Lombardia · Milano

Risotto alla milanese

Name: Risotto alla milanese
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 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
Prep: 10 min
Cook: 25 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 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

Preparazione

Method

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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.

Where this recipe comes from

Ingredients

Method

Common mistakes

Cooking it outside Italy

More primipasta & rice from other regions