Prawn and Chorizo Risotto is a quick and easy dinner recipe perfect any night of the week. With spicy chorizo sausage, succulent juicy prawns and a flavor packed rice base this recipe will be loved by the whole family. From start to on the table this chorizo and prawn risotto will take about 20 minutes of your time.
Recipes like the Bacon Risotto, Mushroom and Spinach Risotto, Chicken and Chorizo Paella and the Basmati Fried Rice are all about flavours mixed with rice.
The Chorizo and Prawn Linguine, Chorizo Pasta Bake, Prawn Fettuccine and the Prawn Pesto Pasta are all about the spicy chorizo sausage or prawns or prawns and chorizo combined.
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🤍 Recipe Highlights
I have summarised everything that you will come to know and love (LOVE ❤) about the prawn chorizo risotto recipe in the points below:
- Grocery store ingredients: everything you need to make this prawn chorizo risotto recipe will be readily available at your local grocery store. They are year round ingredients and easy to get your hands on.
- Combination of flavors: the white wine, parmesan cheese, spicy sausage and succulent prawns are the main combination of ingredients that shine in this recipe. It is a winning and straightforward pairing of flavours.
- Budget friendly: there is nothing in the recipe that is overly expensive. Choose a cheap wine and then the prawns, chorizo and cheese will be the next most costly ingredients. For each of those there will be brands with different price ranges so you can stick to your budget.
- Meal prep: you can make a batch of this easy chorizo prawn risotto on the weekends and then freeze portions of it for night's when you know you will have had a busy day with little time to cook. (You will thank your organised self for this on those nights 😉🤣 .
- Family friendly: I know very few people who don't like chorizo and prawns. They are mainly vegetarian friends. Everyone loves cheese and there is not so much wine involved that you have to worry about the kids getting on it. Did I already mention that they will ask you to make it again and again! 😉👍.
🥗 Ingredients
The photo below is to show you everything you need to make the chorizo and prawn risotto recipe. Please refer to the printable recipe card for specific ingredient measurements as well as detailed instructions.
As you can see the recipe calls for:
- Olive oil: the olive oil helps to create the risotto base and gets mixed in with the butter and garlic.
- Garlic: is it even cooking if we are not using garlic in the recipe 😂. You can use 2-3 fresh garlic cloves finely chopped or chunky chopped garlic from a jar like you see in the photo above.
- Salt and pepper: we use salt and a little bit of black pepper for seasoning in the recipe. You will also find that a sprinkling of black pepper is a great way to serve the finished dish.
- Butter: opt for an unsalted butter. As we use salt as a seperate ingredient, we want to be mindful to not over salt the flavour combination 😁👌.
- White wine: I use a cheap wine and it is usually a pinot gris. $8-$10 a bottle is all you need. This adds a lovely sweetness to the risotto rice base.
- Parmesan cheese: the parmesan cheese is best freshly grated from a block using a micro plane zester. This makes it super soft and positively melt worthy.
- Onion: we want to use half a large brown onion. All we need to do is peel the skin and then finely dice it.
- Spinach: the addition of fresh baby spinach leaves allows us to get a vegetable into the risotto. We simply cook it till it wilts and mixes in.
- Chorizo: a spicy sausage that you will be able to get from the Woolworths/Coles deli section or a 2 pack from the cold aisle where the cold meat cuts like bacon and salami are. Aldi also sells these in their fridge section as a 2 pack.
- Prawns: also known as shrimp. We want to use fresh uncooked prawns as we get the best results if we peel and devein these ourselves. Leaving the tail on the prawns is optional - it does add to the visual effect of the risotto.
- Arborio rice: this is a special type of rice, perfect to use to make risotto as it absorbs liquids very well. It will be labelled 'arborio rice' at the supermarket and found with the long grain white rice and other packed rice varieties.
- Chicken stock: we need 4 cups which is 1 litre and a standard size regular carton of stock (chicken broth).
