Lombardia · Milano

Risotto alla milanese

Name: Risotto alla milanese
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 21 min
Total time: 47 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Italian (Lombardia)
Ingredients: 320 g Carnaroli or Vialone Nano rice; 1.2 l hot beef broth; 30 g beef bone marrow (classic, but some Milanese cooks leave it out); 1 small onion, very finely chopped; 80 ml dry white wine; 0.3 g saffron threads (or one sachet of powder); 60 g cold butter, diced; 60 g Grana Padano or Parmigiano, grated

Milanese saffron risotto

Golden risotto with saffron and butter — and, classically, beef marrow — the partner of ossobuco.

Documented traditionSources checked · October 2026

Course: Primo piattoPasta & rice
Serves: 4
Hands-on: 10 min
Cooking: 21 min
Resting: 16 min+

La provenienza

Where this recipe comes from

A popular legend links saffron risotto to the glaziers of Milan Cathedral in the sixteenth century, who used saffron to colour glass. The legend is unproven; what is certain is that the dish was well established in Milanese cookbooks by the nineteenth century.

The city of Milan reportedly gave the risotto a municipal designation of origin (De.Co.) in 2007; the official text could not be found, so the recipe here follows the version Milanese sources agree on: butter rather than oil, saffron added halfway through, and beef marrow in the soffritto for those who keep to tradition.

Provenance: Documented traditionA regional tradition documented in cookbooks and local practice, with no single official text.
Defined by: Milanese tradition
Reference: Documented in nineteenth-century cookbooks
Sources: Dissapore — risotto alla milanese, the classic recipe (Italian)
Linkiesta — the recipe of risotto alla milanese (Italian)

Milano, Lombardia

Ingredienti

Ingredients

4 servings

320 g Carnaroli or Vialone Nano rice
1.2 l hot beef broth
30 g beef bone marrowclassic, but some Milanese cooks leave it out
1 small onion, very finely chopped
80 ml dry white wine
0.3 g saffron threadsor one sachet of powder
60 g cold butter, diced
60 g Grana Padano or Parmigiano, grated

Equipment

Wide, heavy pan with a thick base, about 28 cm across
Saucepan for the broth, kept on a simmer
Wooden spoon and a ladle
Kitchen scale accurate to 0.1 g for the saffron

Preparazione

Method

About 35 minutes, of which 18 are the risotto itself. Have everything weighed, the broth hot and the saffron infusing before the rice goes in: once it starts, it does not wait.

10 minhands-on
21 mincooking
16 minresting, at least

Preparation

Rest 15 min

Bring the broth to a gentle simmer and keep it there. Put the saffron threads in a cup with a ladle of hot broth (about 100 ml) and leave them to infuse.

Tip Infused for at least 15 minutes, the threads give all their colour and aroma.
Hands-on 5 min

Chop the onion very finely (2 mm). Dice the cold butter and put 30 g back in the fridge for the end. Grate the cheese.

The risotto

Cooking 5–7 minHeat medium-low

In the wide pan, melt 30 g of the butter with the beef marrow over medium-low heat and soften the onion for 5–7 minutes, without colouring.

Check Translucent and soft, not golden.
Hands-on 2–3 minHeat medium

Add the rice and stir for 2–3 minutes over medium heat, until every grain is coated, hot to the touch and translucent at the edges.

Check The grains crackle faintly and feel hot when you touch them.

Tip Toasting seals the grains so they release starch slowly and stay separate.
Hands-on 2 min

Pour in the wine and stir until it has evaporated, 1–2 minutes.
Cooking 9 minHeat medium — a lively simmer

Add a ladle of hot broth (about 150 ml) and stir. Each time it is almost absorbed, add another. Keep the risotto at a lively simmer and stir regularly.

Tip The broth must always be hot: cold broth stops the cooking and makes the risotto gluey.
Cooking 7–9 minHeat medium

After about 9 minutes, stir in the saffron with its broth, and keep adding broth as before.

Check Taste a grain after 16 minutes from the start: tender outside, a slight firm bite at the centre. The risotto should still be loose and flowing.

The ‘mantecatura’

Hands-on 1 min

Take the pan off the heat while the risotto is still a little loose. Add the cold butter and the grated cheese and beat vigorously with the spoon for about a minute until creamy.

Check Glossy and creamy, flowing slowly when you tilt the pan — ‘all'onda’, like a wave.
Rest 1 min

Cover and rest for one minute, then spoon onto flat plates and tap the base of each plate so the risotto spreads out evenly.

Tip Serve immediately: risotto keeps cooking on the plate and loses its wave within minutes.

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Errori comuni

Common mistakes

Adding cream: the creaminess comes from the starch and the mantecatura.
Using oil instead of butter — the Milanese risotto is a butter dish.

Fuori dall'Italia

Cooking it outside Italy

If you cannot find marrow, use a little more butter — the dish loses depth but stays correct.