Venetian Rice and Peas (Risi e Bisi)
A classic Venetian spring dish: tender rice simmered loosely with sweet fresh peas, pancetta and butter until it's somewhere between a soup and a risotto. Comforting, delicate and the first taste of spring on Venice's tables.
Servings
Ingredients
Nutrition
Per serving
Steps
Sweeten the stock
If using fresh peas, shell them and keep the pods. Simmer the pods in the stock for about 15 minutes to pull out their sweetness, then strain and discard the pods, keeping the stock hot. If using frozen peas, simply warm the stock and skip this step.
- pods from 1 kg fresh peas in the pod
- 1.2 litres stock
✅ Done when: the stock tastes faintly sweet of peas
Soften onion and pancetta
In a wide, heavy pot, melt 30 g of the butter with the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the chopped onion and diced pancetta and cook gently, stirring often, until the onion turns soft and translucent and the pancetta is cooked all the way through without browning hard.
- 80 g pancetta
- 1 onion
- 30 g butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
✅ Done when: the onion is translucent and the pancetta is cooked through with no pink left
Add the peas
Stir in the shelled peas and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, just until they turn bright green and smell sweet.
- 350 g shelled peas
✅ Done when: the peas are bright green and smell sweet
Toast the rice
Add the rice and stir constantly for 1 to 2 minutes so every grain gets coated in the buttery fat. This quick toasting seals the grains a little so they cook up tender instead of mushy.
- 320 g rice
✅ Done when: the grains look glossy and slightly translucent at the edges
Simmer loose with stock
Pour in about a third of the hot stock and stir once. Keep adding more stock in splashes every few minutes, stirring only occasionally (this isn't a creamy risotto, so don't stir constantly), keeping the pot gently bubbling, until the rice is tender but the dish is still loose and soupy.
- remaining stock stock
✅ Done when: the rice is tender and the mixture moves in waves when you tilt the pot, looser than a classic risotto
Finish and rest
Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the remaining butter and the grated parmesan until silky, then season with salt and pepper. Cover and let it rest off the heat for 1 minute before serving, scattered with parsley and extra parmesan. Serve right away: risi e bisi loosens and thickens as it sits, so it's best eaten freshly made.
- 20 g butter
- 40 g parmesan
- to taste salt and black pepper
- 2 tbsp parsley
✅ Done when: the dish is creamy, well seasoned and still pleasantly loose
Sweeten the stock
If using fresh peas, shell them and keep the pods. Simmer the pods in the stock for about 15 minutes to pull out their sweetness, then strain and discard the pods, keeping the stock hot. If using frozen peas, simply warm the stock and skip this step.
- pods from 1 kg fresh peas in the pod
- 1.2 litres stock
✅ Done when: the stock tastes faintly sweet of peas
Soften onion and pancetta
In a wide, heavy pot, melt 30 g of the butter with the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the chopped onion and diced pancetta and cook gently, stirring often, until the onion turns soft and translucent and the pancetta is cooked all the way through without browning hard.
- 80 g pancetta
- 1 onion
- 30 g butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
✅ Done when: the onion is translucent and the pancetta is cooked through with no pink left
Add the peas
Stir in the shelled peas and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, just until they turn bright green and smell sweet.
- 350 g shelled peas
✅ Done when: the peas are bright green and smell sweet
Toast the rice
Add the rice and stir constantly for 1 to 2 minutes so every grain gets coated in the buttery fat. This quick toasting seals the grains a little so they cook up tender instead of mushy.
- 320 g rice
✅ Done when: the grains look glossy and slightly translucent at the edges
Simmer loose with stock
Pour in about a third of the hot stock and stir once. Keep adding more stock in splashes every few minutes, stirring only occasionally (this isn't a creamy risotto, so don't stir constantly), keeping the pot gently bubbling, until the rice is tender but the dish is still loose and soupy.
- remaining stock stock
✅ Done when: the rice is tender and the mixture moves in waves when you tilt the pot, looser than a classic risotto
Finish and rest
Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the remaining butter and the grated parmesan until silky, then season with salt and pepper. Cover and let it rest off the heat for 1 minute before serving, scattered with parsley and extra parmesan. Serve right away: risi e bisi loosens and thickens as it sits, so it's best eaten freshly made.
- 20 g butter
- 40 g parmesan
- to taste salt and black pepper
- 2 tbsp parsley
✅ Done when: the dish is creamy, well seasoned and still pleasantly loose
The Story Behind the Dish
Risi e Bisi belongs to the brief window each spring when fresh peas are at their sweetest in the vegetable gardens around the Venetian lagoon. According to tradition, it was served to the Doge of Venice on the feast of San Marco, the city's patron saint, marking the arrival of the season's first peas.
Unlike a classic creamy risotto, it is cooked loose and soupy, closer to its origins as a humble potage than to the richer risottos of Lombardy. Every Venetian family has its own version, but the backbone stays the same: sweet peas, good rice, butter and a little pancetta.
⭐ Why It's Famous
It captures the whole personality of Venetian cooking in one bowl: simple, seasonal and gently sweet, cooked soft and loose rather than tight and creamy.
💡 Fun Fact
Its traditional looser texture, called all'onda or 'like a wave', is a deliberate point of pride, distinguishing it from the firmer risottos of the Italian mainland.
Venice, Veneto
45.44°N, 12.32°E
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