Creamy Mushroom and Rice Soup
Nothing beats a bowl of rustic, stick-to-your ribs, homemade soup this time of year. My one pot creamy wild rice and mushroom soup is pure comfort in less than an hour, made with perfectly earthy mushrooms and vibrant thyme and oregano, all in a brothy soup with wild rice.
Love umami-rich mushrooms? Make this easy truffle mushroom risotto, garlicky butter mushrooms, pan seared NY strip steak with mushroom diane sauce, or creamy bacon mushroom tortellini.
My wild rice mushroom soup is a hearty and cozy one pot meal packed with flavor and and a warming creamy broth that is perfect for a cold wintery day!
I like my winter months like I like my Christmas movies: cozy, soul-warming, and preferably with a hot bowl of soup in hand.
It's literally so blustery outside right now that I had to hunker down the Christmas decorations in my front yard. So you know what that means: perfect day for soup.
And we're making creamy mushroom and rice soup today, with chewy and tender wild rice.
This rich and creamy soup starts off with pan searing mushrooms 'til golden brown and beautiful. Then we sauté some mirepoix veggies with herbs, simmer with stock and cook the rice in the soup until the rice is tender. So easy, so simple, and so, so good.
This recipe is pretty hands off, with the majority of the time spent simmering your soup away.
If you were looking for the most cozy, tasty dish you'll make this soup season to take the chill off your bones, you've definitely found it. My husband would like y'all to know, "I ate a whole pot by myself.
This post may contain Affiliate Links. Please see my Full Disclosure Policy for more details.
Jump to:
- My wild rice mushroom soup is a hearty and cozy one pot meal packed with flavor and and a warming creamy broth that is perfect for a cold wintery day!
- Why you'll love this mushroom and rice soup
- Equipment
- Ingredients
- What is Wild Rice?
- How to Make Creamy Mushroom and Rice Soup
- Variations and Substitutions
- Pro Tips
- Storage, Freezing, and Reheating Instructions
- More Soul-Warming Soup Recipes to Try
- 📖 Recipe
Why you'll love this mushroom and rice soup
- Minimal Cooking Skills Needed- mushroom rice soup requires only to sauté the mushrooms and mirepoix (that's the onion, celery, and carrot mix), then cook the rice in the soup until tender. Still not feeling confident? Don't worry, I do have step-by-step instructions below in this post.
- Incredibly Flexible Recipe - Love sage? Add it in. Want to top your soup with crispy king trumpet mushrooms? Please do! Looking for yet another way to use up your Thanksgiving turkey? Throw it in here!
- Is an Actually Healthy Weeknight Dinner -from me?! Whaaaaat...but yes, wild rice has tons of protein and fiber, and I have tips to lighten up the recipe as well.
Equipment
- A 5 qt Dutch Oven - you need a large soup pot!
- Wooden Spoon
- Chef's Knife and Cutting Board
Ingredients
Full ingredients, measurements, and printable instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Carrots, Celery, and Onion - this is called a mirepoix, a base of aromatics for our soup!
- Fresh Mushrooms - you can use whatever mushroom varieties you want, I used cremini mushrooms (also called baby bella) and oyster mushrooms here but you can use any type of mushroom: shiitake mushrooms, beech, and white button mushrooms are all welcome!
- Garlic
- Butter
- Flour
- Heavy Cream - the higher fat content in heavy cream makes the soup extra creamy and rich.
- Chicken Broth - I suggest homemade broth for better control over the flavor, but I also keep a jar of Better than Bouillon base on hand.
- Wild Rice Blend - I find that using wild rice or a wild rice blend like the one I found at my local Wegman's from the brand Lundberg, works i a mix of long grain brown rice, wild rice mix, thicken the soup, red rice,
- Herbs - fresh herbs or dried herbs can be used. If you're using fresh, use twice the amount than in the recipe for dried herbs.
- Parmesan cheese - I say it every time: buy a small wedge of parmesan and use it!
- Salt and Black Pepper
What is Wild Rice?
Wild rice is a type of grass seed that is harvested from various species of aquatic grasses. You'll find wild rice is shallow lakes and rivers throughout North America.
Unlike common rice varieties, wild rice is native to North America and has a distinct flavor, texture, and appearance. The grains are long and skinny with a tough outer part and a soft inside, you'll find wild rice adds a chewy texture to whatever dish you add it to.
The two main varieties are Northern wild rice and Southern wild rice, with the Northern variety being the more commonly cultivated and harvested type, often being confused with black rice because of its dark color.
Various Native American tribes, particularly those in the northern regions of the United States and Canada, have a long history with wild rice. They consider it a sacred food and an essential part of their diet. Wild rice became a staple in many traditional dishes and ceremonies.
