Minnesota Wild Rice Soup

  4.2 – 24 reviews  • Vegetable Soup Recipes

Updated version of a long-time favorite from way up North. This filling soup is entirely vegetarian and thick and creamy.

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 35 mins
Total Time: 50 mins
Servings: 10
Yield: 10 servings

Ingredients

  1. ⅓ cup olive oil
  2. ¼ cup minced onion
  3. ½ cup diced celery
  4. 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  5. 1 cup all-purpose flour
  6. 6 cups vegetable broth
  7. 4 cups cooked wild rice
  8. 1 cup grated carrot
  9. ¼ cup sliced almonds
  10. 1 pinch red pepper flakes (Optional)
  11. 2 cups half-and-half
  12. salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in garlic, onion, and celery, and cook until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour, and cook for 3 minutes more. Pour in the vegetable broth, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
  2. Stir in wild rice, carrot, almonds, and red pepper flakes; return to a simmer, and cook until the carrots are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in half and half, and cook until warmed through. Season to taste with salt and pepper before serving.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 281 kcal
Carbohydrate 31 g
Cholesterol 18 mg
Dietary Fiber 3 g
Protein 7 g
Saturated Fat 5 g
Sodium 311 mg
Sugars 3 g
Fat 15 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Juan Brown
I love the base of this recipe. I do think 1 cup of flour may be a bit much for the liquid involved so I added 3 more cups of broth and an additional 1/2 c of half/half. To fix the clumpiness I wisked it during the boil step. Worked like a charm. I left out the almonds and added rotisserie chicken and some thyme and sage for additional flavor.
Mr. Brandon Santiago Jr.
I used 1/2 C flour, chicken broth, added 1 pound of hot ground sausage, and omitted almonds. I made the rice using chicken broth and butter. I think this is the best soup I’ve ever made! Delicious!!!
Scott Molina
Fabulous rich flavor!! The only modification we made was add 1 cooked chicken breast cubed.
Patricia Cruz
I made this morning. Added 2 cups of shredded chicken and 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms. I followed recipe till simmer. I am cooling until later this afternoon (should be very tasty when I add the 1/2 & 1/2.) I think the flavor is great & can’t wait to have for supper tonight. It is a good size recipe-will share with older neighbors who don’t cook much anymore. Its her favorite soup so I think they will love it too.
Wesley Arias
Wild rice soup is all the rage in Northern Minnesota, so I was very pleased to find this vegetarian option. That said, I agree with other reviewers that a little “zing” is needed. I’ve made this soup about 15 times now, so I will offer my suggestions. For the vegetable broth, I like to use Knorr Vegetarian Vegetable Bouillon cubes. I’ve tried other brands of vegetarian broth, but they all seem to lack depth of flavor. Add a cup or two of the broth when you put the flour in with the sautéed veggies, otherwise you end up with a clumpy mess. 1-2 pinches of red pepper flakes is mandatory. Definitely throw in a handful of parmesan cheese, and put some on the table to garnish each bowl. Fresh chives on the top are also a win. My non-vegetarian husband loves this soup too, but he puts a handful of diced ham or chicken in his bowl. I like to add a sprinkle of Bacos, or some other meat alternate for chicken or bacon. If you have some other veggie you think sounds good in this soup, go ahead and add it. I typically end up with more onion than what is called for. I’ve made a vegan version with rice milk or soy milk instead of the half and half and it tasted the same. All in all, this is fabulous soup starter, ready and waiting for your custom additions. It is the prefect remedy for a chilly day.
Albert Thompson
Nice, warm soup on a very cold nice – this fit the bill. I didn’t measure the onions, celery or carrots. I just chopped and shredded and used what I felt was a good amount. Can’t really have too many veggies in this soup. I had homemade chicken stock in the freezer that I used in place of vegetable broth. I’m not sure why so many complain of it being too thick with 1 cup flour. Once I added the broth, it thicken nicely and with 2 additional cups of half and half, it was a very nice consistency. I thought I had half and half and it wasn’t, it was heavy cream. I used 1 cup heavy cream and 1 cup skim milk in place of the half and half. Served ‘Herb Buttermilk Biscuits’ from AR with the soup and we enjoyed a very nice meal.
Paula Morales
Everyone loved this wild rice soup! would definitely make it again. only thing different was no carrots, we only had canned carrots and I couldn’t bring myself to use them.
Felicia Odonnell
too much flour and no flavor.
Lisa Long
I went about this a bit differently, cutting back on the broth and eliminating the flour. I added some leftover petite peas to add color. Very nice on a cold night. Thanks, chel!
