Baked Pumpkin Goat Cheese Risotto
on Nov 04, 2019, Updated Jul 09, 2024
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Baked Pumpkin Goat Cheese Risotto is so creamy and full of fall flavors! Top it with dried cranberries, pepitas and extra crumbles of goat cheese for an easy fall side dish.
Thanks to my friends at Pacific Foods for sponsoring this post. As always all opinions are my own.
It’s hard to believe that it’s already November. I don’t know about you, but once it hits I start thinking about Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday since I get to go all out on the cooking and there’s no stress about buying gifts like there is with Christmas. Hopefully you all are starting to think about your Thanksgiving menus because today I have a wonderful side dish to share, Baked Pumpkin Goat Cheese Risotto!
How often have you lined up all of the food to put on your Thanksgiving table and noticed that it was lacking in color? You’ve got the brown turkey and gravy. White potatoes and rolls. Then a hint of green from the green bean casserole and splash of ruby red from the cranberry sauce. It can look pretty blah if you don’t have any colorful table decor.
Luckily I’m here to brighten up your holiday table with this colorful, fall inspired risotto! Not only does it look and taste good, but it’s super easy to make since you’ll bake it rather than stand at the stove and stir for 30 minutes. Let’s face it, no one has time for 30 minutes of stirring on Thanksgiving.
What Do I Need to Make the Risotto?
- Shallot
- Garlic
- Brown arborio rice, may also be labeled at short grain brown rice
- Fresh sage and rosemary
- Nutmeg and red pepper flakes
- Canned pumpkin purée
- Pacific Foods Organic Low Sodium Vegetable Broth
- Dry white wine (optional, but recommended)
- Goat cheese
- Dried cranberries and pepitas
As you can see this is a vegetarian side dish, which is something I make sure there is plenty of on our Thanksgiving table. Whether you’re vegetarian or you’ll be having guests who are, this pumpkin goat cheese risotto is a great side dish or potentially a main dish to serve.
The risotto is made with Pacific Foods Organic Low Sodium Vegetable Broth. There’s a lot of options out there when it comes to vegetable broth and I have to say, Pacific Foods’ broth has the best flavor. So often vegetable broth is so bland you might as well just use water. I also noticed after looking at the ingredients list on other brands random things such as yeast extract, sugar, potato flour and my favorite, natural flavoring.
The only ingredients you’ll find in Pacific’s vegetable broth are water, carrots, celery, leeks, tomato purée, mushrooms, garlic, spices and sea salt. Real, flavorful, fresh ingredients that you don’t have to sit and google the meaning of.
If for some reason your store is out of the vegetable broth or you don’t need the risotto to be vegetarian, you can always substitute with their Organic Low Sodium Chicken Broth that I used in this amazing Tuscan Chicken Tortellini Soup. FYI, the soup would be a great way to use your leftover turkey.
Why Should I Bake Risotto?
- Everything goes in one pot and into the oven for close to an hour. There’s minimal hands-on time compared to stovetop risotto, which leaves you with plenty of time to take care of other Thanksgiving meal preparations.
- The risotto consistency is just as creamy as it would be if you made it on the stove.
- Instead of stirring the risotto every few minutes like you would on the stove, you only have to stir it for about a 1-2 minutes after it comes out of the oven.
To get the maximum flavor and texture out of this Baked Pumpkin Goat Cheese Risotto it’s best to top it with dried cranberries, pepitas, extra crumbles of goat cheese and fresh herbs. The toppings really bring out the fall flavors and tie everything together.
Baked Pumpkin Goat Cheese Risotto
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup finely chopped shallot
- 2 cloves of garlic grated or minced
- 1 1/2 cups arborio brown rice short grain brown rice
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
- 1 cup pumpkin purée
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh chopped sage
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
- 4 ounces goat cheese reserve one ounce for topping the risotto
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° F. In a large glass measuring cup whisk together a cup of the vegetable broth with the pumpkin. Set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a large heavy bottomed oven safe pot (or dutch oven) over medium-high heat. When hot, add in the shallot and sauté for a minute. Add in the garlic and sauté another 30 seconds. Season with salt and pepper.
- Pour in the wine and cook for one minute scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Pour in the pumpkin broth mixture along with the remaining 3 cups of vegetable broth. Add in the herbs, spices and season with salt and pepper. Stir together and cover with a lid. Bring to a boil.
- Once boiling stir the rice, place the lid back on, then remove from the heat and place on the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until the rice is tender and cooked through.
- Remove the pot from the oven and stir in the goat cheese. Stir vigorously for 2 minutes until the rice is thick and creamy. If the risotto seems dry add more vegetable broth or water. Season with salt and a generous amount of pepper then taste for seasoning.
- Serve the risotto topped with extra crumbled goat cheese, dried cranberries, pepitas and more chopped sage and rosemary.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can I make this with white arborio rice instead of brown? Is there an adjustment in cooking time? This looks amazing and can’t wait to make it for Thanksgiving. Thank you for all your amazing recipes!!
I just made this and it’s phenomenal! I used chicken broth because I didn’t have vegetable broth and it turned out amazing. 10/10! Very flavorful and addicting.
Can I buy risotto and use that instead of the rice?
I haven’t tried this so I don’t know what the baking time would be like. I also, don’t think the flavors will transfer over well. Most boxed risotto comes pre-seasoned.
In your directions you say to add the rice at two different points, one before it is boiling and again after. Which is the correct time to add the rice?
Sorry for the confusion. The rice gets added after the liquid comes to a boil.
If I don’t have white wine should I leave any additional liquid out completely or replace with more broth?
Hi Chelsea, just add additional broth to replace the wine.
Could I replace the brown rice with barley? Or is that crazy?? This looks absolutely delicious!
I haven’t tried making the risotto with barley, but I suspect that it will work. If you give it a try I’d love to hear the results!
Can I use white arborio rice instead? Will I have to adjust any of the ingredients if I do?
Hi! Can you make this in an instant pot? Thank you!!
Hi Gabrielle, unfortunately I don’t own an instant pot so this recipe hasn’t been tested using that cooking method. If you happen to try it out I’d love to hear the results!
I’m sure you can. I frequently make butternut and sage risotto in my Instant Pot and imagine the method would be the same for this one.
What variety of goat cheese, though? I can’t see this specified anywhere. Is it fresh, or should it be the old hard kind?
You want to use fresh/soft goat cheese that you can crumble.
This looks delicious! But I think wine was left out of the ingredients list.
Thanks for catching that Shannon, just added it into the ingredients list. :-)