Creamy vegan wild rice soup with seitan

It's easy to make a dairy-free, plant-based version by swapping out the bird for seitan chicken instead.

You still get toothsome wild rice, along with protein-packed seitan.

It's finished in a velvety broth with cashew cream.

(For even more warming soups for cold weather, check out my list of favorite vegan fall soups.)

In this post:

Here are the ingredients you will need for this wild rice soup recipe.

Raw cashews: Raw cashews give this soup amazing creaminess & body. Look for them with other nuts in the grocery store.

To save money, I recommend using raw cashew pieces, which tend to be less expensive than the whole variety.

Oil: Avocado oil is my go-to. But you can use any neutral flavored cooking oil to sauté veggies.

Produce: Yellow onion, carrots, celery, curly kale, and garlic.

Freshly minced garlic is best, but it can be replaced with ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder. If using powdered, add it at the same time as the other seasonings.

Seasonings: Salt, dried rosemary, dried thyme, herbs de Provence, and pepper.

Wild rice: Look for wild rice with packaged grains at the grocery store. It’s sometimes sold in bulk bins.

Wild rice has a longer cooking time than white, brown, or basmati rice. That’s why this soup recipe takes a little longer than soups with standard rice or potatoes as its carb-y base.

Bouillon: Better Than Bouillon no chicken base is my favorite. But feel free to use your preferred vegetable bouillon.

Seitan chicken: Use homemade chicken seitan or any store-bought variety you enjoy. I especially like the seitan from Herbivorous Butcher or Upton's Naturals.

Here’s how to make the recipe at a glance. For complete ingredient amounts & instructions, keep scrolling to the recipe card below.

1. Start by making the cashew cream. Blend raw cashews with water in a high-speed blender.

(Have a standard blender? Soak the raw cashews for several hours first & drain to soften them. Or grind dry raw cashews in a clean coffee grinder and then add them your standard blender.)

Then set the cashew cream aside for later.

2. In a pot, sauté onions, carrots, celery, garlic, and salt with oil.

3. Once the onions are translucent & fragrant, add wild rice, dried rosemary, dried thyme, herbs de Provence, and pepper. Sauté a couple minutes more.

4. Add water, Better Than Bouillon no chicken base, and bring to a low simmer. Cook for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the wild rice is tender.

5. Add the cashew cream from earlier, diced chicken seitan, and chopped curly kale. Bring back to a low simmer, and cook 10 more minutes to thicken. Add more salt & pepper to taste.

You can make this creamy vegan soup your own by varying the ingredients.

Make it gluten-free

Make this soup gluten-free by using a gluten free bouillon or vegetable broth.

Then for the protein, choose beans or Soy Curls instead of seitan. Use an equal amount of Cannellini beans, Great Northern beans, chickpeas, or hydrated Soy Curls.

Replace the onions

Yellow onions can be replaced with chopped shallots, sliced leeks, or diced red onions.

Add mushrooms

If you'd like some shroom-y goodness in your soup, add your favorite chopped mushrooms at the same time as the carrots, celery, and onions. (Think baby bella mushrooms, cremini, or button.) Or the mushrooms can replace either the celery or carrots.

If you add a lot of extra vegetables, you'll need to add more water.

Vary the rice

Instead of wild rice, use a wild rice blend. Or use basmati brown rice, white rice, or pink rice. Wild rice needs more water to hydrate, so you can use less water with one of the other grains.

Water ratios vary by grain. So try using 2 fewer cups of water to start. You can always add more later in the cooking time if it seems necessary.

Swap out the seasonings

The soup is seasoned with herbs de Provence, thyme, and rosemary. If you don't have any one of the seasonings, feel free to use more of the other types.

Instead of dried rosemary or thyme, use fresh instead. The general guideline is that 1 teaspoon of dried herbs equals 1 Tablespoon of fresh (because the flavor is intensified & concentrated with dried.)

Use vegetable broth

The water + bouillon can be replaced with veggie broth if you prefer.

Replace curly kale

Curly kale can be replaced with lacinato kale, red kale, or collard greens.

Collard greens are sturdier/denser than kale. So you'll want to add them earlier in the cooking time. Add chopped collards at the same time as the wild rice, so it has plenty of time to soften.

This soup is a wonderfully hearty one-pot meal.

You can easily enjoy a bowl on its own, with crackers, air fryer croutons, or garlic bread.

Or fill out the meal with any of these side dishes:

• Warm bread & dukkah
• Crackers & olive tapenade
• Warmed Castelvetrano olives
• Salad with persimmons & delicata squash
• Easy spinach salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing
• Roasted Brussels sprouts with apples

Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will keep for about 4 days.

The kale will lose its bright green color over time. But it will still taste good.

When you're ready to reheat, simply heat the soup in a pot on the stove or warm in the microwave.

