Oven-Baked Sausage Risotto

Oven-Baked Sausage Risotto is a hands-off, easy dinner that cooks by itself in the oven. This risotto is creamy and cheesy and flavored with Italian sausage, garlic, roasted tomatoes and fresh basil.

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There are so many new cookbooks released throughout the year by new and intriguing people that I often forget about some of the old reliables, like Jamie Oliver. Whenever I flip through one his cookbooks, I always find something to make for dinner. His recipes rarely take too much time or require too many ingredients and often have a nifty shortcut tucked into them, like his oven-baked risotto.

Much like oven-baked polenta, this recipe for oven-baked risotto transforms a time and labor-intensive meal into something you can just stick into the oven and walk away from. Less than an hour later you're serving a skillet of warm, cheesy risotto with Italian sausage, fresh basil and more parmesan for sprinkling.

Jamie Oliver’s vegetarian version of oven-baked risotto is loaded with red onions, which sounds delicious to me but I knew my kids wouldn’t go for it. So I went the Italian sausage route instead, adding kid-friendly flavor and protein. I also roasted a pan of cherry tomatoes next to the risotto, which I heaped onto my bowl of risotto with fresh basil and handfuls of arugula lightly dressed in olive oil and lemon.

This risotto could easily be turned back into a vegetarian meal by adding sauteed mushrooms instead of sausage. If you really want to please everyone at the table, you can bake the risotto with only parmesan mixed in, and serve lots of toppings on the side (sausage or ground meat, mushrooms, roasted vegetables, sauteed greens, etc).

Check out Jamie Oliver's cookbook 5 Ingredients, which is where this recipe was adapted from. And by "check out" I mean literally check it out from the library - that's my favorite way to try to new cookbooks before buying. I keep a running list of cookbooks I want to read on Pinterest, and you can follow along and get some great ideas for cookbooks that you might love too.

My Cookbook Pinterest Board

Easy Meal Prep

• This oven-baked sausage risotto keeps well as a leftover. It can be warmed up in the microwave for lunches or another dinner later in the week.

Oven-Baked Sausage Risotto

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Oven-Baked Sausage Risotto is a hands-off, easy dinner that cooks by itself in the oven. This risotto is creamy and cheesy and flavored with Italian sausage, garlic, roasted tomatoes and fresh basil.

 

• Author: Jenny Meier | Kitchen Skip blog
• Prep Time: 10
• Cook Time: 45
• Total Time: 55 minutes
• Yield: 6 servings 1x
• Category: rice
• Method: bake
• Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 5 cups water
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 4 fully cooked sausages (12 oz package) sliced into 1-inch rounds (I use garlic and herb chicken sausage or mild Italian pork sausage)
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or thinly sliced
• 1 ½ cups Arborio rice
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh basil or parsley for garnish

Optional Topping: Oven-Roasted Tomatoes

• 8 to 10 ounces (1 pint) cherry tomatoes, halved
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• Salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. In a teapot or small pot, bring the water to a boil. 
3. At the same time, warm the olive oil over medium heat in a 10 to 12-inch ovenproof skillet. Add shallots and sausage. Saute 3 to 5 minutes, until the sausage and shallot are lightly browned.
4. Add the garlic and saute 1 minute more. Turn off the heat. 
5. Add the arborio rice, parmesan cheese and salt. Mix well. Pour in the boiling water. 
6. The skillet will be very watery, so be careful as you move the skillet into the oven. Bake 45 minutes (uncovered) until the rice has absorbed all the liquid. Do not stir while it bakes, just leave the risotto completely alone. 
7. If you’re making the roasted cherry tomatoes, combine tomatoes in a 9x13 or slightly smaller baking pan with the olive oil and a little salt. (Putting parchment in the bottom of the pan will keep the tomatoes from sticking and make clean-up easier.) Put the tomatoes  in the oven at the same time as the risotto. Bake for about the same amount of time as the risotto, until the tomatoes are soft and browned darkly in parts. Shake the pan a few times while the tomatoes bake. 
8. Serve oven-baked sausage risotto with roasted tomatoes on the side, fresh basil and grated parmesan cheese. I also like to throw a handful of arugula with lemon and olive oil in my bowl.

Keywords: risotto, rice, sausage risotto, oven-baked risotto