Spring is quickly coming around the corner and nothing says spring more than lemon rice soup. This zesty vegan salt-free, oil-free, and sugar-free soup will have you coming back for seconds and thirds. Did we mention this recipe only requires a handful of ingredients, which makes it even more amazing.

So, get out your cutting boards and knives, it is time to get cooking!

Start by dicing the carrots, celery, and onion and then adding them to a dutchoven or a large pot. You can chop them into smaller or larger pieces, whichever you prefer. Personally, we like smaller pieces for this recipe. Add the garlic to the pot, you can mince your own or use pre-package minced garlic. Then saute the carrots, celery and onion. Don’t forget to add water as needed to prevent everything from sticking together. Our tip is to keep a hot kettle on the stove, so the water does not cool everything down. Then add the garlic and saute for one minute.

If you are in a time crunch you do not have to saute, it is completely up to you. You can instead add all the ingredients to the pot, bring it to a boil, reduce the heat, and allow it to simmer for 20 minutes. It is important to note that the zucchini will get mushy, so if you do not like mushy zucchini we do not recommend going this route. If you decide to saute first, chop the zucchini and add to a separate bowl.

It is time to add the rest of the ingredients and spices! Add the oregano, bay leaf, and black pepper. A great addition to this recipe is our Stardust Salt Substitute as it adds a nice salty flavor. Then add the veggie stock, if you want to add more liquid later we suggest simply using water as there is enough flavor from the other ingredients.

For those who do not prefer mushy zucchini, you can add the zucchini to the pot now. Along with that, add the cooked rice. We often make large batches of brown rice early during the week to make recipes like this easy and quick. While the soup is simmering, if you prefer a thinner soup add as much water as you would like. You can also add more brown rice too (like us) if you want your soup to be more starchy. Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer until the zucchini and carrots are the tenderness you prefer.

This is the most important part, adding the fresh lemon juice, but just before you do that remember to take out the bay leaves. Cut three lemons and simply squeeze the juice into the pot. We love a very lemony lemon rice soup so we added more than the recipe calls for, but how much juice you add is completely up to you.

Lemon rice soup is often creamy so we achieve this by taking an immersion blender and blending the soup just a little bit. You can also do this by using a regular blender and ladling the soup into the blender. Although, you do not want to over blend the soup as it is not a blended soup.

And that is all for this delicious springtime lemon rice soup! But…if you want to be fancy you can always garnish this with a lemon wedge. We love how creamy and zesty this soup is and it is perfect for those cold spring mornings.

We hope you enjoy this recipe and don’t forget to check out the rest of our delicious vegan, salt, oil, and sugar free recipes!

wellyourworld.com

Lemon Rice Soup

Just in time for spring!

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Ingredients:

• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 4 carrots, diced
• 4 celery stalks, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 4 cups veggie broth
• 3-4 cups water
• 2 zucchini diced
• 2 cups short-grain rice, cooked
• 2 bay leaves
• 1-2 teaspoons black pepper
• 3 lemons, juiced

Instructions:

In a soup pot, saute the onion, carrots, and celery until tender (about 5 minutes), adding water as needed to keep from sticking. Throw in the garlic and cook a minute longer.

Throw in the oregano, veggie broth, water, zucchini, rice, bay leaf, and black pepper. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Just before serving remove the bay leaf and add the lemon juice. Use an immersion blender or regular blender to blend the soup to your desired consistency.