Name: Slow Cooker Chicken Wild Rice Soup
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 6 h
Total time: 6 h 10 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 carrots, diced; 2 celery stalks, diced; 1 onion, diced; 2 lbs chicken thighs, skinless boneless; 1 cup wild rice (8 ounces); 64 ounces chicken broth (8 cups); 1 teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoons thyme; ½ teaspoons rosemary; 1 teaspoon minced garlic; 4 tablespoon butter; 8 ounces sliced mushrooms; ¼ cup flour; 2 cups milk

Easy to prepare in the morning and simmer all day this Slow Cooker Chicken Wild Rice Soup is comfort in a bowl. This midwestern favorite has been developed with ease in mind as well as no heavy creams, making it a perfect addition to a meal rotation!

This post may contain Affiliate Links.

Jump to Section

Crockpot Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Growing up in Minnesota and most of the midwest you are very accustomed to finding Chicken Wild Rice Soup everywhere. Most local restaurants and diners were sure to have it on their menu. It is a comfort food that maybe people outside the midwest aren’t used to seeing as often.

I know now that I am living out in New England it is something I seldom see, so you know what a food blogger does. Makes their own version.

Love wild rice? Try this Mushroom and Wild Rice Casserole.

When I wanted to start working on this recipe I will admit it was even hard for me to find true Wild Rice at my New Hampshire grocery store. Most of it comes in blends, which sorry is mostly not wild rice. Luckily I did happen to find Reese’s Paddy Grown Minnesota Wild Rice. So I stocked up! I noted you can also purchase true wild rice online, honestly I would check Etsy out of all places, you will find real hand harvested wild rice for sale there!

Why am I getting so picky about the actual rice??

Real Minnesota Wild Rice is a naturally grown grain, native to Minnesota, it is not a farm crop.

Wild rice is not technically a rice, it is a persistent annual grass that reproduces each year from seed stock deposited in previous fall seasons. The plant typically grows in shallow water depths in fresh lakes and is affected by water flow, turbidity, water quality and water level fluctuations.

In Minnesota the Native American Tribes have the ownership and management of any wild rice that respectively grows on reservation land. All Minnesota Wild Rice is harvested by hand with paddles and boats, no machinery can be used. In addition to the Native American tribes (who don’t need a license to harvest), limited numbers of licenses can be purchased for others to try their hand at wild rice harvesting.

Growing up I remember being up at my family’s cabin watching the Native Americans harvesting the wild rice out of the lake in their canoes.

So needless to say this simple soup musters up a lot of memories of growing up, one of the things I love about food!

So what does Minnesota Wild Rice Taste Like?

Wild Rice has an outer shell that gives it a chewy texture. Wild rice has a slightly earthy and nutty flavor.

Tabletop filled with four bowls filled with slow cooker chicken wild rice soup sitting next to spoons, a blue kitchen towel, and a loaf of bread.

Ingredients

Carrots – Peeled and diced.
Celery Stalks – Cleaned and Diced.
Onion – Diced, you may use a yellow or white onion in this recipe.
Chicken Thighs – Boneless, skinless chicken thighs is what I found works best. I tried this recipe a few times with chicken breasts and the chicken breast would get overcooked and dried out every time. Luckily chicken thighs can handle the cooking time better so they aren’t as prone to getting dried out like chicken breasts can.
Minnesota Wild Rice – Well I just went into this is detail above but make sure this is Minnesota Wild Rice. I found Reese’s to be the most popular brand to be in groceries nationwide. Obviously if you live in or near Minnesota it is going to be easier to find!
Chicken Broth – A lot of broth/stock is used in this soup because the wild rice really soaks up the liquid. So you will need two cartons of broth as well as milk at the end of cooking as well!
Salt – Taste your soup at the end and make sure you don’t need to add more than this.
Thyme, Rosemary, and Garlic – Chicken Wild Rice soup isn’t super dependent on a lot of spices but I chose to go with a little thyme, rosemary, and garlic to give it a flavor boost.
Butter – Now at the end you will be using the butter and following ingredients to make a ‘mushroom gravy’ if you will opposed to adding heavy cream and having overcooked mushrooms. This only takes about 10 minutes so don’t let it scare you, it is pretty easy.
Mushrooms – I buy the pre-sliced mushrooms I find it easy!
Flour – To help thicken, if need you can use a gluten-free substitute as long as it does have thickening capabilities.
Milk – I prefer whole milk here because it does add quite a bit of flavor but use the milk that you have available.

For a complete detailed list of the ingredients continue towards the bottom of the page.

Ingredients for crockpot chicken wild rice soup laid out on a table top.

Instructions

To a crockpot add the carrots, celery, onion, chicken, wild rice, chicken broth, salt, thyme, rosemary, and minced garlic. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours.

Collage of ingredients for chicken wild rice soup in crockpot and chicken broth being added.

15 minutes before serving melt the butter in skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sliced mushrooms and sauté 5 to 6 minutes until they have softened.

Add the flour and toss until mushrooms are coated. Slowly whisk in about 1/2 cup of the milk at a time until the mushroom mixture thickens. (It should take about 4-5 minutes to whisk in all the milk). Once all the milk is in and the mushroom mixture is fully combined and thicken remove off the heat.

Collage showing mushrooms cooking with butter and the getting flour added in a skillet on the stovetop.

Collage showing milk being added to the mushrooms in a skillet on the stovetop and being whisked together.

Remove the cooked chicken. Carefully shred into bite size pieces.

Add the mushroom mixutre to the crockpot and stir to combine. Add back in the shredded chicken stiring again to combine. Serve immediately.

Collage of cooked chicken wild rice soup in a slow cooker, taking the chicken out to shred and adding the mushroom milk mixture.

Collage showing the finishing touches being put on the chicken wild rice soup including add the shredded chicken back in.

tips, tricks and questions

This soup can overcook pretty easily, you will be able to tell because the rice will start to curl ad the chicken will begin to dry out, while the rice is still good once it is curly I recommend not letting this soup cook at a max longer than 7 hours in the slow cooker. I start checking at about 5 hours and it is usually ready at just about 6 hours on LOW.

Can I use a different kind of rice?

No, this recipe is meant just for Wild Rice. If you try using a white or brown rice it will cook very different and won’t turn out the same.

What to serve with Chicken Wild Rice Soup?

You can’t go wrong with a type of bread to serve it with, try my Homemade Dinner Rolls or Homemade Focaccia Bread. It would also be good with a side salad like my Simple Spinach Salad.

Close up of a white bowl with a spoon filled with slow cooker chicken wild rice soup.

If you like this Slow Cooker Chicken Wild Rice Soup you might also like:

Yield: 8 servings