Wild rice soup is the one people drive across town for at the good delis in Minnesota, where it is practically a food group. This slow cooker version gets you the same bowl at home: chicken that shreds into tender strands, wild rice cooked to that particular chew where the grains split and curl, carrots and celery softened into the broth, and a cream finish that makes the whole thing taste like it simmered under somebody's watchful eye all day. It did simmer all day. You just were not the one watching it.
It joins the other set-and-forget regulars in our Slow Cooker & Casseroles collection, and if you like the creamy end of that shelf, our Slow Cooker Creamy Potato Soup is its closest cousin — this one is heartier, with the rice doing the filling work potatoes do there. Fifteen minutes of chopping in the morning is the whole investment.
Wild rice is the detail to get right, because it is not rice at all — it is the seed of an aquatic grass, and it cooks on its own schedule. It needs the full low-and-slow cook to split and soften, which is exactly why the slow cooker suits it. What it cannot survive is being swapped, cup for cup, with a wild rice blend that is mostly brown or white rice; those grains cook at different speeds and turn the soup gummy. Buy the real thing, labelled wild rice, and the texture takes care of itself.
Cream goes in at the end — always
Dairy and long cooking are uneasy partners. Cream left in a slow cooker for six hours can break, turn grainy and develop a tired, cooked flavor that no amount of seasoning fixes. So this soup cooks as a clear, rich broth all day, and the cream — whisked with a little flour so it cannot separate — goes in only for the last 30 minutes, just long enough to warm through and give the broth its velvet body. The same rule protects every creamy slow cooker soup on this site, and it is the single habit that separates a silky bowl from a curdled disappointment.
Shred the chicken in the pot, not on a board
When the cooking time is up, the chicken will be tender enough to fall apart at a glance. Instead of fishing it out, cooling it and shredding it on a board — losing juices and making dishes — press and pull it apart right in the cooker with two forks, working against the side of the crock. The strands fall straight back into the broth and drink it up as they are stirred through. It takes two minutes, keeps every drop of flavor in the soup, and gives you the rustic, uneven shreds that make the bowl feel homemade instead of processed.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts (680 g), or thighs
- 1 cup wild rice (160 g), rinsed, not a rice blend
- 3 medium carrots (about 210 g), diced
- 3 celery stalks (about 180 g), diced
- 1 medium yellow onion (about 150 g), finely diced
- 3 garlic cloves, finely minced (about 9 g)
- 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth (1.4 L)
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme (1 g)
- 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary (0.5 g), crushed
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt (6 g), plus more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (1.5 g)
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (24 g)
- 1 cup heavy cream (240 ml)
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (8 g)
Amounts are for the yield below. US customary measures first, grams in brackets for scale users.
Step-by-step instructions
- Load the slow cooker. Add the chicken, rinsed wild rice, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, chicken broth, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, salt and black pepper to a 6 quart (5.7 L) slow cooker. Stir once so the rice is submerged and the vegetables are distributed — grains left sitting on top of the chicken will not cook evenly.
- Cook low and slow. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 7 hours, until the wild rice grains have split open and are tender-chewy and the chicken is very tender. Avoid lifting the lid during the cook; every peek costs the cooker a meaningful amount of heat and adds time to a grain that is already on a long schedule.
- Shred the chicken. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Using two forks, shred the chicken directly in the cooker, pulling it into bite-size strands against the side of the crock. Stir the shreds back through the soup so they are coated in broth.
- Whisk the cream mixture. In a small bowl, whisk the flour into the heavy cream until completely smooth, with no dry pockets. A smooth slurry is what keeps the finish silky — flour dumped straight into hot soup clumps on contact.
- Finish the soup creamy. Stir the cream mixture into the soup. Cover and cook on HIGH for 25 to 30 minutes, until the broth has thickened slightly and coats the back of a spoon and the cream is fully heated through. Do not let it come to a hard boil.
- Season and serve. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper — the broth concentrates over the long cook, so season at the end, not the beginning. Ladle into warm bowls, scatter with fresh parsley, and serve with crusty bread for the broth that is left at the bottom.
Nutrition estimate
| Nutrient | Per serving |
|---|---|
| Calories | 340 kcal |
| Protein | 28 g |
| Carbohydrates | 26 g |
| Fat | 14 g |
| Saturated fat | 7 g |
| Sodium | 620 mg |
| Fiber | 3 g |
| Sugar | 4 g |
Nutrition figures are estimates calculated from standard ingredient data for the yield stated. Your actual values will vary with brands, substitutions and portion sizes — treat them as a guide, not a guarantee.
Storage & reheating
Leftovers keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator, and the soup thickens considerably as the rice keeps drinking broth — thin bowls back out with a splash of broth or milk when reheating on the stove over medium-low heat. For freezing, the soup freezes best without the cream: freeze the cooked broth base for up to 3 months, then add the cream finish after thawing and reheating. Finished soup can be frozen for up to 1 month, but expect the cream to need a vigorous whisk as it reheats and the rice to soften further. Nutrition figures are estimates from standard ingredient data and vary with brands and substitutions.
Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup
Tender chicken, chewy wild rice, creamy broth — hands-off comfort all day.
Ingredients
Tick ingredients off as you prep, and tap a step below to mark it done as you cook. Scaling adjusts the listed amounts - seasoning to taste stays your call.
Instructions
- Load the slow cooker. Add the chicken, rinsed wild rice, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, chicken broth, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, salt and black pepper to a 6 quart (5.7 L) slow cooker. Stir once so the rice is submerged and the vegetables are distributed — grains left sitting on top of the chicken will not cook evenly.
- Cook low and slow. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 7 hours, until the wild rice grains have split open and are tender-chewy and the chicken is very tender. Avoid lifting the lid during the cook; every peek costs the cooker a meaningful amount of heat and adds time to a grain that is already on a long schedule.
- Shred the chicken. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Using two forks, shred the chicken directly in the cooker, pulling it into bite-size strands against the side of the crock. Stir the shreds back through the soup so they are coated in broth.
- Whisk the cream mixture. In a small bowl, whisk the flour into the heavy cream until completely smooth, with no dry pockets. A smooth slurry is what keeps the finish silky — flour dumped straight into hot soup clumps on contact.
- Finish the soup creamy. Stir the cream mixture into the soup. Cover and cook on HIGH for 25 to 30 minutes, until the broth has thickened slightly and coats the back of a spoon and the cream is fully heated through. Do not let it come to a hard boil.
- Season and serve. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper — the broth concentrates over the long cook, so season at the end, not the beginning. Ladle into warm bowls, scatter with fresh parsley, and serve with crusty bread for the broth that is left at the bottom.
Recipe by Ahsan ul Haq · FryDaily. Printing? This card is designed to print cleanly on its own.
