RECIPES / SALADS & SIDES
Buttery Parmesan Rice
All the comfort of risotto without the stirring. Arborio cooked in broth, stirred with parmesan while warm, and drizzled with a second stick of melted butter.
BY PATCHEZ KENNEDY
CO-FOUNDER AT 4SISTERS / SEPTEMBER 4, 2026
ON THIS PAGE
Not Risotto
Ingredients
Directions
Serving
FAQ
PREP
5 min
COOK
25 min
SERVES
8
RICE
Arborio
All the Comfort of Risotto, None of the Stirring
Risotto asks you to stand at the stove ladling hot stock into a pan for twenty five minutes. This uses the same rice and gets somewhere close for the price of putting a lid on a pot.
Arborio is the short grain Italian variety bred for risotto, and it carries far more surface starch than a long grain does. Cook it in broth rather than water and that starch turns the liquid slightly creamy on its own, without any stirring at all. Our Arborio Rice is what this recipe is built on.
The butter is split across two jobs and that is the detail people miss. One stick cooks with the rice and enriches every grain from the inside. The second stick is melted and drizzled over the finished dish just before serving, so it stays glossy and separate on top. Their ingredient list spells out both.
The other instruction worth reading twice is do not add salt. Between a salted chicken broth and two cups of grated parmesan, there is a great deal of salt already in this dish, and it is very easy to push it too far.
• 2 cups 4Sisters Arborio rice, cooked according to package directions with chicken broth instead of water, do not add salt
• 4 cups chicken broth
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter for cooking the rice
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted to drizzle over before serving
• 2 cups grated Parmesan cheese to stir into rice
• Extra parmesan cheese, for garnish
• Minced fresh parsley, for garnish
Directions
1. Add the parmesan cheese to the cooked rice while still warm.
2. Place in desired serving dish. Drizzle with melted butter.
3. Top more parmesan and minced parsley, if desired.
Serves 8.
TIP FROM THE FARM
Stir the parmesan in while the rice is still warm, as the recipe says. Cheese added to cooled rice sits in clumps instead of melting through, and no amount of stirring afterwards fixes it.
Serving It
This is a side that goes with almost anything roasted or grilled, and it is particularly good under something with a sauce, because the rice is rich enough to stand up to it but plain enough not to compete. Chicken, veal, lamb, mushrooms.
Serve it the moment the butter goes over. Arborio thickens as it cools and the glossy, loose texture that makes this dish worth making is at its best in the first ten minutes.
If it does tighten before it reaches the table, a few tablespoons of hot broth stirred through will loosen it again without diluting the flavour. Water will not do the same thing.
Questions We Get
Is this risotto?
No, and it is not trying to be. Risotto is made by adding hot stock a ladle at a time while stirring constantly, which coaxes the starch out gradually into a sauce. This cooks the same rice covered in one go. You get much of the richness for about a fifth of the attention.
Can I use a different rice?
Arborio is doing specific work here because of its starch. Our Japonica Sushi Rice is the other short grain in the line and is the closest substitute. A long grain white will taste good but stays fluffy and separate, so it will not go creamy.
Two cups of parmesan seems like a lot.
It is a generous amount and it is deliberate, since the cheese is the seasoning as well as the flavour, which is why the recipe tells you not to salt anything. Grate it finely so it melts evenly, and use the real thing rather than the pre-grated kind, which contains anti-caking agents that keep it from melting cleanly.
Can I make it ahead?
It is best fresh. If you must, cook the rice and hold it warm without the cheese, then stir the parmesan in and drizzle the butter just before serving. Cheese that has been reheated once tends to go grainy.
For a side with more going on, see the cranberry and almond rice pilaf, or use the same arborio for the croutons in our grilled romaine salad.
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