Slow Cooker Wild Rice and Chicken Soup
This slow cooker chicken, vegetable, and wild rice soup from Every Night Meals is super easy to make and requires only 20 minutes of actual work. Plus, it's a meal in a bowl that even the pickiest eaters won't reject!
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Makes: 8 servings
Cost: $20
Equipment
- 6-quart slow cooker
- Cutting board and knife
Ingredients
- 1½ cups uncooked wild rice blend (or barley/wheat berries)
- 3 pounds bone-in chicken breast and/or thighs, skin removed (I used 1½ pounds chicken thighs and 1½ pounds chicken breast)
- 1 large onion, diced
- 4 large garlic cloves, minced or pressed
- 4 medium carrots, diced (1½ cups)
- 4 celery ribs, diced (1½ cups)
- 8 cups (2 quarts) low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 cups water or low-sodium chicken broth
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon plus ½ teaspoon kosher salt, divided, plus more as needed
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups frozen peas
- ¼ cup chopped fresh dill
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus more as needed
Instructions
- Measure the wild rice into a fine-mesh strainer and rinse it thoroughly under cool running water.
- In a 6-quart slow cooker, combine the chicken, onion, garlic, carrots, celery, rice, broth, water, bay leaves, thyme, 1 tablespoon salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Stir just to distribute all the ingredients and seasonings, then cover and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours. In the last 10 minutes of cooking, stir in the frozen peas.
- Using tongs, transfer the chicken to a cutting board, remove the meat from the bones, and shred or chop it into bite-size pieces.
- Return the shredded or chopped chicken to the slow cooker, add the dill, lemon juice, the remaining ½ teaspoon salt, and a few grinds of black pepper, and stir until everything is evenly distributed. Taste and season with more salt, pepper, or lemon juice as desired.