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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I just made this and it was delicious even my super picky 6 year old daughter loved it and said she wants it for lunch tomorrow. So this is a keeper! Thanks!
Love it when picky eaters like something that’s sneaky healthy (and flavorful)!
Do you think this would work with any other type of bean? Garbanzo? Black? I am wanting to make this tonight but I don’t have cannellini
Hi Anna, sorry I did not see this until now. We’ve never tried with another bean as the cannellini is kind of the secret ingredient. Another starchy white bean would get you the closest, so chickpeas may work.
Can’t wait to try this. Could I use brown rice instead of wild rice? I already have a lot of brown rice at home.
Normally I say “why not” for substitutions, but the wild rice is kind of the star of the show in this recipe. Would it work with brown rice? Yes. Would it be as tasty? No.
This recipe was so wonderful! My husband, myself, and 2 year old daughter gobbled it up! We we’re so surprised by the delicious comforting taste, both my husband and I were not previously fans of rice soup. This is going into our regular rotation! Thank you
So happy we could make it into your rotation. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment 🙂
DE-lish! And very easy to make. I’ve made it several times. I portion it out and freeze it for work lunches! (I also add a couple cans of peas too!) Thanks!!
Peas are a great addition, good thinking!
Do you put the rice in dry or cooked? One cup dry or cooked per serving? Thanks!
The rice is measured and added dry.
I made this yesterday, it was fantastic! Will definitely make this again, soon!
Yes! We love when people make our recipes more than once, that’s how you know it’s truly a winner 🏆
I can’t find raw cashews only unsalted cashews… Do you think using the unsalted (which maybe roasted/toasted as the bin didn’t say) would accomplish the same creamy consistency?
The consistency should be okay, yes. Especially because the white beans help with the texture. If there’s a Trader Joes near you look for cashew pieces in their nut section (cheaper than whole cashews).
Could this be adapted for the instant pot?
We haven’t experimented with the Instant Pot yet, but there was a really helpful comment in the Clean Food Dirty Girl Group regarding this topic.
The comment is: “I used the saute to saute the veggies (started with onion/garlic, then after a few minutes added the carrots/celery) then I added the veggie broth and let it heat up. Then I added the rice, put the lid on, cancelled the saute and set it on manual for 25 mins (so yes I waited for it to come up to pressure). When the time was up, I did quick release, added the rest of the ingredients, and set for another 5 mins (it didn’t take long at all for it to come up to pressure the second time). I would say all said and done, it took about an hour to cook it. I don’t know if it saved time, but I’m notoriously terrible at cooking rice so I prefer to leave to an appliance”. – Carissa Okie-Trolli
Hope that helps!
Yum! I added added some diced potato and cauliflower. Such a good soup!
That’s an awesome way to make it a more filling soup. Yum!
Thank you for this recipe. My husband and I loved it! It was an easy recipe, which was nice too.
So happy to hear you thought it was easy! The more people that make it, the more questions we get and the more detailed I end up making the instructions. I just went back to simplify a couple of weeks ago, looks like it helped 🙂
I have been eyeing this soup for a good number of days. It looks so decadent! I have seriously missed hearty, creamy soups… no more!!!
This met and exceeded expectations for me! This was my first time trying a cashew cream. OMG, why did I wait so long?! lol
Also, my 22 year old son had seconds. He is picky and not vegan so that’s a huge compliment.
Thanks so much!!!
Our absolute pleasure! I’m glad you took the leap and gave it a try! Your son would probably also like our Banana Bread.
Has anyone tried this with vegan sour cream or vegan cream cheese instead of nuts? My son has a sensitivity to cashews especially:-/
It won’t be the same but you could use more beans or in place of the cashews you could blend up some soft tofu and beans… maybe a third of the package??
I can’t afford cashews so I thicken the way my mom taught me, with flour/”milk” mixture. I did try a similar recipe a while back and didn’t find that the cashew/bean mixture thickened as well. You could add a little blended avocado or even tahini for fat content/creaminess. I think once we let go of how some of our favorite comfort foods tasted we will ultimately get used to things tasting closer to nature (rather than rich and fatty).
I like the idea of using some tofu, we have used that as a “creamy” substitute and it works well if blended.
Cashews can be really expensive. We try to buy them in the bulk bins as often as possible. We also look for cashew PIECES, much less expensive than full cashews and it doesn’t matter what they look like if they are getting blended!
Amazing!!! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for taking the time to stop by a leave a comment 🙂
Made a double batch of this tonight to prepare for the snow and frigid temps here in MN. I cannot believe how amazing this tastes! You would never know it’s cashews and beans that give it the creaminess! This was a family favorite before we went vegan so we’ve really missed it! I changed it up a bit and added a little red cooking wine and sauteed some slivered almonds for a little crunch. AMAZING!! I am seriously impressed with this recipe! We’re having a bunch of family over next weekend and serving this with some fresh bread! The only thing I will do different next time is I think I’ll cook the wild rice separately beforehand in some broth as I thought it was a little undercooked (but still not too bad).Thank you!
This soup was created specifically for the Minnesota winters, so you’re doing it right <3
WOW SO GOOD!! I added nutritional yeast the third time around, but either way best vegan “cream of” soup I’ve ever had.
That’s not the first time we’ve heard of the addition of nutritional yeast, we’ll have to give it a try!
Excellent soup! We loved this recipe. On second bowl I added 1-2T. of sherry on top. Oh boy!
I love the original recipe and next time I’ll try some red pepper flakes or spinach. But this soup is the best! Thanks for the recipe.
I’m loving my first Vitamix. I bought the Professional 750 refurbished when it was on sale. It’s a beautiful machine.
We love the Certified Reconditioned Models! That’s what we gift to family and friends 🙂
Made this tonight for supper! A-MAZING! Pure genius mixing the beans and nuts as a thickener!! OMG Perfection! Thanks so much!!! Even my non vegan family didn’t know it had beans and DIDN’T have milk! 🙂
We think the sign of a good vegan recipe is when your non-vegan friends/family like it! We’ve been using the base for other creamy soups too, works every time 🙂
B O M B ! Thanks for the recipe. I added a handful of spinach and some nutritional yeast. Really Good!
Spinach is a great addition! Extra greens never hurt 🙂
Excellent soup!
Thanks, Lee! It’s one of our most popular recipes 🙂
Trying this tomorrow, looks great. But I have aquestion about vitamix and cashews. Some recipes call for soaking. While others, like your queso don’t call for soaking. Is there a good guidance you have figured out for when to soak or when to not?
Nick-I made this tonight and I think soaking made the nuts soft enough to blend well with the beans, I only soaked about 5 hours but I did cover with boiling water and cover for those hours, hope this helps
There isn’t a particular set of rules for soaking or not. With our queso, the Vitamix cooks the mixture on a 5 minute cycle. So we know the cashews will be pulverized. With this soup, its a short blend so we like to make sure they are soft enough to make super creamy.