Waffled Pea & Bacon Risotto


I love to waffle pretty much anything. It makes food crispy and can give leftovers a new life. I made this pea and bacon risotto a while ago, and I waffled the leftovers for breakfast. I just mixed the cold risotto with some breadcrumbs, and waffled it in a well-greased waffle iron. Try to make small waffles so that they are easier to remove from the waffle iron and they are less likely to break.


For the risotto:

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 white onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

400gr of Arborio rice

1/2 cup of white wine

125ml of cream


Celery salt

40grs of grated Parmesan

1 cup of frozen peas

150grs of crispy bacon slices, chopped (reserve the bacon fat)

For the vegetable stock:

1 ½ litter of vegetable stock

1 ½ cups of frozen peas

For the waffles:

About ¼ of a cup of breadcrumbs per cup of cold risotto

Vegetable oil for greasing the waffle iron


Start cooking the bacon in a large pan until it becomes crispy. Chop the bacon and set it aside. Keep the bacon fat.

Heat up the stock and add 1 ½ cups of frozen peas. Let them sit for 1 minute and then blend until smooth using an immersion blender. Keep the stock warm on the lowest heat.

In the pan with the bacon fat, add the olive oil over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, add the onions and cook them until they become translucent. Then add the garlic and rice, cook until the rice becomes translucent (about 1 minute). Then add the white wine and let it reduce.

Start adding the vegetable stock one ladle at a time and keep stirring. Once the liquid has reduced to half, keep adding more stock and stir. Keep doing this for about 20 minutes, until the rice is cooked.

Add the cream, Parmesan, the crispy bacon and the last cup of frozen peas.  Stir until everything is combined and let it cook for about 1 minute to allow the liquid to evaporate a bit and become creamy again. Add salt and celery salt to taste.

This recipe makes 3 plates of warm risotto. You can eat part of it and the rest waffle it. Or let it all cool down and waffle it.

To waffle it, mix about ¼ cup of breadcrumbs per cup of cold risotto. Grease your preheated waffle iron with some vegetable oil. I prefer to make the waffles small so that they don’t break when you take them out. I made each waffle with about ½ a cup of risotto. Serve while hot. Enjoy!


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