Category: Wild Rice

Best Wild Rice Soup

This wild rice soup recipe is impossibly creamy, packed with flavor and full of tender veggies and hearty rice. Everyone…

This wild rice soup recipe is impossibly creamy, packed with flavor and full of tender veggies and hearty rice. Everyone asks for the recipe—it’s that good.

Wild rice soup

This wild rice soup is pretty incredible, if we do say so ourselves. It’s creamy, it’s cozy, it’s savory—and yet somehow, it’s made 100% of plants. You’ll swear that somehow a little heavy cream got mixed in, but it’s all wholesome, nourishing vegetables.

It’s perfectly seasoned, and you might not be able to stop eating it. Over the years, it’s been made and loved by hundreds of readers. Per my sister, who we made it for first (and who makes it regularly to this day): “This is really the best soup ever.”

“This soup is the bomb! I’ve made it many times for my family over the past couple of years.” -Lisa

“This soup is a 10/10!!! It’s rich, flavorful, and comforting. My whole family loved it!” -Jessica

“This recipe is amazing! I’ve made this several times and both me and my husband are obsessed!” -Sonja W.

How to make wild rice soup

This wild rice soup takes about 1 hour to make, but it’s a healthy dinner recipe that is 100% worth the effort. Since most of that time is hands off, it works as an easy dinner idea, too! Our secrets to how to make the best wild rice soup:

  • Use cashews. Blended cashews can stand in for dairy! You’ll let them soak while the soup simmers. Then you’ll take 2 cups of the soup out, veggies and all, and blend it with the soaked cashews. It makes for the creamiest base, and you’ll swear there’s dairy in it. (For a nut allergy, go to Wild Rice Mushroom Soup.)
  • Add white beans and mushrooms. Because there’s no chicken in it (sorry, meat lovers!), this wild rice soup features white beans as a plant-based protein. It’s a unique addition and seriously good. Mushrooms also bring in big flavor and texture.
  • Simmer until the rice pops. Wild rice notoriously takes quite a while to cook: upwards of 50 minutes. You’ll cook this soup until most of the rice grains burst and are tender. It might feel like a long time, but it’s important that the rice is perfectly tender.
Wild rice soup

Ways to serve wild rice soup

What to pair this wild rice soup with? We first made this soup for a dinner party in honor of my sister, who had just moved back to the US from living abroad. It was delicious paired with a fresh salad, a signature cocktail, and crusty bread. Here’s how we served it:

Instant Pot variation

If you have an Instant Pot, this soup is modeled after our Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup one of our most fan-favorite recipes. Head to that recipe to make this using a pressure cooker.

Dietary notes

This wild rice soup recipe is vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free.

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Wild rice soup

Best Wild Rice Soup (Family Favorite!)

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4.6 from 39 reviews

  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 55 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
  • Yield: 6 to 8
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Description

This wild rice soup recipe is impossibly creamy, packed with flavor and full of tender veggies and hearty rice. Everyone asks for the recipe—it’s that good.

Ingredients

  • ½ cup cashews*
  • 1 medium yellow onion
  • 2 celery ribs
  • 3 medium carrots
  • 8 ounces baby bella mushrooms
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon dried thyme
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 8 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 cup wild rice (not a wild rice blend)
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
  • 2 15-ounce cans white beans, drained and rinsed
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons dried sage
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce, tamari, or liquid aminos

Instructions

  1. Place the cashews in a bowl and cover them with water. Leave them to soak while you make the recipe.
  2. Dice the onion. Thinly slice the celery. Cut the carrot into rounds. Slice the mushrooms. Mince the garlic.
  3. Add the olive oil to a Dutch oven. Add the onion, celery and carrot and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes until lightly browned. Add mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes. Add garlic, thyme and oregano and stir for 2 minutes.
  4. Add the broth, wild rice, 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and black pepper. Bring to a simmer. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Then add the beans (drained and rinsed), and continue to simmer uncovered for 30 to 35 minutes more, or until rice breaks open.
  5. Using a liquid cup measure, carefully remove 2 cups of the hot soup (including broth, veggies and rice) to a blender. Add 1 cup water. Drain the cashews and add them to the blender, along with the dried sage. Blend on high for about 1 minute until creamy. Then pour the creamy mixture back into the soup.
  6. Add the soy sauce and the remaining ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Taste, and adjust seasonings as desired. Garnish with fresh ground pepper.

Notes

*We used raw cashews. If your cashews are salted, you may need to adjust and add a little less salt at the end. For a nut allergy, go to Wild Rice Mushroom Soup.

  • Category: Soup
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: Plant Based

A few more soup recipes

Here are a few more soup recipes we’d recommend to embrace the season:

Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Chicken Wild Rice Soup is a hearty and creamy meal in a bowl, loaded with earthy and savory flavors with chicken or turkey, mushrooms, veggies and wild rice.

Chicken Wild Rice Soup is a hearty and creamy meal in a bowl, loaded with earthy and savory flavors with chicken or turkey, mushrooms, veggies and wild rice.

Wild Rice Salad

This wild rice salad recipe is simple and bursting with flavor, with crunchy veggies, pecans, cranberries, a zingy dressing, and…

A Couple Cooks – Recipes worth repeating.

This wild rice salad recipe is simple and bursting with flavor, with crunchy veggies, pecans, cranberries, a zingy dressing, and feta cheese!

