Champagne Risotto Recipe (Served In A Parmesan Wheel)

If you're looking to impress your guests at your next large dinner party, this Champagne Risotto Recipe is the perfect meal. Made with the best champagne and served in a unique parmesan wheel, this elegant dish is sure to be a crowd-pleaser. Plus, it's a great way to use up any leftover champagne you may have from previous celebrations. So, get ready to wow your guests with this luxurious and delicious champagne risotto.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Making the Champagne risotto
• Serving it in a Parmesan Wheel
• Tools to use
• Serving the Champagne risotto
• More recipes with rice
• 📋 Champagne Risotto

If you are familiar with risotto you know that a traditional Italian risotto is always flavored with wine.

The wine is added over the uncooked rice just after it has been seared in butter and onion (or shallots), and before adding the first ladle of stock.

Either dry white wine or red wine is used depending on the rest of the ingredients that are added to the risotto.

Instead of wine, you can add Champagne or Prosecco, their flavor is much more delicate and subtle.

You can make it for a special dinner party, serving it as a Primo piatto or as the side of a main course with mild flavors like seafood or white meat.

This risotto is also a good recipe to use up an opened bottle of Champagne from the New Year celebration.

An open bottle of Champagne or Prosecco will lose its sparking texture after 2 days.

For more festive risotto recipes, you can find: how to make the perfect risotto, lemon risotto and shrimp, and scampi bacon risotto.

Ingredients

• Champagne: The best Champagne to use is Brut Champagne, definitely not sweet. You can also use sparkling wine or Prosecco, but always ensure it is not sweet.
• Shallots: As the flavor of the Champagne is very delicate, I do not use any other ingredients in the risotto and instead of onion, I stir fry shallots as they have a milder taste
• Rice for risotto: You cannot make risotto with any rice. You have to use a specific rice grain that will make the risotto creamy while remaining firm. The best rice for risotto is Carnaroli, second-best Arborio rice. The rice brand is very important, like pasta. You risk having a mushy, tasteless risotto if you don't use a reputable brand.
• Butter: good quality butter
• Homemade stock: I really recommend using homemade chicken broth and you can find the recipe here. I make it with the pressure cooker, which is done in 30 minutes. I usually make a large batch and freeze it in small portions of 1 ½ cups - 300 ml so I can defrost and use it when I need it. If you want to make a vegetarian version of the Champagne risotto you can use vegetable stock.
• Parmesan cheese it is added at the end to "mantecare" the risotto. "Mantecare" means adding a fat/creamy ingredient at the end of the risotto cooking progress. It is one of the fundamental steps for making the perfect traditional risotto and you can read more about it in the article: "How to make the perfect risotto".

Making the Champagne risotto

1. Stir fry the shallots with butter at medium heat. Make sure the shallots and the butter do not burn
2. In a separate medium saucepan keep the stock at low simmer
3. Once the shallots become translucent, add the rice
4. Stir until all the rice has been seared with the butter
5. Add the champagne and simmer for 1 minute until the liquid has almost evaporated
6. Start adding the stock one ladle at a time and stir

7. Add more stock only when the rice "ask", meaning excess liquid has evaporated. Although do not let the rice dry out completely
8. Keep adding a ladle of stock and stirring
9. The cooking time depends on the brand of the rice, check the time suggested on the package. It is usually between 15 to 18 minutes
10. 2 minutes before the cooking time suggested, start tasting the rice to check if it is done.
11. Remove the rice from the heat when it is al dente, soft but still firm
12. Add the Parmesan, stir, and cover to "mantecare" the rice for 2 minutes. The cheese melts and gives the risotto a creamy texture
13. Pour the rice into the Parmesan wheel and serve immediately

How to serve it

Risotto should be served immediately as soon as it is "mantecato".

Pour it inside the Parmesan wheel and serve.

As it has a very delicate flavor, I would recommend serving it with a meal consisting of mild flavor courses like white meat or seafood.

For more information on how to structure an Italian dinner menu you can read the article: Italian Sunday dinner: a 6 meal course

If you are making this risotto for Valentines day, you can serve it in individual Parmesan bowls instead. You can find out how to make them here

Serving it in a Parmesan Wheel

This risotto is very simple and it can be served in a Parmesan wheel to make a unique dinner party centrepiece.

However, there is no small size Parmesan wheels, it is a 42 lb - 19 kg of cheese and their diameter is always 16–18 in - 40–45 cm.

It may not fit into your fridge, so you must use it within the week, although you can carve out the parmesan and freeze it. Parmesan freezes very well.

You will need a lot of risotto to fully fill a Parmesan wheel. In this recipe, I used 2 lb - 1 kg of rice; as you can see, the wheel is not completely filled.

You can double or even triple the quantity which will serve more than 20 - 30 people. Perfect for a large dinner party or buffet.

Tools to use

If you are making a large quantity of risotto to fill a Parmesan wheel, make sure you use a large pot. I use my dutch oven Le Creuset 7 q - 7 lt pot.

For stirring my risotto, I always make sure I use a wooden spoon with a comfortable handle as I will need to stir continuously for at least 15 minutes.

To keep the stock warm you will also need a Sauce Pan at least 3-Quart and a ladle to pour the stock into the rice.

Serving the Champagne risotto

Risotto should be served immediately as soon as it is "mantecato". Pour it inside the Parmesan wheel and serve.

As it has a very delicate flavor, I would recommend serving it with a meal consisted of mild flavor courses like white meat or seafood.

If you are making this risotto for only a few guests, you can serve it in individual Parmesan bowls instead. You can find out how to make them here.

More recipes with rice

If this is your first time making risotto, read the detailed recipe How to make the perfect risotto. I also explain how to make individual Parmesan bowls to serve the risotto.

Here are more rise recipes:

If you have risotto leftover you can make these recipes:

• Rice Arancini Recipe Gluten Free and Vegetarian
• Fried Risotto Balls From Calabria
• Vegetarian Rice Timbale

For more recipes, check the category Rice.

If you are making this Champagne risotto served in a Parmesan wheel, leave your comment below I would like to hear from you. You can find more delicious ideas if you FOLLOW ME on Facebook, YouTube, or sign up to my newsletter.