Easy Spanish Rice Soup Recipe

In this recipe, you will learn more about the famous Sopa Española de arroz, or as it is known in English, Spanish rice soup.

You will get to know its recipe and the different variants that you can make in it, besides a little bit of its rich history.

This Spanish soup is quite popular in Andalusia, which is a great achievement considering that it coexists with other famous Spanish soups such as the Spanish vegetable soup and the Spanish white bean soup. All of which are famous amongst our Spanish soup recipes.

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Background of the dish

The Spanish rice soup has been present in the south of Spain for hundreds of years, since most of the main ingredients of the recipe arrived in the country after the colonization of America.

This soup quickly rose to popularity as its high rice content filled people with the energy they needed to cope with cold winter days.

Today it is still extremely popular and you can find it throughout Andalusia, whether in the fanciest restaurants or the more homely ones.

As you will see in this article, the recipe is very simple to make, so there are no excuses! get to work and prepare this delicious Spanish rice soup.

Things You’ll Need for Spanish Rice Soup Recipe

For this Spanish soup with rice recipe you will not need any fancy equipment or ingredients that are difficult to find, you probably already have most of the ingredients in your home!

The key ingredients are tomato and rice, since they are the essence of this soup, and fortunately the rest of the ingredients are very easy to replace. As for rice, anyone works for this recipe but white rice is the best rice for Spanish rice soup.

While when it comes to the equipment you only need a large pot or a deep saucepan. You can also use a blender or mixer if you plan to blend all the ingredients of the soup together to have a much smoother soup.

Ingredients

• 2 cups (480ml) vegetable broth
• 1 cup (200g) cooked rice
• 1 onion (chopped)
• 1 red bell pepper (chopped)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley (chopped)
• 1 can (28oz) crushed or diced tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon white granulated sugar (optional)

How to make Spanish Rice Soup Recipe – Step by Step Guide

1. The first step in this Spanish rice soup is pretty easy, all you have to do is to grab a vegetable cutting board and chop the onion, red bell pepper, and fresh parsley. You can chop them in any size of your choice, especially if you are thinking of blending the soup later.
2. For the next step grab a large saucepan or pot and mix the crushed tomatoes, vegetable broth, bay leaf, salt, pepper, and chopped vegetables. If you add one teaspoon of granulated white sugar at this point you’ll get a less acidic flavor on the soup, it won’t be sweet, it’ll just neutralize the acidic flavor from the tomatoes.
3. Place the saucepan on the stove and bring to a boil at medium to high heat. Then simmer for 15 minutes at low heat. If you want a smoother soup now is the time to process it in a blender or mixer. If you don’t blend it, you’ll be able to feel the chunks of vegetables while you’re eating the soup.
4. Then add cooked rice and cook everything together on medium to low heat. You can use any rice of your choice; from brown to white, anyone will work!
5. After that cook for 5 minutes and remove the bay leaf. And finally, your soup is ready! All you have to do next is to serve it warm.

Substitution of ingredients

There are different substitutions that you can make in the ingredients of the recipe, and you will still have a delicious Spanish rice soup.

The simplest substitution is to replace the vegetable broth with the same amount of chicken broth or even water!

Something you have to keep in mind is that you can use any type of rice that you like, be it Yamani rice, brown rice, or even minute rice.

You just have to make sure that it is cooked just right so it has a good texture, do not worry about the flavor since anyone will taste delicious.

You can also look for other minutes rice recipes such as the classic Spanish rice, which only has 1 cup of water or broth, and it uses more spices such as paprika, saffron, etc.

Other changes involve adding different ingredients, which will make this soup fill you up for the whole day.

For example, you can add chicken or meat and you will have something similar to a Spanish beef soup or a Spanish chicken and rice soup.

Finally, if you liked this soup, I recommend that you try others like the Spanish garbanzo bean soup and the Spanish lentil soup recipe.

I also encourage you to make different Spanish chicken dishes such as the famous Spanish Chicken Noodle Soup, this classic Spanish chicken soup recipe, or our legendary chicken rice soup from Spain.

They’re some of the easiest chicken recipes you can get! On top, they’re considered extremely healthy recipes too!

The Spanish rice and chicken soup or the Spanish mackerel soup recipe are both delicious soups from Spain you must try.

Tips on Serving

This Andalusian food is usually served during lunch or dinner and is ideal to eat during the winter and warm your whole body.

If you are looking for what to eat in Malaga you’ll see that it is served as a starter or as a main dish, you can do the same, just vary the amount of each portion.

Although in the recipe I mention that you must remove the bay leaf, in Spain, there is a tradition in which the person who receives the bay leaf is in charge of washing the dishes, so you can play that little game to have fun with your family or guests and if you are lucky you will not have to take care of the cleaning!

Finally, I recommend that you serve the soup with a little grated Parmesan cheese, as it goes very well with the rice and tomato in the soup.

You can also toast some of your favorite bread with olive oil and garlic and serve it as a soup topping to give it a crunchy texture.

If you’re not a fan of soup or you’re just looking for something more satiating, try our classic Spanish chorizo rice or the Spanish rice with ground beef and you won’t regret it.

And not to leave out our vegan audience, we have a quick vegan Spanish rice and the Spanish saffron rice that is just incredibly delicious.

How to store Spanish Rice Soup

Fortunately, thanks to the ingredients that this soup contains, you can store it both in the freezer and in the refrigerator to eat them a few days after preparing it.

Whether you want to freeze it or keep it for a couple of days in the refrigerator, there are different tips that will help you do it and keep the taste of the soup intact.

If you choose to store it in the fridge, the process is easier but it will also take less time. All you have to do is let it cool down to room temperature and then store it in the fridge in a container with a lid, where it can last up to 5 days.

Once you are ready to eat it, all you have to do is heat it on the stove over medium heat or in the microwave in 2-minute intervals until it reaches the desired temperature.

Now, if you want to freeze it, a great advantage is that it can last up to 30 days, but there are some tricks that you should keep in mind. The first thing to keep in mind is that the rice cannot be frozen together with the soup, because if you freeze them together the rice will take on humidity and will have a very dense texture.

One thing you can do is freeze the soup, and prepare the rice the same day you plan to eat the soup. If you don’t have much time to cook the rice you can make this Spanish rice recipe with minute rice, and it will save you a lot of time.

When you are ready to eat the soup, all you have to do is defrost the soup the night before, stir it, and add the cooked rice when you are heating it.

You can even store it in small containers per portion, this way you just defreeze the portion that you’ll eat.

Other Spanish soups you’ll love:

• Creamy Spanish Tomato Soup
• Spanish Chicken Soup With Rice
• Spanish White Bean Soup
• Spanish Vegetable Soup
• Spanish Chicken Noodle Soup
• Spanish Beef Soup
• Spanish Chestnut Soup with Chorizo

Recipe Card: Spanish Rice Soup Recipe

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