A slow cooker chicken and mushroom soup that will be a new family classic. It's healthy, loaded with vegetables and comforting rice. It's also a really great way to stretch a few chicken breasts a really long way for when you're trying to stretch your budget!
We're giving creamy chicken soup a complete update for the modern slow cooker era! Instead of just some chicken, mushrooms, and cream, we're adding in carrots, celery, spinach and some rice. As well as the cream and the mushrooms. But we're pan-searing the mushrooms with some rosemary and butter! Just a little indulgent for when we need to practice the most amount of self-care but also need to keep it healthy!
Slow Cooker Chicken And Mushroom Soup
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Ingredients needed
- Chicken breast- boneless and skinless.
- Mushrooms- brown chestnut mushrooms because they have a deeper flavour.
- Onion, carrots & celery- the trio that starts off every amazing flavour filled soup! We throw in some garlic too because there's always room for garlic!
- Basmati rice- the rice does so many things here. Helps to bulk out this soup when you're trying to stretch your budget. It also brings creaminess and flavour to the soup.
- Chicken stock from a stock cube- you can use vegetable stock here too.
- Fresh herbs- rosemary, thyme and parsley. In a pinch, you can use dried rosemary and thyme, but I very much suggest fresh parsley for the finished soup.
- Single cream- we're only using 300ml for the whole soup, so yes. This soup is still very healthy!
Step by step directions
Step 1 & 2
- Chop the chicken into chunks and if you have a "cook and sear" slow cooker then place it on the hob with some olive oil and brown the chicken. Or just sear in a non-stick skillet just until golden brown. This step is optional, I just think that browned chicken brings so much extra flavour to slow cooker meals that can tend to be bland if everything is just added raw.
- Once the chicken is browned now you can add in the carrots, celery, onion, rice and thyme leaves. Make the chicken or vegetable stock using the stock cube and about 1.25l of boiling water. If you're feeling fancy you can use two stock cubes here. Pour in the hot stock and cook on a high heat setting for about 3 hours. The rice will be tender but then and starting to soak up some of the broth so your soup will be very thick.
Step 3 & 4
- Once the rice is tender and the chicken is cooked through turn off the slow cooker. Pour in the cream and add in the spinach. Give everything a really good stir and replace the lid back on the slow cooker to wilt the spinach.
- Meanwhile, quarter the mushrooms and heat the nonstick pan on high heat. Add some olive oil to the pan, add in the mushrooms and sear until the mushrooms are golden. Add in some butter and the chopped rosemary. Once the mushrooms are golden, add them to the slow cooker along with the browned butter and rosemary.
Variations
This soup is the perfect canvas for using what you have. Some good options are...
- Frozen peas
- Frozen sweet corn
- Use quick-cooking rice- add in the last 1 hour of cooking rather than at the beginning
- Dried rosemary and thyme instead of fresh
- Kale instead of spinach- is using kale, add it in for the last 30 minutes rather than at the very end. Kale is a tough leaf and needs extra time to wilt.
Storage
This recipe makes a large batch; about 10-12 servings. Store it in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days. As the soup sits in the fridge the rice will soak up the creamy broth. Add in some extra water or milk to bring it back to a soup consistency as you heat it up, or simply warm it up as is and have it as more of a casserole rather than a soup.
More slow cooker recipes
Tools used
- Cook n Sear slow cooker- this is the exact one I use and it's amazing!
Slow Cooker Chicken And Mushroom Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 300 g (2 cups) chicken breast, boneless skinless
- 6 (6) carrots, peeled and chopped
- 1 (1) onion diced
- 5 (5) stalks celery, sliced
- 4 (4) spring thyme
- 180 g (1 cups) basmati rice
- 3 cloves (3 cloves) garlic, sliced
- 1.25 (5 cups) litres chicken stock made with a stock cube
- 150 g (4 ¾ cups) baby spinach
- 300 ml (1 ⅕ cups) single cream
- 2 (2) punnets chestnut mushrooms, quartered
- 2 tablespoons (2 tablespoons) olive oil
- 3 tablespoons (3 tablespoons) butter
- 2 (2) sprigs rosemary, chopped
Instructions
- Chop the chicken into chunks and if you have a "cook and sear" slow cooker then place it on the hob with some olive oil and brown the chicken. Or just sear in a non-stick skillet just until golden brown. This step is optional, I just think that browned chicken brings so much extra flavour to slow cooker meals that can tend to be bland if everything is just added raw.
- Once the chicken is browned now you can add in the carrots, celery, onion, sliced garlic, rice and thyme leaves.
- Make the chicken or vegetable stock using the stock cube and about 1.25l of boiling water and cook on a high heat setting for about 3 hours or 5 hours on low. The rice will be tender by then and starting to soak up some of the broth so your soup will be very thick.
- Once the rice is tender and the chicken is cooked through turn off the slow cooker. Pour in the cream and add in the spinach. Give everything a really good stir and replace the lid back on the slow cooker to wilt the spinach.
- Meanwhile, quarter the mushrooms and heat a nonstick pan on high heat. Add the olive oil to the pan, add in the mushrooms and sear until the mushrooms are golden. Once they are golden add in the butter and the chopped rosemary and sauté until the butter starts to brown. This will only take about 1 minute. Once the mushrooms are golden, add them to the slow cooker along with the browned butter and rosemary. Stir them in and serve with soup with chunks of crusty bread.
Nutrition
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