Roger Turner
I really liked this recipe a lot. I used milk instead of cream, added potatoes and halved the flour. I also added the flour with the broth, premixed with water to avoid chunkiness. It worked out really well. Perfect thickness and not fattening.
Leslie Johnson
My family loves this soup, and it’s very easy, so I’m giving it 5 stars. I added some different vegetables to it than what is listed, in addition to those listed. We are recently trying to eat a more vegetarian diet, and it’s great to find recipes even a 2 year old loves.
Robyn Reed
I really wanted to like this soup but it tasted boring. I’m wondering if it’s all the flour it calls for. I added salt & thyme (recommended. Y another reviewer ) but that didn’t do much either. It seems to lack depth of flavor. It I’m not sure what else to add in order to get that. I added mushrooms-they were good in it but again didn’t substantially change the flavor. I’m not giving up on this soup because I love wild rice soup and don’t want to add meat because I’m vegetarian. Guess I wil just keep experimenting.
Marissa Pace
I was so excited to try this – a throw back to the old Byerly’s wild rice soup I loved to eat growing up in Minnesota. But this soup was suffocatingly thick and lacked any depth of flavor. Even after I salted it within an inch of its life and added 1.5 cups extra stock to thin it out. Maybe it was the lack of meat, but I think the huge quantity of flour was the real problem. If I ever try it again I’ll reduce the flour to 1/4 cup at most and add in some thyme, Sherry or Vermouth and a hit of lemon for interest. More French and less Minnesota, perhaps, but at least edible.
April Marks
I love this recipe. I’ve made it for my CC crew multiple times to show them good Midwestern cooking and it’s one of the favorites. It is hearty and delicious.
Justin Forbes
Very tasty! I added diced ham and it was wonderful.
Sheila Morrison
I used this recipe as a base—we’re not vegetarian so there were some adjustments. I sautéed an onion and two cloves of (minced) garlic; then added a little over a cup of each sliced carrots and diced celery. I forgot about the roux, so it was made in a separate pan (3 tablespoons of butter, ¼ of flour plus a little olive oil to smooth it out—I think a cup of flour would’ve been WAY too much. Then a little chicken stock was added to thin it out) while the vegetables cooked. To the pot of veggies I added (4 cups total, including what was added to the roux) chicken stock, 3/4 Cup White Wine, 1 Cup Heavy Cream, 1 Cup Skim Milk, a (VERY) large chicken breast (cooked with some water and McCormick Garlic Pepper Grinder seasoning, then shredded), Fancy Minnesota Wild Rice (I go “home” to Minnesota for the Holidays each year and stock up on Wild Rice—I cooked the rice according to the package plus 2 Tablespoons of butter and maybe 2 teaspoons of the Garlic Pepper Grinder blend). I added the roux to the pot, gave it all a stir then added 1 Cup (sliced) Baby Bella Mushrooms plus a large (fresh) Rosemary sprig and 5-6 (fresh) sprigs of Thyme, seasoned with fresh ground sea salt and pepper (to taste)—this simmered for a half hour or so. When served, we sprinkled some (cooked, then crumbled) bacon on top. My boyfriend gobbled up two bowls (in the time I ate my one) only taking time to breathe and tell me how good it was…I say it was a success!
Terry Gallegos
I really wanted to like this soup, but it was just kind of blah, and I think it’s because of all the flour. I’ve made a roux-based soup before, and it was pretty good, but I think it’s because it had tomatoes in it. This soup is edible, but if I were to make it again, I would maybe add tomatoes or thicken it with tomato paste or mashed potato flakes or maybe use cream of mushroom soup. I did add some dried parsley and thyme, which helped a little with the flavor, and also added a little corn.
Nicholas Osborne
I absolutely love Wild Rice, and this recipe really makes it shine. I was out of onions, so I used 1 shallot with the white part of some scallions – I also used high quality chicken stock (I’m not vegetarian). So many variations will work with this. In the future, I think I might add some sausage or smoked ham. Fresh corn would also work really well – and a little butter blended with the flour. A simple, delicious all-American recipe – and don’t forget some nice crusty bread!
Robin Green MD
This was a wonderful soup, but because I didn’t have some of the ingrdients, I had to change it a little. I omitted the almonds, substituted some very rich homemade turkey broth for the vegetable broth and added some mushrooms. My husband actually asked me to make it again, which is something he usually doesn’t do! Thanks for posting a great recipe.
Ronald Mcdonald
It was great. I wouldn’t change a thing!
Judy Harris
This soup was so good. My family and I are lactose intolerant so I substituted milk with Silk soy milk; it tasted great this way! I also added some ham to it so it would taste more like home.

 

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