Pork Sausage, Pea & Zucchini Risotto
with Lemon & Parmesan
- Milk
Creamy and luxurious, risotto is one of our very favorite ways to highlight tender green vegetables. This version has pops of green peas, tender zucchini, hearty bites of pork sausage, and is finished with a bright squeeze of lemon juice. It’s as balanced as it is satisfying, making it pretty much impossible to put down your fork.
Ingredients
1 unit
Zucchini
4 ounce
Peas
2 unit
Chicken Stock Concentrate
1 unit
Lemon
3 tablespoon
Parmesan Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
¾ cup
Arborio Rice
9 ounce
Italian Pork Sausage
1 unit
Shallot
Not included in your delivery
teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
1 teaspoon (tsp)
Olive Oil
4 tablespoon (tbsp)
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
-
Remove sausage* from casing if necessary; discard casing.
-
Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add sausage and cook, breaking up meat into pieces, until browned and cooked through, 5-7 minutes.
-
Turn off heat. Using a slotted spoon, transfer sausage to a paper-towel-lined plate, keeping as much oil in pan as possible.
-
Meanwhile, wash and dry produce.
-
Halve, peel, and mince shallot. Trim zucchini; grate on the largest holes of a box grater. Zest and quarter lemon.
-
In a medium pot, combine 4 cups water (7 cups for 4 servings) and stock concentrates; bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer. (You’ll use the simmering stock in Step 4.)
-
Melt 2 TBSP butter (4 TBSP for 4 servings) in pan used for sausage over medium heat. Add shallot and zucchini; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until softened, 2-3 minutes.
-
Add rice and 1 cup simmering stock to pan with shallot and zucchini; stir until liquid has mostly absorbed. Repeat with remaining stock—adding ½ cup at a time and stirring until liquid has mostly absorbed—until rice is al dente and mixture is creamy, 25-30 minutes. TIP: Depending on the size of your pan, you may need a little more or a little less liquid.
-
Once risotto is done, stir in sausage, peas, half the Parmesan, 2 TBSP butter (3 TBSP for 4 servings), and a squeeze of lemon juice to taste. Season generously with salt and pepper.
-
Divide risotto between bowls. Top with lemon zest and remaining Parmesan. Serve with any remaining lemon wedges on the side.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Sep 2026- Flavor: When it comes together, the risotto is creamy and satisfying with bright lemon and savory sausage; some found it bland and boosted flavor with garlic, extra Parmesan, or a splash of bouillon 🍲.
- Ease of prep: Risotto is time-consuming and requires constant stirring — plan for well over 30 minutes — but most agreed the result was worth the effort.
- Suggestions: Add the zucchini at the very end with the peas to prevent it from turning mushy and disappearing into the rice. Send bulk sausage instead of links to skip the casing-removal step, and don't skip the lemon zest — reviewers said it really elevated the final dish.
- Leftovers: This recipe makes a generous amount; leftovers were reported to taste even better the next day, though risotto doesn't freeze well.
- Protein: Several reviewers preferred chicken sausage or ground pork over the Italian pork links, finding the sausage flavor either too strong or the texture too rubbery in the finished dish.
Reviews from our home cooks
This was creamy and delicious. The fresh peas popped with every bite, the sausage was not greasy but had a lot of flavor, and the fresh lemon made this an over-the-top good recipe. Loved it and can't wait to have it again!
It would have been helpful to be told that the peas are ready to go as-is. Felt myself wondering if I need to cook them somehow. Otherwise, this was really fun to build my skills with a risotto dish.
Delicious - could use a little more salt and or stock concentrate for flavor (we added a little bouillon base) more of a winter cozy comfort meal - we also added the zucchini at the very end so it would not turn to mush (should not cook shredded zucchini for 30min)
Delicious! Loved the sausage, pea, rice combo! Not big fans of zucchini, we baked them seperately as rounds with cheese instead of putting them in the rice.
This was amazing. The only thing I wish is that they sent ground pork sausage rather than links. It was just more work that seemed unnecessary.
Sooo good! Great texture and flavor, very filling, will reorder this one
Very flavorful. I will keep ordering this if you keep it on the menu
Risotto takes such a long time but it was worth it.
Had made your Risotto recipes, many time. Loved the added Zucchini!
Could have used a little more flavor. Maybe a spicy sausage or a little chili crunch
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