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Probably one of my favorite slow cooker recipes. So much flavor! And the leftovers are just as good. 🙂
Lindlee
Watch How To Make This Wild Rice Soup
Chicken Wild Rice Is My Favorite Soup.
We LOVE this recipe in our house. Living in Minnesota, chicken wild rice soup is easily one of the most nostalgic, cozy, family-friendly recipes I make! My family gets so excited when they walk in to find out it’s chicken wild rice soup night.
This version is SO EASY to prep and the end result is savory, thick, creamy, comforting, and so nostalgic.
My mom has made wild rice soup for Christmas Eve dinner for as long as I can remember. I adore her recipe – but it’s a bit more involved, with lots of pans and lots of hands-on time. So almost ten years ago, I came up with this method that is easy enough for a weeknight (YAY):
- Cook the wild rice, chicken, and veggies in a slow cooker.
- Make a stovetop bechamel (like a creamy base for the soup).
- Stir them together.
My latest and best method involves adding the bechamel into the soup for the creamy thickness, like it was in the original recipe – but ALSO adding a bit of heavy cream for the buttery mouthfeel and flavor. OOOH BABY.
Dunked with warm crusty bread? GOOD BYE. It is a truly a dream on a cold winter night. I do a good Panera moment, but Panera wild rice soup doesn’t stand a chance.
This soup is such a favorite in our house – probably a top 10 family fave for us, out of thousands of recipes on the site. I hope you love it too!
If you’ve made this in the past, it’s worth another try!
1
Cook The Wild Rice and Chicken in The Crockpot.
Wild rice, veggies, chicken, broth, bouillon, and some spices. Good house smells coming through!
2
Cut The Chicken.
If you’re able to pull the chicken out early, that’s ideal – it will prevent it from drying out and shredding too much. Just remove the chicken and chop it up on a cutting board. But if not – it’s no biggie, I’ve done it many times without and you can just shred right in the slow cooker when you get home from work!
3
Make and Stir In The Creamy Base.
Make your bechamel in a saucepan and add it back into the soup with the chicken. Add a bit of cream, season to taste, and serve!
Ingredients You’Ll Need
For such a deep, rich, savory flavor, this soup has a pretty short ingredient list. It’s just that each member of the team here is really doing their part, bringing their own special something to this beautiful soup. Here’s what you’ll need!
- wild rice (it’s important to use authentic wild rice here and not a wild rice blend that is mixed with white or other rice)
- chicken breasts (pulled rotisserie chicken is great, too)
- mirepoix (chopped celery, carrots, and onions)
- chicken broth
- poultry seasoning
- garlic and onion powder
- Better Than Bouillon chicken base (helps the flavor so much)
- butter
- all-purpose flour
- whole milk
- heavy cream for a great mouthfeel and buttery taste *chef’s kiss*
Also get your favorite crusty bread ready to tear because you are definitely going to want to be swooping, scooping, and dipping through this soup over and over again.
What To Serve with This Soup
No soup experience is complete without some big hunks of warm crusty bread like maybe this easy peasy no-knead bread to dip. And sure, spoons are helpful with soup but also…how great is it to just scoop it with bread?!
If you are looking to add a little green to the meal, this Simple Green Salad or these House Favorite Brussels Sprouts are the two I make with this soup most frequently.
Crockpot Chicken Wild Rice Soup: Frequently Asked Questions
The poultry seasoning is a mix of several things, including thyme and sage. Even though it’s only about a teaspoon, do not omit this because it adds a lot of the flavor. If you don’t have any, go with a combination of dried thyme and sage (3/4 teaspoon each).
Absolutely! Check out our mushroom version of this recipe here.
Add your wild rice, chicken, seasonings, veggies, and broth to the Instant Pot. Cook on high pressure for 30-40 minutes with a quick release once the soup finishes cooking. Shred the chicken in the Instant Pot. Make your roux on the stovetop with butter, milk, and flour. Whisk it up and add it to your Instant Pot with the rest of the soup. Stir to combine and enjoy!
