Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Recipes

Mayim Bialik’s Winter Vegetable Risotto

Risotto is often hard to mimic as a vegan dish because it calls for lots of Parmesan and butter to create its creamy taste and consistency. This recipe re-creates all of that, using a combination of almond milk, tahini, and a touch of nutritional yeast. The result is a sophisticated risotto, which we pair with carrots, parsnips, and butternut squash. You can use any vegetables on hand, though, including diced asparagus, zucchini, or other squash.

Serves 6

1 medium-size carrot, peeled and diced
1 medium-size parsnip, peeled and diced
1 (1-pound) butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and diced (about 2 cups)
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary or thyme, chopped
5 tablespoons olive oil
5 1/2 cups vegan vegetable stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup onion or shallot, chopped
1. cups uncooked arborio rice
1/2 cup plain, unsweetened almond milk (rice or soy milk works, too)
2 tablespoons tahini
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon mirin (see Kitchen Tip)

1) Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2) Place the carrot, parsnip, and squash in a large bowl with the rosemary. Add 3 tablespoons of the oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Arrange on a baking sheet in a single layer and roast for 20 to 25 minutes, until soft but not mushy.

3) In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the stock and wine and heat to simmering. Lower the temperature to a simmer.

4) In a large nonstick pot, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, onion, and rice and saut. for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the rice starts to be toasted.

5) Add 1 cup of the simmering broth-and-wine mixture to the rice and cook, stirring continuously, until the liquid is mostly absorbed. Continue adding the broth 1 cup at a time, cooking and stirring as it is absorbed. It will take about 20 minutes for all the broth to be absorbed and for the rice to become tender and creamy.

6) Add the almond milk, tahini, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, and mirin and cook for a further 5 minutes. Stir in the roasted veggies. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Kitchen Tip: Mirin is a sweet rice wine. If you can’t find it, you can use dry sherry or white wine with a pinch of sugar.

From Mayim’s Vegan Table: More Than 100 Great-Tasting and Healthy Recipes from My Family to Yours by Mayim Bialik with Dr. Jay Gordon. Reprinted courtesy of Da Capo Lifelong Books.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.