Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
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Pure creamy comfort food made right in your crockpot! So quick, easy, and hearty with veggies, rice and chicken!
So first things first. Has anyone else finished Gilmore Girls on Netflix?
Because I just did. And I’m speechless.
Are there more episodes? Or are we supposed to use our imagination for the ending?
I’m just so confused but I digress.
Let’s talk about this soup instead. This crockpot chicken mushroom wild rice soup. Which is basically like chicken noodle soup.
Except way creamier with extra mushrooms. Just because. And because it’s super cold.
And also because I’m still confused about Gilmore Girls.
Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup wild rice
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 3 stalks celery, diced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 pound cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup half and half*
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste. Place chicken into a 6-qt slow cooker.
- Stir in chicken stock, wild rice, garlic, onion, carrots, celery, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cover and cook on low heat for 6-8 hours. Add mushrooms during the last 30 minutes of cooking time.
- Remove chicken from the slow cooker and shred, using two forks.
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Whisk in milk and half and half, and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, about 4-5 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Stir chicken and milk mixture into the slow cooker. If the soup is too thick, add more half and half as needed until desired consistency is reached.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Do you cook the wild rice before adding to the crockpot? Wild rice takes a while to cook and needs plenty of liquid.
No, it does not need to be precooked. I’ve made this plenty of times myself and it actually cooks quicker than you think. Hope you’ll enjoy it!
Do you think adding asparugus towards the end would work? Have a bunch need to use?
Yes, that sounds amazing!
I followed the recipe exactly and it was nothing great. I wouldn’t make it again
Is it safe to use fresh (uncooked) wild rice? Got it from the bulk section of Central Market.
Thanks!
Hi!
I want to make this but didn’t realize it was 8 hours in the slow cooker. How would you suggest making it on the stove top?
If I were to halve this recipe, would I cook it for the same amount of time?
You would have to adjust the time, because you don’t have has much liquid. I would set it for shorter and then adjust if necessary. Please use your best judgement with modifications! I hope it goes well!
Hi! Do you happen to know what brand of wild rice you used? Thanks!
I believe it was Lundberg.
I always worry that skinless, boneless breasts will turn out dry and/or chewy. They work out pretty well consistently for everyone?
Yes I’ve used chicken breast and last time chicken thighs! Delish either way.
This is hands-down the best chicken wild rice soup recipe I found and is my go to when making this tasty dish. Thank you!!!
This looks amazing. If you were in a time crunch is this something that could be made using the instant pot?
Whoa. My husband just made me a mix cd last night that he titled, “Luke’s Diner”. It has some great GG tunes on there. And today, I’m looking at this recipe. Seems like fate.
Wow, this is one of the best soups I have ever cooked! Thank you so much for this recipe. I altered a few of things, though. I used nutty soy milk and replaced the celery with leek. And as I don’t have a slow cooker, I used a Dutch oven instead – the total cooking time was 1 hour – mushrooms (I used a selection of forest mushrooms) thrown in at the last quarter.
Just made this today!! I didn’t have any mushrooms on hand so those were omitted, but I cannot wait to go buy all the ingredients and try again with the mushrooms!! It was calling out for them! My rice was perfect, the consistency was perfect, and as to the flavor (addressing come comments above) I did add the package of seasoning from my boxed wild rice and seasoning mix at the end before adding the cream mixture, and loved it!! HOWEVER, I tasted it before adding that seasoning and it was still so good!!!! In fact, I plan to make it to the extact recipe next time. Thanks so much! Going for seconds now! 🙂
My family loved the soup and have already requested to have again. Had great flavor,
,melled wonderful, and was a tasteful dish….
The wild rice “pops” better and keeps its texture if you start the soup with just the rice and chicken for an hour, then add the chicken. I also add onions sliced very thin and caramelized in 3 to 4 TBLS butter, then cooked briefly with an equal amount of flour. Also helps to add green tobasco or hatch chili peppers (or the dried version).
These recipes look wonderful!
This recipe was disappointing, barely any flavor and the texture of the wild tice was lost (mushy). I am not sure what was lacking, I used premium ingredients. I had to add 3+ cups of broth in the end, it was all absorbed by the rice. Not a repeat recipe. I typically cannot get enough of your recipes 🙂
Any chance you used a “long grain and wild rice” mix instead of all wild rice ? I’m just asking because regular rice absorbs a lot more liquid than wild rice and probably would get mushy with the long cook time.
If I remember correctly, I believe I used wild rice. Hope that helps!
Chungah, I just love your recipes–I’m a longtime lover of your site, and typically make at least one Damn Delicious recipe a week. Thank you for sharing them!
I’m planning to make this for dinner tonight and have never cooked with wild rice; I just want to clarify…should I use wild rice only, as the recipe seems to indicate? Would a blend possibly change the doneness/cook time?
Hi Katie – thanks for being such an avid follower!
I recommend using wild rice only as any other type of rice can effect cooking time.
This was and will be delicious. It does freeze quite well.
I have just completed making this recipe and overall I followed the steps and I think it came out delicious. It makes a full crockpot. I did shred the chicken at 4 hours of low cooking, added the button mushrooms (didn’t have crimini) and after 30 minutes added the cream/milk. Spicewise, it’s a great start just as is. I might add a little more salt in my bowl, but we’ll play it by ear. By cutting off the cooking at 4.5 hours, the rice is fine.