Let’s make a delicious and flavorful date night dish. This miso mushroom risotto recipe is creamy and packed with umami flavors, featuring white miso and wild mushrooms.
When it comes to making a delicious and special date night recipe, this miso mushroom risotto recipe checks all the boxes. I mean, what’s not to love about beautifully sautéed mushrooms coated in butter, tossed in a creamy perfectly al dente risotto made with a deep umami miso, mushroom dashi broth? It’s perfection.
Making risotto from scratch is not as daunting as it seems! With this step-by-step recipe and a detailed expert tips section, you can easily create this miso mushroom risotto at home for a delicious and elegant meal.
What is Miso Mushroom Risotto?
Miso mushroom risotto is a Japanese-style fusion dish of the traditional Italian mushroom risotto. It features creamy arborio rice that is cooked in a dashi, mushroom, and miso broth and tossed with a medley of wild mushrooms for a deep umami, earthy flavor.
After creating the broth, cooking the arborio rice takes about 20 minutes to cook from start to finish. Serve this Japanese-inspired risotto for lunch or dinner with freshly shaved parmesan cheese and parsley. The final miso risotto is rich, comforting, and makes you want to come back for seconds!
Ingredients
You can find all the ingredients to make this creamy miso mushroom risotto recipe at your local Asian grocery store. I’ve linked everything that I used below in the recipe card.
Mushrooms
Butter: adds a rich, creamy flavor to the mushrooms. Alternatively, you can use olive oil instead.
Mushrooms: use a mixture of mushrooms like shiitake, oyster, Japanese beech, or maitake for a full umami mushroom flavor.
Salt and pepper: lightly season the mushrooms.
Miso Broth
Dried shiitake mushrooms: rehydrating dried shiitake mushrooms for the broth will amplify the mushroom flavor. You can also use the shiitake mushrooms as a topping.
Dashi broth: you can either create a dashi broth from scratch or use instant dashi powder and water. See the expert tips section for how to make instant dashi.
White Miso: or Shiro has a mild umami flavor with a mellow nutty sweetness and is the softest of all the miso. It is the secret ingredient to this miso mushroom risotto.
Risotto
Olive oil: is used to saute the shallot and garlic. You can alternatively use more butter instead for a creamier flavor.
Shallot and garlic: are the main aromatics that add fragrant flavor notes.
Arborio rice: is an Italian short-grain rice that is most commonly used for risotto. It creates a firm, creamy, and slightly chewy texture when cooked.
Sake: when the alcohol is burned off, the sake adds an umami, sweet, and mellow flavor that pairs nicely with the white miso.
Substitutions and Additions
Substitutions
Broth: you can alternatively use either mushroom broth or dashi broth instead of both. Or you can use store-bought broth such as vegetable or chicken.
Other Miso: instead of white miso, you can use red miso (aka), yellow miso (shinshu), or mixed miso (awase) for a more intense miso flavor.
Rice: instead of arborio, you can use any type of short or medium-grain rice such as carnaroli, violone nano, Baldo, or even sushi rice.
Dry white wine: instead of sake, you can use a dry white wine for acidity.
Additions
Spice: for added heat and a kick of flavor, add chili flakes or togarashi powder.
Vegetables: for more nutrients, add sauteed vegetables such as asparagus, butternut squash, peas, etc.
Protein: for a well-balanced meal, you can add your protein of choice such as chicken, shrimp, or tofu.
How to Make Miso Mushroom Risotto
See below for full measurements and detailed instructions.
Soak the shiitake mushrooms in boiling water for 20 minutes. Then remove the mushrooms, and squeeze out the water from the mushrooms.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the mushroom broth, dashi broth, and miso paste and mix until combined. Bring to a low simmer.
In a large deep skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the mushrooms salt and pepper and toss to coat. Cook for 8 minutes or until browned and softened stirring occasionally. Remove and set aside.
