Hearty, healthy crock pot chicken and rice soup, made in the comfort of your slow cooker!
This recipe also includes an Instant Pot option for making chicken and rice soup in your pressure cooker.
Let’s talk weather. It is truly all I can think about. More specifically, I’m so ready for Hell Niño, it’s not even funny.
Gimme that snow, let the precip come tumbling down in the most epic of volumes!
I can’t wait to get my car stuck in snow burm, float down the mountain through a sea of powder on my snowboard, and warm up next to a fire with a beer stein full of hot toddy…as in the biggest single hot toddy known to man.
Truth: amidst all this snow discussion, here on the West side, we’re having the most gorgeous Indian Summer. Blue skies, perfect trail running//mountain biking conditions…soup weather by no stretch of the imagination.
But the sunny jort weather isn’t stopping my craving for comfort food, and certainly hasn’t withheld me from dusting off my crock pot and leaving it on the kitchen counter until next summer.
Nor have I quit fantasizing about getting snow-locked inside my house with piles of white fluff up to the roof.
While crock potting definitely seems like the cheater cheater pumpkin eater way of preparing meals, I can’t help but love it. Set it, forget it, let it stew for hours, and eat it hot out of the pot.
I love the hefty volume of foods I can prepare in my crock – it certainly makes lunches easier, and is always helpful for feeding guests slash random passersby.
How to Make Crock Pot Chicken and Rice Soup:
Quite honestly, if you want to you can simply toss every last ingredient in the crock pot, cover it, and set it to low for 4 to 6 hours.
If you like bold onion flavor in your soup, you can pre-sauté the onion and other vegetables. I do this extra step because I feel it gives the soup amazing flavor.
Simply add a small amount of cooking oil to a skillet and sauté the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic until very fragrant. Add in the spices/herbs, and sea salt and sauté an additional minute.
Once the vegetables have softened up a bit, add them to your slow cooker, along with the remaining ingredients.
Set on low, and slow cook for 4 to 6 hours, or until the rice is cooked through.
Serve with your choice of crackers, bread, etc.
Isn’t it funny how sometimes the easiest recipes turn out tasting the best? This slow cooker chicken and rice soup is a breeze to prepare, and it turns out with so much chicken-y herby flavor, and is so thick and comforting. A win for weeknight meal prep!
The chicken comes out super tender and it’s so filling and satisfying, you may as well double the recipe so that you have soup for days.
Instant Pot Instructions:
- Plug in your Instant Pot and press the Sauté button. Add the oil and allow pot to heat up for a couple of minutes. Add the onion and chicken and brown the meat for 1 to 2 minutes (avoid cooking it through).
- Add the remaining ingredients to the pot and secure the lid. Press the Soup/Broth function and set the time to 15 minutes, keeping the vent sealed. Allow the pressure cooker manually release (go into the Keep Warm mode) for 10 minutes.
- Release the pressure by turning the steam valve to venting and let all of the pressure release. Once the pressure has released, you can remove the lid and serve the soup!
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Crock Pot Chicken and Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion chopped
- 2 large carrots peeled and chopped
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- Pinch cayenne pepper optional
- ½ teaspoon sea salt to taste
- ½ cup dry brown rice
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, chopped
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1/4 cup dry white wine optional
Instructions
- Place the rice in a bowl and cover with water. Soak for 10 to 15 minutes, then drain.
- While the rice is soaking, saute the vegetables. To do so, add the olive oil to a large skillet, along with the onion, carrots, and celery. Saute over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables have softened, but are still al dente, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic, all the seasonings, and salt and saute another 2 minutes.
- Transfer the rice, sauteed vegetables, broth, and wine to a large (6-quart) crock pot. Add the raw chopped chicken and stir.
- Cover the crock pot and place on the lowest setting. Cook 4 to 6 hours, or until chicken is cooked through, rice is puffy, and vegetables have softened. Taste soup for flavor and add salt as desired.
- Serve heaping bowls with gluten-free crackers or bread.
Nutrition
I can’t have too many crockpot recipes these days! This looks fantastic. 🙂
slow cooking does take the fun out of cooking (haha), but yes, at least the results are always satisfying!
Ha! I just wrote the exact same thing today in my post. WHERE IS ALL OF THE RAIN??!!!!
We’ll just have to pretend it’s gloomy and cold with our soup recipes. Maybe if we keep making them, the rain will come. 🙂
I have been battling some stomach issues for about a week now and this looks like the perfect way to start the healing process. LOVE your recipe dear! Pinning!
theres nothing more comforting that hot soup on a chilly day! This looks so tasty 🙂
It’s a million degrees right now in San Diego. We have had an eternal summer, but I still crave soup and fall comfort foods. I might have to wait for Hell Nino to arrive. LOL.
There’s nothing wrong with a little slow-cooker action, especially when you can have something like this in the end!
This looks so good, and definitely better than anything in a can. I’ll be saving this one for when it gets a little colder 🙂
This looks so comforting and tasty! But I don’t even want to think about snow! NO!!