How to Make Creamy Mushroom and Rice Soup
Step 1 | Sauté your mushrooms in some butter! Get some color and flavor on those babies over medium heat. We aren't making them crispy or anything, just getting a little color, a little more flavor out of them.
Step 2 | Sauté your mirepoix in more butter. Get those nice and golden brown over medium heat before adding in the herbs and garlic at the last minute. Then stir in your flour for about a minute to cook out the raw flour taste.
Step 3 | Add in the chicken broth, dump in the rinsed wild rice and turn the heat up to medium ,and bring the soup to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, bring the heat to medium, stir, cover the soup, and simmer for about 40-45 minutes (or according to the package instructions), until the rice is chewy and tender.
Step 4 | After the rice has cooked, drop the heat to low and stir in the heavy cream. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
Step 5 | Serve your mushroom and rice soup with crusty bread or garlic dinner rolls!
Variations and Substitutions
- Vegan Mushroom Soup - you can turn this into an entirely vegan soup with vegan butter, cashew cream instead of heavy cream, vegetable broth or even mushroom broth for even richer mushroom flavor.
- Dairy-Free Soup - if you want a creamy dairy-free healthy soup swap rich coconut milk, almond milk, or cashew milk, and use vegan butter.
- Apres-Holiday Add-Ins - if you're like us, you have a ton of roast turkey leftover after Thanksgiving. It is so delish, so cozy, and you already have some rolls left from the holiday to go with it.
- Fast and Easy Hearty Soup Recipe - a rotisserie chicken, pre-prepped carrots and onions, maybe a food processor to chop up the celery, mushrooms, and garlic, and all that prep work is done!
- Swap in White Rice for a Quicker Meal - This will cook much faster, white rice will be done in 20 minutes or less!
Pro Tips
Less Prep Work - having your ingredients prepped way before cooking makes everything faster and easier. Buy fresh sliced mushrooms, frozen diced carrots and diced onions are easily found at any local grocery store.
Wash Your Rice - I can't stress it enough! Wash it! Rice can have stones, bugs, damaged rice, you name it. Washing lets you both get the excess starch off and examine the rice before you cook it.
Storage, Freezing, and Reheating Instructions
Let the soup cool to room temperature before putting into a deli container or zip-top bag and in the fridge for 4 days or into the freezer.
Freezing and Thawing
Freeze the soup in deli container or freezer-safe zip top bag for up to 3 months. Pro Tip: freeze the soup in portion sizes! Refreezing and thawing food repeatedly can cause bacteria to grow and ruin your food.
More Soul-Warming Soup Recipes to Try
Click here to subscribe SWEET TEA & THYME’S NEWSLETTER for free and fresh recipes right into your inbox!
To pin this recipe and save it for later you can use the Pin button on the recipe card, the sharing buttons above or below this post, or on any of the photos above.
Tag me @sweet_tea_thyme on Instagram to share your remakes with me, I love looking through your photos!
Enjoyed the recipe? Leave a 5 star rating and comment below to let me know. I appreciate ya!
📖 Recipe
Rice and Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoon salted butter divided
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms cleaned and quartered
- 4 ounces oyster mushrooms cleaned and torn apart
- 1 medium yellow onion small dice
- 2 medium carrots peeled and small diced
- 2 celery ribs small dice
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ tablespoon kosher salt as needed
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 7 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup wild rice or wild rice blend
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese with more for garnish
Instructions
- In a 5 qt dutch oven, melt 4 tablespoon of butter over medium heat and add the cleaned mushrooms. Cook the water out of them, sprinkling with about ½ teaspoon kosher salt and stirring, letting them gain a little color for 5 minutes. Remove the mushrooms into a bowl and set them aside.
- Melt the other 4 tablespoon of butter into the pot, then sauté the onions, carrots, and celery in the butter. Stir occasionally for 4-5 minutes, seasoning with 1 teaspoon of salt, we want to get a golden brown color on the onions' edges and have the celery and onions turn a little translucent.
- Once the onions have golden brown edges, add the herbs and garlic. Stir them well and let them cook for two minutes, we don't want the garlic to burn.
- Stir in the flour, coating the veggies in the flour, and cook for a minute to get rid of the raw flour taste, stirring continuously.
- Slowly splash in the chicken broth, stirring while adding so the flour doesn't clump up (it will thicken and seize at first but keep going).
- When all the chicken broth is in the pot, pour in the wild rice and bring the pot to a boil over medium-high heat. Once at a boil, bring the heat down to medium, cover the pot with a lid, and simmer the soup for 45 minutes OR as the wild rice's package directs.
- When the rice is done, it'll be chewy and tender, not hard. Stir in the heavy cream, then turn off the heat. Mix in the parmesan cheese, then taste and season with salt and black pepper as needed.
- Serve hot with rolls or bread, garnished with more parmesan cheese.