Tasty Tip: I like to provide you with a number of substitutions and variations giving you an array of options when making my recipes. If in doubt of any of the above ingredients, or wanting alternatives, read this section (further below) before jumping into the instructions on how to make the recipe which are coming next 😉👌.
🍳 Instructions
Here are the step by step instructions to make the recipe. We start by cooking the chorizo.
- Cook the chorizo (Photo 1)
- Prepare the prawns (Photo 2)
- Cook the prawns (Photo 3)
- Add the butter, oil and garlic to the pan (Photo 4)
👩🍳 How to Make Prawn And Chorizo Risotto
We start to make the risotto by using a knife and chopping board to finely slice the chorizo sausage. Next we want to cook the chorizo.
To do so place a large sauté pan on the stove top and turn the dial to medium-high heat. Add the sliced chorizo pieces and cook them using a wooden spoon to stir and rotate them as you go. It will take 3-4 minutes for all of the pieces to cook. When the chorizo is cooked, transfer it to a paper towel lined plate.
Once that is done, we want to prepare the prawns.
To do this use a cutting board and start by twisting their heads off. Then peel the shell and legs, leaving the end section and tail intact.
Once done use a knife and cut along the back bone of the prawns and remove and discard the digestive track.
Now we want to use the same pan that we cooked the chorizo to cook the prawns. Simply add them with the salt and pepper and again use high heat to cook them for 2-3 minutes. They will change colour and turn bright orange with white flesh during this time.
Once the prawns are cooked, transfer them out of the pan and into the plate with the cooked chorizo.
Next without rinsing or cleaning the pan add the butter, oil and garlic. Cook this combination for 1 minute, using the wooden spoon to stir and combine and then add the diced onion to the pan.
- Add the onion (Photo 5)
- Add the white wine (Photo 6)
- Then add the rice (Photo 7)
- Add the chicken stock (Photo 8)
Next add the white wine. Once you have, you want to stir the pan contents and then add in the rice and stir to allow the liquids to start to release the starch in the rice.
Slowly start to add the chicken broth and stir as you go so that the rice starts to absorb the stock.
- Add the parmesan cheese (Photo 9)
- Then add the spinach leaves (Photo 10)
- Add the cooked chorizo and prawns (Photo 11)
- Toss to combine and garnish (Photo 12)
Next add the parmesan cheese to the pan and let it mix in with the rice mixture. Then add the spinach and continue to stir as it softens and wilts into the pan.
Next add the cooked chorizo and prawns back to the pan as you see me doing in the photo above.
Once done get ready to get your garnish on and sprinkle the dish with some black pepper and another shaving of freshly grated parmesan cheese.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
If you are a risotto and garlic bread person, you might like to pair the dish with the Tortilla Garlic Bread, Ciabatta Garlic Bread, Garlic Pizza Bread or the Turkish Garlic Bread.
If you would like a side salad the Cherry Tomato Caprese Salad, Panzanella Salad or the Herb Salad are great go to options.
Otherwise you might find that arm yourself with bowls and forks, portion and serve, give it a garnish and its a meal in one.
There is lots of flavours and textures in the dish and it does a little dance in your mouth as the combination is experienced.
For a wine pairing, try a chilled glass of rose. Or for white wine a pinot gris or smooth red like a pinot noir.
👍 How to Guide
How to Store
Store leftovers of the risotto in a sealed, airtight container. They can be kept in the fridge for 2-3 days and need to be reheated before being consumed.
How to Freeze
Let the dish fully cool. Then portion into sealed, airtight containers and freeze for up to 3 months.
How to Reheat
Frozen portions of the risotto can be thawed fully then reheated in the microwave on high till warmed through.
Leftovers can be added to a bowl, covered with cling wrap and heated on high for 2-3 minutes with a stir in between to ensure that the whole dish is heated through.
