This Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup recipe is cozy and comforting! Loaded with mushrooms and spinach- it’s a hearty, healthy vegetarian soup that is easy, fast, and vegan-adaptable! Gluten-free. Video. Looking for more? Check out 50 Best Vegetarian Recipes and Our 40 Best Mushroom Recipes!
Hey friends, if you are like me, you probably have some wild rice hiding out in your pantry along with a hundred other things. Here is an easy recipe for Wild Rice Soup, made even easier in the Instant Pot. It’s kept vegetarian and loaded up with mushrooms, with a couple of handfuls of fresh baby spinach, tossed in, right at the end.
Creamy and earthy, this is a stick-to-your-ribs kind of soup, and vegans will have an easy way of adapting it. And of course, you can make this on the stovetop, just go to the recipe notes. Because wild rice takes about 45 minutes on the stovetop, I really do like using the Instant Pot for this recipe.
Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup | Video
Wild rice soup Ingredients
We kept the soup recipe ingredients pretty basic, with simple ingredients you most likely have: wild rice blend, carrots, mushrooms, celery, spinach, and onions – but what I love about this recipe is how you can just as quickly toss in other veggies to the mix. Veggies like fennel bulb, parsnips or other root veggies would work well here too. Comb through your fridge and see what you have.
How to make Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup (see full recipe below):
- The essential step to getting the most flavor is browning the onions and garlic in the instant pot, but after that, you are basically good to go.
- Add the remaining ingredients, pressure cook on high for 24 minutes, then stir in the creamy component, in this case, sour cream (or coconut cream or cashew cream).
- Right before serving toss in the fresh baby spinach.
No need to make a roux here with butter and flour, we are simplifying it with the sour cream.
Creamy delicious goodness.
More favorite wild rice recipes
- Instant Pot Risotto!
- Our 25 Best Instant Pot Recipes | Easy Pressure Cooker Meals
- 25 Delicious Vegetarian & Vegan Soup Recipes
- Creamy Mushroom Soup
On the homefront: Many of us have been experiencing a little cabin fever as of late, myself included. The days are short and nights are long. By the time 5 pm rolls around, it feels like it should be bedtime. I miss being able to go out to dinner, and see friends if only to break up the week a little – I’m feeling a little stir-crazy. Anyone else? 😉
The thing that helps me most, besides getting outdoors, is finding a way to be creative in some small simple way. Cooking and baking does this for me. It’s surprising how much satisfaction this brings, and thankfully Brian doesn’t mind too much either. Somehow cookie baking seems perfectly reasonable this time of year- if only for the pure act of it.
Hope you enjoy this simple Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup with Mushrooms and Spinach – a simple weeknight dinner that is easy to put together. Let us know what you think in the comments below.
xoxo
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Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 35
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: vegetarian soup
- Method: instant pot, stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup with mushrooms and spinach- a healthy vegetarian soup recipe that is easy, fast and vegan adaptable! Gluten-free! (Inspired from Pinch of Yum)
Ingredients
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (or butter or ghee)
- 4 garlic cloves, rough chopped
- 16 ounces mushrooms, sliced (cremini, button, portobellos)
- 1 cup wild rice
- 1/4 cup white wine (optional)
- 3–4 cups carrots, chopped large
- 3–4 cups celery, chopped
- 4 cups veggie broth (or 4 cups water plus 2-3 teaspoons veggie bouillon)
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme ( or 1 teaspoon dry thyme)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon cracked pepper
- pinch cayenne, optional
- 1/8–1/4 teaspoon turmeric, for a golden color.
- ————
- 1/2 cup sour cream (or sub coconut milk, or cashew cream-see notes)
- 4 cups baby spinach, chopped (optional)
- Optional Garnishes: chopped flatleaf parsley and parmesan or try Gremolata or Arugula Pesto
Instructions
Set Instant Pot to Saute Function and add the oil and onions and mushrooms, stirring for 5-7 minutes, until fragrant. Cook until the mushrooms release their liquid, then cook a couple more minutes until the liquid cooks off, and mushrooms begin to brown. Add the garlic, saute 1-2 minutes.
While the mushrooms are cooking, chop the carrots and celery. When the onions and mushrooms soften add the rice and saute for one minute. At this point, you could deglaze with white wine, scraping up any browned bits if the pan seems dry, (or skip it), and then cook this off for 1-2 minutes.
