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Cozy Autumn Wild Rice Soup

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This Cozy Autumn Wild Rice Soup is made with fresh seasonal vegetables and greens, hearty wild rice, and a deliciously zesty, creamy broth (made with either coconut milk or cream). Instant Pot and stovetop options included!

Who’s ready to warm up with a bowl of wild rice soup? ♡

This cozy autumn wild rice soup has become one of our readers’ favorite recipes here on Gimme Some Oven these past few winters and is also hands-down one of my personal all-time faves on the blog as well. It’s loaded up with lots of my favorite fresh seasonal produce, from sweet potatoes to kale, mushrooms, carrots, celery and onions. It’s made nice and hearty with the addition of wild rice, which just so happens to be lower in calories and higher in protein than many other rices. But best of all, it is made with the most irresistible broth, seasoned with garlic and “the bays,” as I call them, and made creamy with either the addition of coconut milk, cream or a roux-based cream sauce.

After having originally written this recipe with the cream sauce, I have to say that I — as well as so many of you readers — have become much more partial to the coconut version over the past few years, which I think adds the perfect hint of sweetness to the broth to balance out all of those savory flavors, and just so happens to make this recipe vegan too. So for any of you who haven’t tried that version yet, or this soup in general, I thought I would bump it back to the top of the blog today while we’re right in the heart of cozy comfort food season. I’ve included instructions below for how to make either the dairy or vegan versions, as well as instructions for how to make this soup in either the Instant Pot (my fave), Crock-Pot, or on the stovetop. And of course, if you’re craving some nostalgic chicken and wild rice soup, you’re always welcome to toss some shredded chicken in here as well.

More than anything, though, I just wanted to pop in and say how happy I am that so many of you have tried and loved this soup! It always means so much to me to read your comments and see photos of your dinner online. So cheers to the cozy recipes that keep us all warm this time of year…and now let’s make some soup!

Autumn Wild Rice Soup Recipe (Vegan Version) | 1-Minute Video

Wild Rice Soup Ingredients

Before we get to the full recipe below, here are a few quick notes about the ingredients you will need to make this wild rice soup recipe:

  • Wild rice: I love using 100% wild rice in this recipe, which is different than a wild rice blend or black rice (which, look out, will turn your soup purple!). That said, though, you are welcome to use whatever type of rice you prefer in this soup. Just note that different varieties of rice will require different cooking times.
  • Vegetable stock: You could use either vegetable stock or chicken stock as the base for this soup.
  • Autumn veggies: A seasonal blend of sweet potato, carrots, celery, onion, mushrooms and garlic.
  • The “bays”: I’m a big fan of using Old Bay seasoning and a bay leaf to season this soup. But if you don’t have Old Bay on hand, I have included some alternate seasoning options below.
  • Coconut milk or cream sauce: I prefer the vegan version of this soup made with coconut milk, which I believe adds the perfect touch of creamy sweetness to balance out all of those savory flavors. But alternately, you could choose to make a cream sauce (made from milk and thickened with a flour/butter roux), or you could just add in some half and half or heavy cream to taste.
  • Greens: I love adding lots of fresh kale to this soup, but baby spinach, collard greens, or any other soup-friendly greens that you have in the crisper drawer would do.
  • Salt & pepper: As always, for seasoning!

How To Make Wild Rice Soup

As mentioned, I have included detailed instructions below for how to make this wild rice soup recipe either in the Instant Pot (pressure cooker) or on the stovetop. But in general, the method is to…

  1. Cook the base of the soup. Whichever cooking method you choose, we will simmer the veggies and rice in the broth (sans cream) until the rice is completely tender.
  2. (Optional) Make your cream sauce. If you choose to use the cream sauce method, you can prepare the cream sauce in a separate saucepan while the soup cooks by melting the butter, whisking in the flour, stirring in the milk and cooking the mixture until thickened. (Or you can skip this step and add in a can of coconut milk or some half and half instead.)
  3. Add in the coconut milk (or cream sauce) and kale. Once the rice is ready to go, stir in the coconut milk (or cream sauce) and kale until combined. Then taste and season with salt and pepper.
  4. Serve. And serve it up nice and warm! I love serving this soup with some crusty bread and a simple green salad. Also, note that the soup will continue to thicken as it cools. So if it gets too thick, feel free to add in extra broth and Old Bay, to taste.

