When I first took a bite of this vegan Lemon Asparagus Risotto, I could not believe how creamy and cheesy it tasted. It's rich, buttery and utterly sultry. The silky texture of this impressive dish paired with the slightly crunchy and perfectly cooked asparagus makes for an unforgettable dinner.
A basil and asparagus purée gives this vegan Lemon Asparagus Risotto a vibrant and alluring green color.
Risotto Inspired by the South of France
I was inspired to make this risotto after our recent trip to Nice. While in the South of France I believe I ordered risotto three times—once with asparagus, once with mushrooms, and once with peas. To me, it feels like the ultimate French indulgence, which is why I made this Lemon Asparagus Risotto with bold and fragrant ingredients like miso butter, leeks, and dry white wine.
If you happen to make it to Nice, I highly recommend making a reservation at Le Plongeoir. This Mediterranean restaurant is literally on a rock in the Mediterranean Sea. Just below the dining patio are crashing waves—and if you time it just right, you'll enjoy watching a beautiful, evolving sunset.
If you love dreaming of the south of France as much as I do, then you'll also love my Vegan Creamy Tomato Gnocchi, which was inspired by a dish we enjoyed waterfront in the ever so quaint Cap-d'Ail at La Réserve de la Mala.
A Note on Making this Dish Vegan
When I created this recipe, I did not want the fact that the dish is vegan to keep it from having a buttery, creamy, cheesy flavor. These components are vital to a good risotto. In fact, I find most vegan risotto recipes lack a sense of depth that I love indulging in when I order risotto abroad.
To make this dish vegan and better—yes better!—than traditional risotto, I credit two key parts to this recipe: miso butter and the cheesy asparagus purée.
To make miso butter, remove vegan butter and white miso paste from your fridge. Measure out the amounts listed in the recipe and place the ingredients in a medium bowl. For this recipe, you'll need 4 tablespoons of vegan butter and 2 tablespoons of white miso paste. Let the ingredients sit out while you begin prepping and cooking. Once they are softened, use a fork to mix together the butter and the miso paste.
Miso butter gives this vegan Lemon Asparagus Risotto a truly rich and umami flavor that sets this dish apart from the rest.
The second key component is the asparagus purée. The purée is what gives this risotto its fun greenish color that makes it much more enticing to eat. But beyond the beautiful color, the purée combines cooked asparagus, olive oil, fresh basil, lemon juice, and nutritional yeast to create a creamy, cheesy sauce that is stirred into the dish at the end.
Nutritional yeast is absolutely essential as it provides a cheesy flavor that will fool you into thinking this dish has Parmesan in it.
Vegan Lemon Asparagus Risotto Ingredients
Asparagus Risotto feels like a rite of passage for moving into spring. This recipe calls for one bunch of asparagus, which I recommend getting local and when in season.
As mentioned above, you'll start your base with miso butter, combining softened vegan butter and white miso paste.
Aromatics are essential to creating a wonderful flavor base for this dish. Here we'll use leeks, shallots, and garlic.
An asparagus purée is stirred into the risotto at the end. You can make this while the aromatics begin cooking. The purée combines blanched asparagus, olive oil, fresh basil, lemon juice, and nutritional yeast, which provides a cheesy flavor.
Arborio rice is the best and highly recommended type of rice to use when cooking risotto. I definitely encourage you to use arborio rice for this recipe, however if you have everything else on hand with a different type of rice, don't sweat it. I've cooked this recipe before with white Jasmine rice and it did not turn out as creamy, but it was still really good. A white sushi rice or short grain rice would work okay here. I probably wouldn't recommend long grain brown rice.
I used a Sauvignon Blanc in this recipe, but any dry white wine will work great for bringing in a nice acidity.
Vegetable broth is needed to cook the rice. It is much more flavorful and hearty than simply using water.
How to Make Vegan Lemon Asparagus Risotto
Before jumping right into the risotto process, begin by blanching the asparagus. Bring a small pot of water to a boil and toss in 2 cups of chopped asparagus (reserving the pretty ends for later). Cook for 3 minutes over medium-high heat until the asparagus turns bright green. Before draining, reserve 1 cup of cooking liquid.
Add the cooking liquid and the blanched asparagus to a blender.
Meanwhile, heat the vegetable broth in a small saucepan. Without boiling it, make sure it gets hot, and then reduce heat to medium-low.
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large soup pot. Once warm, add the shallots, leeks, and garlic, cooking for 3 minutes over medium heat. Turn the heat to low and stir in the miso butter and cook for 2 minutes.
While the aromatics are cooking, finish making the purée. Add 2 tablespoons of oil, fresh basil, juice from 1 lemon, and ⅓ cup nutritional yeast to the blender. Blend on high speed until smooth.
Add the rice to the soup pot, stir, and add the white wine. Bring the heat to medium and cook for 2 minutes.
Now you can begin the official risotto-making process! It's quite hands-on, so I recommend staying in the kitchen during this time and keeping an eye on the clock—and the risotto, of course!