Add the carrots, celery, veggie broth, water, thyme, bay leaves, salt and pepper, cayenne and turmeric. Give a good stir, again, scraping up any browned bits. The broth need not cover the veggies.
Set Instant Pot to High for 24 minutes. Naturally release, for 10 minutes, then manually release.
Stir in the sour cream (or coconut milk or cashew cream), and taste, adjusting for salt and pepper.
***If going the vegan route– keep in mind, sour cream adds a nice tanginess- which you can replicate by adding a few drops of lemon juice or AC vinegar to the soup to brighten it up.
Stir in the fresh chopped spinach just before serving.
Serve with crusty bread and a sprinkling of fresh Italian parsley, parmesan or other optional garnishes.
Notes
Cashew cream: Blend 1/2 cup soaked cashews with 1/2 cup water until smooth and creamy. (If no time to soak, simmer cashews in boiling water 10-15 minutes before straining and blending.) You may not need all the Cashew cream in the soup – so add incrementally to taste. Add a few drops lemon juice or AC vinegar.
Stovetop Version: In a large dutch oven or heavy bottom pot, saute onions and garlic until golden. Add mushrooms, release their liquid and begin to caramelize. This will take a little time. Add the rice and saute for one minute. Add the wine if using and deglaze the pan, scraping up any browned bits. Add the remaining ingredients- carrots, celery, veggie broth, water, thyme, bay leaves, salt and pepper and turmeric. Bring to a simmer, cover, and simmer gently on low heat until the rice is tender about 35-45 minutes. Stir in the sour cream or vegan alternative. Taste, adjust salt and pepper to taste.
If your soup lacks depth or flavor- it is most likely your veggie stock-try adding another bouillon cube, more salt or even a little miso paste. 😉
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 ½ cups ( made with sour cream)
- Calories: 256
- Sugar: 8.7 g
- Sodium: 698.3 mg
- Fat: 9.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 38.7 g
- Fiber: 6.3 g
- Protein: 8.6 g
- Cholesterol: 11.3 mg
We really enjoyed this recipe, but did make a small modification. The broth (mushroom / veggie stock) was great all on its own so when it came time to add the cream element, we skipped it. We did include the optional spinach. I will make this again, likely with a little more rice next time.
Perfect! glad you made it your own!
Super yummy, but I needed an extra 2 cups of liquid to get it to a stew-ey consistency. I cooked for 35 mins in my pressure/slow cooker on STEW setting (so not pressure cooked). Very yummy, recommend adding the wine for additional depth and I also added a teaspoon of Shiro Miso paste for a little more depth.
Glad you enjoyed this Steph. Curious about the added liquid… Yes Miso is great here!
Delicious! I added some miso and a generous pinch of cayenne which gave it a nice warmth.
Perfect Karen!
Delicious and healthy! I added more chicken stock instead of water and reduced the salt. Perfect dinner.
Perfect Noor- thanks for sharing your adjustments. 🙂
Did this on the stove rather than instapot. So delicious and easy to make.
Perfect Kelley!
This hearty soup was absolutely delicious. I stuck to the recipe and, as suggested, added an extra bouillon cube but did not add the salt. I didn’t add wine. It was awesome…..full of flavour. My 3 grown kids loved it as well. Thanks for a new healthy favourite. Will check out more recipes on this site!
Great to hear- thanks Henny!
The recipe says “wild rice” but in the video you use a “rice mix”. I made this recipe, after a wild search for wild rice. Flavor is great but IMO 25 minutes is way too long to pressure cook this dish, everything was mushy
Shoot, sorry about that Sharon.
I made this soup for our church. They do a soup dinner on Friday nights in Lent. It was a major HIT. I doubled the recipe. Took in two crock pots and came home with NONE left. There were 8 different soups and this seemed to be a favorite!! But, I have to say, I did add 3 packets of the spices that come with Rice a Roni Long Grain and Wild Rice. So, the taste was altered by that and improved, in my view. But the rest was a written x2. GOOD with the spinach and sour cream too!!!
Great to hear Patti
This is so delicious! Made a few changes based on what I had in the house- canned white beans smashed with a fork & a tiny bit of cashew milk- & unfortunately no wine! Can’t stop “taste-testing” the broth- YUM!
Perfect, love it Pam!
Can the sour cream be subbed with plain Greek yogurt?