😉 Substitutions and Variations
Here are my sub ins and outs that you might be thinking about as you read the post and I will tell you if I think they will work or why they won't:
- As an alternative to the spinach leaves you can use rocket leaves (arugula) if you wish too.
- If you would like to add even more vegetables to the recipe, a cup of frozen peas or diced red pepper can be added as you are mixing the stock with the rice.
- You can use pecorino romano in place of the parmesan cheese if you wish too.
- You can also use vegetable stock powder (mixed with water) or veg stock in place of the chicken stock if you have it and not the other.
💡 Tasty Tips
Here are my top tips and tricks that I want to share with you so that you master the recipe from the get go:
- We don't need to use oil to cook the chorizo. This is because the fat renders out of that sausage and leaves and oily reside in the pan. We then use that oil to cook the prawns.
- A non stick pan is best if you have one.
- We don't want to rinse or clean the pan along the way. This is because we are adding flavors as we do and we want them to form part of the overall taste of the dish. We do remove elements as we cook them ie the chorizo and the prawns. This is so that no element is over cooked.
- We want to use a technique of reasonably constant stirring once we have added the rice. Doing so releases the starch and helps the rice to absorb the liquids in the pan.
- When adding the chicken stock (broth) we do so gradually. Some recipes call for heating that in a separate element on the stove top. Pffft! I didn't want you to have to do that for this recipe (although I show you this method in the Bacon Risotto. So instead, we slowly add it and stir it as we do and it will absorb the liquid as it continues to cook. This also means it is a one pan risotto recipe with less clean up (woot woot right 😉👌).
- For an extra garnish you might like to chop and sprinkle some fresh parsley on top.
- If you love cooking with prawns, you might also like the Prawn Risotto, Prawn And Chorizo Skewers, Prawn Chow Mein, Sweet Chilli Prawns, Satay Prawns or the Prawn Pizza.
🤓 Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best meat for risotto?
Some great meat options to use for risotto are chorizo, chicken, bacon and prawns.
How much risotto rice per person?
½ cup of risotto rice is a good amount to aim per person. So for a recipe to feed 4 adults, you will need 2 cups of dried arborio rice.
Do you cook risotto with lid on or off?
Risotto is cooked with the lid off. This is because there is a need to constantly stir the dish as the rice absorbs the broth and wine.
😍 More Easy Dinner Recipes
I like to give you lots of dinner ideas so that you have heaps of options to turn to and never get bored of cooking the same thing too often. Here are some recipes that offer variety through proteins, cook times and cooking methods:
- Garlic Chicken Parmesan Pasta
- Scallop Risotto
- Thai Minced Pork
- Tiger Prawns
- Baked Ziti With Meatballs
- Black Olive Pizza
- Chicken Pesto Linguine
- Air Fryer Tortilla Pizza
- Salmon Linguine
- Mince Pasta Bake
It is time to get our risotto on my friend! You can also find all of my seafood recipes or dinner recipes in the one spot.
Adrianne
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📖 Recipe
Prawn and Chorizo Risotto
Ingredients
- 2 chorizo sausage thinly sliced, Note 1
- 500 grams/ 1 pound prawns (shrimp) Note 2
- ¼ teaspoon salt Note 3
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 40 grams/ 3 tablespoons butter unsalted, chopped into small cubes, Note 4
- 2 tablespoon olive oil Note 5
- 1 tablespoon garlic chunky, chopped or 2-3 fresh garlic cloves finely chopped, Note 6
- ½ large onion peeled and finely diced, Note 7
- ½ cup/125 ml white wine Note 8
- 2 cups arborio rice Note 9
- 4 cups/ 1 litre chicken stock (chicken broth) Note 10
- ½ cup parmesan cheese finely grated from a block using a micro plane zester
- 3 cups spinach leaves firmly packed
Garnish (optional)
- parmesan cheese
- black pepper
Instructions
- Chorizo: use a knife and cutting board to thinly slice the chorizo into pieces. Once done place a large non stick sauté pan on the stove top, turn the heat to high and cook the chorizo for 2-3 minutes using a wooden spoon to rotate and stir as you go. Once the chorizo is cooked and looking a little charred and browned on the surface, transfer it out of the pan and onto a paper towel lined bowl.
