Easy Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Name: Easy Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 300 min
Total time: 310 min
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 1 lb chicken breasts (-boneless, skinless or chicken thighs); 3/4 cup wild rice; 1 onion (-chopped ); 3 stalks carrot (-chopped); 3 stalks celery (-chopped); 2 bay leaves; 2 cloves garlic (-minced); 2 tsp dried herbes de provence (-or mixture of thyme, oregano); 2 tsp salt; 1.5 tsp black pepper; 8 cups unsalted chicken broth; 1 tbsp unsalted butter; 1 tbsp all purpose flour; 1/2 cup heavy cream; fresh parsley or chives (-garnish, optional)

January 12, 2019 Updated: April 19, 2019 By Dawn Coombs 42 Comments

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This Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice Soup is filled with lots of chicken, wild rice and veggies for one comforting bowl that’s sure to warm you up on the coldest of days.

I seem to be on a soup kick lately. I can’t help myself! They’re just too simple to whip up. Plus, I can’t stand the cold and I need all the comfort food I can get. The older I get, the less I can handle being chilly. As I think about it, I guess I’m quite finicky because I don’t like it too hot either. Anywho – this chicken and wild rice soup is the bomb dot com 😉

Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

What I love about this chicken and wild rice soup (besides the taste, of course), is aside from a couple minor finishing things at the end, it’s all dump and go. Place everything in your slow cooker and go about your business. Come back a little while later, serve yourself a bowl and enjoy!

How to Make Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Place chicken, rice, veggies, herbs and stock in slow cooker and set temp to ‘low’. Cook 5-6 hours.
After time is up, carefully remove chicken and shred. Place back in slow cooker.
Add cream and stir.
Make a roux on the stovetop and stir into slow cooker.
Portion, garnish and enjoy!

Do I Have to Cook Wild Rice Before Adding to Soup? What’s the Best Rice for Slow Cooker Soup?

No! Just put it right into the slow cooker as it is and it will cook along with the rest of the ingredients. The main thing, though, is to use regular wild rice, not white, pre-cooked or a wild rice blend….just straight up wild rice.

What is a Roux? How to Make a Roux?

A roux is a mixture of flour and fat, usually as equal proportions, and used as a thickening agent in soups, stews, sauces and gravies. Most often butter is used as the fat component (as used in this chicken rice soup).

Making a roux is easy! Simply melt butter in a pan, stir in flour to form a paste and cook for a couple minutes until it forms a paste and the flour-ey (is that even a word, lol) taste is gone. You don’t want to overcook or brown the roux too much because it will lose some of it’s thickening abilities if you do this.

This chicken wild rice soup is just a touch creamy, but not overwhelmingly so. I’ve tested with various types of dairy and quantities of roux and so happy with how this version turned out.

Tips for Making Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

I used boneless/skinless chicken breasts in this recipe, but you could use chicken thighs or a combo of both, if you prefer.
Cook time is 5-6 hours on low. Since each slow cooker varies, check on at 5 hours.
If you want the soup thicker, add more roux.
Because there’s rice in there, leftovers may thicken. Upon reheating, you may need to add a little stock to loosen.

Other Comforting Soup Recipes you May Enjoy

Hope you love this chicken and wild rice soup as much as I do!

Until next time, take care and chit chat again soon 🙂

~Dawn

P.S. If you think this delicious chicken soup recipe will make your belly happy too, please be sure to hit that little Pin button. Many thanks, you guys! XO

A bowl of slow cooker chicken and wild rice soup garnished with fresh parsley.

5 from 17 votes