Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup (2024)

Oh just LOOK AT IT. I am hereby in love with this Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup.

Amazing news! You can now click the button below to add all your ingredients to your Target cart! This is part of a new paid partnership we just started up with Target, and you’ll see these buttons now on all recipes site-wide.

Me? Wild Rice Soup? Obsessed? Pshhh.

Okay fine, I might be a little obsessed. There might be something like three variations of wild rice soup already on this blog. I don’t know. It’s not a problem, okay? It’s just… a love.

In This Post: Everything You Need For Wild Rice Soup

• VIDEO for How to Make This Wild Rice Soup
• Variations of this Wild Rice Soup
• What to Serve with This Soup
• Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup: Frequently Asked Questions

Prefer To Watch Instead Of Read?

Variations Of This Wild Rice Soup

It might be helpful to do a quick recap of my wild rice soup journey over the course of my life.

My Mom’s Wild Rice Soup.I grew up in / still live in Minnesota. Wild rice soup was the food of my childhood. My mom still makes it every year for Christmas Eve dinner. It’s dark by 5pm and the evergreen trees are covered with snow and the soup has been simmering all day and the whole house smells like bacon and wild rice soup. And really, there is just nothing better.No electric appliances. Nothing being plugged in. It’s a purist version. In case you were wondering, I think the recipe comes from our church cookbook because obviously. This is how it gets done. God bless Minnesota, and mom, and the wild rice soup that raised me.

Crockpot Chicken Wild Rice Soup:Then came my need to make wild rice soup on the reg. I wanted to take it from Christmas dinner to an easier-to-make version of the classic. Like, crockpot level easy. This recipe was born and it became one of the most popular recipes on Pinch of Yum. It is also one of my personally most-made recipes in life. And that’s saying a lot, because I’m making new recipes ALL THE TIME. Thisbecame an excellent back-pocket recipe for making a quick dinner, having friends over last-minute, or bringing a meal to a friend. And now this

Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup (with mushrooms oh my gosh): This brings us to today.Yet another iteration of the wild rice soup that I so know and love. This time I ditched the chicken (although, to be fair, you can absolutely keep it around), added mushrooms, and put it in theInstant Pot (affiliate link). I know you want to hate me. But you do not hate me because this is going to blowyamind. The flavor of this soup, thanks to the mushrooms, I think, was so, so, so, so good. The prep and cook is SOS-level easy. And think about how much wild rice soup I’ve had in my lifetime. I feel very qualified to tell you that this right here is how it’s done. This is yummy, earthy, middle-of-winter wild rice soup.

How To Make This Wild Rice Soup

This is a dump and cook situation. It’s mostly hands-off (except for a short little step at the end to get that creaminess). And it’s weeknight and freezer-friendly. Let’s get to it!

You have options:

• The Best Flavor Option (this is how the recipe is written): Sauté onions and mushrooms to start. Add wild rice and cook for a bit to make a soup base. Add veggies just at the end, so they don’t get mushy. Add heavy cream, a bit more broth, and some sherry and umami seasoning to finish. OOF. So good.

• The Easiest Option: Add everything to the Instant Pot. Add heavy cream to make it creamy. The end.

• The No-Heavy-Cream Option: Same as either of the above to start, but instead of heavy cream, make a flour-butter-milk mixture as your creamy base. (This is how I’ve always made the recipe in the past, but more recently I’m finding that I like the heavy cream option better because the flavor is a bit richer and more developed.)

What To Serve With This Soup

You will obviously need some extras to go with your wild rice soup.

If it’s just an average Sunday soup day, you better be making a loaf of crusty No Knead Bread.

If it’s Christmas (who else makes wild rice soup for Christmas except my family? I literally know zero people), you better have a fancy salad to round out the meal. May I recommend the Bacon and Brussels Sprouts Salad of years past? It never gets old, does it? Or my family’s latest favorite, a Simple Green Salad.

Adding Other Proteins / Making Swaps

Protein options that you can add in or out:

• Shredded or cubed chicken – I have a recipe for that right here.
• Crumbled cooked bacon
• Cubed ham
• Throw a whole ham bone in there

About The Mushrooms

If you kind of don’t like mushrooms but you *might* like them sometimes, can I recommend that you give it a whirl? Cut up the mushrooms really thin so you get the flavor without the texture bothering you as much. I think you’re going to fall hard and fast.

