Dairy-Free Lemon & Shrimp Risotto

There are so many recipes with parmesan to make a creamy risotto, but this is a dairy-free lemon & shrimp risotto that doesn’t skip the creaminess but skips the stomach pain! The arugula and shrimp added to the risotto make it a great one-pot dish for lunches or dinners with plenty of greens. It’s the perfect healthy, light and flavorful dish!

About one month ago, I ended up purchasing about 5 pounds of arborio rice to make some paella. I couldn’t find any less for the rice, so had to find some place in my Los Angeles apartment to fit it all! Fast-forward to this week, I realized that I could be making risotto! To read more about what types of rice to use for risotto (and equally important which to skip!) read The Kitchn’s article on 3 Types of Rice to Use for Risotto.

If you’re looking for another lemony shrimp dish, try my Lemony Shrimp Scallion & Tomato Fettuccine!

Ingredients (for 2 Large Portions)

Risotto

3-4 Cups Vegetable Broth

1 Cup Arborio Rice

½ Cup Onion

3+ Cloves Garlic (I always go overboard …)

¼ Cup Dry White Wine

1 Lemon (zested & juiced)

4 Cups Arugula

2 TBSP. Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Shrimp

15 Extra Large Shrimp De-thawed (my go-to is 26/30 size or even Jumbo; I get mine deveined* with tail-on and always frozen so I have shrimp for any occasion)

1 Cup Vegetable Stock

1 TBSP. EVOO

Instructions for Dairy-Free Lemon & Shrimp Risotto

1. Heat 2 TBSP. Olive Oil in a large pan over medium heat. Once warm and oil looks sparkling, add the onion and cook until translucent.
2. Add the garlic to the pan and cook for 30-seconds.
3. Stir in the arborio rice to make sure it’s evenly coated with onion and garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until rice is slightly translucent. Make sure your pan is not too hot, or else it can burn the garlic!
4. Pour in the dry white wine and stir together for 2-minutes. Sprinkle salt and pepper.
5. Now, for the hardest part of the dish: adding the stock. The reason it’s complicated is because you will have to judge when the rice has sucked up the stock and when to add more. I add Cup-by-Cup. First add one cup of stock at medium-high heat and stir somewhere between occasionally and constantly – I like to watch constantly and stir every minute. Once the first cup is absorbed, lower the heat to medium. Add cup by cup of the stock until the rice is chewy but has bite (usually 20-25 minutes)
6. Next turn off the heat, add arugula and stir until slightly wilted. Try the rice and add more salt or pepper to taste.
7. Separate rice into two large bowls or three smaller bowls.
8. In the same pan (I didn’t clean it to keep some flavors), add shrimp, stock and EVOO. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes, until shrimp is bright, beautiful and pink.
9. Add shrimp to the risotto bowls and bon appetite!

*Quick Tip: Just because your frozen shrimp says it’s deveined sadly doesn’t mean it really is. ALWAYS check and remove anything that may have been left. I rarely, if ever, have not had to prep the shrimp myself. To learn how to peel and devein shrimp, check out this video from Epicurious.