This Easy Sage and Butternut Squash Risotto is perfect for our colder weather. If you enjoy recipes that are made of whole foods with a sweet but nutty flavour, you’re going to love this risotto. Similar to risotto this dish is naturally gluten-free. Unlike typical risotto recipes this one is healthy, low calorie (under 500 per serving), simple to make and tastes gourmet.
This Is Not Your Typical Risotto
Risotto is a northern Italian rice dish made with arborio rice that is cooked with broth until it reaches a creamy consistency. Traditional recipes for risotto use contain butter, onion, white wine, and parmesan cheese but since this is an easy plant-based recipe, we are using pre-cooked brown rice and cashews to achieve the same creaminess and using healthier alternatives to butter or parmesan cheese.
Key Ingredients For This Sage and Butternut Squash Risotto
A couple of the star ingredients in this recipe are cashews and nutritional yeast. Be sure to not confuse this with traditional baking yeast! Nutritional yeast will mimic the creaminess that is traditionally created by Arborio rice, a type of short-grain Italian rice.
What You Need For This Recipe
-Cooked whole grain brown rice
-Butternut squash
-Fresh spinach leaves
-White onion
-Fresh lemon juice
-Lemon zest
-Garlic cloves
–Salt
–Vegetable broth (this brand is my all-time favorite brand)
-Fresh sage leaves
Note: I make a very small commission, at no cost to you, for anything purchased through my site. Thank you in advance
Perfect For Meal Prep
Did you know rice freezes really well? For a quick and easy week time dinner cook a large batch of brown rice on the weekend. Allow to cool, divide into portions and freeze it until needed. Frozen rice should keep for up to 3 months.
More Comforting Recipes To Enjoy
If you enjoyed this Sage and Butternut Squash Ricotta and you are looking for additional warm-weather dishes, try my recipes for:
–VeganPurple Potato Shepards Pie
–Creamy Roasted Vegan Tomato Soup
Sharing Is Caring!
Make this Easy Sage and Butternut Squash Risotto and take a photo of it Share it with me at @SusanCooksVegan. I’ll feature your beautiful creation on my Instagram and Facebook stories.
You can also find me on my other channels YouTube, Instagram, Facebook , Pinterest and Twitter.
Don’t forget to leave a comment on the recipe below and give this Easy Sage and Butternut Squash Risotto a star rating.
Thanks for the love, my friends!
Susan xox
PrintEasy Sage and Butternut Squash Risotto
Sage and Butternut Squash Risotto is perfect for our colder weather. If you enjoy recipes that are made of natural ingredients with a sweet but nutty flavour, you’re going to love this risotto. My recipe is simple to make and tastes gourmet.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
- Category: Main dish, Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
-
3 cups of cooked whole grain brown rice
-
2 ½ cups ¼ inch cubes peeled butternut squash
-
2 handfuls of fresh spinach leaves
-
1 cup of raw cashews (soaked in boiling water for 10mins or overnight)
-
½ cup of white onion, chopped
-
3 tbsp of nutritional yeast
-
1 tbsp of fresh lemon juice
-
1 tsp of lemon zest
-
2 garlic cloves
-
½ tsp of cinnamon
-
½ tsp of salt
-
1 ½ cup of vegetable broth, plus more as needed
-
1 ½ tsp of minced sage leaves plus whole leaves for garnishing
-
Salt to season to taste
-
Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Soak cashews in boiling water for 10 mins or overnight.
-
Meanwhile, steam 1 ½ cups of butternut squash in a covered steamer basket over gently simmering water until soft (about 8-10mins). Remove squash from water and place in a high-speed blender along with soaked cashews, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, zest, garlic cloves, cinnamon and salt. Blend on high until smooth (about 1-2 mins).
-
Heat a deep medium sauté pan over medium heat. Add onions and dry Sautee, stirring often until they begin to stick (3-4 mins). Add ½ cup of vegetable broth and stir to deglaze the pan. Add the remaining butternut squash cubes and simmer, stirring occasionally until the squash is tender and the stock has evaporated (4-5 mins). When the squash begins to stick add remaining broth to deglaze the pan.
-
Stir in the brown rice, spinach and sage. Cook for 2-3 mins. If the rice begins to stick add more broth.
-
Pour the butternut cream sauce from the blender into the pan over the rice mixture and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook stirring often until the sauce thickens, about 5mins.
-
Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper and garnish with sage leaves.
Notes
Allow for additional soak time during your prep.
Hi, we can’t eat nutritional yeast (allergy) so could we still just make this with arborio rice (don’t add the NY) and keep all other ingredients the same?
Hi Liz, thank you for your question! Yes, the recipe will still work without the NY however it will lack a depth of flavour. Taste the risotto as you cook. Try adding 1/4- 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika and garlic to amp up the flavour. Let me know how that works 🙂