Recipe Variations

This recipe is quite flexible, so feel free to experiment with whatever ingredient variations sound good! For example, you could…

  • Add chicken: To make chicken and wild rice soup, you can either add pre-cooked diced or shredded chicken to the soup. Or you can poach a raw chicken breast in the soup while the rice cooks, then remove, shred, and add it back into the soup before serving.
  • Use a different seasoning: This soup would taste delicious with a variety of different seasoning blends (in place of Old Bay), such as Cajun seasoning, Italian seasoning or herbs de Provence.
  • Make it milder. Old Bay seasoning is mildly spicy, so if you prefer your soup with less heat, I would begin with just 2 teaspoons of Old Bay. Then you can always add more to taste later, if you would like.
  • Make it gluten-free: The vegan version of this soup is naturally gluten-free. But if you are making the dairy version and would like to thicken the broth a bit, I would recommend adding a cornstarch slurry (equal parts cold water and cornstarch mixed together) to the soup until it reaches your desired consistency.

More Vegetarian Soup Recipes

Looking for some more simple, cozy, vegetarian soup recipes this season? Here are a few more of our faves… ♡

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Cozy Autumn Wild Rice Soup

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.8 from 1015 reviews
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 45 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour
  • Yield: 8 servings 1x

Description

This Cozy Autumn Wild Rice Soup features fresh seasonal produce, hearty wild rice, and a zesty creamy broth. The vegan version of the soup is listed here in this recipe, or see options below for the cream sauce version.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 6 cups vegetable stock (or chicken stock)
  • 1 cup uncooked wild rice*
  • 8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, sliced
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 medium carrots, diced
  • 2 ribs celery, diced
  • 1 large (about 1 pound) sweet potato, peeled and diced
  • 1 small white onion, peeled and diced
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 1/2 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
  • 1 (14-ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk (or see cream sauce option below*)
  • 2 large handfuls of kale, roughly chopped with thick stems removed
  • fine sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper

Instructions

Instant Pot (Pressure Cooker) Method:

  1. Combine base ingredients. Combine vegetable stock, wild rice, mushrooms, garlic, carrots, celery, sweet potato, onion, bay leaf and Old Bay seasoning in the bowl of an Instant Pot pressure cooker.  Stir briefly to combine.
  2. Pressure cook. Cover and cook on manual (high pressure) for 25 minutes.  Let the Instant Pot rest and naturally release the pressure for 10 minutes.  Then carefully open the vent and quick release the remaining pressure.  Remove lid and discard the bay leaf.
  3. Add final ingredients. Add the coconut milk and kale to the soup, and stir gently until combined.  Taste and season with salt and pepper (plus any extra Old Bay seasoning, if you would like) as needed.
  4. Serve. Serve warm and enjoy!

Stovetop Method:

  1. Sauté the veggies. Heat (an extra) 1 tablespoon butter or olive oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat.  Add onion and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent.  Stir in the garlic and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until fragrant.
  2. Add base ingredients. Add in the vegetable stock, wild rice, mushrooms, carrots, celery, sweet potato, bay leaf and Old Bay seasoning.  Stir to combine.
  3. Simmer. Continue cooking until the soup reaches a simmer.  Then reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes until the rice is tender, stirring occasionally.
  4. Add final ingredients. Add the coconut milk and kale to the soup, and stir gently until combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper (plus any extra Old Bay seasoning, if you would like) as needed.
  5. Serve. Serve warm and enjoy!


Notes

Wild rice: I used 100% wild rice which I love and recommend for this soup.  Cooking time may vary if you use a wild rice blend or a different type of rice.

Alternate cream sauce recipe: In place of the coconut milk, you can either add 1 1/2 cups half and half.  Or you can make a cream sauce by melting 3 tablespoons of butter in a (separate) saucepan over medium-high heat, whisking in 1/4 cup flour for one minute, and then whisking in 1 1/2 cups milk until the mixture is smooth.  Let the sauce cook until it nearly reaches a simmer, at which point it will thicken, then remove from heat and add the sauce to the soup once the rice has completely cooked.

Crock-Pot (Slow Cooker) Option: I decided to remove the Crock-Pot option from the recipe instructions because we have unfortunately found slow cookers to be too inconsistent in making this recipe. Different brands/models have proven to vary dramatically in terms of the cooking time required to fully soften the rice and vegetables, and too much of the broth can evaporate if the lid is not fully secure. I recommend the Instant Pot or stovetop options instead. But if you want to cook this soup in a slow cooker, just follow the Instant Pot method and slow cooker (instead of pressure cook) the soup as directed in Step 2 until the rice and veggies are tender.

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1,531 comments on “Cozy Autumn Wild Rice Soup”

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  1. Used chicken broth, spinach, non dairy butter and almond milk. Cut old Bay seasoning to 1 TB. It was delicious!!! Will definitely make again.






  2. This is delicious!! I used wild rice only, not a blend of wild and brown rice. No mush! ? It may be the blend that changes up the rice. Thank you for the great recipe!!