- Prawns: prepare the prawns by using a cutting board and starting by twisting their heads off. Then peel the shell and legs, leaving the tail and end segment intact. Next use a knife and cut along the backbone of the prawns and remove the digestive tract. Repeat for all of the prawns.
- Cook prawns: without rinsing or cleaning the pan that the chorizo was cooked in add the prawns, salt and pepper. Cook the prawns for 3-4 minutes until they have turned bright orange with white flesh and their is no translucent skin. Once they are cooked, transfer them to the plate with the cooked chorizo.
- Flavor base: again without rinsing or cleaning the pan add the butter, olive oil and garlic. Cook this stirring as you go for 1 minute. Then add the diced onion and stir to combine.
- White, rice and stock: once the onion has had a chance to cook (1 minute or so), add the white wine followed by the rice. Use the wooden spoon to stir the pan contents until the rice separates slightly and mixes in with the butter and oil mixture. Once it has gradually pour in the stock, stirring as you go and not adding more until the stock in the pan has somewhat absorbed.
- Cheese and spinach: when the rice mixture has thickened slightly add the parmesan cheese and give it a stir. Then add the spinach and allow it to soften and wilt into the pan.
- Chorizo and prawns: next add the cooked chorizo and prawns back to the pan then gently stir folding these in and allowing them to heat through.
- Garnish: once the dish is consistently mixed in and heated through liberally garnish it with black pepper and parmesan cheese.
- To serve: provide bowls and spoons for serving then portion and serve.
Notes
- Note 1 - Chorizo: a spicy sausage that you will be able to get from the Woolworths/Coles deli section or a 2 pack from the cold aisle where the cold meat cuts like bacon and salami are. Aldi also sells these in their fridge section as a 2 pack.
- Note 2 - Prawns: also known as shrimp. We get the best results if we peel and devein these ourselves. Leaving the tail on is optional - it does add to the visual effect of the risotto.
- Note 3 - Salt and pepper: we use salt and a little bit of black pepper for seasoning in the recipe. We want to use 'cooking salt' (kosher salt). You will also find that a sprinkling of black pepper is a great way to serve the finished dish.
- Note 4 - Butter: opt for an unsalted butter. As we use salt as a separate ingredient, we want to be mindful to not over salt the flavour combination 😁👌.
- Note 5 - Olive oil: the olive oil helps to create the risotto base and gets mixed in with the butter and garlic.
- Note 6 - Garlic: is it even cooking if we are not using garlic in the recipe 😂. You can use 2-3 fresh garlic cloves finely chopped or chunky chopped garlic from a jar like you see in the photo above.
- Note 7 - Onion: we want to use half a large brown onion. All we need to do is peel the skin and then finely dice it.
- Note 8- White wine: I use a cheap wine and it is usually a pinot gris. $8-$10 a bottle is all you need. This adds a lovely sweetness to the risotto rice base.
- Note 9 - Arborio rice: this is a special type of rice, perfect to use to make risotto as it absorbs liquids very well. It will be labelled 'arborio rice' at the supermarket and found with the long grain white rice and other packed rice varieties.
- Note 10 - Chicken stock: we need 4 cups which is 1 litre and a standard size regular carton of stock (chicken broth).
- Note 9 - Parmesan cheese: the parmesan cheese is best freshly grated from a block using a micro plane zester. This makes it super soft and positively melt worthy.
- Note 11 - Spinach: the addition of fresh baby spinach leaves allows us to get a vegetable into the risotto. We simply cook it till it wilts and mixes in.
Michelle Green says
Absolutely terrific recipe! The combination is perfect and we loved it. I know we will come to make this many times. Thanks for a great recipe.
Adrianne says
Thanks Michelle for your feedback 😄.