The rice and vegetable soup is a simple and genuine first course, rich in seasonal vegetables and customizable according to your taste. When you come home after a cold and rainy day, what could be better than indulging in a warm and enveloping soup? The rice soup with vegetables is a great alternative to other delicious autumn and winter soups.
To prepare the rice and vegetable soup, you can use your favorite vegetables; personally, I recommend a combination of kale, pumpkin, carrots, and potatoes for a variety of flavors and textures, but you might as well add already cooked legumes – beans, lentils, chickpeas – for an even more nutritious meal. The beauty of this soup lies precisely in its adaptability. You can adjust the thickness to your liking, creating a heartier or lighter soup. The rice, cooking directly in the soup, gives an irresistible creaminess, turning every spoonful into an enveloping pleasure. Rice and vegetable soup is the perfect solution for those who love straightforward cuisine, but rich in authentic flavors.
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- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Very Cheap
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4 people
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter
- Energy 305.40 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 45.61 (g) of which sugars 2.82 (g)
- Proteins 6.98 (g)
- Fat 10.81 (g) of which saturated 2.75 (g)of which unsaturated 0.98 (g)
- Fibers 2.46 (g)
- Sodium 262.12 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 310 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for the Rice and Vegetable Soup
- 3.5 oz potatoes
- 3.5 oz pumpkin (peeled and seeded)
- 4.2 oz kale
- 1/2 onion
- 1.75 oz carrots
- 1 cup rice
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- to taste salt
- 2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
- to taste water (about 3 cups)
Tools
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Pot large, thick-bottomed with lid
How to Prepare Rice with Vegetable Soup
To prepare the rice and vegetable soup, start by finely chopping the carrot and onion (1). If you have it, you can also add a stalk of celery.
Cut the pumpkin into slices, remove the skin, seeds, and internal fibers, then cut it into fairly small cubes (2). Peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes of the same size (3).
Wash the kale leaves, remove the central part, which is hard and fibrous, and cut them into strips (4). Take a large thick-bottomed pot – if you have it, you can use a clay pot, excellent for soups – and pour in the oil.
Add the chopped carrots and onion and let them sauté briefly over low heat (5). After about a minute, add the potato and pumpkin cubes (6).
Salt and mix well to flavor the vegetables. Then add the kale leaves (7) and about 1.7 cups of hot water (8). Cover with a lid and cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes and pumpkin are tender (9).
At this point, add the rice (10), a pinch of salt, and a little more hot water. From this moment on, be careful to adjust the amount of water as the rice cooks, especially if you want a thick and hearty rice soup: if you add too much water, you risk that the rice will be cooked before the soup reaches the desired thickness.
The advice is therefore to add it little by little – always boiling so as not to stop the cooking of the rice – and to stir the soup often until the rice is cooked (11). It will take about 10-12 minutes, depending on the type of rice used. When the rice is cooked, turn off the heat and, if you like, add a little grated Parmesan (12).
Serve the rice and vegetable soup immediately, as a first course or as a single dish. You can garnish it with more grated Parmesan, with a drizzle of raw extra virgin olive oil, or with a grind of pepper.
Storage
The vegetable soup – before adding the rice – can be stored in the refrigerator in a glass jar for 2 or 3 days.
Tips and Variations
To prepare the rice and vegetable soup, you can use the seasonal vegetables and greens you like most. In winter, you can also use broccoli, cauliflower, and savoy cabbage. In spring, zucchini, fresh peas, and green beans. Adding legumes will make your rice soup even more nutritious and tasty: add them already cooked to the soup just before adding the rice.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
What rice to use for soups?
For soups, you need rice that swells excessively during cooking (therefore no Carnaroli, more suitable for risottos), that absorbs liquids and does not take too long to cook. The Originario or even the Roma work well for this purpose. For more information, also check out this special dedicated to rice.
