This Tomato Risotto is an easy, one-pot recipe that only takes about 30 minutes to prepare. It’s bursting with fresh tomato flavor, bolstered by crispy pancetta and loads of pecorino cheese. It’s bright and fresh, while still feeling incredibly luxe.

About This Summer Risotto Recipe

Risotto is one of my favorite dishes, period. It was a dish I excelled at making in my restaurant career and it has been a recipe I’ve loved adapting for So Much Food. If you’ve ever felt too intimidated to make risotto, I’ve got you! Follow my tips, and you’ll be whipping up cheesy tomato risotto like a pro.

This quick and easy recipe introduces tomatoes in two ways: fresh cherry or San Marzano tomatoes are cooked down in the pancetta fat with Calabrian chilies, and tomato paste is cooked down with shallots and rice. 

The result is a risotto with intoxicating tomato flavor and a creamy, silky-smooth texture.

What even is risotto? It’s a northern Italian dish made with starchy short or medium-grain rice (oftentimes arborio or carnaroli) cooked with broth until it reaches a creamy consistency. Stirring the rice while it cooks releases its starches, which yields its creamy consistency.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Making Risotto

If your tomato risotto isn’t turning out the way you hoped, you could be making one of these common mistakes!

1. Using cold stock. Make sure your broth or stock is simmering! Adding cold liquid slows down the cooking process and hurts the finished product.
2. Stirring too much liquid (or not enough!). If you stir too much, the air cools the risotto down (slowing the cooking process), and not enough, the rice will stick to the pan. Be sure to agitate the rice and stir frequently, but take small breaks from time to time.
3. Adding all the broth at once. You need to add the broth in stages. Adding all the broth at once is just boiling rice. The grains need to bump into each other to release starches. Add your broth one cup at a time and stir until the liquid is absorbed before adding more.
4. Over or undercooking the rice. Risotto is meant to be al dente. It should have a little toothiness. If your risotto is mushy, it’s been cooked too long. If it’s crunchy, it needs more broth and cooking time.
5. Your heat is too low. Risotto is a slow cooking process, yes, but too low of heat won’t cook at all. Be sure to keep the rice at a medium-low simmer while adding broth.
6. Adding the cheese or mascarpone too early. Cheese and mascarpone should be added at the very end of the cooking process off the heat.

Ingredients and Substitutions

• Rice. This is an important ingredient! I like to use carnaroli rice, but you can use arborio or any risotto rice or even plain medium-grain rice. 
• Pancetta. You could swap in some bacon lardons or skip it all together. 
• Tomatoes + tomato paste. Using both tomato products really lets the flavor shine! I got my hands on some fresh little San Marzano tomatoes, but you can swap in cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, chopped heirloom tomatoes, or anything that looks good.
• Shallots. Shallots are always my go-to for risotto because I love their delicate flavor. You can swap in some sweet onion, just make sure to dice it real small so it melts into the tomato risotto. 
• Butter. I always stir a couple of tablespoons of good butter in at the end!
• Wine. A bit of dry white wine really brings out the flavor in risotto. You could skip this, but I always enjoy a glass of wine with risotto!
• Pecorino Romano. You could swap in some good parmesan, too. Just don’t use the canned stuff.
• Mascarpone. Mascarpone is my secret ingredient in all my risotto recipes. It adds the best creaminess and really balances the acidity of the tomatoes. 
• Calabrian chiles. I use the jarred ‘bomba’ paste from Trader Joe’s which is chopped Calabrian chilies. They are my absolute favorite chili and add so much flavor. Replace with crushed red pepper flakes, if needed.
• Broth or stock. I always use homemade chicken stock, but you can use store bought too. Swap in vegetable stock or broth to keep tomato risotto vegetarian. 
• Fresh basil. Adding fresh chopped basil at the end is just *chef’s kiss*.

Make it vegetarian! Skip the pancetta and use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. 

Tools Needed

You don’t need a lot of special equipment to make a great risotto! I would invest in a wide braiser (one of my most used pans!), since risotto is best made in a wide shallow skillet.

• Wide Skillet or Braiser
• Sharp Knife
• Cutting Board

How to Make Tomato Risotto

1. Crisp up the pancetta. Cook the pancetta until it’s crispy and some of the fat has rendered out. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the crispy pancetta to a small bowl. 
2. Cook down the tomatoes. Add them into the same skillet so they can absorb the flavor from the pancetta fat. When the tomatoes start bursting, stir in the Calabrian chiles and keep cooking until a sort of paste forms. Remove to a plate. 

Jenny’s Tip: I like to add a sprinkle of salt to the tomatoes to help them break down.

3. Cook the shallots and tomato paste. To the now-empty skillet, melt some butter and saute the shallots just until softened. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for about 2 minutes.

4. Add the risotto rice. You want to really work it into the tomato paste! Deglaze the pan with a little wine and wait for it to soak into the rice before returning the cooked tomato-chile mixture to the pan. 
5. Add the broth, one ladleful at a time. You need to wait for the rice to absorb all of the broth before adding another ladleful. Stir, stir, stir the risotto to help release its starches and create an ultra creamy consistency. 
6. Finish the dish. Remove the risotto from the heat and stir in the grated Pecorino Romano, mascarpone, crispy pancetta, and chopped fresh basil. 

Jenny’s Tip: Risotto is my go-to dinner when having friends over because it feels impressive without being truly labor intensive.

Make-Ahead Tips 

This cheesy tomato risotto is one of those recipes that’s best made and served right away. That being said, there are ways to speed up the process and make cooking a breeze. 

• Crisp up pancetta ahead of time. If you’re making risotto for dinner, you can crisp up the pancetta ahead of time! This saves a bit of time. 
• Cook tomatoes ahead of time. If you’re crisping up your pancetta ahead of time, you might as well cook the fresh tomatoes down too! If you do both of these steps ahead of time, you can have risotto on the table in 20-25 minutes for your guests. 
• Get your mise en place ready. “Mise en place” is a French term meaning “everything in its place.” This is a cooking philosophy that you should have all the components of your dish prepped and ready to go before you even start cooking. In this instance, having your shallots diced, butter and mascarpone portioned, your cheese grated, and your broth warm saves tons of time. If you have all the components ready to go, once you start cooking it speeds up the process immensely.

Storing, Freezing, and Reheating 

Make It a Meal With These Sides

Keep your meal super simple by steaming your favorite veggies or tossing together a leafy green side salad. Or, pair your tomato and basil risotto with one of the following side dishes: 

• Little Gem Caesar Salad 
• Garlic Almond Green Beans
• Italian Chopped Salad
• Panzanella Bread Salad
• No-Knead Focaccia

More Risotto Recipes to Try Now

• Truffle Mushroom Risotto
• Cacio e Pepe Risotto
• Butter-Poached Lobster Risotto
• Creamy Pumpkin Risotto

This post may contain affiliate links from which I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Affiliate links allow me to keep providing great recipes for free and I never recommend products that I don’t love and personally own.