🍚 Risotto alla Milanese
Risotto alla milanese is Milan's signature golden risotto: Arborio rice toasted, deglazed with white wine and cooked slowly in broth with saffron. Butter and Parmesan are beaten in at the end so it ripples across the plate, creamy with a delicate, floral saffron flavour. It is served on its own or alongside ossobuco.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 320 g Arborio rice
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 100 ml dry white wine
- 1.2 l hot broth
- 1 pinch saffron threads
- 40 g butter
- 60 g Parmesan, grated
- Salt
Method
- Soak the saffron in a ladle of hot broth.
- Soften the onion in half the butter, add the rice and toast 2 minutes.
- Add the wine and let it evaporate.
- Add broth a ladle at a time, stirring, for about 16 minutes; add the saffron liquid halfway.
- Off the heat, beat in the remaining butter and the Parmesan, cover and rest 2 minutes.
How to make it lighter
- 1 tbsp butter ≈ 100 kcal: toasting the rice in 1 tsp oil instead of butter saves some.
- Serve 250 g with a green salad instead of a full 300 g plate.
- When paired with ossobuco, keep the risotto portion small — the meat already makes a big meal.
History
The dish is tied to Milan; a popular story links the saffron colour to a 16th-century glazier working on the Duomo, though this is legend. A recipe for saffron rice appears in Italian cookbooks by the 19th century, and it remains the city's best-known rice dish.
Count it in one photo
Point your camera at the table — Me Nutrition recognises Risotto alla Milanese and every other dish, with calories and macros for each. Ate only half? Slide it.
Download on the App StoreSimilar dishes
Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →