One of our favorite soups! Midwestern comfort food made WFPB!
Update: There’s now an adapted version of this recipe on the Vitamix website. And! It’s featured in the Vitamix 100-year Anniversary Cookbook!
This might actually be the best thing we’ve ever made.
It’s creamy and hearty and full of flavor. It somehow warms your soul.
One pot, one blender, one very happy family. Make this creamy wild rice soup tonight, it’s an instant classic.
Experimenting with vegan "creaminess"
Creamy is kind of a difficult texture to create without using cream. But it’s not impossible.
The more you do it, the better you get at making vegan dishes that don’t leave you missing dairy. Since veganizing our household and website, we’ve had to get pretty creative.
To get “creamy” we’ve used tofu as a thickener for our vegan tzatziki and balsamic butternut squash soup. Cashews for our cashew queso and cauliflower soup. And most recently, we’ve been dabbling with Cannellini beans which were featured in our Thanksgiving vegan loaf.
Using some of the things we’ve learned from previous kitchen experiments, we feel like we’ve hit the jackpot recreating this comfort food classic.
Our favorite childhood soup
Lenny and I grew up in neighboring Minneapolis suburbs but didn’t officially meet until adulthood in Chicago. Occasionally we’ll have one of those strange conversations where it’s clear we likely crossed paths. In this case, it would have been at Byerly’s… the local high-end grocery store.
Why would we both be there? Well, both of us were too poor growing up to actually shop for groceries there.
But as a treat, we’d make a special trip for their most delicious, pre-made soup: Chicken Wild Rice.
This soup tastes like childhood. Minnesota is freezing and this soup is the definition of comfort food.
Now that we’re married, and eat mostly plant-based, we took on the challenge of making this soup dairy (and chicken) free.
And I must say, we killed it! So, so, so, so, so, so, so good.
We used our Vitamix to create the perfect texture. We used our memories to create the perfect flavor.
This soup was consumed for both lunch and dinner and we just added wild rice back onto our grocery list. It’s one of those recipes you cannot wait to make again.
Start boiling some broth right now. You’ll have the perfect dinner in under one hour.
Recipe
Creamy Wild Rice Soup
One of the best, vegan soups ever
Cannellini Beans, Cashews, Celery, Mushrooms, Vegetable Broth,Ingredients:
- cashews (raw/unsalted) - 1 cup soaked (125 g)
- celery - 4 ribs chopped
- carrots - 1 cup chopped (128 g)
- onion - 1/2 whole chopped
- garlic - 4-6 cloves chopped
- vegetable broth - 64 oz (2 L)
- wild rice - 1 cup (160 g)
- dried thyme* - to your taste (we use 1 Tbsp. (4.3 g))
- bay leaves - 2 whole
- salt - 2 tsp. (5.69 g) + more to taste
- mushrooms - 8 oz chopped (225 g)
- cannellini (white kidney) beans - 15 oz can (425 g)
Instructions:
PREP
- Soak cashews overnight if possible
- If not, soak in boiling water as soon as you see this, the longer the better
VEGGIES
- Chop celery, carrots, onion, and garlic
- Chop mushrooms, reserve on the side
BROTH
- Reserve 1 cup (8 oz) of broth on the side
- Heat the rest of the vegetable broth in a large pot on medium heat
- Rinse and drain your wild rice
- Add wild rice, thyme, bay leaves, and salt to your hot vegetable broth
- Add your veggies too (celery, carrots, onion & garlic)
- Place lid on pot and set a 30 min timer
CREAM
- Drain soaked cashews and the liquid from the cannellini beans
- Place cashews & beans in Vitamix container
- Add the reserved cup of vegetable broth
- Blend on high for 1 minute until smooth
MIX
- When your timer goes off, add the creamy Vitamix mixture to your pot
- Add the chopped mushrooms
- Replace lid, lower heat, and set timer for 15 more min
- When the timer goes off, check if wild rice is done (should be a bit chewy)
- Remove bay leaves
SERVE
- Serve piping hot out of the pot
- Snap a pic and tag #lifeisNOYOKE
- Enjoy!
Useful tips for Creamy Wild Rice Soup
We like to save time by not sautéing the veggies first. We have done it both ways and to be honest, there is not much of a difference. Save yourself a step and throw 'em in the pot.
We blended white kidney beans, soaked cashews, and vegetable broth to create the creamy base of the soup. It works great for bases to other creamy soups too!
This soup is filling and rich. Before you ladle up a giant bowl, make yourself a mugs-worth. It catches up to you quick!
And if you're feeling up to it, serve it with this easy vegan cornbread.
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Hi, the soup look nice and I would like to try. May I know do you need to pre soak and pre cook the cannellini same as cashew nut? Thanks
Hi Lynn, if you have dried cannellini beans, then yes. We use the canned ones for this recipe and just drain them before using.
What if you don’t have a vitamix? Can you just use a blender?
For most of our soups, no (the Vitamix heats most of our recipes). But this one, yes! Any blender will be able to make the cashew & bean mixture. May not be perfectly creamy, but should do the trick 🙂
Could I use cashew butter?
We have never tried it that way. Let us know if it works!
When you say 1 cup of raw cashews soaked, is the weight (or the 1 cup size) before soaking? That’s how I read it, and how I’m going to try it tomorrow…cashews are soaking tonight.
Yes, one cup before soaking!
I saved just enough of this soup so I could have a small bowl for lunch today but once my 16 month old saw what I was eating he refused to eat his lunch and I had to share! I like to sauté the vegetables before I add the stock/rice for more flavour.
Our little guy steals all my food too! This soup is one of his faves.
I just got done eating this soup and it’s amazing!!! My boyfriend ate 3 bowls and said to “definitely keep this recipe!” haha. We are also living in Minneapolis and thought this was spot on. The only thing I added was one “not chicken” vegan bouillon cube, and some Kite Hill almond cream cheese just cuz I had it on hand and thought why not. I am 38 weeks pregnant and looking for easy freezer meals to prep and thought this would be a perfect one!!!!
I was pregnant last year at this time in Minneapolis too and this soup was a life saver! We filled our entire freezer with it and it lasted us through the winter. Maybe our babies will share a birthday, we’re celebrating ONE on Saturday!
Amazing! Everything I was looking for in a mushroom wild rice soup.
Yay! Happy to have been able to provide a winning recipe for you!
This is the best soup I’ve ever had! My husband and daughter love it as well! We have it once a week.
Amazing! We know a recipe is good when it becomes a household regular.
Oh my gosh I am eating this as we speak and it is AMAZING!!! Holy goodness, I am so impressed as to the creaminess and the flavor. I even bit the bullet and bought the bay leaves. I’ve cooked recipes before and just skipped the bay leaf but I used them for this and it is delicious! Thank you! I have this recipe bookmarked now!
So honored to have made it to your bookmarks! We’re still using bay leaves from the early 2000s over here…
Does this freeze well?
Yes! Just add some veg broth when reheating.
Made it, it was great!! I did leave out the mushrooms b/c i don’t like them, nor had them and i used a wild rice/brown rice blend cause that’s what I had and it was really good – no doubt with just the wild rice it would be better, but I still ate all the leftovers and used as a gravy over toast as well. My vegan daughter also made it when i sent her the recipe and thought it was great.
Omigosh! Why have we never thought to use this soup as gravy before??? Genius!
I’m the only vegan in a house with 4 carnivore boys, and they demolished this soup! They weren’t informed that it was vegan either. My boys always get a little squirrely when they know I veganize “normal” recipes. So glad to have found this recipe.
I try to make all of my recipes with non-vegans in mind. I don’t consider it good unless carnivores would agree. So glad the boys liked it!
I’m vegan and a few months pregnant and has been craving wild rice soup for a few weeks. After Google had me stumble here, I tried this recipe tonight am an in loveeeee. It’s incredible! This will definitely become a staple of our household.
Amazing, Nekia! I ate this soup several times a week during pregnancy and also froze a ton for after baby arrived. Hope you’re feeling well 🙂
Do you know if this freezes well?
Freezes great (we almost always make an extra batch to freeze). Just add a little vegetable broth once defrosted 🙂
I am making this soup right now and am looking forward to it for dinner tonight! The weather is cooling down rapidly here in MI so it’s a perfect time for comfort soups.
The first time I made it a few weeks ago, I was in awe at how closely this recipe resembled the non-vegetarian soup – traditional creamy chicken & wild rice soup.
Lenny & Shalva, thank you for sharing this incredible recipe.
Thanks so much for the kind words, Lesley! Hope this soup gets you through the MI winter 🙂
Love this! Any idea on the nutrition facts?
Hi Nikki,
After years of obsessing over calories and tracking all of my nutrition, I’ve finally found some peace in not worrying about it. I think in terms of healthy/not healthy now. This soup falls into the “healthy” category 🙂
I made this soup and absolutely love it!! I make it at least once a week! Great flavor!
There is no better compliment than adding one of our recipes to your weekly rotation!
Looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it. I have to ask, though, what is the purpose of the mushrooms – do they add something critical to the soup? I ask because I’m allergic to them. If I can leave them out and not mess the soup up….WIN!
Give it a try, Hindie! The mushrooms are really just for texture and to substitute for most soups like this which have chicken. It will still taste great, just be less chunky.
curious if anyone used the heat/soup option on Vitamix
We make soups using the heat/soup program on our Vitamix all of the time. Our Tomato Soup is a good example. This Wild Rice Soup has a lot more levels of texture (like chunks of veggies), so we make it on the stove. We do use the Vitamix to make the cashew cream though!
This is amazing! Delicious recipe and easy!
Thanks, Melissa! We try to make eating healthy taste good 🙂