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This Instant Pot wild rice soup recipe is cozyand naturally creamy, so it’s a 100% plant based dinner. Serve with crusty bread.
Alex and I begrudgingly got an Instant Pot last year, but it’s actually become a well used tool in our house! Don’t get us wrong: it’s not magic. It doesn’t cook food in an instant. For example, this Instant Pot wild rice soup takes over 1 hour to make. Then why use a pressure cooker for soup at all? Well, it’s so, so delicious. It cooks dried white beans at the same time as the rice (wow!), and it’s hands off, for the most part. When I took the first bite after Alex created and made this recipe for me, I was blown away! It’s also vegan and vegetarian, so it’s all naturally creamy goodness. Keep reading for all the secrets to this Instant Pot wild rice soup recipe.
Related: Easy Vegan Recipes for Beginners | Best Healthy Dinner Recipes
How to make wild rice soup in an Instant Pot
This wild rice soup recipe is a bit different than most. First of all, it’s made in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot! Alex and I wanted to try making Instant Pot soup. For our first recipe, we decided on wild rice soup because wild rice typically takes so long to cook on the stovetop. Also, we decided to create this wild rice soup without using meat or dairy, so it’s naturally creamy! Since then we’ve made lots of Instant Pot soup recipes, but this one remains a favorite!
To make this wild rice soup recipe, you use the Saute mode on the Instant Pot. Saute up the onion, celery, carrot, garlic, and mushrooms, then add the remainder of the ingredients and pressure cook. And while the soup is cooking, some cashews are also left out to soak. Once the soup is done, you’ll blend together the cashews with some of the soup and some dried sage to create a naturally creamy base without cream. That makes this wild rice soup recipe vegan, vegetarian, and gluten free! Everyone we’ve served it to positively raves about it: it’s the perfect cozy fall dinner.
Why make Instant Pot soup?
The advantage of cooking this soup in an Instant Pot instead of the stovetop is that it’s totally hands off once the cooking starts. You can throw the soup in the pot and then go do other things, until your dinner is done! Because this recipe takes over 1 hour to make, we made the serving size large: it serves about 8. That way, you can have plenty for leftovers.
A wild rice soup with dried beans
For this wild rice soup recipe, we’ve used dried white beans in the Instant Pot. In a normal stovetop soup recipe, you would typically use canned or already cooked beans and add them to the soup. Because the wild rice takes so long to cook already, Alex decided to add dried white beans to this wild rice soup recipe because they’re cheaper and taste even better than canned. Beans cooked from dried often hold up better in soups as well. The white beans also add a filling protein to the soup.
Related: Here’s theInstant Pot we use at home.
Looking for Instant Pot recipes?
Outside of this wild rice soup recipe, here are some of our favorite recipes to make in a pressure cooker:
- Basics: Sweet Potatoes|Chickpeas|Lentils| Eggs | Quinoa| Rice | Refried Beans
- Sweet Potatoes with Thai Peanut Butter Sauce
- Chickpea Couscous Bowls
- Smoky Lentil Tacos
- Apple Cinnamon Steel Cut Oats
- Granola Instant Pot Apple Crisp
- Instant Pot Stuffed Acorn Squash with Pecans
Looking for soup recipes?
Here are a few more favorite soup recipes:
- Tomato Basil Gnocchi Soup
- Tortellini Soup with Basil
- Golden Vegetable Soup Recipe
- Easy Tomato Basil Soup
- Creamy Corn Chowder or Vegan Corn Chowder
- 13 Best Soup Recipes for a Cozy Evening
- Vegetarian Tortilla Soup
- Vibrant Spring Green Soup
- Green Pea Soup with Chive Flowers
- Related: 10 Romantic Dinner Recipes
Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup Recipe
- Author: Sonja
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
This Instant Pot wild rice soup recipe is cozy and naturally creamy, so it’s a 100% plant based dinner. Serve with crusty bread. For a stovetop version, go to Best Wild Rice Soup.
Ingredients
Scale
- ½ cup raw or roasted cashews*
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 2 celery ribs
- 4 medium carrots
- 8 ounces baby bella mushrooms
- 6 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 8 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup wild rice (not a wild rice blend)
- 1 cup dried great northernwhite beans (not canned! The Instant Pot will cook the dry beans)
- 2 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons dried sage
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce, tamari, or liquid aminos
Instructions
- Place the cashews in a bowl and cover them with water. Leave them to soak while you make the recipe.
- Dice the onion. Thinly slice the celery. Cut the carrot into rounds. Slice the mushrooms. Mince the garlic.
- Add the olive oil to the Instant Pot and turn on Saute mode. Add the onion, celery and carrot and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes until lightly browned. Add mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes. Add garlic, thyme and oregano and stir for 2 minutes.
- Add the broth, wild rice, dried white beans, 2 teaspoons kosher salt, and black pepper. Lock the lid of the Instant Pot. Place the pressure release handle (vent) in the “Sealing” position.
- Cook on High Pressure for 45 minutes: Press the Pressure Cook button, making sure the “High Pressure” setting is selected, and set the time. Note that it takes about 5 to 10 minutes for the pot to “preheat” and come up to pressure before it starts cooking. (During cooking, avoid touching the metal part of the lid.)
- Quick release:Vent the remaining steam from the Instant Pot by moving the pressure release handle to “Venting”, covering your hand with a towel or hot pad. Never put your hands or face near the vent when releasing steam. Open the pressure cooker lid.Taste a bean to see if it is tender (bean brands can vary). If not, cook on High Pressure for another 5 minutes and do a quick release.
- Using a liquid measuring cup, carefully remove 2 cups of the hot soup (including the broth, veggies and rice) to a blender. Drain the cashews and add them to the blender with the dried sage. Blend on high for about 1 minute until creamy. Then pour back into the soup.
- Add ½ teaspoon kosher salt and the soy sauce. Taste, and adjust seasonings as desired. Garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and fresh ground pepper.
Notes
*If you use roasted salted cashews, omit the soy sauce at the end; then add it to taste. If you have a cashew allergy, try using the same amount of whole milk or cream to make a creamy base.
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Wild Rice Soup, Wild Rice Soup Recipe, Wild Rice Mushroom Soup, Vegan Soups, Instant Pot Recipes, Healthy Instant Pot Recipes, Pressure Cooker Recipes, Vegetarian Soups, Healthy Soup Recipes
vegan vegetarian gluten free
Published on / Last updated on
Categorized In:
- Dinner Recipes
- Recipes
Tagged with:
- Carrots
- Cashews
- Celery
- Dairy-Free
- Fall
- Garlic
- Gluten-Free Recipes
- Instant Pot
- Instant Pot Recipes
- Mushrooms
- Onions
- Soup
- Vegan Recipes
- Vegetarian Recipes
- Wild Rice
- Winter
About the authors
Sonja & Alex
Hi, we’re Alex and Sonja Overhiser, married cookbook authors, food bloggers, and recipe developers. We founded A Couple Cooks to share fresh, seasonal recipes for memorable kitchen moments! Our recipes are made by two real people and work every time.
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