Creamy, rich and super flavorful Butternut Squash Farro Risotto, folded in butter and parmigiano, and finished with fresh sage. If you never made risotto, this is the recipe to try!
INSTANT POT SUNDAY SERIES – WEEK ONE
Welcome, welcome friends… I am super excited to be running this series, starting today and hopefully continue to create fresh content every Sunday throughout the winter season. But before we go any further, I would like to share with you the kind of value I am hoping to give you through this series of curated recipes.
Why Instant Pot?
For those of you who don’t know, an Instant pot is a multi-cooker that has several functionalities such as slow cooking, sautéing, pressure cooker, rice and yogurt maker, among a few other handy capabilities. Aside from it being a solution for those who don’t have enough storage for several appliances, it is also much cheaper to invest in ONE appliance and a step-up in safety, when it comes to pressure cookers.
After a thorough research I decided to purchase this Instant Pot, which is the one I will be using for all recipes in this series. However, other brands carry very similar functionalities and all recipes in this series will be totally compatible with your Instant Pot.
Why Sundays?
Call me boring but there is nothing else I rather be doing on a Sunday then spending time at home with my family. Sunday is the perfect day to invest on a meal, and perhaps cook something that will make your week a little easier.
What to expect?
Recipes focusing on seasonal ingredients, warming dishes, a few Holiday favorites and definitely all the things you wouldn’t expect to ever use your Instant Pot for (just wait until the cheesecake come out!). So if you got one of those we are going to put it to good use! Or get one here!
But most importantly, expect to HAVE FUN, learn, create memories with your family and eat good food!
About This Recipe
Oh yeah, the recipe right! How is a Butternut Squash Farro Risotto for a start? This recipe is everything we love about Fall! This is a great season to start incorporating winter squashes to your dishes so I made sure this wasn’t just another risotto recipe, but one for the book! Simple, yet rich, flavorful and super creamy, this Butternut Squash Farro Risotto makes for an excellent Fall recipe for a family meal or if you have company and want to serve a tasty meal.
I actually grew these beautiful butternut squashes pictured above. Most squashes around this time should be super delicious but the one trick I like to offer when buying a butternut squash is to check the flash by either removing the steam or making a small pinch-sized cut on the body, if bright orange the squash is ready to use.
For this recipe we will be using the sauté and rice functions of the Instant Pot. It’s really easy to switch from one function to another as you move along the recipe, and super convenient to have all steps done in one pot, less clean up and cooking with a flow.
Butternut Squash Farro Risotto
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
- 1 1/2 cups farro pearled (cooks quickly)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 3 cups butternut squash cubed
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese grated
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- fresh parsley and/or sage
Instructions
- Turn the Instant Pot on sauté mode and add in oil and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally until translucent (about 5 mins). Add farro, stir for another 2 minutes. Add water and salt, stir and allow to cook until most of the water is absorbed.
- Then add the butternut squash and chicken stock. Close and lock the lid of the Instant Pot. Turn the steam release handle to sealing position. Press rice and cook at low pressure for 12 minutes.
- When the time is up, utilize the quick pressure release and then open the lid. Turn off and unplug the pot.
- Add cheese and butter, fold to combine. Garnish with fresh parsley and/or sage and serve.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
(This post contain Amazon affiliate links. By making a purchase through these links I will be receiving a small commission. However all opinions and suggestions are my own)
This sounds delicious but being Celiac I can’t have Faro so I am wondering if you think I could sub in Quinoa & follow the same cooking times? I think it might work.
I think it will work just right because I used the quick farro (semi-pearled) kind which takes approximately the same amount of time as quinoa to cook. Let me know how it works out! Thanks Elizabeth
I’ve never heard of an insta pot but this recipe is beautiful! I often use canned pumpkin but I love the way you’ve left the chunks of squash in with the farro.
The Instant Pot is amazing! I use mine almost every day. I left the butternut squash in chunks for texture and because it looks pretty too 🙂 Thanks for much for stopping by!
