Wild Rice and Mushroom Slow Cooker Soup

Peel, Chop, Slow Cook.

Just the Recipe | 6 Servings

Soup

12 oz Baby Bella Mushrooms

1 Large Onion

2-3 Carrots

2-3 Stalks Celery

4 Cloves Garlic, minced

1 1/2 Cup Wild Rice (uncooked)

6 Cups Chicken or Vegetable Stock

1 tsp Kosher Salt

1/2 tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper

1/2 tsp Thyme (fresh or dried)

Optional: Pinch of dried sage, rosemary, and/or marjoram

Cream Sauce

6 TBS Butter or Ghee

1/2 Cup Flour

1 1/2 Cup Whole Milk or Milk Alternative

Slow Cooker | LOW 5-6 Hrs -or -HIGH 2-3 Hrs

Steps:

• Prep the veggies and aromatics:

  • Wipe the mushrooms clean with a damp towel. Slice.

  • Peel and chop the onion and carrots.

  • Dice the celery.

  • Peel and mince the garlic.

  • Finely chop the thyme if using fresh.

• Rinse the wild rice.

• Add the veggies, thyme, salt, pepper and rice to a slow cooker. Stir to combine. Cover with the stock.

• Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours (2-3 hrs on high).

• Finish with the cream sauce:

  • Melt the butter and whisk in the flour; cook for a minute or two.

  • Slowly add the milk, whisking until creamy and thick.

  • Stir into the soup.

• Serve and enjoy!

Top with homemade croutons or large cubes of toasted garlic bread.

Feel free to adjust ingredients for what you have on hand!

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Kitchen Acumen Tips:

• Alternatively you can cook this in the Instant Pot for 25 minutes on High Pressure; natural release for 10 minutes. Stir in the cream sauce at the end.

• Variations:

  • Add leftover cubed chicken or turkey. We often make this soup as a way to use up leftover turkey after Thanksgiving. Once we used smoked turkey and it was AMAZING!

  • Skip the cream sauce if dairy free or use ghee and a milk alternative. You may try adding a cup of coconut milk or oat milk.

  • Instead of rice, use barley.

  • Switch up the flavors to make this have more Asian style flavors. Skip the thyme. Add a red chili. When done, stir in coconut milk, diced cilantro, and 2 TBS of lime juice.

• As onion, celery and carrot sizes can vary the goal is to end up with about equal amounts of all three. Roughly a heaping cup of each is good.

• If you don’t have wild rice, you can use white but it will break down more quickly upon reheating.

• One for now, one for later. Prep double the ingredients so you can set aside one batch as a freezer meal to pull out in a few weeks and make again. When making as a freezer meal, add everything EXCEPT the stock and cream sauce ingredients. Label and freeze. Enjoy within 3 months. Cooking the freezer recipe. When ready to cook, pull out of the freezer and add frozen to a slow cooker. Cover with the stock. Cover and cook for 4 hours on high. Finish with cream sauce as above. Learn more about freezer meals here.