Wild Rice Salad

Here’s a hearty fall and winter side dish that’s just begging to jump onto your table: wild rice salad! This mix of rice with crunchy veggies, pecans, cranberries, and feta cheese crumbles is ideal for any occasion, from the holidays to a simple cozy dinner. A maple Dijon vinaigrette dressing infuses a tangy flavor throughout, punctuated by bursts of fresh parsley. It’s pretty simple to put together, and easy to make ahead. Side dish problems, solved!

What you need for wild rice salad

Wild rice is perfect for fall and winter recipes, but did you know it’s not technically rice? It’s the seed from a native grass that grows in lakes and streams in the Northern US and Canada. But since it looks so much like it, wild rice is treated as rice in most cuisines. It was an important staple to Native Americans in the upper Great Lakes area of the US. (I’m from Minnesota originally, so wild rice was part of the heritage and history of where I lived growing up!)

This wild rice salad uses a wild rice blend, which mixes wild rice with various types of rice (most often brown). This makes it both more economical and a better texture for a salad! Here’s what you’ll need for wild rice salad:

  • Pantry ingredients: Wild rice blend, salt, white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, maple syrup or sugar, olive oil, pecans, dried cranberries
  • Fresh ingredients: Celery, green onions, Italian parsley
  • Dairy: Feta cheese crumbles (omit for vegan and add more salt to taste)
Wild Rice Salad

Notes on using wild rice blend

A wild rice blend is perfect for using in a salad, because the texture of wild rice on its own can be rather heavy. Often wild rice blends will use brown rice, and sometimes other types like red and black rice. This makes the blend much cheaper to produce and it has a softer overall texture, making it easier to eat than straight wild rice.

In this recipe, you can use any package marked “wild rice blend.” Cooking instructions may vary depending on the brand, so use the timing and liquid specified on the package if it differs from this recipe.

Does this work with 100% wild rice?

This wild rice salad also works with pure wild rice! If all you have is pure wild rice, you can use that too. The cook time is essentially the same, but you’ll use more water and drain excess liquid after cooking (vs letting the water absorb in the wild rice blend method). Simply make the following changes:

  • Use 2 ½ cups water instead of 1 ¾ cups.
  • Simmer 45 to 50 minutes, until the rice is split and tender. (Most of the grains will split, but not all: see this photo.) If most of the grains are not split, continue to cook, adding more water if necessary.
  • Once cooked, drain any excess liquid.
Wild Rice Salad Recipe

Customizing this wild rice salad recipe

This wild rice salad recipe is full of goodness, featuring the autumnal flavors of celery, green onion and parsley against nutty pecans and sweet cranberries. Want to swap out some of the ingredients to make it your own, or add some of your favorite items to the mix? Here are a few ideas:

  • Chopped apple
  • Pomegranate seeds (add or use in place of cranberries)
  • Dried cherries
  • Pumpkin seeds
  • Walnuts
  • Baby arugula
  • Fresh rosemary or sage (use only very small amounts, to taste)

More grain salads and side dishes

This wild rice salad is the best fall and winter side. It’s a great fall salad or Thanksgiving side dish, it works for Christmas, and it’s versatile to use at any sort of dinner. Pair it with chicken, baked salmon or vegetarian dinners for a hearty, filling side. Here are a few more great side dishes to try:

This wild rice salad recipe is…

Vegetarian and gluten-free. For vegan, omit the feta cheese crumbles.

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Wild Rice Salad

Wild Rice Salad

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  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 45 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour
  • Yield: 4 to 6
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Description

This wild rice salad recipe is simple and bursting with flavor, with crunchy veggies, pecans, cranberries, a zingy dressing, and feta cheese!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup uncooked wild rice blend (mix of brown and wild**)
  • ¾ teaspoon kosher salt, divided
  • 2 ribs celery, thinly sliced
  • 2 green onions, thinly sliced
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
  • 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup or sugar
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • ½ cup feta cheese crumbles (optional; omit for vegan)
  • ½ cup dried cranberries
  • ½ cup chopped pecans

Instructions

  1. Rinse the rice in a fine mesh strainer under cold water. Add the rice to a saucepan with 1 ¾ cup water and if desired, 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter (optional). Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer and cook for 45 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed (see notes* and **). Cover and allow to stand and steam for 10 minutes. Stir in ¼ teaspoon kosher salt. Then pour the rice onto a sheet pan in a single layer and place it in the freezer for 5 minutes until the rice is room temperature. (Or, you can make the rice ahead and refrigerate until serving, up to 2 days.)
  2. Meanwhile, prepare the celery, green onion, and parsley as noted in the instructions above.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together the white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, olive oil, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt.
  4. When the rice is cooked and cooled, mix it in a large bowl with the chopped vegetables, dressing, feta cheese crumbles, dried cranberries, and chopped pecans. If desired, add a few feta crumbles and pecans to the top for serving.
  5. The salad tastes best fresh, but stores up to 3 days refrigerated. For make ahead, cook the rice and mix the dressing in advance and refrigerate. Add all salad ingredients together before serving.

Notes

*You can use any package marked “wild rice blend” that contains a mix of wild rice with other types of rice, including brown, red and black. Cooking instructions may vary depending on the brand, so use the timing and liquid specified on the package if it differs from this recipe.

**If all you have is pure wild rice, you can use that too. Use 2 ½ cups water instead of 1 3/4. Simmer 45 to 50 minutes, until the rice is split and tender. (Most of the grains will split, but not all: see the photo.) If not, continue to cook until most grains are split, adding more water if necessary. When the rice is cooked, drain excess liquid.

  • Category: Side dish
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegetarian

Keywords: Wild rice salad, wild rice salad recipe

A Couple Cooks - Recipes worth repeating.