Instant Pot Risotto with Gruyère, Ham, and Peas #recipe and #giveaway from #KimDavis

KIM DAVIS:  Needing to eat gluten-free while dining out at a restaurant, if available, I always gravitate toward ordering risotto. There's something so comforting about the dish, and even though it's basically rice, cheese, and some add-ins, the final product seems elevated somehow. I've made risotto a few times the "old-fashioned" way, laboriously stirring the arborio rice in a pot on the stovetop, slowly adding ladles of hot broth until the creamy starch is released from the rice and it's cooked through. Time-consuming and labor-intensive, I rarely made the dish. Then I heard about using an Instant Pot for risotto, and while skeptical, decided to give it a try. The results were just as good as trying to cook it stovetop, and instead of waiting an hour for dinner to get on the table, this takes maybe 20 minutes to make. Now when I'm in a hurry to fix a quick dinner, I often make Instant Pot risotto. Plus, it's versatile when it comes to the add-ins: any precooked protein and veggies can be used. I've made mushroom risotto, shrimp and asparagus risotto, and chicken and broccoli risotto, and they've all been equally delicious! 

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Instant Pot Risotto with Gruyère, Ham, and Peas

 
Ingredients
 
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, finely diced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1-1/2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 cups (1 quart) low sodium chicken broth, plus more if needed
2 cups cooked ham, diced
1 cup frozen peas, defrosted
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup Gruyère, shredded
Salt and pepper to taste

 
Instructions
 
In the base pot of the Instant Pot, add the olive oil, diced onion, and sea salt. Turn the sauté function on and cook until the onions are translucent, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir frequently and don’t allow the onions to brown.

Stir in the arborio rice, making sure the onion and oil mixture thoroughly coats the rice.

Carefully stir in the white wine, and cook until the wine is mostly absorbed by the rice, about 1 minute.

Stir in the chicken broth, scraping the bottom of the pot to keep rice from sticking. 

Switch the sauté function to the pressure cook mode. Lock the Instant Pot lid into place and set the cook time for 5 minutes.

Once the risotto has cooked for 5 minutes, turn off the heat and quick-release the pressure. Use caution as the steam can cause severe burns. 

My granddaughter bought this dragon to fit over the release button on my Instant Pot so that the steam shoots out of its mouth! 

Once the pressure has released, carefully remove the lid, titling it away from you to allow any residual steam to escape. The mixture should look soupy.

Switch the Instant Pot back to the sauté function. Vigorously stirring every 30 seconds or so, cook the rice for 2 minutes uncovered. Add in the 2 cups of diced ham and stir to combine. Continue cooking and stirring for another 2 to 3 minutes, until the risotto is tender but still chewy. It’s okay if the mixture still seems slightly runny. It will thicken with the addition of the remaining ingredients and as it cools. If the mixture becomes overly dry before the rice is cooked through, add in an additional 2 to 4 tablespoons of chicken broth.

Turn Instant Pot off and stir in the Parmesan and Gruyère. 

Once the cheese has melted into the risotto, fold in the peas. Season to taste with freshly ground pepper and salt and serve immediately.

Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days. The risotto can easily be reheated in the microwave. If it appears too thick after reheating, add in a bit of chicken broth to thin to desired consistency.

Note

This recipe is quite versatile. You can substitute any pre-cooked protein for the ham, and swap the peas out for any pre-cooked vegetable...just use your imagination and let your taste buds guide you.

💕 Click here for a free printable PDF of the recipe!💕

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About the Author:

Kim Davis writes the Aromatherapy Apothecary cozy mystery series, and the award-winning Cupcake Catering cozy mystery series. She has also written several children’s nature articles published in a variety of magazines. Kim Davis is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

She lives in Southern California with her husband and rambunctious mini Goldendoodle, Missy, who has become an inspiration for several plotlines. When she’s not spending time with her granddaughters or chasing Missy around, she can be found either writing on her next book, working on blogs, or in the kitchen baking up yummy treats to share.

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G I V E A W A Y   T I M E !!!

I'm giving away one audiobook, winner's choice, from my Cupcake Catering Mysteries!

Comment below and include your email (yourname at yourserver dot com) for a chance to win your choice of one of the Cupcake Catering Mystery audiobooks. (Contest ends 11:59pm on Wednesday, April 15, 2026 and is open worldwide.)

Readers, do you have a particular quick and easy dish that you frequently make?

 

 

Instant Pot Peanut Chicken #Recipe @PegCochran

 Hubby loves anything with peanuts or peanut butter so I decided to try this   recipe for peanut chicken in the Instant Pot.  It tastes not unlike satay with  peanut sauce, which we  both love. I've adapted the recipe a bit to include only ingredients I can find in my local supermarket--the taste did not suffer at all.  This calls for 1 tablespoon of sriracha but I used much less--that would have been way too spicy for hubby.  Start with a little--you can always add more.