In the same pan, add olive oil over medium heat until hot. Then add the shallots and garlic and cook until the shallots are translucent about 2 minutes. Add the rice and toss until everything is coated and the rice is slightly toasted about 1 minute. Next, add the sake stir, and cook until it cooks down, about 3 minutes.
Add the broth about 1 cup at a time and stir intermittently about every 30 seconds and allow each addition of broth to be absorbed before adding the next. When you are on the last addition of broth, add in 2/3 of the sautéed mushrooms and cook until the miso mushroom risotto is creamy and al dente, about 18 minutes total.
Expert Tips
Dashi broth ratio. To create a quick dashi broth, use 1 tablespoon of dashi broth powder and mix with 3 cups of water until dissolved.
Don’t stir the mushrooms too frequently. Allow the mushrooms to brown before stirring. You want to have a tender center yet browned edges.
Use warm broth. Warm broth prevents the rice from overcooking. Adding cold stock will take twice as long for the rice to absorb and over time will yield mushy results.
Use a wide pan with high walls. The wide base of the pan allows more arborio to come into contact with the heat while the high walls allow you to stir without it falling out of the pan.
Add broth in increments. Add the broth 1 cup at a time and wait until the rice has absorbed most of the liquid before adding more. This allows the arborio rice to cook evenly and have that perfectly creamy yet still al dente texture.
Stir continuously. Make sure to stir the miso mushroom risotto continuously to prevent the rice from burning at the bottom of the pan.
Storage Instructions
The miso mushroom risotto is best served immediately as it can thicken over time. However, you can store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Reheating: to reheat, add a little more broth or water to a saucepan and heat over medium heat until warm.
Freeze: Freezing is not recommended because it will dry the rice and become gritty.
Pairing Suggestions
This mushroom risotto can be served as a main dish, but you can also serve it with the following suggestions for a well-rounded meal.
You can serve this miso mushroom risotto with any protein of your choice such as your favorite chicken, shrimp, or beef recipe. Or you can serve it alongside any appetizer or vegetable pairing.
Does this risotto recipe contain dairy?
Only the mushrooms are coated in butter and the risotto itself does not contain any dairy. This mushroom risotto recipe is creamy on its own from the starchiness of the rice.
What is the secret to a good risotto?
The key to making a foolproof risotto is adding warm stock gradually and stirring continuously. Using a cold stock will make the cooking process last longer and risk having mushy rice.
Let’s make a delicious and flavorful date night dish. This miso mushroom risotto recipe is creamy and packed with umami flavors, featuring white miso and wild mushrooms.
Create miso mushroom broth. Soak the shiitake mushrooms in boiling water for 20 minutes. Then remove the mushrooms, squeeze out the water from the mushrooms. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the mushroom broth, dashi broth and miso paste and mix until combined. Bring to a low simmer then cover remove from heat to keep warm.
Cook the mushrooms. In a large deep skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, salt, and pepper and toss to coat. Cook the mushrooms undisturbed for a few minutes to develop browning. Cook for 8 minutes or until browned and softened stirring occasionally. Remove and set aside.
Begin cooking risotto. In the same pan, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat until hot. Then add the shallots and garlic and cook until the shallots are translucent about 2 minutes. Add the rice and toss until everything is coated and the rice is slightly toasted about 1 minute. Next, add the sake, stir, and cook until it cooks down, about 3 minutes.
Add the miso, broth, and mushrooms. Add the broth about 1 cup at a time and stir intermittently about every 30 seconds and allow each addition of broth to be absorbed before adding the next. When you are on the last addition of broth, add in 2/3 of the sautéed mushrooms and cook until the rice is creamy and al dente. It should take about 18 minutes total.
Serve. Place the mushroom risotto in individual serving plates and top with more sautéed mushrooms and garnish with parsley and freshly shredded parmesan cheese.
Notes
Dashi broth ratio.To create a quick dashi broth, use 1 tablespoon of dashi broth powder and mix with 3 cups of water until dissolved.
See the “Expert Tips” section above for more guidance.
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