Slow Cooker Chicken & Rice Soup can be prepped in minutes. You’ll come home to a kitchen that smells like you have been cooking all day!
Everyone loves Soup on a cold day and what’s even better is when you can cook it in the slow cooker and come home to an amazing tasting soup. You can also try my Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup or my Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup.
Sabrina’s Slow Cooker Chicken & Rice Soup Recipe
Slow Cooker Chicken & Rice Soup is a comforting, hearty meal made by slowly cooking chicken, rice, vegetables, and broth together until the flavors meld into a rich and satisfying soup. It’s a popular cold weather dish because it’s warm, filling, and requires very little hands on effort. It will be a favorite!
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breasts , boneless and skinless
- 1 tsp lemon extract
- 1 cup brown rice , uncooked
- 1/2 yellow onion , chopped
- 5 carrots , chopped
- 4 celery stalks , chopped
- 6 garlic cloves , minced
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
- 1 bay leaf
- 10 cups chicken broth
- parsley , for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Put all the ingredients into the slow cooker and cook on low for 4 hours.
- If your slow cooker is on the hotter side for most recipes, cook for 3 hours to avoid mushy rice or add the rice after an hour of cooking.
- With a fork and knife shred/cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and put back in the soup.
- Garnish with parsley.
- See in the post for additional serving options or flavor ideas.
Nutrition
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Chef’s Tip: Avoid mushy rice
To avoid mushy rice cook on low for 4 hours but if you need to cook it faster, cook it on high for 3 hours so the rice doesn’t get mushy or add the rice after an hour of cooking.
Table of contents
About This Recipe
One of my favorite things about this soup is that there isn’t any added fats. With white meat and brown rice this soup is as healthy as you could want while still being filling. The brown rice is soft and fluffy and because you’re not using white rice it helps keep you fuller longer. This will be a go-to soup for flavor, comfort, and warmness.
Kitchen Tools & Equipment
- Slow Cooker: A slow cooker that can be programmable is great for a soup or roast.
- Spice Rack: I buy spices in bulk from local grocers and from Penzey’s. It’s less expensive than buying the jars individually and ended up being left with tons of little bags of spices. Enter the spice rack.
Variations
- Poultry: Use skinless chicken thighs (bone in if you can) for a silkier, heartier flavor from the fat in the chicken and the marrow from the bones.
- Herbs: Change the herbs. I am not a fan of rosemary, but chicken and rosemary are a great combination, so if you have favorite flavors you can of course change it up. I love tarragon and lemon together so this was a perfect combination for my family.
- Butter: You can add butter to the slow cooker to add to the richness of the soup if you’re using white meat.
- Yogurt: You can mix in greek yogurt when you’ve served up a bowl to make this a creamy soup (this is my favorite).
- Pasta: Instead of rice you can add pasta in the last hour of cooking (I like rotini or egg noodles)
Related Recipes
Cozy Soup Recipes
Photos used in previous posts:
Can this be made in an instant pot?
Yes, you can, would just need to watch it as it cooks since instant pots cook faster. I sadly don’t know what the different cook times would be.
Maybe I didn’t read it properly. How long do you cook it on low? Is it better to use the skinless thighs with the bone in or is it ok to use boneless, skinless breasts? Thank you!
I used boneless, skinless breasts for this recipe and cooked it on low for 4 hours. Enjoy!
I made this this using leftover chicken and it was so good I love a good soup recipe especially when I can make it in the crock pot, so easy! The only thing I would change when I make it next time is to put a little less rice, once the rice cooked up it really seemed like a lot which I figured it probably would but when I make a recipe the first time I always like to follow the recipe to see if I like it. Really delicious and easy thanks for sharing!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Hello, thank you for this. This may be a strange question but would 2cups uncooked brown rice be too much? We like our soups more on the “chunky” side but still with plenty of soup, just not too thin. Just wasn’t sure if 2 cups yields a lot of cooked rice and would ruin it? Thanks again! Can’t wait to make it!
I wouldn’t recommend 2 full cups, I would start with a 1/4 c extra dry rice. It was pretty hearty with 1 cup, but feel free to add in small amounts each time you make it until you find the ratio you like.
Is the cook time correct? I tried 4 hours on LOW…and the rice wasn’t even cooked and the veggies where still crisp! Should it be 4 hours on HIGH?
Remarkably tasty! Easily the best chicken soup I’ve ever made.
Some minor changes based on what I had available:
I used a small rotisserie chicken from my local grocery store, Minute Rice brown rice, Penzey’s spices (for onion & garlic, too), 3tsp plain lemon juice, and an even mix of chicken and vegan beef flavor bouillon (clearing out some leftovers).
So glad you enjoyed it Grace!
I made this soup last night with boneless thighs and everyone in my house loved it!!! I also used Far East long grain and wild rice and only put it in after following the directions on the box , making it ahead of time and adding it about a half hour before serving…. awesome!!!!
So glad you enjoyed it, Kathi!
hi! Should I change the cook time for frozen breasts? Thanks!
You really want to make sure that your chicken is fully thawed before putting it into the slow cooker otherwise the chicken will produce too much liquid while cooking. I even pat my thawed chicken at times with paper towels to get even more of the liquid off of them.
I can’t find the lemon extract. Can I use lemon juice from a fresh lemon?
You could substitute the lemon extract with 2 teaspoons of lemon zest. Enjoy!
Set it and forget it…which I love. Gorgeous soup.
Thank you Cathy!
Anything I can make in my slow cooker is exactly what I want! Plus, chicken & rice soup is one of our faves!
Oh, definitely! I couldn’t live without my slow cookers 🙂
This is my kind of soup! Can’t wait to try it!
Thanks Brandy!
What a great idea to use lemon extract in a soup!
Thanks Erin!
This looks like the perfect bowl of comfort food. Love that it is thrown in the slow cooker.
Thank you Dorothy!
I like to make a rice and veggie soup with a small smoked pork hock. If you use the hock leave out the salt. You can allways add some at the end if it needs it. I allways use Asian greens in my soup as I think they have a much better taste. Regards pthere
Thanks for the tip/suggestions!
This soup sounds delicious! I want a big bowl for dinner!
Thank you Krista!