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The Instant Pot really helps all the flavors in this mushroom and wild rice soup meld.
Mushroom Wild Rice Soup–The Instant Pot Way
Have you discovered that your Instant Pot or electronic multi-cooker really makes flavors blend so well?
I’ve been pressure cooking for ages and discovered their trick long ago. I was doing this even before these new-fangled and automatic pots became the vogue. What I’m trying to say is you don’t need the fancy equipment to make this recipe or any other labeled “Instant Pot.” Your trusty old Mirro or Fagor stovetop model will do very nicely too.
I love these appliances/pots for soups and especially this one. Sure you can do it conventionally but you get better flavor from pressure cooking and more importantly here is that the wild rice will cook in a jiffy!
Wild Rice
If you’re in the midwest and Minnesota in particular, I’m sure you can tell me a thing or two about wild rice!
I do find wild rice a bit difficult to get here where I live. I know there’s places I could order it online, but the prices are, in a word, outrageous. I know it’s an expensive ingredient, but some of the prices I’ve seen made me keel over.
For that reason, I used a readily-available wild rice blend. It’s pretty easy to get and truthfully–I liked the little variety in the mix. I feel it made this mushroom wild rice soup a lot more interesting. So use what you can get that doesn’t wreak havoc on your purse.
Vegetarian?
If you’re a vegetarian–meaning you eat eggs and dairy products but no meat–use the also-suggested vegetable stock.
This is a tough one to make vegan since I don’t think substituting nut or grain milks would result in a good flavor. If you want to try it and let me know how it tasted, I’d appreciate it since I like to give a vegan option where it’s possible.
The Recipe
Instant Pot Mushroom Wild Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb mushrooms fresh, thickly sliced
- 1 cup rice wild rice or wild rice blend
- 1 cup carrots diced
- 1/2 cup onion finely chopped
- 2 celery ribs diced
- 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/4 tsp thyme dried or 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 8 oz chopped spinach fresh or frozen
- 1/2 cup cream
Thickening:
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 4 tbs flour
- 4 tbs butter
Instructions
- Place the mushrooms, wild rice, carrots, onion, celery, stock, bay leaf, thyme, salt and pepper in the Instant Pot.
- Seal and set on "soup" setting, or 30 minutes at high pressure. When time is up, let the pressure reduce naturally--this will take approximately 30 minutes.
- Remove lid when pressure has dropped and add the spinach and cream. Stir. The residual heat is enough to wilt the spinach.
- For thickening, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Whisk in the flour and let it cook and bubble for 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in the milk and cook over medium heat until it begins to boil; cook for 2 minutes then whisk into the soup.
Penny says
I would love to be able to make this recipe without an instant pot! Any way you can share with us how to make this in a crock pot or just on the stove? Thank you – it looks delicious!
Judith Hanneman says
It’s pretty much the same process–you only have to cook it longer. Hope this helps.
Leo says
Judith, can I substitute the wild rice with bulgur? Thnx in advance….Leo
Judith Hanneman says
That should work. I think there was bulgur in that mix I used.