Hi Sara- Yogurt can get granular. I would test a small bowl of it first, then decide.
I made this for the first time tonight in my instant pot. I used Jasmine rice instead of the wild rice. The rice was over cooked and so were the carrots and celery. Next time I will try normal pressure and do a manual pressure release after the 24 minutes, omitting the additional 10 minutes under pressure. Otherwise the flavor was very nice, so worth trying again.
Hi Gayle- Yes, I see why it would be mushy. Jasmine rice is not the best option for this soup- it truly is designed for Wild Rice which takes much longer to cook. I think if using Jasmine you’d only need to pressure cook 7-8 minutes?
I’m confused by these instructions. It says to chop the celery and carrots. When they are soft, add rice. after that it says add carrots and celery. What order are you supposed to do celery carrots rice?
Hi there- Please scroll to the recipe card itself- then choose stovetop or Instant Pot option. I think that may be the issue?
Great recipe! All the liquids and ingredient ratios worked perfectly in my 6 qt.Duo Nova. I was afraid it might turn out a bit bland but I was surprised by the depth of flavor. I went with the sour cream option and agree that the small amount of extra acidity it provides is essential to the recipe. This is the fourth recipe I’ve made from your site (beef chili, mujaddara, beef stew w/root veggies, this one) and I appreciate the creative use of vegetables and the sophistication of the seasonings. I might be becoming a fan!
Thanks Michael- glad you are enjoying the recipes!
Great recipe! All ratios were perfect for me. Plenty of broth to go around. I used the coconut milk option (just happened to have the remainder of a can from a prior recipe). I was totally impressed that the carrots held up/did not overcook…honestly everything was cooked perfectly. And the flavor was a 10. I topped with a few dashes of hot sauce and parm. I will make this again and again and again.
Perfect Lisa- thanks, happy you enjoyed this!
The amount of liquid is incorrect! You will get a C7 error that relates to not enough liquid. You need at least 6 cups of liquid for this recipe to work at high pressure. It tastes like over salted mushroom soup…
Hummmm, not sure why you got the burn error- sorry about that. Did you add all 5 cups of liquid? Did you happen to change anything in the recipe?
Yet another fantastic recipe! I used cremini, shiitake and portobello mushrooms and the cashew cream/lemon juice option. It was delicious. My carrots got over done a bit which didn’t lessen the flavor but the note about making the chop size large is key.
This will become a regular in my winter rotation.
Thanks so much for your consistently delicious recipes,
thanks so much Jo!
Does this soup freeze well?
I think it should freeze fine Margie!
Made it with brown rice Instead of wild rice (it’s what I had), lowered the pressure time a little, and it was excellent. Yes to coconut cream and lemon juice!
Awesome Sue- good to know! Thanks for sharing!
Could we use broccoli instead of spinach? Would it change the cooking time or taste as much?
Hi Jay- I can’t quite picture broccoli here, but feel free to try. It will get overcooked and probably disintegrate if you pressure cook though. You could steam and add at the end?
This has instantly become a family favorite! I sent your recipe to my son and he and his family and friends fell in love. Thanks for a wonderful, healthy, comfort food.
Thanks so much! Appreciate this!
I made this tonight and it was SO good! I used cremini mushrooms and they held up really well. So much flavor and perfect for a cold fall night. I will definitely be making it again. Will probably add more liquid as a lot was absorbed by the rice. Thank you so much! My family loves your recipes!
So happy you and your family enjoyed this Merrilee!
This soup was wonderful! So much depth of flavor and so good for the soul. Thank you for another great recipe!
Yay! So happy this worked for you!
I made this last night, doubling the recipe and following stovetop instructions. I used a mix of fresh baby bella and shiitake mushrooms, the Lundberg wild rice mix, and then omitted the sour cream altogether. It had a good taste, so decided to save the calories 😀. This came out more like a very hearty stew, so may add more broth with leftovers. Made enough to share, but may be selfish… so good! Thanks for an easy, hearty, healthy, comfort soup!!
Thanks, Dana- glad you enjoyed this!
Absolutely perfect! We all loved it!
Great to hear Shannon!
This was so delicious, warming, rich and satisfying with great depth of flavor. Made the vegan version but had some tofutti sour cream in the fridge and only used about 1/4 cup. Perfection!!!
Even my hard to satisfy non vegan husband went back for seconds!
Perfect Kristina! Glad you enjoyed!