Puttanesca Risotto

Puttanesca Risotto

Puttanesca risotto is one of those combinations that sounds a bit mad until you taste it, and then you wonder why you've never made it before. We took all those punchy, bold puttanesca flavours, the olives, the capers, the tomatoes, the chilli, and folded them into a creamy, slowly stirred risotto, and honestly it's become a bit of a regular in our kitchens. It's got that salty, briny depth you get from a great pasta sauce but wrapped up in something really comforting and indulgent. Make this on a weeknight when you want something that feels proper special without needing to order a takeaway.

Cook: 30 min
Serves 4

Before You Start

  • Vegetable stock prepared & warm
  • Microplane or fine grater

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp capers
  • 1 tbsp tomato purée
  • 1 red onion
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 red chilli
  • 15 Kalamata olives
  • 250g cherry tomatoes
  • 225g risotto rice
  • 100ml white wine
  • 1 litre vegetable stock
  • 10g parsley
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • mixed leaves
  • 1 Juice of 1 lemon

Method

1

First, prep the ingredients

  • Peel, trim and finely dice the onion
  • Peel and grate the garlic
  • Trim, halve, deseed and dice the chilli
  • Quarter the cherry tomatoes
  • Quarter the olives
  • Pick the parsley leaves
  • Prepare the stock
  • Quarter the lemon
2

Now, make the risotto

  • Warm the olive oil in a pan over a medium heat
  • Add the onion and a pinch of salt to the pan and stir for 4-5 minutes
  • Add the garlic and chilli to the pan and stir for 1 minute
  • Add the olives and the capers to the pan and stir for 1 minute
  • Add the cherry tomatoes to the pan and stir for 2 minutes
  • Add the risotto rice and stir for 1 minute
  • Add the white wine and tomato puree to the pan and stir until all the liquid has been absorbed
  • Add ¼ of the stock and stir until it’s been absorbed by the rice
  • Repeat this, ¼ at a time, until all the stock has been absorbed
  • Add ¾’s of the parsley to the pan and fold it into the risotto
  • Taste the risotto and season to perfection with salt and pepper
3

Time to serve

  • Spoon the risotto into 4 bowls, garnish with the remaining parsley, dress with a simple salad and serve

Tips & Variations

  • Nail the stir: We know it's tempting to walk away but staying close and stirring regularly is what gives risotto that gorgeous creamy texture. Put some music on and enjoy the process.
  • Adjust the heat: Chilli heat varies loads so taste yours before adding it all. If you want it milder just use half, and if you love the fire go for the whole thing and maybe a pinch of chilli flakes too.
  • Finish it properly: A good squeeze of lemon right at the end lifts everything and cuts through the richness. Don't skip it, it makes a real difference.

Why This Works

The trick here is building those puttanesca flavours right into the base of the risotto from the start, so by the time you've stirred in all that stock the rice is already carrying loads of flavour. Risotto gets a bad reputation for being fussy but if you keep stirring and add the stock gradually it genuinely rewards the effort. The olives and capers go in at the end so they keep their bite and don't lose that punchy, salty character that makes this dish sing.