This creamy wild rice soup will continue to thicken as it cools. So be sure to add some splashes of water when reheating until it is your preferred level of soupiness.

Yes!

Creamy soups made from dairy like cream or milk can split in the freezer. However, soup thickened with cashew cream freezes beautifully.

Simply put any cold leftovers into a freezer-proof glass container, or freeze flat in a freezer bag.

When you're ready to reheat, thaw in the refrigerator. Or if you're using a microwave-safe container, use the defrost function on the microwave. Then reheat in a pot on the stove or in the microwave.

The soup thickens with time. So add extra water, if needed, to reach your preferred consistency.

Here are more vegan soup recipes I know you’ll love:

• Double lentil mushroom barley soup
• Creamy vegan tomato soup
• Vegan miso soup
• Vegan cauliflower cheese soup
• Creamy gnocchi soup with sausage & kale
• Potsticker soup

📖 Recipe

Creamy vegan wild rice soup with seitan

Author: Cadry Nelson

5 from 8 votes

It doesn't get cozier than seitan chicken and wild rice soup! Packed with onions, garlic, celery, and carrots, it's super satiating. The fragrance of rosemary, thyme, and herbs de Provence lures as it cooks. Plan to make leftovers, because you'll want every last bite!

Don't worry about the long cooking time. Most of it is hands-off while the wild rice hydrates on the stove.

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 people

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American, Vegan

Keyword: comfort food, one pot meal, winter food

Ingredients

Cashew cream

• ▢ 1 cup water
• ▢ ¾ cup raw cashews soaked & drained if necessary

Vegan chicken & wild rice soup

• ▢ 1 teaspoon avocado oil or your preferred cooking oil
• ▢ 1 medium yellow onion chopped
• ▢ 4 carrots sliced thick
• ▢ 4 celery ribs sliced thick
• ▢ 2 garlic cloves minced
• ▢ Pinch of salt plus more to taste
• ▢ 1 cup wild rice rinsed
• ▢ 1 teaspoon dried rosemary crumbled in fingers
• ▢ 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• ▢ 1 teaspoon herbs de Provence
• ▢ Dash of pepper
• ▢ 8 cups water
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon Better Than Bouillon no chicken base or your preferred bouillon
• ▢ 2 cups diced seitan chicken in bite-sized pieces (about 11 ounces)
• ▢ 4 leaves curly kale chopped with ribs removed (about 2 big handfuls)

Instructions

For the cashew cream

• ▢
  Put 1 cup of water and ¾ cup of raw cashews in a high speed blender. Blend until completely smooth. (You'll know it's ready when there are no crunching sounds in the blender.)

  If you don't have a high speed blender, check out the workarounds for standard blenders in the notes section below.
• ▢
  Set the cashew cream aside for use later in the recipe.

For the soup

• ▢
  Bring a large soup pot or Dutch oven to a medium heat with oil. Add chopped onions, carrots, celery, minced garlic, and a pinch of salt. Saute for several minutes, until the onions are translucent and fragrant.
• ▢
  Add wild rice, rosemary, thyme, herbs de Provence, and pepper. Stir and saute for a couple minutes more.
• ▢
  Add 8 cups of water and Better Than Bouillon no chicken base. Stir and bring to a low simmer.
• ▢
  Cook for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the wild rice is tender. Once the rice can be bitten easily, continue with the recipe.
• ▢
  Add diced chicken seitan, cashew cream, and chopped curly kale. Bring back to a low simmer, and cook for another 10 minutes. This allows the kale to soften, the flavors to meld, and the soup to thicken in creaminess.
• ▢
  Once the soup has thickened a little, add more salt and pepper to taste. Then serve.

Notes

If you don’t have a high speed blender to make cashew cream, here are three options for workarounds:

1. Grind dry raw cashews in a clean coffee grinder until it becomes like a flour. Add it to the blender with water.
2. Soak raw cashews in water for several hours. Then drain and add to the blender with fresh water.
3. Microwave raw cashews in water until hot or cover them in hot water from the stove. Soak for at least 10 minutes. Then drain and add to the blender with fresh water.

I recommend cutting the carrots & celery extra thick for this soup recipe, so that they don’t disintegrate in the long cooking time.

Store any leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator. They will keep for about 4 days. The soup thickens as it cools. So when reheating in the microwave or on the stove, add water until the soup has reached your preferred level of soupiness.

This soup also freezes well. Store in a freezer-proof container or flat in a freezer bag. Then thaw in the refrigerator. (If you’re using a microwave safe container, you can thaw using the defrost function on the microwave.)

Reheat on the stove in a soup pot or in the microwave.

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Nutrition

Calories: 285kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 286mg | Potassium: 578mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 10626IU | Vitamin C: 50mg | Calcium: 106mg | Iron: 3mg