My Favorite Ina Garten Recipe Is So Lazy, It’s Brilliant

When it comes to tips, tricks, and advice in the kitchen, Ina Garten is our go-to celebrity cook. The former White House nuclear energy budget policy writer turned gourmet food store owner, host of “The Barefoot Contessa,” cookbook author, and national treasure can do no wrong in our eyes.

When she says it’s okay to serve store-bought mashed potatoes as homemade (even during the holidays), we believe her. When she shares a trick to make lasagna prep easier, we start planning to fulfill our lasagna cravings. And when Ina advises us to use only “good mayo” in a recipe, we make sure to buy the good mayo.

Our kitchen queen also has a trick for simplifying one time-consuming, hands-on dish that most people would make more often if it were easier. Now, we’re even more obsessed with Ina because this trick is a true game-changer.

Ina’s Trick for Hands-Off Risotto

Risotto—the irresistible, cheesy rice dish that usually requires over half an hour of standing over the stove, adding stock at the precise time, and stirring almost nonstop—is hard to resist at restaurants. But even if you’re a seasoned home cook who loves risotto, the hands-on time it takes to do it right can be a deal breaker for a busy weeknight meal. That’s where Ina’s trick comes in.

A resurfaced TikTok clip from one of Ina’s past cooking shows reveals her simple technique: baking risotto in the oven. Instead of standing over the stove stirring, she puts the risotto in the oven because, as she puts it, constant stirring is “annoying.”

Is this cheating? Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t. Either way, now we can enjoy risotto any night of the week.

“This baked risotto recipe of hers is bulletproof. Been using it for years. Won’t make it any other way,” one TikTok commenter said. Ina simply says, “It’s fantastic.”

How to Bake Risotto, Ina Style

Ina’s baked risotto starts on the stovetop, so you’ll need a pot that can go from stovetop to oven. A Dutch oven is perfect, but any oven-safe pot with a lid will work.

Here’s what Ina adds to the pot:

• 1 1/2 cups arborio rice
• 4 cups warm chicken stock (she keeps 5 cups on hand, saving the final cup for later)

Then, she puts the lid on and places the pot in a 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 45 minutes—“no standing, no stirring, just set a timer and forget about it.”

After 45 minutes, she removes it from the oven and adds “lots of delicious things.” Back on the stove, she stirs in:

• 1 cup warm chicken stock
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (she uses Pinot Grigio)
• 3 tablespoons diced butter
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (real Parmesan, not the shaker stuff)

She stirs it all vigorously for two to three minutes to bring out the rice’s starch, making it creamy and thick. (Yes, there’s a bit of stirring here, but we’ll take three minutes over 30 minutes any day.)

Finally, Ina adds:

• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper

After all the ingredients are combined, she heats everything through on the stove.

“The good news about this kind of risotto is that you can really put anything in it,” she says. “If you want saffron or artichokes, you just add them to the basic mix.”

If you’re now craving risotto, follow Ina’s instructions, or try this Easy Baked Mushroom and Onion Risotto recipe that uses the same oven method.