Start by ladling in a scoop of warm broth into the soup pot. Stir occasionally with the heat on medium-high. Once the rice has absorbed the liquid, add another spoonful of broth. Add a ladle at a time, repeating this process until all of the broth is used up.
When adding the last ladle of broth, add the remaining asparagus to the risotto. Cook for 5 minutes. The whole process should take about 20-25 minutes total. Stir every 30 seconds or so.
When done, the risotto should be slightly firm and creamy, but not soft or mushy. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the asparagus purée. Cook for an additional 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Be careful not to burn the rice, reducing the heat to medium-low after about 2 minutes.
Stir in the fresh lemon juice from the second lemon, along with the salt and pepper.
The texture will seem a bit liquidy at first. The dish will thicken once it cools a bit, resulting in a perfect texture!
How to Store & Reheat Lemon Asparagus Risotto
You can store this vegan Lemon Asparagus Risotto for up to 4 days in the fridge in an airtight container. I don't recommend freezing this recipe. It is best served fresh!
When reheating the risotto, add a little olive oil to a pan and heat on the stovetop over medium until warm all the way through.
Enjoy on its own or serve with my warm and crunchy Sourdough Garlic Bread!
Did you make this recipe? I would love to see a photo! Snap a pic and tag me on Instagram. 🙂
Love French cooking? Check out another French-inspired recipe: French Lentil Soup with Mushrooms.
📖 Recipe
Vegan Lemon Asparagus Risotto
Equipment
- High speed blender
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons vegan butter
- 2 tablespoons white miso
- 1 bunch asparagus
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 3 tablespoons olive oil extra virgin, plus additional for garnish
- 1 shallot peeled and minced
- 2 leeks cleaned* and chopped
- 6 garlic cloves peeled and minced
- ½ cup fresh basil packed, plus additional for garnish
- 2 lemons
- ⅓ cup nutritional yeast
- 1 cup arborio rice
- ½ cup dry white wine*
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper plus additional for garnish
Instructions
- Remove the vegan butter and miso paste from the fridge. Measure out 4 tablespoons of vegan butter and 2 tablespoons of miso paste, scooping them into a medium bowl. Let sit on the counter to soften while you move onto the next step. When soft, use a fork to mix the butter and miso paste together.
- Cut the fibrous ends off of the asparagus. You can tell where the fibrous ends are by testing one piece of asparagus using this method: use your fingers to break off the bottom end. Then slice the remaining asparagus to roughly the same spot as your test piece. Toss the fibrous ends. Slice the asparagus tops off—the pretty ends! Set these off to the side. Cut the remaining asparagus into 1-inch pieces. Measure 2 cups of asparagus (not including the pretty ends). Add the remaining asparagus to the pile of pretty ends.
- Fill a small pot of water halfway and add the 2 cups of asparagus. Bring to a boil. Blanch the asparagus for 3 minutes over medium-high heat until they are bright green. Reserve 1 cup of cooking liquid, then drain the asparagus. Add the blanched asparagus and the 1 cup of cooking liquid to a blender.
- Heat the vegetable broth in a medium saucepan. Be careful not to boil the broth, but get it hot. Once hot, reduce the heat to low to keep it warm.
- Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a large soup pot and bring to medium heat. Once warm, add the shallot, leek, and garlic. Cook for 3 minutes until the aromatics begin to turn translucent, then reduce the heat to low. While cooking, move on to step 6.
- While the aromatics are cooking, make the purée. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the fresh basil, juice from 1 lemon, and the nutritional yeast to the blender with the asparagus and cooking liquid. Blend on high until smooth.
- By now the miso butter should be room temp and easy to mix together. Add the miso butter to the soup pot and stir. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the rice to the pot and stir to combine. Add the wine, continuing to stir as you bring the heat to medium. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Use a ladle to scoop out warm vegetable broth and add it to the soup pot. Turn the heat to medium high and stir. Once the rice has absorbed the liquid, add an additional ladle of broth to the pot. Stir every 30 seconds or so. When the liquid is absorbed you'll add another ladle of broth and continue this process until all of the broth is added. The entire process should take about 20 minutes. When adding the last ladle of broth, toss in the remaining asparagus. When the risotto is done it should be slightly firm and creamy, not soft or mushy. With the asparagus added, cook for 5 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium and stir in the basil-asparagus purée. Cook for 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Be careful not to burn. After about 2 minutes, reduce the heat to low.
- Turn off the heat. Add juice from the remaining lemon and stir in the salt and pepper. Taste and adjust for additional salt or pepper if needed. The texture will appear liquidy at first, but once cooled for a few minutes the texture will be just right!
- Serve immediately with a drizzle of olive oil, freshly chopped basil, and cracked black pepper.
Notes
- Leeks tend to be really dirty. To best clean them, peel away the outermost layers and then slice the white and light green ends. Add them to a bowl of filtered water and use your hands to wash away any dirt. Pull them out of the water and set on a paper towel to dry.
- You can swap out the white wine for additional vegetable broth, or simply leave it out and add a splash of white wine vinegar to achieve the same acidic flavor.