Yep! Instead of cooking the first step in the slow cooker, just simmer it on the stove instead for about one hour, until the chicken is cooked through and the rice is tender. Then follow the rest of the steps as-is!
Crockpot Chicken Wild Rice Soup
- Total Time: 6 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings 1x
Description
My family LOVES this Crockpot Chicken Wild Rice Soup. It’s easy, thick and buttery, and so good. Chicken, carrots, celery, onion, wild rice, seasonings, and cream. Pair with a piece of crusty bread on a cold night for the perfect meal!
Ingredients
For the Slow Cooker:
- 3/4 cup uncooked wild rice, rinsed
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 cups mirepoix (chopped celery, carrots, and onions)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 1 1/2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon Better Than Bouillon roasted chicken base
Before Serving:
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 4 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- your favorite bread for dunking! essential.
Instructions
- Load Up The Crockpot: Place the uncooked wild rice, raw chicken, mirepoix, garlic, chicken broth, poultry seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, and bouillon in a slow cooker.
- Cook Time: Cover and cook on low for 6 hours. If you’re able to: remove the chicken after 3 hours to prevent overcooking. Cut into bite-sized chunks or shreds; set aside in the fridge. Otherwise, just shred chicken in the crockpot after 6 hours. It will still turn out great. When it’s done, the wild rice grains should be opened up, and there should be a small amount of liquid left (see photo above).
- (30 min before serving) Warm Up The Milk: Warm the milk in the microwave for 60-90 seconds – this makes the bechamel in the next step smoother.
- Make the Bechamel: Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the flour and let the mixture cook out for a minute. Add 1/2 cup of milk, whisk, and let it thicken slightly. Repeat until all the milk is gone and you’re left with a creamy thickened base. Season with salt.
- Bring it Together: Add the bechamel, chicken, and heavy cream to the slow cooker. Stir to distribute.
- Finishing Touches: Add extra broth or milk to adjust the consistency as you like it. Season with additional salt and pepper, or a dash of sherry for something more grown-up and fancy (my family actually prefers this without the sherry, though). Serve it with bread. We love this recipe and make it all the time. So cozy and so good!
Equipment
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Buy Now → Notes
You can use 2-3 cups rotisserie chicken meat instead of chicken breasts – just cube or shred it, and add it into the crockpot in Step 5.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 6 hours
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: crockpot wild rice soup, chicken wild rice soup, wild rice soup
More Cozy Soups To Make ASAP
- Lemon Chicken Soup with Orzo
- Crockpot Chicken Gnocchi Soup
- Healing Chicken and Rice Soup
- Jalapeño Lime Chicken Soup
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our all-star slow cooker recipes page. Check it out!
This one is a regular in our house! We make it on nights when we know we’ll be busy and use Trader Joe’s shredded rotisserie chicken breast and a package of mirepoix. I’ve forgotten to add cream a couple times and it turned out just as delicious. Our preference is for it to be brothy so we also add 2 cups of water. So good!
What’s the best way to make this gluten free?
You can use a gluten-free cup for cup flour blend!
This is one of my favorite soups and I’m so glad to find a real recipe and not something that calls for canned soup. I hope you’ll post the long version your Mom makes also!
I have a question, I’m considering this recipe because it sounds delicious, but I want to substitute the wild rice with white rice. I know the cook times are different, so could I just cook the white rice separately and then fold it in last (at the same time I add the chicken)?
Hi! you could do this; we would add the cooked white rice with only about an 1 hour left to cooking, otherwise it will get too mushy.
did you change this recipe recently? I dont remember the bullion in the original.
We did, after extensive retesting after reader feedback!
