Basic Chicken Risotto Recipe: A Delicious Way to Use Leftovers

What Do I Make With Leftover Chicken? How About Everyday Chicken Risotto?

A warm, comforting dish like chicken risotto can be an excellent way to transform leftovers into something special. This recipe gives tender pieces of leftover chicken new life in a creamy, flavorful risotto.

Prepared with a few pantry staples, this dish allows the leftover chicken to be infused with rich broth, garlic, and parmesan flavors, creating a satisfying meal with minimal effort. Rice is slowly cooked to a tender consistency, absorbing the aromatic broth and harmoniously blending with the chicken.

Traditional risotto techniques are followed to achieve the perfect texture, with the rice stirred continuously until it reaches a creamy yet slightly al dente finish. Garlic and onions are sautéed gently to release their flavors before being mixed with the rice, lending an irresistible fragrance to the dish.

A sprinkle of fresh herbs and a handful of grated parmesan cheese add the finishing touch, enhancing the risotto’s richness and balancing the chicken’s savory taste. This simple yet satisfying risotto is a delicious and easy way to use up leftovers, offering a comforting meal that can be enjoyed any night of the week.

What do I love about everyday risotto?

• It is great when you can't think of what to cook tonight and need a meal in a hurry.
• You can make it every week and never make the same dish the same twice.
• Perfect as a starter, side, or main dish.
• Versatile - depending on what else you’re serving, devise a risotto that will work with it.
• Easy to prepare, and you can make a meal in 45-30 minutes or less.
• Risotto is rice, which is low in fat, has no cholesterol, and is gluten-free.

What's On Hand Every Day Risotto

My wife called and said, "Let's make risotto tonight." So I started looking through the refrigerator for available ingredients. I knew I had a box of risotto in the pantry and plenty of commercial and homemade chicken stock in the freezer.

There was even some leftover turkey stock in the freezer that I wanted to use up. You usually find plenty of onions and garlic in our house on hand; the remaining ingredients are leftovers.

We had leftover steamed zucchini, honeyed carrots from Maddie's birthday dinner, and a roasted chicken breast from a previous meal, with some incredible extra virgin olive oil and freshly grated Parmesan cheese to finish the dish, and we were set to go.

At the start, I didn't measure anything except the two cups of risotto rice, so I needed at least 7 cups of stock. I used a combination of homemade turkey stock and commercial chicken stock.

📖 Recipe

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Whats On Hand Risotto

When You're Looking for a Quick & Easy Meal

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Pasta

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: risotto

Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil extra virgin plus more for finishing at the end
• 1 large red onion diced
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 2 cups Arborio rice
• 7 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup carrots we used leftover honeyed carrots, chopped
• 1 cup steamed zucchini we used leftover zucchini, chopped
• 1 piece roasted chicken breast chopped up into bite sized pieces
• salt & Pepper to taste
• Parmesan cheese Freshly grated, to taste

Instructions

• You can start by prepping your ingredients. This means combining everything and chopping the onion, garlic, carrots, zucchini, and chicken.

  You'll also want to heat the stock in a large saucepan and have it ready to add to the rice.
• Heat a large sauté pan, or maybe you are using a large pot, but it is essential to get it hot before you add the oil.
• When the oil is hot, add the onion and sauté for a few minutes until it turns translucent. I cook this at medium heat on my gas stove top.
• Add the garlic and sauté for a minute or two.

  Be sure to continuously stir the onion and garlic so they don't burn.
• Move the onion and garlic to the sides of the pan and add the Arborio rice.
• Sauté for a few minutes to slightly toast the rice, and then combine the rice with the onion/garlic.
• Start adding the hot broth to the rice one cup at a time, stirring continuously until it is absorbed by the rice before adding more. If the rice starts sticking to the bottom of the pan, turn down the heat a little and keep stirring.
• Add the carrots, zucchini, and chicken to heat through when just one cup of stock remains. Add the rest of the stock and keep stirring.
• Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.

  If you taste the rice and think it needs more time, add hot water until the risotto reaches your desired creaminess.
• Serve in individual plates topped with extra virgin olive oil and fresh grated Parmesan cheese.

Notes

This a great meal that's easy to make and a fabulous way to clean out the refrigerator.

Some of My Favorite Pasta Recipes