Wild Rice Vegetable Soup Recipe

This easy wild rice vegetable soup is one of our all-time favorite easy dinner recipes. It’s a crowd-pleasing soup that can easily be made ahead of time (hello, meal prep!) and can even be frozen for future use (hello, busy weeknights!). It’s also vegetarian (and can be easily modified to be vegan) and is naturally gluten free, so it’s a great choice for those with dietary restrictions.

This soup is made with hearty vegetables like carrots, celery and spinach, plus wild rice to make it a bit more filling. Litehouse freeze dried garlic and herbs (oregano, parsley and basil) add tons of flavor without extra prep time. (Not sure about you, but the less chopping, the better in our house!) You can also easily add in more vegetables if you have extras in your fridge, or swap out wild rice with brown rice or another grain of choice. Pasta or orzo would work well, too!

One of the things I love most about this soup is how easy it is to make. Simply get the rice cooking (you can do this ahead of time to save time after work). While the rice is going, you can get the soup almost entirely made. All you have to do is sauté the vegetables for a few minutes, add in the seasonings and broth, and let it simmer until the vegetables are tender.

Just around the time the vegetables are ready, the rice should be too! Add that in along with the leafy greens (spinach, kale or swiss chard are all great choices), and let it simmer for a few more minutes before serving. Quick, easy and delicious!

When it comes to adding flavor, lemon juice goes a long way in this soup. It adds the perfect amount of acidity. We also love using a variety of Litehouse® Freeze Dried Herbs, including parsley, basil and oregano. They’re so much more fresh-tasting than regular dried herbs, and they’re so much easier to use (and more cost effective!) than fresh herbs. They make such a fantastic addition to soups, stews, salad dressings, and really anything else you use herbs in. Definitely one of our favorite pantry staples!

We also use Litehouse® Freeze Dried Garlic, which is a huge lifesaver. Prepping garlic has to be my all-time least favorite kitchen task – it takes such a long time, and it leaves your hands smelling…pungent…for several hours. Freeze dried garlic is such an easy substitute and it tastes just as good! It’s especially well suited for recipes like this soup.

This soup takes about 35 minutes from start to finish. If it’s something you know your family will love, we suggest making a double batch and freezing any leftovers for a later date. To freeze soup, let it cool completely before transferring to an airtight container. Freeze for up to 6 months. Let the soup defrost overnight in the refrigerator, then heat over low on the stovetop until fully defrosted.

To modify this soup to be fully vegan, swap butter with olive oil or a plant-based butter substitute, and use vegetable broth in place of chicken broth. Alternatively, if you’re not vegan and want to make this soup extra filling for a weeknight dinner, consider adding in leftover shredded rotisserie chicken or Italian sausage.