This has been my go-to for a long long time but now I can’t find the one with white wine (your original recipe). The last time you had a link in the FAQ or comments. Can you please repost??? This one didn’t land as well as that one. 🙁
I made this and it was delicious! I added my chicken at the last 2 hours instead of at the beginning. I’m not huge on soup, I mainly make it for my mom but this was a game changer. 10/10
I goofed up and bought a wild rice blend. Planning to cook this on the stovetop – thinking I’ll sweat the veggies and cook the chicken in the broth and add the rice once I’ve taken the chicken out. Any suggestions re: if I should change the amount of rice and/or a cook time once I’ve added it in? I’d appreciate any suggestions you have. Thanks!! XO
We haven’t tested this with a blend, but it may be slightly less cook time.
This was delicious! I added 16 oz of sliced mushrooms (had to add additional stock/water) and skipped the bechamel and heavy cream to simplify/lighten. I just did a healthy drizzle of half and half, stirred it up, and let it cook a little longer on low. The starches of the rice release as it cooks, so it was plenty thick without the bechamel/a slurry etc. Just wanted to share in case anyone wanted to lighten this up/make it a one pot meal!
This is delicious. I did read reviewers say theirs turned to mush and per the advice of POY and other comments, only added the rice when I took the chicken out. I ended up having a wild rice blend, so the grains that are closer to long grain did end up kinda mushy but everything else is so tasty it doesn’t matter. If i can dig up true wild rice I’ll try again with it, this is definitely a keeper.
I made this for the first time tonight.
It tastes AMAZING‼️
I highly recommend others try it!
Thank you for being so kind to share your recipes. 🙃
This is one of my family’s cold weather favorites! Quick question – has it been updated from a previous version? I didn’t recall the better than bouillon and heavy cream but maybe I’m just getting old! Ha!
Yes, this was recipe was updated December 2025!
I grew up in Minnesota, and this soup reminds me of home!
Easy, delicious and so comforting! Loved the flavors the poultry seasonin and bouillon added. Will definitely make again.
For everyone who, like me, accidentally bought wild rice *blend* I/O wild rice, and even moreso if you need this made stat, can I offer some suggestions? I made it tonight and it was delicious!! And I’ve been looking forward to this for so long that I was determined to make it work so I referenced both this and your Instapot version recipe to make my family’s dinner tonight.
In my dutch oven on the stove, I seared chicken breast in heated olive oil/kerrygold butter and then wrapped in foil to cook through in the oven. I otherwise followed this recipe but made it all stovetop in the same dutch oven: Sauteed the veggies, added seasonings (sans bouillon, just because I never use it), then broth, rinsed the rice and followed the instructions from my rice package (which was rinse in cold water 1-2 minutes and add to [broth mixture on the stove], bring to boil, turn to low for 45 minutes with a tight fitting lid on). Chopped the chicken when ready and added it and the bechamel at the end and voila!
This was SO good. I was getting my groceries for this recipe delivered, but they didn’t have any wild rice so I just got a package of a wild rice/long grain blend (like uncle Ben’s) and used that along with the seasonings and it was perfect! I just used slightly less of the rest of the ingredients because it wasn’t quite 3/4 cup. My whole family loves this one!
Yum!
Delish! This recipe is perfection!
Just made this for dinner and I can’t wait to try it. I made it exactly as you wrote it except I didn’t have celery so I used a can of corn and a handful of frozen peas. It looks and smells amazing.!
Can this be made gluten free??
Just when I thought my favorite soup couldn’t get better, you made it better! The prior version turned out so thick every time I made it that it was more like a wild rice hot dish — this update makes it the perfect thick soupy consistency! Reprinting the updated version for my recipe binder ASAP.
Yay, thank you for trying the updated version!
To what temp should I heat the milk? No microwave.
Just warm, room temp is great.
I love wild rice and was so excited to try this crockpot recipe. I threw in some mushrooms as well. So good!
Can you cut this recipe in half? If so, would the cooking time in the crockpot be changed? Thank you!
That should work just fine! Cooking time would be the same.
Oh my gosh this was so tasty! I made a batch to bring to a friend for a meal train and I was really nervous about the bechamel part, but it turned out really, really good. I kept some for myself and my family, yummy!
Great to hear, Kristen!