Brown Rice Vegetable Soup

This vegan, and gluten-free Brown Rice Vegetable Soup is a comforting and healthy meal full of fresh vegetables and fiber-rich brown rice. This simple bowl of veggies and rice is revitalizing, immune-boosting, nutritious, and great as part of a healthy eating plan.

Recipes like my Rosemary Orzo Soup and Lentil Soup are great for when you want a delicious, warming, and healthy soup with minimal effort. I love a cozy bowl of soup, and this is one of my Soup Recipes you’ll want in your recipe box!

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Please let me know if you have any questions about this recipe. I read all the comments myself and I try to help as soon as I can. I have readers from all levels of comfort and experience in the kitchen on my site, and I’ve tried to answer some of your questions already in the post. But if I’ve missed anything, please feel free to leave a comment and ask.

Recipe update

I’ve been making this vegetarian brown rice soup for a few years now; I first published it in 2013 while I was trying to eat really healthy while I couldn’t work out.

But I thought it needed a little facelift, and a better reader experience, so I’ve updated the information, the recipe, and the pictures.

Brown rice soup vegan is a fantastic way to get back on a little bit healthier eating, especially if you’ve been eating too many sweets lately (um, guilty!). Looking for a more traditional soup? Try my Creamy Noodle Soup.

Some like it hot

I prefer this soup on the spicy hot side so I use both the ½ fresh red chile, like a Fresno or red jalapeno, and the ¼ teaspoon dried chile powder.

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My favorite powder to use in this soup is Ancho Chili Powder or Chipotle Chile Pepper. But, feel free to use whatever chile you have.

I’ve also used dried chile pepper in this soup, and it works well too, just crumble it into little pieces and cook it in the soup.

If you aren’t a fan of spicy hot foods and would like just a hint of heat, here’s a little trick: leave the red chile whole, and place it in the soup. After the soup is done cooking take the chile out and discard it. This method will give you just a little heat.

Recipe Notes

I suggest using homemade broth, I think it tastes better and it’s better for you. Here’s my recipe for Vegetarian Roasted Vegetable Broth.

But, as always, use your favorite broth in this soup. The flavor of your favorite will be more familiar to you, and therefore, tastier!

For the mushrooms, the last time I went to the store they only had pre-sliced shiitake mushrooms, no whole ones. So, I bought a 5-ounce package of them, and that seemed perfect for this soup. So feel free to use 5 ounces of any kind of mushroom here.

I like the long skinny carrots that they sell with the tops on at the grocery store. They are more tender and sweeter than the big thick woody ones to me.

Health benefits of brown rice

Brown rice is so good for you; it’s a highly nutritious grain that’s good for the heart, aids in digestion, and may reduce the risk of cancer, diabetes and high cholesterol.

Because it’s a rich source of dietary fiber, it can reduce your risk heart disease, and help lower cholesterol.

Brown rice also contains high levels of magnesium, which can also help make you less vulnerable to heart disease and stroke.

And, women who eat whole grains may weigh less (awesome!).

Brown rice also has a nuttier flavor than white rice, so you may enjoy its flavor more.

Stone soup

I like to think of this as stone soup. What I mean by that is that this basic recipe can be used to make many more versions.

Add in some protein, plant-based chickpeas or lentils would be perfect.

If you eat meat, shredded chicken would work well. Heck, you can use chicken broth and make this into a healthier version of chicken noodle soup when you’re feeling under the weather.

Toss in some additional veggies, like cauliflower or celery. Or, if you’ve got some leftover roasted veggies from last night’s dinner, those would be great in this soup! 

How to make this soup

This soup is really quick and easy to make.

Simply cook the rice in the broth. Oh, and that rice absorbs the delicious broth flavoring it as it cooks.

While the rice cooks, chop a few veggies, then toss the veggies into the soup, and cook a little bit more.

The soup only requires 30 minutes total cooking. Everything is made in one pot so clean-up is nice and easy.

Kitchen tools you may need for this recipe

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Veggie peeler
pot
spoon
cutting board
knife

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