I was meal planning last week when I came upon one of my favorite recipes here on IGE – Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. Rich, hearty, and soul-satisfying, it’s a cold-weather favorite for sure. Hmm, I wondered, what would I have to change to make this recipe crock pot friendly?
Turns out, NOTHING! I tossed 99% of the ingredients into my crock pot, turned it on low, then 4 hours later — poof! The soup was slow cooked to perfection. If you’ve got a crock pot, cutting board, knife, and one working finger, then you can make Crock Pot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup.
It’s as easy as it is 3-bowl worthy!
Can You Freeze Crock Pot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup?
Crock Pot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup is one of my favorite recipes to freeze before cooking. Add all the ingredients except the broth into a Ziplock freezer bag then freeze. 24 hours before you want to cook, thaw the pack the refrigerator then pour into the crock pot, add broth, and push “on”.
(That’s where you’ll need the 1 working finger!)
How to Make This Recipe
All you need to do is add chicken breasts, a brown rice-wild rice blend, carrots, celery, onion, butter (for a little bit of richness since there is so little fat in here!) garlic, and spice-cupboard staples including bay leaves, dried rosemary, dried thyme, dried sage, salt, and pepper into a 6-quart crock pot. Add chicken broth then cover and cook on low for 4 hours.
My Favorite Rice to Use
Here’s the brown rice-wild rice blend I recommend for the perfect bowl of Crock Pot Chicken & Wild Rice Soup. It slow cooks in the same amount of time as the chicken so everything is ready all at once. That said, if you use a different brand of rice it could take longer to cook. If that’s the case, store the shredded chicken in the refrigerator until the rice is ready then stir it in just before serving.
I think there’s a common misconception that chicken breasts take forever to cook in the crock pot. Totally not true. Four hours on low is usually all you need for tender, juicy chicken. It should shred with the tap of a fork.
Stir the shredded chicken back into the soup then ladle and serve! I hope you love this EASY and healthy crock pot soup recipe – enjoy!
Similar Recipes
- CrockPot White Chicken Chili
- Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
- Easy Chicken and Rice Soup
- One Pot Chicken and Rice
- Gluten Free Homestyle Chicken and Noodles
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Crock Pot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Description
Crock Pot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup is a quick and healthy crock pot recipe that's perfect for busy nights. Add all the ingredients in the crock pot then push on!
Ingredients
- 1lb chicken breasts
- 1 small onion or 1 large shallot, minced
- 2 carrots, minced (~1 cup)
- 2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
- 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon dried ground sage
- small pinch dried rosemary, crushed between your fingers
- 1 large or 2 small bay leaves
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 3/4 cup wild rice-brown rice blend (I recommend Lundberg Farms)
Directions
- Add all ingredients into a 6-quart crock pot then cook on low for 4 hours or until chicken breasts are cooked through. Rice should be done around the same time. Shred chicken then stir back into soup and serve (soup will thicken slightly as it cools.)
Notes
- Depending on the type of rice you use, it may not be cooked through at 4 hours. If that's the case, shred chicken then keep in the refrigerator until rice is tender, then stir into soup and let warm for 5 minutes before serving.
This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.
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Thanks for this great recipe! I’ve made it a bunch of times for my family, and for friends who were sick. I cook the rice separately to control the texture a little better.
This soup was so so good. I made it as directed but I also added Kale and spinach to add more nutrition…. Just perfect !!
Sounds delicious, Nanci! Thank you so much for your feedback and recipe rating!
So good 😊
This was so easy and tasted amazing! I will be making this often!
I’m so glad you loved it Jen – thank you so much for your feedback and recipe rating!
This recipe was delicious, I followed it to the T and I cooked it in my instant pot, manual setting for 10min and 10min natural release. This will be my go-to work lunch!
This is my favorite soup! I’ve been making since your originally posted it. I’ve started making it in the crock pot and it’s excellent. I saute the vegetables with the butter and spices, add everything else and do 35 minutes on manual. Perfection!
Yum! This was a hit. My very picky 9yo ate it up. Followed the recipe to a T (but forgot the bay leaves!) it was SO GOOD! We’ll totally be making this regularly.
If I wanted to add mushrooms to this recipe, should I do that from the beginning or should I wait?
I don’t personally love slow cooked mushrooms so, if it were me, I’d saute them on the stovetop then stir in at the end!
We have made this before. It’s so good! Can we use white rice instead of wild rice? My kids like white rice better so just wondering about this substitute. Thanks!
Hi Alison! Totally understand – I haven’t tried cooking white rice in a crock pot so I can’t say for sure what the timing would be – I’m thinking it would cook much quicker than 4 hours. You could make this a stovetop recipe and cook it that way, or you could add cooked white rice to each bowl before serving!
Do you have the nutritional info for this? Trying to log it into my fitness tracker :) Thank you, this is a favorite in my house!
Hi Margot! I don’t use a recipe nutrition calculator plugin on my site because I can’t verify them to be 100% accurate and I’d hate to steer someone wrong who is eating with a medical issue in mind (diabetes, for example). I’m sorry I can’t be of more help in this area, again, just coming from a place of not wanting to provide inaccurate information to my readers.
This soup is always a winner. I doubled the recipe this time and had to cook the rice and veggies about an hour extra on low (after removing the cooked chicken as someone else suggested). I used one chicken breast and the rest was boneless skinless chicken thighs. So comforting and easy to make. Thank you for this recipe!
I’m so glad you love it, Natalie! I need to try with thighs – never have before!
Hi! My local store doesn’t have all the spices I need, so could I use Italian Seasoning? It has the thyme, sage, and rosemary, but also oregano and basil. Will it change the flavor profile much? And if I CAN use it: how much should I use? :) Thank you!!
Hi Brooke! That should be totally fine. I’d go with 3/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning.
We made it per the directions with the brand of rice that was recommended and it was still crunchy after 6 hours. We made sure to take the chicken out after 4 and that was fine, but the rice never cooked. Our crock pot is in good shape so I don’t know what could have happened. Should we have rinsed or soaked the rice first?
Oh no, I’m sorry to hear that, Kiley!! I don’t rinse or soak my rice first so I don’t think that’s it. What brand/size of crock pot do you have?
I hate to be in the minority here but we found this recipe to be very bland. I tried adding lemon, additional garlic, and additional spices…just didn’t do it for us.