Green Risotto with Fava Beans

I feel compelled to say how wonderful this recipe is. I had not tried fava beans before, but now that I am in CA and can get them fresh at the farmers market, I decided to experiment with them. This risotto is creamy and has bright spring flavors. The fava beans are a lot of work to shell and then shell again once cooked. I tasted the cooked shell and it was tasty--I think you may be able to skip the step of shelling the cooked beans. However, the shelled favas are bright green and pretty, so it would be less attractive. This seems authentically Italian. In Italy, they cherish seasonal vegetables, and I am sure that fava bean season is worthy of celebration--this dish is a showcase for the delicate sweetness of the beans.

This was by far the best risotto I have ever had. I was so creamy! I did end up having to use 6 cups of broth so you might want to keep a bit extra on hand. I just keep tasting until I had the consistency I liked.

This is delicious! The preparation of the fava beans is a little bit of a pain, I think the next time I will use canned fava beans. Halfway through the stirring process, I thought to myself "I'll never make this again" but when I tasted it, IT IS DEFINITELY WORTH THE WORK, you'll never have a better rice dish! I used regular parmesan cheese and it came out great.

As a friend said, "I don't know if I'm sold on favas. All that work, and you just end up with a bunch of lima beans!" I bought fava beans at the farmers' market, and this was a delicious way to eat them...but they are a lot of work to prepare. I like all kinds of risotto. I'd make this again with limas and a handful of fresh herbs: Italian parsley, mint, and basil.

This was FANTASTIC. Here's what I changed: I used a can of lima beans to replace the favas -- it was less work and made limas actually taste good. Also, according to the kind folks at Cooks Illustrated you don't have to: 1) heat the chicken stock before adding it and 2) add little bits at a time. So I skipped both of those steps and dumped the stock in at once, stirring periodically. No gluey risotto here! I also subbed Madiera (since I had it onhand) for the white wine and it was SPECTACULAR. Warning, tho, unless you'd like this to be a main dish (vs. a side) it makes a LOT of risotto. I'm going to freeze my leftovers and see how that goes.

Excellent; I tried this recipe, however with pine nuts instead of fava beans; te result was a rich risotto with a mid-eastern twist!!!

I've just returned from Italy, where I had the wonderful opportunity to have my fill of fava beans and artichokes, both of which are in season now and plentiful. I lamented that I've never been able to get fava beans at home, but no sooner did I return home did I happily stumble upon them in my market! I was eager to use them in this recipe. Because I cooked the risotto long and slow over 40 minutes and using 5 cups of chicken broth, it turned out beautifully, allowing the rice to release all its starch and resulting in a wonderfully creamy risotto. Unfortunately, while the quality of the finished dish couldn't be beat, it tasted of nothing more than the broth it was cooked in. Therefore, it was only average. As for the fava beans, they were only discernible by sight - there weren't enough of them to really make an impact in taste. Lots of effort for a risotto without distinction.

Very good risotto and well worth the work! I unshelled only the favas used for decoration and the taste was great...

This is every bit as wonderful as the other reviewers state. We used home grown fava beans - some of them were pretty small and yes - it did take a long time to double shell them. Next time with very young pods I would slice them and use as is. Another alternative is to use peas instead, (ok, not as authentic but still with a nice bright green colour).

This is a great, non-tradtional dish. As far as risottos go, however, I make others which I much prefer. A keeper, but not something I'll crave.

Fabulous. I didn't puree any of the fava beans, however.

Yummy, yummy, yummy....sorry though, it served only 3 people....my husband ate way more than he should have!

Wow! This was so good that my husband, who NEVER eats fava beans, said it was "fantastic". It meets the cursory requirement for risotto to be rich and creamy, but the fava beans mixed in give it a lighter flavor. This is now my favorite risotto recipe!

This recipe is fabulous, a little time consuming but well worth your efforts. My only suggestion to save yourself a little time is to purchase fava beans already blanched and skinless. Otherwise, follow recipe exact. It's perfect & delicious. Next time I will add asparagus or roasted red pepper for variety.

Fava beans can be very challenging so when I underestimated the yield on a batch of beans, I did not allow enough for this recipe as I also made a dip with the beans. I ended up omitting the pureed portion and added several in at the end. This was a great simple risotto recipe that could've been even better if I would have gone through with fava bean puree!

This was a great recipe. I changed a few things to my taste. I added mushroom broth and diced mushrooms rather than the beans but fallowed the rest of the recipe to a T. Easy and versatile. I will be making this again for sure!

Very good. Quite unique. Sort of reminds me mac and cheese in creaminess and taste. Taste better fresh, than as leftovers. Will make again as a side dish.

This risotto is to die for!!! Absolutely fantastic!!! It is full of delicious flavor and the gorgeous, buttery texture of the fava beans makes this recipe out of this world! I make this recipe again and again! Many thanks from me and my husband too!

Without the parmesan I think it get 5 stars, but honestly I think the cheese detracts from this otherwise wonderful dish. The first time we made it we LOVED the taste as we were preparing it and it was nearly done. We felt like fools when we realized that the entire skillet was ruined when we mixed in the parm which completely overpowered the dish. Yes, we had a very strong cheese, but still, it didn't seem to go well with the other flavors. Do yourself a favor and add the cheese to a small sample first. Also, have plenty more broth on hand as we found it to be much thirstier than the recipe states.

