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.
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 recipe
⭐️ Made in under 30 minutes
⭐️ Uses store cupboard and freezer ingredients
⭐️ Easy comfort food
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.
What you’ll need
- 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 it
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.
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.
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 tip
Consistency
Make sure you serve it before all of the liquid has been absorbed. You want it to be a little saucy.
FAQ
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.
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).
Oven Baked Risotto with Bacon and Cheese
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.
Jane says
Made this last night but used chorizo instead of bacon. It was really lovely, and so easy. There are just two of us so I halved most of the recipe but still put in the whole can of tomatoes (drained a bit through a sieve), and it was fine. Thanks so much for the recipe, I’ve written it down so that I can make it regularly, although its so easy I don’t think I’ll need to refer to the note for long.
Jane says
Very tasty and so handy 😋😋
Siobhan Harley says
A sure fire winner for an lovely tasty fuss free dinner! I’ve made this a few times already and never any complaints. An easy make risotto with none of the continuous stirring!!
Claire says
Made this last night ,had the leftovers for lunch today . I will definitely make again it was delicious.
Sarah says
Amazing and just so easy
Sarah says
A family Favourite
Nikki says
Another winner – so tasty and easy to make
Cat says
Super simple recipe and bake but mine was a bit watery, I assume I should just cool for longer!
Rachel says
Made this twice now and always goes down well. I left the bacon out the second time as two vegetarians were having it-cooked it separately and then stirred in at the end to the two meat eaters portions.
Sarah Rixson says
I absolutely love this , I had leftovers for supper the next day was delish. I did have to cook mine for over an hour for some reason, but worth the wait.
Cath says
I have never made risotto (I’m 57!!)
This was so easy to make, everyone loved it & there was absolutely none spare for lunch the day after! I will definately be doing this again. Thank you.
Lauren Pickett says
Can’t wait to try this. So you think you could use passata instead of tinned tomatoes?
Sarah Barnes says
Yes!
Emily Plews says
Love this recipe! Can you freeze it though? Thanks.
Lucy says
I plan to freeze it in portions for quick meals. Just cool it down quickly in portions.
LJ says
This was delicious! Came out perfectly, so easy to make and very tasty and filling. It was a hit with my family. Will definitely be adding this to our regular dinner rota!
Caoimhe says
Add it with chorizo – so quick and handy to pop in oven! Another fab recipe! Thank you
Naomi says
OMG where has this risotto been all my life?! It is absolutely GORGEOUS, my 8yo cheered when I said we could have it again & even my 13yo (begrudgingly) ate it & then had a second helping (there’s 4 of us &, following the recipe, we could have easily fed another person if not 2….but it was too nice so we ate it all. It’s certainly not ready in 30 minutes with prep & cooking, closer to 45-50 minutes (and my husband is a confident & competent cook), it is super easy though!
Lisa Eallett says
This was absolutely delicious!! I used quorn pepperoni (it’s new) as my youngest (who is autistic) refuses to eat any pork product at all.
So far I have had success with every recipe of yours I have tried! I am on a bit of a weight loss journey (the whole family is but I am keeping it from them) and wonder if the calories quoted include the butter or not as 50g butter is 360 calories, being a saving of 90 per person if not added?
Sarah Barnes says
They don’t Lisa as it’s optional sorry! All that said, if you’re being super exact I’d always suggest calculating yourself as sometimes the brands you are using may come out as less (the calculator uses an average across brands). So glad it was a winner!
Kelly says
My new favourite quick mid week meal.
Lucy Stevens says
This is so delicious and easy to make. A big hit in our household. I add mushrooms to mine.
Bryony says
Tastes amazing and so easy to do but took 45mins to cook not 30. Still so easy though!
Katy says
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.
Beth says
Absolutely delicious! Added some smoked paprika too