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Caramelized onion, spinach and bacon risotto feels extra-special and makes a beautiful dinner party centerpiece. You can caramelize the onions up to a week in advance, so it’s also a totally reasonable weeknight meal. Here’s how to make it.
Why we love this recipe
Risotto has a reputation for being tricky and taking a long time to make. But it isn’t, and it doesn’t. In fact, this was one of the very first recipes I published on Umami Girl, way back in June, 2008.
Caramelized onion, spinach and bacon risotto is a little extra special, with layers of savory flavor. It’s:
- Cozy and comforting
- Yet also classic and elegant
- A little bit smoky, a little bit earthy-sweet, and a whole lot savory
- Equally at home as a main dish or a first course
What you’ll need
Here’s a glance at the ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe.
- Caramelized onions add a wonderful depth of flavor to this risotto — a perfect balance of savory and earthy-sweet. They take up to an hour to cook down to rich, jammy perfection. But you can keep them in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for up to a year, so there’s absolutely no need to do the work all at once.
- You can use any type of bacon, pancetta, or guanciale in this recipe. I tend to use a very thick cut of bacon. I like the smokiness of American bacon, the meatiness of a nice, thick cut, and the easy availability of bacon over the other choices. We tend to have it on hand regularly, which can make all the difference.
- This recipe uses a lot of baby spinach, but as always, it cooks down dramatically in a very short time.
- Arborio rice is an Italian short-grain variety of rice. Its high starch content helps create the risotto’s silky, creamy broth. And its superior quality means the grains retain their al dente bite amidst the creaminess. Alternatively, you can use carnaroli rice. It works similarly but has a slightly longer grain, higher starch content, and firmer texture.
How to make it
Here’s what you’ll do to make a beautiful batch of caramelized onion, spinach and bacon risotto. You can see the steps in action in the video that accompanies this post, and get all the details in the recipe card below.
- Prepare a batch of caramelized onions. This step takes a while, but you can do it up to a week in advance. Chop the bacon and cook until it’s done to your liking. Remove to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but two tablespoons of fat from the pan.
- Add the rice and cook, stirring frequently, for about two minutes. Some of the grains will become translucent around the edges. Pour in the wine, using its acidity and your spoon to help scrape up the browned bits of bacon from the bottom of the pan. Cook until most of the liquid is gone. Add the broth a cup or so at a time, stirring frequently and adding more as it gets mostly absorbed.
- After the last addition becomes a little bit creamy but is still very brothy, add the spinach. Cook, stirring, until wilted. Turn off the heat.
- Add the reserved bacon and the caramelized onions and stir gently but thoroughly to distribute. Then stir in the butter and grated cheese. Risotto is ready to serve.
Expert tips and FAQs
The key to perfectly creamy risotto where the rice retains a bit of gentle bite is to quit while you’re ahead. Adding the broth about a cup at a time, and keeping the heat at a brisk simmer, gives you plenty of control.
After the last addition of broth, give everything a quick stir and then add the spinach while there’s still plenty of liquid broth. By the time the spinach is wilted, the consistency should be perfect.
Risotto is best shortly after it’s made, so don’t make it in advance in its entirety. You can, however, cook do a lot of the work ahead of time. Keep the caramelized onions in the fridge for up to a week or the freezer for up to a year. Cook the bacon in advance if you like, reserving two tablespoons of the rendered fat for cooking the rice.
You can even partially cook the risotto itself earlier in the day. Take it all the way through Step 5 in the recipe card below, but reserve two cups of stock to add later. Then, 20 to 30 minutes before serving time, flick the heat back on, stir in remaining stock, one cup at a time, and follow the rest of the instructions.
Leftover risotto also makes great arancini.
Sure thing. If you don’t have caramelized onions on hand, you can finely dice a large shallot or medium yellow onion. After cooking the bacon, sauté the shallot or onion for a few minutes before adding the rice, then proceed as directed.
The sky’s the limit, but there are lots of suggestions in the post, from burgers to grilled cheese to potato skins to braised kale. They definitely won’t go to waste.
More favorite risotto recipes
- Creamy roast pumpkin and sage
- Ham, peas, feta, and tarragon
- Saffron, peas, and goat cheese
- Lemony shrimp and broccoli
- And if you like risotto but want to kick it up a notch, try this farro recipe, or this one.
