Denai Hatiku Sayang: Best Wild Rice Soup (& Cozy Dinner Party)

This wild rice soup recipe is impossibly creamy, packed with flavor and full of tender veggies and hearty rice. Everyone asks for the recipe—it’s that good.

This post was created in partnership with Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove; all opinions are our own.

It may look like just a bowl of wild rice soup, but to us, it’s much more than that. This bowl of decadent creamy soup is a peak into our philosophy on food (yep, we’re going deep!). Alex and I think food should be three things: nourishing, delicious, and community-building. And this soup is all three. It’s made 100% of fresh and healthy veggies, but it’s so savory and creamy you’d never know it. Let’s just say “best soup ever” was mumbled more than once around the table as we downed spoonfuls. We served this at a Cozy Dinner Party we had recently. It’s all the things food should be⁠—and we can’t wait to share it with you!

Related: Got an Instant Pot? Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup

The philosophy

This recipe and dinner party are in honor of our friends at Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove. What we love about the brand is that they’re not only passionate about making the highest quality refrigeration, cooking, and dishwashing appliances (you may remember we use a Cove dishwasher in our kitchen!), but we share a similar philosophy that extends beyond the kitchen. Living deliciously is all about setting down our phones, picking up our forks, and relishing every succulent, savory, sweet taste of the good life.

What to serve with creamy wild rice soup

The menu

This wild rice soup was the star of our Cozy Dinner Party! We hosted it to enjoy the coming cool weather and a visit from my sister. She’s currently relocating to the US from Southeast Asia, so it’s incredible to spend quality time together, whereas in the past its been so few and far between.

Another reason for the party: I’m a summer girl, so practicing getting “cozy” for the cool weather is a skill I need to cultivate! The way to get through the winter months for me is all about getting cozy and making all the tasty seasonal foods: like soup! What did we pair with it? A fresh salad, a signature cocktail, and crisp bread.

Here’s the full Cozy Dinner Party menu:

Wild Rice Soup (recipe below)
Beet Salad with Balsamic Dressing
Fall Sangria
Bread (try Dutch Oven Bread or Homemade Cornbread)

The memories

One of our favorite dinner party tips: make a Question Jar. Even in a dinner party with people you know intimately, it can be so much fun to have conversation starters to discuss throughout the meal. Excited to have my sister back home, it made for a fun way to guide conversation and talk about things we might not have otherwise. Of course, this is especially nice if you have people who are meeting for the first time!

Here’s an example of some of our questions:

What is the thing you’re most passionate about right now?
If you could start a business today, what would it be?
What is one thing you’d change about yourself?
What is one goal you have in the next 6 months?
Where do you want to travel next?
If you could master one new skill, what would it be?

Do you have any great get-to-know-you questions? Let us know in the comments below!

How to make wild rice soup

This wild rice soup is pretty darn incredible, if we do say so ourselves. It’s creamy, it’s cozy, it’s savory: yet somehow, it’s made 100% of plants. Yes, this is secretly a vegan wild rice soup (don’t tell anyone). But after you make it, you’ll swear that somehow a little heavy cream got mixed in. It’s perfectly seasoned, and you might not be able to stop eating it (we weren’t!). Per my sister: “This is really the best soup ever.“

While it takes about 1 hour to make, this healthy dinner recipe is 100% worth the effort. And since most of that time is hands off, it works as an easy dinner idea, too. What are our secrets to how to make the best wild rice soup?

Use cashews. Blended cashews can stand in for dairy! In this wild rice soup, you’ll let them soak while the soup simmers. Then you’ll take 2 cups of the soup out (veggies and all) and blend it with the soaked cashews. It makes for the creamiest base EVER. You’ll swear there’s dairy in it.
Add white beans and mushrooms. Because there’s no chicken in it (sorry, meat lovers!), this wild rice soup features white beans as a plant-based protein. It’s a unique addition and seriously good. Mushrooms also bring in big flavor and texture.
Simmer until the rice pops. Wild rice notoriously takes quite a while to cook: upwards of 50 minutes. You’ll cook this soup until most of the rice grains burst and are tender. It might feel like a long time, but it’s important that the rice is perfectly tender.

If you have an Instant Pot, this soup is modeled after our Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup one of our most fan-favorite recipes. Head to that recipe to get the Instant Pot instructions.

This wild rice soup recipe is…

Vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free.

Wild Rice Soup

(13 votes, average: 4.54 out of 5)

4.5 from 13 reviews

Author: Sonja Overhiser
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 55 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Yield: 6 to 8

Print Recipe

Description

This wild rice soup recipe is impossibly creamy, packed with flavor and full of tender veggies and hearty rice. Everyone asks for the recipe—it’s that good.

Ingredients

1/2 cup cashews*
1 medium yellow onion
2 celery stalks
3 medium carrots
8 ounces baby bella mushrooms
6 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried oregano
8 cups vegetable broth
1 cup wild rice (not a wild rice blend)
2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
2 15-ounce cans white beans
1/2 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 a Dutch oven. 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, 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, and black pepper. Bring to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes. Then add the beans and simmer 30 to 35 minutes more, or until rice breaks open.
Using a liquid cup measure, carefully remove 2 cups of the soup (broth, veggies and all) to a blender. Add 1 cup water. Drain the cashews and add them to the blender, along with the dried sage. Blend on high for about 1 minute until creamy. Then pour the creamy mixture back into the soup.
Add the soy sauce and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. Taste, and adjust seasonings as desired. Garnish with fresh ground pepper.