the thyme, along with some ground black pepper.
  • Stir well and put on a well fitting lid.
  • Pop into the oven for 20-30 minutes until the rice has cooked and has absorbed most of the stock.
  • Take out of the oven, add the peas and the butter if you're using, check for seasoning and add salt only if needed (this will depend on the bacon you used). Give everything a good stir and pop the lid back on for a couple of minutes until the heat of the risotto has warmed the peas through.
  • You can then either stir through the cheese or serve with the cheese sprinkled on top.

Notes

Onions: I always try to use pre prepared frozen chopped onions. If you do use these they may take a little longer to fry (to get the liquid out)
Bacon: Smoked bacon will give you the best flavour. You could use streaky if you prefer. Or whatever you have. I like to chop it finely. You can do this with scissors if you like. Chorizo would also work well here
Butter: This is optional, but makes the risotto deliciously creamy just stirred through at the very end
Parmesan cheese: You can stir this in or sprinkle on top, or double the amount and do both 🙌🏼😆

Nutrition

Calories: 617kcalCarbohydrates: 82gProtein: 27gFat: 20gSaturated Fat: 11gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0.4gCholesterol: 65mgSodium: 1963mgPotassium: 710mgFiber: 7gSugar: 11gVitamin A: 1586IUVitamin C: 32mgCalcium: 287mgIron: 6mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Family Food
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Sarah Rossi founder of TamingTwins.com and author of 'What's for Dinner?' books.

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29 Comments

  1. This risotto is just INSANELY GOOD! 😋 I ordered a 7L casserole dish from Amazon specifically to make this dish (as I needed to ‘double’ the recipe to feed my tribe!) It is such a fantastic ‘simple to do’ recipe that is absolutely DELiSH to boot! Another absolute WINNER that will become a ‘regular’ on our food rotation – thank you as always Sarah 🙏🏻

  2. 5 stars
    Just tried this tonight. So easy and tasted great. A new tea to add to my options. Thank you so much Sarah.

  3. 5 stars
    I LOVE risotto, but I thought I would try a less labor intensive one. Found your recipe & thought I would give it a go. I was not disappointed one bit! I added frozen spinach portions instead of peas (son doesn’t like any vegetables) & it looked like herbs – so I will go with that little fib. My new favorite – Thank you so much!!

  4. 5 stars
    Did not disappoint! Will definitely be cooking this again. So tasty and no leftovers! Bonus!
    Thank you x

  5. 5 stars
    I can’t believe how good it was without any stirring! I’m now wondering why you’re even supposed to stir a risotto! So good and a massive crowd pleaser, this has become one of our standard dinners.