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Caramelized Onion, Spinach, and Bacon Risotto
Ingredients
- ½ batch caramelized onions
- 10 ounces (283 grams) thick-cut bacon
- 1 ½ cups (270 grams) arborio rice
- ½ cup (118 ml) dry white wine you like to drink
- 6 cups 1(440 ml) chicken stock
- 8 ounces (227 grams) baby spinach
- 2 tablespoons (28 grams) butter
- ½ cup (60 grams) grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
- Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Make the caramelized onions. You can do this step up to a week in advance if you like and store onions in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Meanwhile, dice bacon and place in another large frying pan . Cook over medium heat until just crispy, then remove bacon from pan and set aside. Pour off most of the bacon grease from the pan, leaving two tablespoons.
- To the pan with the bacon grease, add the rice and stir to coat with fat. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about two minutes, until some of the rice grains are translucent.
- Raise heat to medium-high. Add the wine and cook, stirring frequently, until absorbed.
- Add chicken stock, about a cup at a time, and stir frequently. Wait until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the rest turned into a starchy-looking broth before adding the next ladle-full of stock.
- After the last addition of stock, continue to stir until the rice is tender, with a little chewy bite, and there is still some thick, glossy broth.
- Add the spinach along with the reserved bacon and caramelized onions and and stir for less than a minute, until spinach is just wilted.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the butter and the grated cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Let rest for just a couple of minutes and serve in shallow bowls with extra grated cheese to pass at the table.
Notes
- Arborio rice is an Italian short-grain variety of rice. Its high starch content helps create the risotto’s silky, creamy broth. And its superior quality means the grains retain their al dente bite amidst the creaminess. Alternatively, you can use carnaroli rice. It works similarly but has a slightly longer grain, higher starch content, and firmer texture.
- You can use any type of bacon, pancetta, or guanciale in this recipe. I tend to use a very thick cut of bacon. I like the smokiness of American bacon, the meatiness of a nice, thick cut, and the easy availability of bacon over the other choices. We tend to have it on hand regularly, which can make all the difference.
- Make the whole batch of caramelized onions and use the rest in other recipes. They keep well in the fridge for a long time.
- The key to perfectly creamy risotto where the rice retains a bit of gentle bite is to quit while you’re ahead. Adding the broth about a cup at a time, and keeping the heat at a brisk simmer, gives you plenty of control. After the last addition of broth, give everything a quick stir and then add the spinach while there’s still plenty of liquid broth. By the time the spinach is wilted, the consistency should be perfect.
- Risotto is best shortly after it’s made, so don’t make it in advance in its entirety. You can, however, cook do a lot of the work ahead of time. Keep the caramelized onions in the fridge for up to a week or the freezer for up to a year. Cook the bacon in advance if you like, reserving two tablespoons of the rendered fat for cooking the rice. You can even partially cook the risotto itself earlier in the day. Take it all the way through Step 5, but reserve two cups of stock to add later. Then, 20 to 30 minutes before serving time, flick the heat back on, stir in remaining stock, one cup at a time, and follow the rest of the instructions.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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my boyfriend and i both LOVED the risotto. the caramelized onions gave it a depth like no other risotto i’ve ever made. i put about a 1/2 tsp of bacon fat in just for the essence of bacon and added about 4 cloves of garlic. it was world class!
Hi Martha, thank you! I’m not in the habit of adding garlic to risotto, but there’s no reason not to, you’re right. (Lord knows I add it to everything else, so I’m not sure why the restraint here.) Hope you enjoy the risotto.
your website looks terrific. interesting stuff about stirring constantly vs, not and adding the wine early vs late.
i already cooked the spinach so will strain the excess water out of it then chop it before adding.
no garlic,???
i think i might leave out the bacon and add garlic.
thanks.
want. that. bacon.
j.f.: Depends what you mean by quick. It’s not microwave burrito quick, but the time from the first addition of liquid to the end of the recipe shouldn’t be more than 20 minutes. Everyone seems to have a great grandpa whose risotto took six hours to make, but he must have been harvesting and polishing the grains before cooking. Thanks for your comment!
I wouldn’t say I’m scared by risotto… but I don’t think of it as quick. Am I doing something wrong?