Fall flavors shine when creamy risotto is complimented by sweet and caramelized fried pears. This creamy savory treat becomes even more special when topped with thin sliced peppered beef. It’s an easy restaurant quality meal from your own kitchen…let’s take a look at this easy Instant Pot Pear Risotto Recipe.
About the Instant Pot Risotto Recipe – and Why it Works
I’ve had this recipe idea for pear risotto in the back of my mind for months. All I needed was for pear season to arrive.
Risotto is one of my very favorite rice dishes to make. So luxuriously creamy. It has a reputation of being somewhat a chore to make, but the Instant Pot changes all of that.
Making risotto in the instant pot takes all of the fussy high maintenance out of the risotto process. I just can’t tell you how easy it is to make risotto in a pressure cooker and how perfect that risotto is.
Hands off! Super creamy and super easy an instant pot risotto recipe is a dream come true.
So easy that I should be making it once a week.
And thanks to that pressure cooker risotto, you have plenty of time to fry and caramelize pears, grate some Parmesan cheese and sear a steak stovetop. End result is a beautiful steak and risotto Fall meal.
Creamy, sweet, salty and totally incredible. The pears retain a little bit of their crunch and compliment the creamy rice. Their sweetness is a wonderful partner to the salty cheese. And topped with tender steak, you’re feeling pretty fancy.
The flavors divine and the textures melt in your mouth creamy.
Let’s take a look.
Ingredients for this Recipe
Mise en place. Always gather ingredients before starting any recipe. It will save you time and organize your mind.
- Steak: Use any steak that you feel comfortable cooking stovetop. In this photo I used a tri-tip steak because that’s what I had on hand. My choice would actually be a filet mignon tenderloin.
- White Wine and Chicken Broth: Don’t pull out your best bottle of white wine for this recipe. However, don’t use a white wine you wouldn’t drink. You’ll need ¾ cup. Chicken broth makes up the bulk of the liquid for cooking this risotto.
- Butter and Olive Oil: The reason I like to use both is that you get the benefit of a buttery flavor, and the olive oil keeps the butter from burning easily.
- Lemon: Adds and brightens flavors.
- Onion: Chopped sweet or yellow onion for this recipe.
- Pear: Use firm green pears.
- Basil: Basil and pear are compatible flavor partners on the palate.
- Parmesan Cheese: Adds a salty, fruity, nutty and savory flavor.
- Cream: Buttery and rich, I love adding cream to Risotto.
How to make this Recipe
- Step 1: Start by cooking the pears. Remove the stem, then slice the pear in half vertically. Remove any seeds. Peel the pears if you want, I left the skin on.
- Rough chop the pears. Heat a saute pan over medium high heat, then add butter. When the butter is bubbly, add the pears and cook until they start to brown. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Step 2: Turn the Instant Pot dial to the sautee function. Add the oil and remaining butter. When the butter is almost melted, add the onions. Saute stirring frequently until the onions are starting to turn opaque.
- Step 3: Quickly add the arborio rice. Stir constantly to coat the rice with the oils. Cook until rice is toasted, about one minute.
- Step 4: Add in the wine, and stir. Once the rice has absorbed the wine add the chicken broth. Stir well.
Finishing the recipe
- Cancel the sautee function on the Instant Pot, then place the lid on and lock into place.
- Select the high pressure setting and set the timer feature to six minutes.
- In the meantime, lightly salt and generously pepper the steak. Lightly oil either a cast iron skillet or a French steel pan. When the pan is hot, cook the steak for about 5 – 6 minutes per side. Using an instant read thermometer, test the temperature of the steak, 120 degrees for rare, 125 – 130 degrees for medium rare. Tent and set aside.
- When the timer beeps, release the pressure on the Instant Pot. Once the pressure is released, remove the lid.
- Stir in the pears, Parmesan cheese, cream, and basil. Add a little more butter if you’d like. Season modestly with salt and pepper.
- To serve, slice the steak as thin as you can get it. Place a scoop of risotto on four plates and top with strips of the steak. Garnish with basil leaves.
FAQ’s and Tips
The rice itself is important. A high starch content rice is the key to the creamy texture of risotto. Arborio rice is readily available on grocery shelves. Seek out Carnaroli rice, considered to be the king of rices when it comes to making risotto, and will give you that restaurant quality experience. You can find it at your favorite Italian Specialty Market. Avoid long-grain rices like Jasmine or Basmati, which are lower in starch.