And my friends who are already on team mushroom? A) Good for you, and B) GET. AFTER. IT. This recipe has been elevated to my new favorite version of wild rice soup which is a major big deal. Warm, creamy, cold-weather mushrooms and wild rice for the eternal win. ❤

Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup: Frequently Asked Questions

Something brand new we recently added: a button to add all your ingredients to your Target cart! Just tap the button to get all these ingredients – it’ll create your list and pop you over to the Target app where you can just order it all for Drive Up. It’s literally the easy button!♡

Print

Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup

4.7 from 979 reviews

• Author: Lindsay
• Total Time: 1 hour
• Yield: 6 servings (1 1/2 cups per serving) 1x

Print Recipe

Description

We’re making cozy Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup and it’s everything! Packed with mushrooms, carrots, celery, wild rice, cream, and seasonings. It’s so creamy, so cozy, and perfect for a night in.

Ingredients

Units Scale

For the Soup Base in the Instant Pot:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• half of an onion, chopped
• 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1 cup uncooked wild rice (see notes)
• 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 medium carrots, chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped (optional)

Make a Creamy Base on the Stovetop:

• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk (I used 2%)
• OR replace all of the above with 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Optional For Finishing / Flavor:

• 1 teaspoon umami mushroom seasoning
• 1–2 tablespoons sherry (it seems forgettable but it adds a lot)

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Video

1. Instant Pot soup base: Using the sauté function, melt the butter and sauté the onions and mushrooms until softened. Add the wild rice, the broth, the salt, and the spices; cook on high pressure for 35 minutes. Release the steam, add carrots, garlic, and celery, and cook on high pressure for another 10 minutes.Release steam using the valve on top.

2. Make it creamy: You have two choices for making it creamy – A) Add 1 1/2 cups heavy cream to the soup (plus more broth as needed) and you’re done! This is slightly thinner / more brothy, but so rich and flavorful thanks to the cream! B) To avoid using heavy cream (some people don’t like to use it), you can thicken the soup with a flour-butter-milk mixture, in which case you will start by melting the butter in a saucepan. Whisk in the flour. Let the mixture cook for a minute or two to remove the floury taste. Whisk the milk, a little bit at a time, until you have a smooth, thickened sauce. Throw a little salt in there for good measure.

3. Together:Mix the creamy sauce with the soup in the instant pot. Voila! Mushroom Wild Rice Soup. This will be very thick (especially if you did the flour-butter-milk method), so use broth to thin it out to your desired consistency!

Equipment

Small Saucepan

Buy Now →

Ladle

Buy Now →

Instant Pot, 6 Qt

Buy Now →

The equipment section may contain affiliate links to products we know and love.

Notes

A note about wild rice: Please useactual wild rice (affiliate link)! I know it’s on the expensive side, and hard to find, and I’m normally all about the substitutions, but in this case, it is not the same. Don’t use brown rice, don’t use white rice, and don’t use a “wild rice blend”, which is usually just white or brown rice with a few flecks of wild rice in there. Use straight WILD RICE.

Crockpot version: Check out this recipe.

Stovetop version: Saute carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and mushrooms with oil. Add wild rice, broth, and salt. Simmer until wild rice is cooked (1-2 hours). Make the roux and mix it in (or add heavy cream). Thin the soup to desired consistency with broth.

Freezer Meal Version

1. Freeze Together:
   3 cups mirepoix, fresh or frozen
   8 ounces mushrooms, fresh or frozen
   3 cloves garlic, minced
   1 cup uncooked wild rice
   4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
   1 teaspoon salt
   1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
   1 lb. chicken breasts (optional)
2. Instant Pot Instructions: High pressure 30 mins + 10 mins natural release
3. Slow Cooker Instructions: High setting 4 hours (thaw first if using chicken)
4. Final Step: Melt 6 tbsp butter in a pan, whisk in 1/2 cup flour, whisk in 1 1/2 cups milk until creamy and thick. Add to the soup.
5. Check out our full freezer meal posts with all recipes and instructions here!

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 45 minutes
• Category: Dinner
• Method: Instant Pot
• Cuisine: American

Keywords: instant pot wild rice soup, wild rice soup, vegetarian wild rice soup, wild rice, mushroom wild rice soup

View the freezer meal version of this recipe here.

You might also like our fullfreezer meals post.

More Instant Pot Soup Recipes To Love

• Instant Pot Minestrone Soup (like a saucy, warm hug in a bowl)
• Instant Pot Sweet Potato Tortilla Soup (the BEST vegetarian tortilla soup)
• Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings (comfort food at its absolute finest)
• Instant Pot Pumpkin Walnut Chili (my favorite twist on vegetarian chili)
• Spicy Peanut Soup with Sweet Potato and Kale (Instant Pot directions in the recipe card!)

Time To Show You Off!

Tag @pinchofyum on Instagram for a chance to be featured

One More Thing!

This recipe is part of our best Instant Pot recipes page. Check it out!