Wild rice and chickpeas add a healthy dose of protein to this simple and satisfying winter vegetable soup. Moreover, parsnips and celery seed create a subtle earthy sweetness to the broth which makes this recipe unique. Top with loads of fresh parsley and a serve with a good slice of rye bread for a comforting (and hearty) meal on any winter’s day.
It’s no question that soup is one of my all time favourite things to make…and I bet it ranks pretty high with other home cooks as well. It’s an excellent recipe when you need to use up left over vegetables, and there’s nothing better than sitting down to an aromatic and savory bowl of warmth on a chilly day.
I made this winter vegetable soup for my mom last week while she was visiting… and, I don’t plan to ramble on too much as she’s been patiently waiting for this recipe to go live!
Parsnips and whole celery seed add subtle and earthy sweetness to this broth-based soup. You can easily reduce the amount of broth by a cup for a more stew like consistency. Rice and chickpeas add protein and fiber which, in turn, makes this soup quite substantial along with all the root vegetables. You can also opt to use brown rice or any rice you like, but you may have to reduce the cooking time by 10 minutes or so- wild rice blends tend to need longer cooking times in general. I used a big handful of fresh parsley on top simply because it’s what we had in the garden, but spinach or chopped chard would also be excellent here.
I hope you give my winter vegetable soup a try this season and fall in love with the flavours.
Hugs
Winter Vegetable Soup with Chickpeas & Wild Rice
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 large carrot diced
- 1 stalk celery diced
- 1 medium parsnip diced
- 1 medium leek sliced, white part only
- good splash of sherry cooking wine or white wine
- 1/2 cup wild rice uncooked
- 1/2 tsp whole celery seed
- 1 bay leaf
- sea salt & fresh black pepper to taste
- 6 cups vegetable broth
- 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
- fresh chopped parsley
Instructions
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Heat the olive oil in a medium pot. Add the diced onion, garlic, carrot, celery, parsnip and leek and cook until softened and slightly browned (about 5 minutes).
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De-glaze the pot with a splash of sherry cooking wine. Stir in the wild rice, celery seed and bay leaf. Add the vegetable broth and stir to combine.
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Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 30-35 minutes or until the rice is cooked. Stir in the chickpeas and season with salt and pepper to taste.
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Serve with a generous helping of chopped fresh parsley.
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Wonderful soup sweetie. Gets a 5 star from me!
xoxo thank you, love!
Your Father made this soup the other night. You know me, I’m a meat and potatoes kind of girl but OMG, what a delicious soup. Everything in it was amazing. Parsnips and leaks are so rare in our diet that I might as well say I don’t eat them. But this soup will be made many times right through into spring. A wonderful combination of vegetables that are so needed through the winter months
Your father made this soup the other night. You know me I’m a meat and potatoes kind of girl. Well OMG this was so delicious. Parsnips, Leeks, and Garbanzo Beans are so rare in my diet I might as well say I never eat them. With the combination of all the other vegetables it was so amazing and not a potato in sight (hahaha) This soup will be made often right through into the spring. Inexpensive and so tasty good !!
I’m so very happy you like it 😀 xo
Love this beautiful soup Heidi! I can’t wait to try it.
Thank you so much, Crystal! I hope you and your family love it as much as we do! xo
Could I use regular rice or omit the rice?
Hi Hayley! You may want to slightly adjust the cooking time per the type of rice you use; white rice, for example, has a shorter cooking time than wild rice. If you want to omit the rice altogether, you may want to adjust the amount of stock roughly by a cup. Let me know how it works out for you 🙂