  3. Made this with the coconut milk. It is wonderful will definitely make again.






  4. I had seen this recipe a few times in my feed but for some reason I felt intimidated, by soup no less! But I gave it a go and oh. My. Gawd. Deeeee-lish!! Even my picky teenager enjoyed it. It’s a crowd pleaser and palate teaser. I’m definetly making this one again and again.






  5. Is it my imagination or did this recipe once say use Uncle Bens wild rice in the orange box? I actually bought it & went back to make the recipe & it wasn’t listed?

    • No, I actually never recommended Uncle Ben’s. (I use 100% wild rice.) But a few readers have tried a wild rice blend and have reported good results! :)

  6. I’ve made this recipe half a dozen times now for family and friends. It’s a huge hit! Thanks :)






  7. I made this for Christmas following the recipe with no substitutions. I used vegetable broth and the soup was so so good. I think I’ll use less than a full cup of wild rice next time…maybe 3/4 cup but same amount of broth.






  8. THE best soup I think I’ve ever made… And I’ve made a lot! Easy, so flavorful… I used the coconut milk and made it on the stove… No meat added.






  9. I made this soup for dinner tonight and it was a hit!!! Easy to make and full of so much flavor. I’m a vegetarian but my meat eating parents didn’t miss the chicken one bit! Highly recommend!! Did this on the stovetop.






  10. This soup was easy and amazing! Also, I had never had sweet potatoes in soup, but I loved it! I had a little trouble with the sweet potatoes becoming too soft because the wild rice I used took a little longer to cook. Next time, I would just add the sweet potatoes a little later in the cooking process.






  11. Love this. I do tweak it a little, though. The first time, I made it to recipe, but added cream instead of making a roux, and I added leftover Thanksgiving Turkey. Tonight, I added mostly chicken broth, and about 2 cups of vegetable broth bc that’s what I had on hand. I added spicy sausage and leftover rotisserie chicken. I also add only about 1 T of Old Bay. Excellent recipe and such a flexible base to start from.






  12. Thank you so much for this recipe! I have enjoyed this soup in restaurants and wanted to make my own using the crockpot and leftover chicken – and it used up chicken broth, carrots and onions I had from the holidays! (I hate wasting ingredients) I did not have the sweet potato or kale, but just added in more rice and a full-sized yellow onion. Originally, I was going to use just heavy cream instead of making the cream sauce but decided at the last minute to use your version and glad I did because I think the butter added more flavor (I did add about 1/8 c of cream at the end just to add color contrast). I also didn’t have Old Bay seasoning but added a lot of salt and pepper until the taste was right. This was a new recipe for my boyfriend, and he said it was delicious. Can’t wait to have the leftovers.






  13. Wow! I Love this soup! I made it with gluten free all purpose flour, unsweetened coconut milk & Earth Balance. I also added a drop each of doTerra Rosemary & Thyme Essential Oils! So delicious!?






  14. I just made this and will definitely make it again! Although it was WAY too spicy for us, so will omit that next time. Will try the coconut next time as well, instead of the milk combo. I also used 1/2 spinach & 1/2 kale. One more thing, I used the full blown, real wild rice, and cooked it for an hour separately. The flavor is worth the price I paid for it. Very good!






  15. This was horrible!

  16. Made this soup last night for a house full of people and everyone LOVED it. I doubled the recipe, and added two cans of coxunut milk instead of flour. It was fantastic. I love the old bay flavor!!!






  17. Just made this soup and my family loved everything about it. It will definitely be on my go to soup recipes to make again.
    One of my favorite soups ever! Thanks for sharing.






  18. The first day of 2019 and I couldn’t think of anything better to do than make this awesome so so delicious soup. I made it in an instant pot I received for Christmas. It turned out so very good. It’s definitely a keeper!
    Thanks for posting it. ?






  19. This soup was awesome! Thanks for sharing






  20. I made this tonight in the slow cooker, and it was delicious! I added the turmeric and some cumin, and used a wild rice spice pack rather than the Old Bay. I also opted for the coconut milk at the end. Easy, hearty, and healthy. Next time, I might add some sausage for a protein. I’ll definitely make this again!






  21. Loved this! I’m mostly eat a whole foods plant-based diet so instead of the milk and flour, I pureed cannellini beans and steamed cauliflower to mimic your recipe’s creaminess. It was delicious. Thanks for the inspiration!






  22. Unbelievably good! Couldn’t be better. Lots of different flavors and textures. Very satisfying!






  23. Hi, can I make it with jasmine rice, or no rice at all?

    • I would either leave out the rice or use something like barley or such that will stand up to the long simmer and not get mushy. I tried using white rice once and I even tried brown rice once but it got way too mushy and starchy.

