Loaded Vegetable and Wild Rice Soup
A garden's worth of dried vegetables and instant wild rice, rehydrated in one pot.
- calories
- 480
- weight
- 3.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 137
- protein
- 12 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 17 min
- water
- 600 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Car camping
- Winter / snow
- Vegetarian
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Instant wild rice blend | 1/3 cup | quick-cook only, the raw blend takes 45 minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Dried butternut squash | 1/4 cup | dice small before drying or it stays crunchy |
| Dried mushrooms | 1/4 cup | sliced, any variety |
| Dried zucchini | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried carrot and celery | 3 tbsp total | |
| Dried minced onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Vegetable bouillon | 2 tsp | or two cubes crushed |
| Dried thyme | 1/2 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp | taste first, bouillon is already salty |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp |
Method
- Bring 600 ml of water to a boil with everything except the oil already in the pot.
- Boil two minutes, then cut the heat to the lowest flame that keeps it moving.
- Simmer 12 minutes with the lid on. Stir every few minutes so the rice does not weld to the bottom.
- Pull it off the stove, stir in the oil, and let it sit five minutes with the lid on. The squash needs that time.
- If it is still soupy, leave the lid off. If it went thick, add a splash of water.
Home versions of this soup sauté fresh vegetables in butter, then simmer eight cups of broth for the better part of an hour. Neither the fridge nor the fuel budget survives the trip. Dehydrated vegetables and bouillon do the same job: the vegetables rehydrate in the same pot they cook in, and the water goes from eight cups to two and a half because you are eating the soup, not swimming in it.
The squash is the slow part. Dried cubes stay hard well past the point where the rice is done, so the off-heat rest matters more than the simmer does. Oil goes in at the end because a soup this lean is thin without it, and boiling it just drives the flavor off.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one bag at home. Oil rides in a leakproof bottle. On a canister stove, budget for fifteen minutes of low flame, not one boil.
Variations
- A packet of chicken or a scoop of TVP takes it past 25 g of protein.
- Miso paste stirred in off the heat replaces the bouillon and adds depth.
- Skip the rice and double the squash for a thicker, faster stew.
https://domesticsuperhero.com/loaded-vegetable-wild-rice-soup