Sweet Potato Risotto

Dan and I discovered this recipe years ago, and fell in love with it! I have heavily tweaked the recipe, especially now that I’m on such a strict diet, so I will post my version first and the original at the bottom of the post.

You can use either purple or orange sweet potatoes for this recipe. I actually prefer the purple sweet potatoes for this, as it makes it a more savory side dish. We usually serve this with chicken that we cook with cinnamon, oregano, and salt. The leftovers are hearty enough to eat for lunch without a side of protein if you want!

You will want a large pot for this recipe. It says 3 quart in the original recipe, but that is never big enough for me. I use my large, two handled, soup pot.

Measurement Abbreviations:

Tbs = tablespoon
tsp = teaspoon
c = cup (fluid or dry)

Ingredients

2 Tbs minced onion
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped (or ¼ tsp dry, minced garlic)
1 c white rice (I use medium or long grain, or jasmine rice)
½ c cooked and mashed sweet potato*
4 c chicken broth**
cinnamon
oregano (optional)

*I usually just do 2-3 purple sweet potatoes; 1 or 2 orange sweet potatoes.
**Due to the LEAP diet, I have to make my own chicken broth.

Directions

Before starting, measure everything out. Once you start, you will be stirring almost constantly to prevent burns and you need to add ingredients quickly! (Make sure you rinse the rice in a strainer until the water runs clear.)
Either lightly oil a pan or use a non-stick pan. Add onion and garlic to pan with enough water to rehydrate the onion (and garlic if you use dried), and a little more because it will boil off a bit. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until the onion has rehydrated and is translucent.
Add the rice, stirring constantly. Cook until the rice starts to brown.
Reduce heat to medium.
Stir in the mashed sweet potato and ½ c to 1 c of the broth. You want enough broth to make the sweet potato smooth when you stir it, but not so much that it’s soupy. Cook, stirring quite frequently (I would recommend constantly) until the rice has absorbed most of the liquid. Add more broth, ½ c to 1 c at a time, stirring and waiting until the rice has absorbed most of it.
When you add the final portion of broth, add a dash of cinnamon (and a dash of oregano if you’re using it). Stir until the rice is creamy. You want it to be about the consistency of creamy mashed potatoes. To get to “done,” it usually takes me about 30-45 minutes. (I live at 6000 feet above sea level, which means that things boil at a lower temperature and can take a little longer to cook.)
Once it is “done,” add another dash or two of cinnamon (and oregano) to taste, and stir. You can keep it covered with the stove on “warm” if you need to finish the rest of your meal prep.

This is one of our favorite dishes! I was super excited to discover that it was possible to have this on my LEAP diet!

We have made this three times since I started my LEAP diet. Over the years, we have made this more times than I can think of. Yes, it takes a little work, but it’s very worth it! With the two of us, we’ll usually have at least two servings left over (sometimes more). The amount of leftovers really depends on how many side dishes you have; we usually just do this with some chicken.

Original Recipe – From Betty Crocker’s “1-2-3 Dinner” cookbook

Ingredients

2 Tbs dry white wine or water
1/3 c chopped onion (fresh)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 c uncooked Arborio or other short-grain white rice
½ c cooked and mashed sweet potato
3 ¾ c vegetable or chicken broth, heated
2 Tbs grated Parmesan cheese
½ tsp chopped fresh (or ¼ tsp dried and crumbled) rosemary leaves
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Directions

Spray pan with cooking spray. Heat wine to boiling over medium-high heat. Cook onion and garlic, stirring frequently, in wine for 3-4 minutes, until onion is tender.
Stir in rice. Cook 1 minute, stirring frequently, until rice begins to brown.
Stir in sweet potato and ½ c of broth. Cook uncovered over medium heat, stirring frequently, until liquid is absorbed. Continue cooking 15-20 minutes, adding broth ½ c at a time until rice is almost tender and creamy. Remove from heat, stir in remaining ingredients. Garnish with fresh rosemary and Parmesan cheese.

I have never done this with Parmesan, because I’m not fond of it. I have been tweaking this recipe since I first made it, because I always have white rice on hand but never have Arborio.

Neither rosemary nor nutmeg are tested ingredients on my diet. Originally, I substituted the nutmeg with cinnamon because I didn’t have any nutmeg, now I do it because I prefer the taste (and because cinnamon is a tested ingredient). The oregano is a bit of a different taste, and the last time I made it I left it out entirely. I will be leaving it out completely from now on, because I actually preferred the taste without it!

Let me know if you make it and what you decided to do! What tweaks did you make?