I’ve been loving soup recently, even after I recovered from being sick! It’s just such great comfort food 🙂
mmmmm this looks sooo flavorful and thick!
Yum! Must make this for us. But guess what I’ll more than likely serve with it (hint…not gluten-free. Love me anyway, ok??).
So if I wanted a vegetarian version, I can omit the chicken – and add in lentils and instead of brown rice, use quinoa. Should also work right?
I would say that should work. Swapping out the rice for quinoa will definitely change the texture and thickness, but I imagine it would still make a good soup 🙂
Hey can you use bacon instead of bacon?
You could certainly add bacon.. that would be fantastic 😀
Gah I cannot wait for cooler weather! We’ve had a few touches of it but today was fairly warm… I want cozy up with a blanket weather!
This soup sounds sooo good. Chicken and rice always makes me think of growing up – so comforting!
That’s it…I’m subbing chickpeas for chicken and making this YESTERDAY!! Nom city. PS I totally recognize those crackers…
I made this yesterday and it made house smell so good AND it was delicious! I’ll definitely be making this again!!
Ah great! I’m so happy to hear it, Sheri! Thanks so much for letting me know 🙂
Hehe – that’s my mom! I told her I was jealous that I wasn’t there to taste it. She better make this for me next time I visit! <3
I made this for my husband and son for dinner last night, (I am vegetarian) and they both really liked it. My husband thought he didn’t like brown rice, but he sure liked it in this soup! I love it when a more healthful ingredient is a hit. Thanks for a great recipe. (It is definitely cold enough here for soup – almost freezing!)
Yesssssuuuh! I’m so glad your husband and son enjoyed it! Stay warm, Vivian!
For reasons I don’t fully understand, this soup smelled absolutely terrible. It was okay the first day, then smelled so awful it was inedible on the second day for leftovers. Anyone else have a similar experience with this recipe?
Hi Amber,
Wow, that’s an interesting result – my soup actually tasted better the next day (and smelled normal). Are you sure your chicken was fresh? Did you use frozen chicken, and was it freezer burned? My best guess is something funky must’ve been going on with the ingredients you used.
Thank you for responding! All ingredients were fresh. So weird! Thank you again for responding, perhaps I will try again! I’m so glad other people have good luck with it!
I made this last night with no real modifications, and it it super tasty. It’s actually a lot better the next day – there is a pleasant starchiness that gels the flavors together. It took about 3 hours in my ancient 1979 crock pot (on low) before the chicken was cooked all the way through, and the full 6 hours before the brown rice had softened up.
I’m so glad you enjoy the soup! I agree, the soup is better after it sits for a day or two. My mom has a super old crock pot that I absolutely love – that’s real slow cooking for you! Thanks for the note!
If I double the ingredients to make more serving will it take longer to cook?
Hi Nicole,
It may take just a little longer. What I would suggest is turning your crock pot on high for the first 30 minutes or so to get it nice and heated up, and then turn it to low for the remainder of the time. Or, if you’re under a time crunch, you can cook the chili on high for about 4 hours 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
This will only work with brown rice, any white rice will be mush!
One of my go to recipes, it’s so versatile. Today I mixed in ginger and mint.
Forgive the novice question but…. I would like to make this and leave for work which means more like 10-11 hours cooking. Any issues with that?
Hi Denise! No problem at all! You can definitely do that – just be sure the slow cooker is on the lowest setting. Also keep in mind the rice may turn out a bit overcooked, but the soup itself will be nice and flavorful after cooking that long 🙂
Question……………does the rice blow up and take over the soup or does soaking it first help?
Hi Myra, the rice definitely thickens the soup, but I wouldn’t say it takes over. You can definitely soak the rice first for good measure 🙂
I’m guessing the brown rice should NOT be of the instant variety. Is that correct?
Hi Tresha,
I’ve never tested the recipe with instant brown rice, but I would say it’s probably best to stick with regular brown rice. Hope you enjoy!
How do you alter the cooking time or the instructions if your using already cooked chicken?
My rice was still hard and crunchy, I soaked for 10min. Is there something else I could have done to have it cook softer?! Other than that, loved this soup!!!!!
Hi Angie,
Oh no, I’m sorry to hear that! How long did you have the soup cooking, and on what temperature setting (low/high?)?
I believe I had it on high for 4 hours, maybe try longer next time? It’s a love, hate relationship between me and brown rice. We can’t seem to get it together.
I made it again today, on high 4-5 hours and it was perfect!!!!!!! Thank you, I bet I had done 4 hours on low!
Thank you for the responses, amazing recipe!
I didn’t know there was such a delicious recipe, chicken soup and rice soup. I can’t wait to cook it so I can serve it to my family.Thanks for the little knowledge you have shared.
I’m so thrilled you love it! xo
Do you have the nutritional facts for this? Looks delicious!
Hi Mandy!
I added the nutrition facts to the recipe card! I based it on 4 servings 🙂 Hope you enjoy! xoxo