This heavenly creamy squash, sage & mushroom risotto is guaranteed to be enjoyed by vegans and the most avid meat eaters alike – it’s insanely delicious! Packed with nutty & sweet flavours from the roasted butternut squash & wild mushrooms, this risotto is a perfect family-friendly comfort food for any time of the year. And guess what? It’s waist friendly too! A winner all around.
When I think of RISOTTO, the first things that spring to my mind is lots of butter, cream, wine, parmesan and all the delicious yet not very healthy for your waist foods. As I’m a little bit of a health fanatic, I set out to play in my kitchen to make this sage, squash and mushroom risotto a healthier dish that the whole family can enjoy. And I tell you what my friends – I couldn’t put my spoon down. It was absolutely delicious! It’s the kind of a healthy meal that you don’t need to compromise for.
Although I’m not fully plant-based yet (giving up fish is the hardest thing for me), I create a lot of vegan friendly recipes because I really enjoy them. Moreover, we are helping the planet by eating less meat too.
HOW TO MAKE RISOTTO HEALTHIER, FLAVOURSOME AND VEGAN-FRIENDLY
- Replace Parmesan cheese with fortified nutritional yeast flakes. Their nutty flavour is a great low-fat replacement for the traditional parmesan cheese. Nutritional yeast is also a great source of B vitamins and trace minerals.
- Use vegetable stock instead of wine to shave off those extra calories.
- Skip the butter. It tastes just as good without it.
- Use porcini mushroom powder to add extra nuttiness to the risotto and make it more creamy.
- Roasting the squash in the oven with a generous sprinkle of smoked paprika adds a new level of deep smokey flavours.
- Adding any kind of chopped nuts as garnish will introduce a new layer of crunchy texture. Perfect for balancing out the creamy goodness.
- Fresh sage adds nutty fragrant notes to this risotto and compliments the squash and mushrooms really well.
If you’d like to go one step further and make this risotto even healthier, feel free to replace white Arborio rice with brown risotto rice. You might have to adjust the cooking times because it takes longer for the brown rice to cook.
However, if you’re not watching the calories/making this risotto for a special occasional, feel free to spoil yourself and use wine & Parmesan to your heart’s content. It’s all about the balance, that’s what I say…
To conclude, I hope you’ll get a chance to recreate this creamy squash, sage & mushroom risotto at home. Be sure to drop a comment here on the blog, tag me in your photos on Instagram @Fit Foodie Nutter, Facebook or Pinterest so I don’t miss them.
If you’d like to try some other delicious autumnal recipes from my blog, I would really recommend
- EASY BUTTERNUT SQUASH & CHICKPEA STEW
- SUPER EASY ONE POT SQUASH & SWEET POTATO SOUP
- ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH WITH SAGE & MUSHROOM STUFFING
- PUMPKIN SPICE WAFFLES
Thank you for hopping on to my blog and showing your support.
Healthfully yours,
Tania x
THE TASTIEST SQUASH, SAGE & WILD MUSHROOM RISOTTO (VEGAN)
Ingredients
For roasted squash:
- 2 cups butternut squash peeled, de-seeded and diced into small cubes
- 1.5 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Salt & pepper to taste
For the risotto:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small white onion finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 200 g wild mushrooms roughly chopped
- 3 sage leaves plus more for garnish
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp porcini mushroom powder
- 1 cup white Arborio rice
- 2-3 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes or Parmesan for non-vegan version
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 cups 500ml vegetable stock
- 2 cups water
- Toasted almond flakes for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C Fan/200C/400F/Gas Mark 6 & line a roasting tray with parchment paper. Place the diced butternut squash in the tray, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with smoked paprika, salt and pepper and mix well to ensure the squash is well coated in oil and spices. Roast in the oven for 20-25 mins until the squash is just tender. You don’t want it to be too soft, otherwise it’ll turn into mash.
- In a deep casserole pan, heat up the olive oil. Fry onions and garlic over medium heat until translucent, around 2-3 minutes. Add finely chopped sage leaves and fry for another minute to allow the flavours to come through. Add the mushrooms, salt & pepper, porcini powder, nutritional yeast and lemon juice and cook for around 8-10 minutes until the mushrooms have turned golden brown.
- Stir risotto rice into the casserole dish and cook for 2 minutes to allow the rice to absorb the flavours. Add the roasted butternut squash and vegetable stock and mix well. Cover the dish with a lid and turn the heat to medium low. Cook for around 8-10minutes until all the stock is absorbed, stirring the risotto intermittently to prevent it from burning. Start adding the water, a ladle at a time, and cook until all the water is absorbed, around 20 minutes.
- Serve with toasted almond flakes and freshly chopped sage.
My husband and I loved this lightened-up version of one of our favorite dishes. The flavors were wonderful together. I will definitely be making it again.
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed this lighter version of the traditional risotto Joanie! And thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment and support my blog. Have a great day! x
Vegan or not, this looks like a delicious recipe anyone could enjoy!
You’re totally right Whitney! Thank you so much for your kind comment. Have a wonderful day.
I am a risotto fiend, if I could eat it every day I would! We have it at least once a week and I love finding new recipes to shake it up. This looks so delicious and I’ll be adding it to our dinner rota!
It’s so nice to hear this from a fellow risotto lover! Thank you so much Annie! Would love to hear your feedback if you try it x
After you take your first bite, you’ll be wanting to add this to dinner every night of the week! It’s so good!
You’re absolutely right Demeter! I’ve made this delicious risotto so many times now and I have no intention to stop:) Thank you for your kind comment. Have a great day!
This is an amazing side dish for the fall, perfect for Thanksgiving. I love the various textures here. So delicious!
Thank you so much Jocelyn. It’s been on repeat in my house for a few weeks now, it’s rather addictive:)
The fresh sage and almonds put this dish over the top! It was a hit with our entire table!
Thank you so much Jenn! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed it as much as I did! I’ll be making it for my girls get together this weekend again:)
Risotto is such a perfect Fall and winter meal! I love all the flavors in this version and the addition of sage! so good!
Thank you so much Emily! It’s definitely all about comfort food this season:)
I made this savory risotto for our Friendsgiving dinner this past weekend. OMGosh, was it delicious! Everyone wanted the recipe!
Wow Denay, I’m so blessed that you made this for Friendsgiving dinner – thank you so much! I’m so happy that you enjoyed it as much as I did. Have a wonderful day and thank you for taking the to visit my blog xx
We just love this easy risotto! I love all of the flavors and textures together! Particularly the smoked paprika! Yum!
Thank you so much Beth. It’s definitely all about flavours and textures – that’s what makes the dish so addictive:) Have a great day x
This looks delicious! Love risotto so will be trying this one!
Thank you so much Julia. Let me know how you’ll get on with this!