Recipe

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This slow cooker chicken and rice soup is a comforting meal at the end of the day without the fuss. Zero cooking required.

Some of the most delicious recipes can be as easy as this to make as this slow cooker chicken and rice soup.

Chicken and Rice Soup in the Crockpot

This Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice Soup is perfect for a chilly day, make it for the family in the middle of the week for a filling meal that everyone will love, or have it in the freezer for when you need a bowl of comfort.

No-fuss recipes like chicken soup are essential for when you want a healthy meal made with simple ingredients that feeds a family without dirtying a lot of pots and pans.

Chicken and Rice Soup Ingredients

As promised, the ingredients to make this soup are simple and wholesome. You’ll find the measurements in the recipe card below.

Aromatics: chopped onion, garlic cloves, carrots, and celery.
Poultry seasoning: you can swap it for dried thyme.
Bay leaf: optional for extra flavor.
Chicken stock or broth: while homemade chicken broth makes this soup incredibly delicious, you can use store-bought if that’s what you have on hand.
Water: more liquid for this soup.
Rice: this recipe uses white rice, but any rice you have on your pantry works; just remember to adjust the cooking time.
Chicken breasts or thighs: save time using leftovers or rotisserie chicken.

ingredients for chicken and rice soup laid out on a countertop

Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice Soup with Rotisserie Chicken

You can make this slow cooker chicken and rice soup with 2 cups of store-bought rotisserie chicken. Or, you can roast your own rotisserie chicken at home.

Using rotisserie chicken meat is one of my favorite meal prep moves to make entire recipes in a fraction of the time. One bird usually yields 4 cups of meat which I use to make chicken salad, in tacos, and of course soup!

You can also use leftover grilled, baked, or pan-seared chicken breasts or thighs. Just make sure to shred it before adding it to the broth.

How to Make Crockpot Chicken and Rice Soup

Follow the directions to make chicken and rice soup in the crockpot, and you’re all set for a cozy meal. Here’s the easy step-by-step:

Chop the aromatics
Chop the onions, garlic, carrots, and celery.
Combine & cook
Combine the veggies, chicken breasts, seasonings, chicken broth, or stock, and water in a slow cooker dish. Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8 hours.
Shred the chicken
Remove the lid, take out the cooked chicken breasts onto a plate and shred them with two forks. Return the shredded meat back into the slow cooker.
Cook the rice
Add the rice. Cover and cook for an additional 30 minutes, until the rice is fully cooked. Serve.

First time making this soup in the slow cooker? Watch this quick video for more tips and tricks.

Best Rice for Chicken and Rice Soup

Brown rice, white rice, wild rice, Jasmine… whatever rice is readily available in the pantry can be used in this soup.

Just be sure to adjust the amount of time the rice has to cook in the simmering soup accordingly. Brown and wild rice take much longer to cook than white rice.

When to Add Rice to a Slow Cooker Soup

If you add rice at the very beginning, it will overcook and turn out mushy. Add the rice once the veggies are cooked, and the chicken is done and shredded. This way, you can control rice cooking time depending on the variety you’re using.

Tips for the Most Flavorful Soup

This recipe is already delicious, but there are a few tricks to make each spoonful even better.

Use Homemade Chicken Broth
While chicken broth from the carton is convenient, there’s nothing like a homemade broth simmered on the stove-top with veggies.

Use dark meat (chicken thighs) or a roasted chicken
Chicken thighs or a rotisserie chicken is more tender and flavorful than white chicken breast. It’s why I often use shredded rotisserie chicken or leftovers from a previous dinner to make this soup. Details in the recipe notes.

Enjoy leftovers
Like many soups, this recipe is also better on the second day since all of the ingredients have time to soak in the herb-infused broth.

More Ways to Make this Recipe
Stovetop | Instant Pot | Turkey & Rice Soup

More Slow Cooker Soups

Love slow cooker soups? Me too which is why I’ve got quite a few recipes in my repertoire and I’m sharing my favorites with you:

Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice Soup

Servings: 6

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 6 30

Total Time: 6 40

This slow cooker chicken and rice soup is a comforting meal at the end of the day without the fuss. Zero cooking required.

5 from 34 votes

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Watch how it’s made:

Ingredients

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 medium carrots, chopped
½ cup celery, chopped
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, or thyme
1 bay leaf
64 ounces reduced-sodium chicken stock or broth
1 cup water
1 cup white rice
2 chicken breasts, about 1lb chicken meat*

Instructions

Combine the veggies, chicken, seasonings, broth, or stock, and water in the dish of your slow cooker dish. Cover and cook on high for 5 hours or low for 8 hours.
Remove the lid, take out the cooked chicken breasts onto a plate and shred them with two forks. Return the shredded meat back into the slow cooker.
Add the rice. Cover and cook for an additional 30 minutes, until the rice is fully cooked. Serve.

Notes

You can use 2 cups of cooked chicken in this recipe instead of raw chicken. You can reduce the cooking time in half and add the chicken to the soup to heat through in the last 30 to 45 minutes of cooking when you add the rice.