Absolutely! Just follow the instructions below using a heavy pan in place of the Instant Pot. Increase the wine to 1 ½ cups You’ll need to cook the rice longer. The cook time will increase to twenty minutes. Increase the chicken broth to four cups and instead of adding the chicken broth all at once, add it a ladle at a time and stir every few minutes. Finish by stirring in the pear, parmesan and cream.
Fresh is best, but yes you can use dried basil. Use one teaspoon of dried basil and add it to the Instant Pot at the same time you add the chicken broth, rather than at the end of the recipe. Remember, dry herbs cook with the food, fresh herbs are tender and are added at the end of a recipe.
For optimum flavor and texture, use fresh grated Parmesan for this recipe? That’s as opposed to the shredded Parmesan that comes in a plastic container. No need to skimp on quality for this recipe.
No need to rinse the rice. It will wash away some of that all important starch.
Instant Pot Pear Risotto Recipe with Peppered Beef
If you’ve been looking for savory pear recipes, this one is well worth a try.
Top a serving of Parmesan and Pear Risotto with some ultra-thin slices of tender peppered steak to bring a restaurant quality meal to your own table with hardly any fuss.
What to serve with risotto? Try serving this meal with a small drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a side dish of mixed green salad.
I hope you give this recipe a try, and if you do, please come back and give the recipe a star rating and scroll down and leave a message about your experience with this recipe.
And if you have a favorite risotto recipe, let me know, I’d love to give it a try.
And if you’re looking for more main course Beef recipes, don’t miss my Beef Category. You’ll find lots of recipe ideas, including the most popular on my site for a great lineup of Father’s Day Burgers.
Related Recipes
- Pan-seared Filet Mignon with Lobster Avocado Salsa
- Easy Shiitake Mushroom Risotto
- Steak with Cognac Creamed Mushrooms
- Pear and Blue Cheese Crostini
Instant Pot Pear Risotto Recipe with Parmesan and Peppered Beef
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
- 4 Tablespoons Butter divided
- 2 large Green Pears firm, cores removed and rough chopped
- Juice and zest of ½ lemon
- 1 medium Onion sweet or yellow, chopped
- 1 ½ cups Arborio rice or Carnaroli rice
- ¾ cup Dry white wine
- 3 cups Chicken stock
- 3 Fresh Basil Leaves cut into ribbons, and more for garnish
- ½ cup Parmesan Cheese grated or shaved
- 2 Tablespoons Heavy or Whipping Cream
- 1 pound Lean Beef Fillet
- 1 Tablespoon Fresh Ground Pepper
Instructions
- Remove the cores and seeds from the pears and rough chop. You can choose to peel or not to peel the pears. (I did not)
- Heat two tablespoons of the butter in a non-stick fry pan. Once the butter is bubbly, add the pears. Cook until they're just starting to brown and becoming a bit tender. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Place the chicken stock in a pyrex bowl and microwave for two minutes or until warm.
- Turn your instant pot function to sautee. Add the olive oil and remaining butter. When the butter is bubbly, add the onions. Saute until they start to turn opaque.
- Add rice and wine to the instant pot. Stirring constantly until the wine has evaporated.
- Add the warm chicken broth to wine, rice and onion mixture in the Instant Pot and give it a good stir.
- Reset the Instant Pot function to Pressure Cook and set the time to 6 minutes.
- In the meantime, heat either a cast iron skillet or a French steel pan over medium high heat. Season steak both sides with the fresh ground pepper and salt. Cook the steak to desired temperature. 120 degrees for rare, 125 – 130 degrees for medium rare. Tent and set aside.
- Once the Instant Pot timer indicates cook time is over, release the pressure. When pressure is gone, remove lid and stir in the grated Parmesan cheese, cream, basil and sauteed pear.
- Stir well and season with fresh ground pepper.
- Using the sharpest knife you own, thin slice the steak. To serve, place a scoop of risotto on a plate, top with slices of steak and garnish with basil. Curl the beef slices for presentation.
Notes
Nutrition
Pear Risotto with Peppered Beef … It’s Whats for Dinner
Why Trust These Recipes? Lea Ann Brown has lived, worked and played in Colorado for 45 years. She has immersed herself in the Colorado Culinary space, is a Culinary School Graduate and publishes her Colorado food Blog, Cooking On The Ranch.
Lovely plated dish, it is definitely a restaurant quality meal.
I love making rice in my IP and this risotto looks creamy delicious and I love how you served it with the steak!
Interesting flavor combo. I like risotto but not enough to take the time to make it.