 1 ½ lbs. chicken breasts or thighs 
 3 cloves garlic chopped
 1 tablespoon ginger chopped or use ginger paste
 1 teaspoon oil1 13.5-ounce can coconut milk   

 3 tablespoons soy sauce (I used low sodium)
 3 tablespoons honey or brown sugar
 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 

 1 tablespoon sriracha or sambal olek (I used less)
 ½ cup peanut butter   
 ¼ cup or so of peanuts (optional)

Cut the chicken into 1 inch cubes, sprinkle with salt if desired.

Chop peanuts. 

Set Instant Pot or pressure cooker to the sauté function.  Heat oil and sauté ginger and garlic for one to two minutes.

Add coconut milk, soy sauce, honey or brown sugar, lime juice, sriracha and chicken.  Stir to combine.

Drop spoonfuls of peanut butter on top of chicken mixture.  Do not stir it in.

Set pot to HIGH pressure for 9 minutes (12 minutes if using thigh meat.) Naturally release pressure.

Top with chopped peanuts if desired.

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A Park Avenue princess discovers the dark side of 1930s New York when a debutante ball turns deadly in this gripping historical mystery for readers of Victoria Thompson, Anne Perry, and Rhys Bowen.

Manhattan, 1938. Tired of being trapped in the gilded cage of her family’s expectations, Elizabeth Adams has done what no self-respecting socialite would think to do: She’s gotten herself a job. Although Elizabeth’s dream is to one day see her photographs on the front page of the Daily Trumpet, for now she’s working her way up as the newsroom’s gal Friday.

But fetching coffee isn’t exactly her idea of fun, so when veteran reporter Ralph Kaminsky needs a photographer to fill in for a last-minute assignment, Elizabeth jumps at the chance. At the Waldorf Hotel, Elizabeth is tasked with tracking down the season’s “It girl,” Gloria DeWitt, who will be making her society debut. Working her own connections to New York’s upper crust, Elizabeth manages to land an exclusive interview with Gloria.

Then Gloria’s stepmother is shot dead in a Waldorf bathroom, placing Elizabeth at the scene of a headline-worthy scandal: “Murder of a Society Dame.” Now Elizabeth will have to get the scoop on the killer before her good name gets dragged through the gossip columns—or worse. . . .

From a Goodreads Review:

"What absolute fun! Penned with wit, humor and style, MURDER, SHE REPORTED gets my definite, “Yes!”

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#InstantPot Pork Loin Roast with Apples and Sauerkraut

I got an Instant Pot for my birthday!  My daughter has one and loves it.  It is a bit daunting at first, but I was determined to try out the pressure cooking mode.  I had a small pork loin roast in the freezer I wanted to use so I went searching for recipes.  I found one on Dr. Kelly Ann's site--it seems to be a Paleo recipe site but since my diets never last longer than a day, I'm not sure what a Paleo diet is!

It probably took me longer to cook this the first time around because I was constantly referencing the directions.  But it came out great in the end and I only burned my finger once!

The ratio of sauerkraut/applesauce to pork roast was a little off, but my roast was smaller than the one called for.  It was still good and hubby had the leftovers for lunch and proclaimed them "even better."

Ingredients:

• 2 to 3 pound pork loin roast
• ½ teaspoon Celtic or Pink Himalayan salt (a little precious--I'm sure plain salt would certainly do as well)
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons pasture-raised butter or ghee (I used olive oil which worked fine)
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 cup chicken bone broth (I used canned chicken broth)  
  
• 4 to 6 cups sauerkraut, rinsed and drained (I used the yummy craft beer sauerkraut I found) 
• 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped

 
  Directions

Season the roast with salt and pepper.  First use the saute function on your Instant Pot.  Heat the olive oil (or butter) and brown roast on all sides.

 Chop apples

 Chop onions 

Heat oil in cooker and use saute function to brown roast

Remove the roast from the cooker and add onions, garlic and broth. Scrape up brown bits from the bottom. Return roast to the cooker and using your cooker’s instructions, bring up to full pressure. (This takes a few minutes.)

Reduce heat to low, maintaining full pressure, and cook for 45 minutes. (I chose the meat/stew setting on my cooker and it auto set for 35 minutes which was fine.)

Using quick release method, release pressure and quickly add sauerkraut and apples to the cooker. Bring back to full pressure for 5 minutes and again use the quick release method. 

 Sauerkraut/apple mixture

Slice roast and serve with apples and sauerkraut.  I served it with mashed cauliflower.

 

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The county fair is the highlight of the year for the small town of Lovett, Michigan—especially for food-and-lifestyle blogger Shelby McDonald, who writes as the Farmer’s Daughter. She’s submitting jams and jellies she’s created from the produce she grows at Love Blossom Farm in hopes of harvesting a blue ribbon.

But the townspeople get more than just the excitement of hayrides, tractor pulls, and cotton candy when Shelby’s neighbor and volunteer fireman, Jake Taylor, extricates the body of Zeke Barnstable instead of a dummy during a demonstration of the Jaws of Life. The fact that Jake and Zeke were known to be at odds plants suspicion in the minds of the police. As evidence against Jake grows, Shelby knows she has to plow through the clues to weed out the true killer and save her friend.

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