Yum -perfect as is. Didn't change a thing

Excellent! I was a bit hesitant to try, but I'm happy I did! I used 1/2 cup brown rice instead of risotto because that's what I had on-hand. My brown rice was supposed to be cooked for 35 minutes but I added it to the butter/onion mixture after 20 minutes of cooking. I only added 1.5 cups hot chicken broth. The proportions were perfect and everything tasted great! Thank you!

this was yummy, i would add a bit more pepper next time and i think it could probably lose the butter thats stirred in at the end if you need to watch the fat content.

This was an outstanding recipe, well worth the trouble of shelling the beans, and very healthy too!

good, a lot of work to shell beans, used orzo instead of rice came out good

Excellent recipe! Use as many fava beans as you can stand when making this. I used homemade chicken broth, which made this risotto taste truly outstanding, creamy, rich, and would recommend others do the same if possible. (I just boil a grocery store roasted chicken carcass after we've picked off all the meat and freeze the broth in bags to be used for recipes that would really benefit, like this risotto.)

If you grow your own fava beans (we call them Broad Beans here in New Zealand - in case you were interested), pick them when they are smaller and haven't developed the bitter grey outer layer. that way they taste similar to fresh peas and there's no need to worry about pre-boiling and peeling the skin.

Excellent. We just used a can of lima beans, and added the liquid from the can to the risotto for a bit of added flavor. Great for a main course dinner with salad, and great for lunch the next day.

Lovely pale green! Delicious fresh taste (though I may not have used enough Fava beans, because their taste was subtle). Cooking the risotto once I started adding the broth took about 30 minutes. Make fresh broth and while it's simmering, you can de-skin the beans. Not too onerous!

The fava beans were a lot of work but it was definately worth it. This is one of the best risottos i've had!

Oh where do I begin!! I searched everywhere for FRESH fava beans and could NOT find them!! I bought the packaged ones and followed the directions. I cooked as suggested (doubled the recipe) and added pine nuts...another reviewer added substituted them for beans. I just mixed them in with fava beans. Good recipe...as with all risotto...it was very time consuming, but very much worth it! Thanks for the recipe. The only reason it isn't rate 5 star is because fava beans are a lot harder to find than I thought!

Yummmmmm!!Really excellent side dish with marinated chicken. I used half beef broth and half chicken broth instead of all chicken stock. This gave the dish a slightly richer taste. I can't wait to make it again!

I tried this recipe but completely ignored the fava bean parts. Yum.

Got the whole family to try it and everyone including the picky eaters loved it. I did not squeeze the bean out of the skins to save time and it didn't bother anyone. I also added a touch of garlic oil to the beans in the processor. Will make again!

I was on the search for a fava bean recipe as we are part of a farm co-op and had some to use. This was wonderful... even my 2 year old ate it up! We didn't have enough fava beans so we ended up blending them all but it turned out perfectly. Yum!

I was very sorry to see this meal end! I added a little bit of Italian Seasoning, and I used chicken bouillon cubes, which meant that I didn't add any extra salt. It was a little salty for me, but my husband loved it!

This was absolutely divine! Lots of work, but I didn't cut any corners and I'm so glad. Even my husband, who hates anything with butter or cheese loved it. I'm keeping this as my special dinner for when I want to impress!

I used brown rice as I didn't have other in the house. I also should have used more water in resolving the vegetable broth cubes...was a bit salty for me, but think it's just a 'user-error' and so I'd like to give a 4.5 as I will make it again.

Loved this. Followed recipes instructions. Would definitely make again!

I got fresh fava's from the farmers market and tried this and WOW... it was awesome.Some of the very best recipes do take time and this was worth every minuate.Thanks for a great lunch.

I had a kilo of fresh fava beans, so basically I quadrupled the quantity of fava (2lbs was a scant cup once shelled, so a 1/2 lb would only be 1/4 cup), but still didn't really taste them. The overall flavor was good, and this would be a great starter for any risotto, and just add whatever ingredients you want instead of the fava beans. This was super creamy, and I think the key was I added the hot broth in ladle fulls, a smaller quantity than I've done at a cup at a time for other risotto recipes. Next time I would follow a comment I read about only removing the second skin from the whole beans for looks and leaving it on for the puree as they tasted fine before I shelled them.

it seemed like there was one too many cups of broth when the rice was cooked. when i looked on the back of the rice container it had a recipe that used one less cup of broth confirming what i thought about it. the fava beans could have been omitted since they really did not add much to the final product.

Risotto is so delicious and with this one you get the vegetables in there too. I used canned lima beans to make it easier. It was tasty.

Made this for dinner's side tonight and it was extroidinary. I had to make a couple of changes like more chicken stock and changing the fava beans for butter beans, but it was so amazing!

Yum. I didn't have fava beans, so I substituted 1 can of lima beans (pureed half) and a can of pinto beans.

Solid recipe. Instead of using sauteed onions, i added 1/4 cup of chopped shallot, 1 chopped fennel bulb, chopped carrots, and a handfull of fresh mint sprigs to a vegetable stock, which i brought to a simmer & let sit for ~20 mins. After that, I covered the fava beans to be pureed with the warm stock prior to blending. The rice was al dente after ~20 mins with about half of the stock added. I doubled the amount of parmasean and increased the amount of butter to 1/4 cup, which were added after the fava bean puree was partially absorbed.

This was quite good! I substituted edamame for the fava beans, so I'm not sure what that did for the flavor, but it was delicious. I followed all the other directions, although I needed to add a bit more stock with the purée, it was pretty thick. Excellent risotto recipe!!

Absolutely amazing. extremely simple and cheap to make!

I have made this two times now. Everyone raves about it. I used Edamame in place of the fava because I couldn't find them in the store. No problem!! Hugh hit...