I made this tonight I was surprised by the fact I love the farro! I did make some changes. I roasted the pumpkin with garlic and rosemary before adding to the farro. I used half of a leek instead of yellow onion.
I looooove squashes roasted with garlic and rosemary!! I am sure this added a lot of flavor! Super glad you made this and liked it 🙂 thanks for your feedback Ernie!
I plan to make this beautiful looking dish this upcoming weekend. I will have vegans attending. Can I switch out the chicken stock for a vegetable or mushroom stock and have people add their own Parmesan?
Hi Allison! You can definitely substitute the chicken stock for a vegetable based one but as far as the parmesan, it will make the risotto less creamier without it. I would suggest maybe add extra (vegan) butter or even using a little bit of vegan cheese. However if only few of the guests are vegan, you can split into two batches and add parmesan to half of the batch. The good thing is that adding parmesan and butter is the last part of the process, so it won’t affect the overall result and you will make everyone happy. My husband is allergic to cheese, so I do the slitting thing often. I truly hope everyone will enjoy this recipe and thank you for stopping by! 🙂
I made it exactly as printed. I ended up with a watery, mucky mess. The squash was over fone. The farro was still chewy. It looked nothing like the picture.
I am very sorry to hear this Allison, it’s hard for me to know what went wrong. I’ve had several other readers email me to let me know how great it turned out. Did you use the pearled farro? other types do take much longer to cook. Butternut squash can also have a different consistency depending on how old the squash is… the older the mushier it will turn out. I made this recipe 3x, also using arborio rice and got the same result every time.
Mine turned out watery as well and just tasted like chicken broth. Maybe because we have an 8 qt? It just seems like way too much liquid to farro.
Sorry to hear Haley, whenever this happens you can put the pressure back on and cook for an additional minute or so.
Curious to know the cooking time in the stove or crockpot, and I do not have an Instant Pot. TIA!
I haven’t made this recipe on stove top, but I imagine that it will take 40 minutes or so (?) hard to guess. My only concern is the butternut squash falling apart as you stir the farro, which you will need to do on stove top directions. Maybe cook the butternut squash separate and fold in with the cheese and butter (after risotto is done cooking). It is definitely possible but it will require at least 40 minutes of active time and butternut squash to be cooked separately. Hope this helps but if you have further questions feel free to ask!
This looks very yummy! I just bought some dried rubbed sage. Any chance I can use this instead of the fresh? If so, in your opinion, when could I incorporate it? I’d love the flavor but do not intent to buy fresh. As I will surely not use it all.
That totally works Paige! I would incorporate after it’s done cooking when you fold in the butter and cheese. Let me know what you think!! 🙂
Note to self: use half the stock. When this was done cooking, there was so much liquid left and I followed the recipe exactly! Scooped out almost 2 cups of liquid and it was perfect. Tasted great and texture was great!
Thanks for the feedback Joanna, I will try making this with less liquid to see what results I get. I can honestly tell you that there were no liquids left for me.
This is the same result I had—way too much liquid. I’m turning on the pressure another couple minutes and will scoop out liquid when I’m done. I pressed rice and cooked for 12 minutes. Maybe I should have done low pressure manual for 12 instead.
Kelly, I am currently re-tasting this recipe and will update soon. Mine had no excess water but I’ll do my best to figure out why other have had a different outcome.
I read the reviews about this recipe turning out watery, so I lowered the amount of water to 3/4 cup and the amount of stock to 3 cups. Unfortunately it was still very watery and I needed to drain it. The squash was pretty mushy, but I actually really liked that because it almost became a sauce after I mixed everything and served. Overall, it was a quick (I had pre-cut butternut squash) and tasty dinner, though!
Thanks for the heads up Danielle, I am currently re-tasting this recipe and will update it soon. But I am glad it still turned out good for you.
Can I use frozen squash instead of fresh? I bought frozen squash already in cubes that takes a few minutes in the microwave to cook.
I haven’t tried frozen squash in this recipe but I am sure it will work just fine. Let me know how it turned out 🙂