Why Is Your Risotto Crunchy? 5 Ways to Fix It

Risotto is one of the most beloved recipes out there: easy, delicious, and with plenty of selections on how to serve it. Although sometimes, if we don’t adopt the recipe correctly, we may make some mistakes and have crunchy risotto. So if you are at this scenario, you are probably asking: why is your risotto crunchy, and how to fix it? 

Risotto is crunchy due to lack of water, because of using an electric stove, or because of not string it. You can fix crunchy risotto by adding more liquid and letting it boil. Another way is by mixing it with vegetables that contain a significant water content like tomatoes or mushrooms and letting it boil.

Today after reading this article, you won’t have problems fixing any risotto again, as I will show you all the possible scenarios of fixing a crunchy risotto. Ready to be a risotto master? 

Is Risotto Supposed to Be Crunchy? Why Does It Happen?

Risotto is a recipe characterized by chunkiness. Usually, risottos are a little undercooked and not very smooth. However, considering its texture, I may say that crunchy risottos are not something that unusual. 

The crunchiness in rice, in general, happens when we add less water than needed in the rice. Usually, the rice technique is: for one mass of rice, you need to add two water masses. So if you add less than this, there is a high possibility of a crunchy result. 

Some people like it and prefer it this way, but some don’t want to consume it.

Another reason why some parts of risotto are crunchy may be because the heat didn’t spread well in the pot while cooking. If that’s so, some grains of rice didn’t cook while others did. It usually happens on the electric stoves.

A third reason I want to mention is burnt risotto at the bottom. Many recipes say that you are not supposed to stir the risotto while it’s cooking, only shake the pot. That’s true, but it comes with the price.

Some rice meals like paella end up with a crunchy, burnt bottom. Spaniards call it socarrat, and it is perfectly edible.

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How to Fix Crunchy Risotto?

Add More Water

The easiest and most traditional way to fix a risotto or just rice, in general, is by adding more water. But, as I mentioned, the crunchiness happens due to the low quantity of water in it, so to make it good, we need to add more water again.

You can do this in two ways: add just a little hot water in the hot risotto, put the cap of the pot, and let it rest for some minutes. Or you can add a larger quantity of water and let it boil until the risotto reaches the softness you want. 

Vegetable or Chicken Broth

Not only water can fix it, but also vegetables of chicken broth. If you have boiled chicken and vegetables fresh, that would be amazing. If not, you can still use other types. Please put it in the risotto in the exact quantity you would put water and let it boil for a little more until the broth has evaporated. 

Add Coconut Milk And Curry

When you see that your rice is crunchy, instead of adding more water to make it smoother, you can choose another ingredient: Coconut milk and curry. This duo is highly delicious, spicy, but not too much. 

Add the coconut and curry, mix the mass with the rice and let them boil for some minutes. When the rice absorbs all the juice and becomes dry again, it is ready. You will have an excellent curry risotto with floral flavors from coconut and curry and something between sugary and salty. 

This type of risotto will go perfectly with all kinds of vegetables, but what I prefer to add is always some chickpeas, cauliflower, and sweet potato. But feel free to add broccoli, spinach, carrots, parsnips. 

All those ingredients will keep the risotto soft and well cooked. This is a must!

Add Tomatoes

The tomato is another very watery vegetable that can add some juiciness to the risotto. Chop the tomatoes with a knife, as the blender may make it extra juicy, and we don’t want that. So instead, use tomato as the base for your risotto and add other ingredients you may love like shrimps, mushrooms, or parmesan cheese. 

Include Mushrooms

Mushrooms also are a very moist product. If you fry the mushrooms for 3 minutes in a pan with butter, you will see how much mushroom juice you can obtain. Then, take all this mass and mix it with the crunchy risotto and let them cook for some other minutes until it’s ready. 

Is Undercooked Risotto Safe?

An undercooked risotto may be safe. We all have consumed it, and nothing happened to us. However, some people may even like it, and just like they consume Pasta Al Dente, they also prefer to consume the rice a little undercooked. 

The thing is that we have to be sure of the quality of rice to do so. If the rice used has been contaminated, it may cause poisoning. So, when you want to cook rice like this, make sure that you choose good quality rice. Also, you have just opened the packaged or that rice has been properly stored before.