  24. Making this now in my Instant Pot..Smells delicious.

  25. Made this without the cream sauce and it was delish! My boyfriend and I loved it. Thanks for recipe! I will try it with coconut milk next time as I have a dairy allergy.

  26. This was DELICIOUS. I used coconut milk because I was being lazy and didn’t feel like making the roux. Such a simple, flavorful recipe. I will definitely be making this a lot!






  27. This soup is the BOMB. Made it to a T EXCEPT I only had a wild rice blend, plus I added two chicken breasts to the instant pot with the veg, rice, stock, etc. Came out beautifully! Actually I was pretty impatient and quick released the pressure after the 25min cook, stirred in the kale and roux… tastiest, prettiest soup I’ve ever made! AND I didn’t need to add any salt or pepper after. Plenty of seasoning from the stock and bays :)






  28. Exactly as described – delicious! Perfect cold weather soup – tasty & satisfying! Made on stovetop with veggie broth. Only change I made was to chop (instead of dice) the sweet potato for slightly larger chunks that don’t get mushy. Next time I might lesson the bay seasoning to 1 tbsp. though my husband thought it was perfect. Can’t wait for the next bowl!






  29. My daughter made this for us last night, exactly according to the recipe, and we all thought it was the best soup we’d ever eaten. And–bonus–it made the house smelled amazing! Thank you so much for sharing this!






  30. Delicious!!!!! I didn’t have an Instapot so I bought a rotisserie chicken and sauteed all the veggies first added broth chicken and last the rue and kale. My hubby and boys loved it. Thanks






  31. I made this for my family, including my 5-year-old daughter, tonight and it was by far one of the best soup so that I’ve ever made. (And I’ve been cooking for more than twenty years and have made a lot of soups.)

    As with any purist, I followed the recipe (stove top approach) exactly with one small exception in that I used a mixed wild rice blend versus straight wild rice. Used chicken broth but no chicken. The cooking times herein are accurate and the quantities are spot on. This gem of a recipe will become a permanent fixture in my repertoire of recipes. Going forward, I’d probably add another few handfuls of kale, but the recipe as is I sure perfect. Thank you for this!






  32. This is the first recipe I cooked in my Insta Pot. I used my own homemade chicken broth instead of vegetable stock and added chicken. I also made it gluten free using rice flour for the cream sauce and also used half n half instead of milk. It’s thick, rich and absolutely delicious. Highly recommend!






  33. Soooo delicious! First thing made in my new Instapot. So glad I gave it a try ?






  34. Hello! Would this soup freeze well if I used the coconut milk instead of the dairy milk/cream base?

  35. Just made this soup. Yes, I would use wild rice and not blend. Great hearty meal!






  36. I have made this more than once and shared the Recipe with others. This is my new favorite soup. I used wild rice blend and coconut milk. It’s simple and tastes delicious.






  37. This was so delicious and satisfying! I used thyme and parsley instead of Old Bay and I used coconut milk for the cream sauce. The wild rice adds such a great flavor. So many possible variations, can’t wait to make it again!






  38. This soup is delicious!! The combination of Old Bay, sweet potato, kale, and coconut milk can’t be beat. I wouldn’t change a thing about it. Thank you for sharing.






  39. ”I made this an added 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper, I like a little spice. It was delicious, thank you for posting this.






  40. I made the autumn wild rice soup for the first time today. It was delicious. My husband who is a canivore loved it. It was rich, thick and very flavorful. I will absolutely make this recipe again. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. I made it in my instant pot.






  41. I used coconut milk, added roasted chicken, and skipped the rice. Still delicious!






  42. This soup came out beautifully. Thanks for sharing this recipe. Julia






  43. I just love this soup! I used wild rice with quinoa and brown rice and it turned out perfect. On rotation at my house this winter!






  44. This is he second time I have made this soup. It is so delicious and full of flavor. This is my go- to on a cold day! Best soup I have made in a long time!!






  45. So delicious. I can’t get hold of old bay where I am (never heard of it!) so instead I used some chopped scotch bonnet pepper and island seasoning and it worked amazingly well with that <3 thank you

  46. The soup tasted great, but I would absolutely never again cook the vegetables as long as the rice is in. Veggies were tender much earlier than the rice and by the time the rice was done the veggies were mush. Super flavorful just cook the veggies later than the rice.

  47. I’d love to make this soup in my crockpot, but it would be helpful to get specifics on the size. A large crockpot is a really relative term. Can you tell me if this will fit in my 4 quart crockpot? Or more like a 6 quart?

  48. One of the best soups I’ve ever had. This is going to be a well used recipe.






  49. I made this with dry lentils instead of rice, and added cooked ground sausage when I added the lentils. This is one of the best soups I have ever had! Thank you!






  50. Wonderful! Can leftovers be frozen?