Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken and Rice Soup
6 Comments Nov 23, 2022
Updated Nov 20, 2024
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Crock Pot Lemon Chicken and Rice Soup, which is very similar to Avgolemono Soup, is loaded with shredded chicken breasts, rice, and flavors of lemon, celery, carrots, and staple herbs and seasonings. The taste is delicious and sure to become one of your favorite soups. Excellent choice for dinner tonight!
Other lemon-inspired recipes to try are Lemon Pepper Chicken Thighs, Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken, Lemon Pepper Chicken, and Rice.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Lemon Chicken Rice Soup
If you’ve visited any authentic Greek restaurant, chances are you’ve seen something similar to this delicious recipe on the menu. Now, you can skip the restaurant and make this staple recipe in the comfort of your own kitchen.
This is an easy recipe to follow with ingredients you’ll likely already have on hand or can easily find at your local grocery store. It’s an easy and great recipe if you’re looking to have soup tonight!
Recipe Ingredients
- Chicken Breasts: These will be seasoned with salt, pepper, and red chile flakes and cooked in the slow cooker until shred tender.
- Chicken Broth: Regular chicken broth or chicken stock is perfect, or you can use a low-sodium kind. If you have homemade chicken broth or chicken bone broth, you can use that!
- Minute Rice: This is a par-cooked rice that works well in the crock pot. If you add standard rice you may find that the rice will get gummy and chalky for the slow cooker doesn’t get hot enough to cook it properly. You can use Minute Brand brown rice if desired.
- Vegetables: Carrots, celery, and onion add color, texture, and taste to this delicious soup.
- Seasonings: Besides salt, pepper, and red chile flakes, we also add garlic, parsley, thyme, and freshly squeezed lemon juice to make the iconic flavor of this dish.
Step-by-Step Directions
Step One – Add the shredded carrots, diced celery, diced onion, and minced garlic to the crock pot.
Step Two – Lay chicken breast over the vegetables and season with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper.
Step Three – Pour the chicken stock, add the butter, and place the thyme in the slow cooker. Squeeze in the fresh lemon juice.
Step Four – Cook on HIGH for 4 Hours or on LOW for 8 hours.
Step Five – Remove cooked chicken and shred it with two forks in a small bowl.
Step Six – Return the shredded chicken to the broth mixture and add the minute rice. Cook for another 30 minutes on HIGH or 45 minutes on LOW.
Step Seven – Season the top with parsley.
Step Eight – Stir and serve the lemon soup in bowls.
Recipe Variations
- Some recipes call for (lots of) fresh dill instead of fresh parsley. This would undoubtedly taste good and stay true to the Greekness of the dish.
- You can also garnish the top with fresh lemon slices, feta cheese, and extra lemon juice.
- With this being a soup, you can serve it with crackers, pita bread, or oyster crackers. Those are great for dipping into the hot broth.
- Besides the chicken breasts, you could also use a whole chicken, chicken thighs, or even rotisserie chicken in this recipe.
Recipe FAQs
If you want to add an egg, simply whisk an egg in a small bowl. Add a few tablespoons of the finished hot soup to that whisked egg, stir, then add that egg mixture to the slow cooker and stir. Cook for 15 minutes longer. The egg will make the soup thicker and creamy.
Boneless, skinless chicken thighs can be used in place of chicken breast in this recipe.
Place any leftover chicken lemon rice soup in an airtight container and keep it in the fridge for up to 3 days. This soup also freezes well. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator before reheating. Reheat on the stovetop or microwave.
The rice can be cooked separately instead of in the crock pot. Just follow the package instructions on the rice. Using a rice cooker will help as well.
Yes! There are many that pair perfectly with it. You can try long grain white rice (or short grain rice), wild rice, brown rice, Arborio rice, and/or basmati rice, though if you use any rice besides minute brand rice, you will need to cook it first and add it at the end of the cooking time.
Cook the recipe with just one lemon, then taste and see if it needs more lemon flavor. It can get overpowering if too much is added. You can add 1-2 teaspoons of lemon zest if desired, though!
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Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken and Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 2 carrots, shredded
- 4 ribs celery, thinly sliced
- 1 small onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1.5 lbs. chicken breast
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. black pepper
- ⅛ tsp. crushed red pepper, optional
- 2 Tbsp. salted butter
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 lemon, juiced (about 3 Tbsp.)
- 8 fresh thyme sprigs, Tied with Butcher's Twine or 1 tsp. dried thyme
WAIT TO ADD
- 1 cup Minute Brand rice, (will add the uncooked rice to the slow cooker)
- 3 Tbsp fresh parsley, Finely Chopped (or 1 Tablespoon dried parsley)
Instructions
- To the slow cooker pot add the shredded carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Lay the chicken breast over the vegetables and season with the salt, pepper and red chile flakes. Add the butter, pour in the chicken stock and place the thyme in the slow cooker, squeeze in the juice of the lemon.
- Cook on HIGH for 4 Hours or on LOW for 8 hours. After 3hrs 30mins, remove the chicken from the slow cooker and shred, add back into the slow cooker (if cooking on low remove the chicken and shred after 7hrs 15mins).
- Add the minute rice in with the shredded chicken and soup. Cook for another 30 minutes on HIGH or 45 minutes on LOW.
- When done, sprinkle in the fresh parsley and mix. Serve immediately. Enjoy!
How to Video
Sarah’s Notes
- Boneless, skinless chicken thighs can be used in place of chicken breast in this recipe.
- Do not add lemon slices to the soup while it cooks. The pith of the lemon will make the soup bitter.
- The rice can be cooked separately instead of in the crock pot. Just follow the package instructions on the rice. If you don’t have butchers twine, you can just add the fresh thyme sprigs to the slow cooker, don’t forget to pull them out later (remember how many you added to the slow cooker)
- Tempted to add more lemon? Cook the recipe with just one lemon, then taste and see if it needs more lemon flavor. It can get overpowering if too much is added. You can add 1-2 teaspoons of lemon zest if desired, though!
- If you want to add an egg, simply whisk the egg in a small bowl. Add a few tablespoons of the finished hot soup to that whisked egg, stir, then add that egg mixture to the slow cooker and stir. Cook for 15 minutes longer. The egg will make the soup thicker and creamy.
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
Can I use the Instapot for this? If so, any idea as to time? Thank you so much! This looks delish!!
I do not have an idea on time, but I’m sure it would work well!
I made this soup about 2 weeks ago it was delicious ,& the lemon made it “perk” up. I found one juicy lemon was enough. Will definitely make it again & again. Thank You!
Is there an alternative for rice? My husband dislikes those tasty little seeds/cereal grains of goodness.
You could boil about a 1/4 pound of pasta (such as macaroni) and add at the end of the cooking time.
Thyme springs eternal. Definitely gave me a chuckle. I assume you meant sprigs.