Hearty Slow Cooker Chicken Soup. This recipe was inspired by a soup I got from Tatte Bakery and Café in Alexandria, VA. For all you recipe blog haters, I’ve included my “life story” about this recipe below, so feel free to hit the Jump to Recipe button if you hate hearing the recipe origin story 😉
After Thanksgiving, I came down with a really bad cold and the only thing I wanted to eat was soup, but because I had just come home from traveling for the holiday, I had basically nothing in my fridge and no freezer stock. I actually ordered some chicken noodle soup from the grocery store, but they were out of stock and it never showed. Instead I ordered the house chicken soup from Tatte – I liked that it wasn’t a classic chicken noodle soup and included some different flavors. The first time I tried to remake it, I included wayyyy too many parsnips and turned myself off from including any moving forward, even though I thought they were yummy in the original.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Here’s what you’ll need to recreate this Hearty Slow Cooker Chicken Soup recipe:
- Chicken – I prefer breasts for this recipe, thighs would leave behind too much fat in the broth.
- Potatoes – The original recipe used red bliss potatoes, which I tested out, but I actually liked the texture of the Yukon golds a little better. Either one works though! Baby or full size potatoes will also work.
- Cannelini beans – Potatoes and beans?! Yep, that’s why it’s a hearty soup y’all. Beans bring extra flavor and fiber to the party! Since this soup never reaches a boil in the slow cooker, use the canned kind, not dried – otherwise you’ll risk GI issues.
- Mirepoix – Carrots, celery, and onion provide that foundational chicken soup flavor, plus they’re the primary veggies in this soup.
- Spinach – This is optional, but I like adding some green and a little more veggies to the soup.
- Chicken stock – Swanson Chicken Stock is an America’s Test Kitchen winner for the flavor of their stock, so that’s what I use and recommend.
- Shallot – I used this the first time I tested because I ran out of garlic, but ended up really liking it. You could use a few cloves of garlic instead if you like.
- Dill – I never would have picked dill as a fresh herb topper for this soup, but that’s what was used in the Tatte recipe, so I went for it. I really like the grassy brightness it brings to the party, especially if you top the soup with a dollop of sour cream!
- Other herbs and spices – I recommend a lemon pepper dill seasoning along with thyme, black pepper, and bay leaves. If you want to change up the seasoning, that’s okay, but don’t skip the bay leaves! I did the first time I tested this recipe and found out they are key to nailing the flavor of this soup.
a note on
Cook Time
This soup is pretty flexible with cook time in the slow cooker. I like to cook it on the longer end of 6-8 hours on low because I think the chicken is more tender and easily shredded. That said, anywhere in the 6-8 hour range will work just fine. If you’re cooking this while you’re at work, as long as your slow cooker kicks to “warm” after hitting the cook time, you probably could even stretch this to 9 or 10 hours.
If you’re in a hurry and need to cook it faster, go for 3-4 hours on high.
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Hearty Slow Cooker Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken breast, raw
- 2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1/2" cubes
- 8 cups Swanson Chicken Stock, 64 fl oz
- 2 15 oz cans cannelini beans, drained
- 3 oz baby spinach, roughly chopped
- 3 large carrots, chopped, 315 grams
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped, 200 grams
- 3 stalks celery, chopped, 100 grams
- 1 small shallot, diced, 50 grams
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme, or 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp Oh My Spice! Lemon Pepper Dill Seasoning
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Add prepared onions, shallot, celery, and carrots to the bottom of a 6-7 quart slow cooker. Layer chicken on top of the veggies, then season with salt, lemon pepper seasoning, and black pepper and add the bay leaves and fresh thyme sprigs.
- On top of the chicken, add the cubed potatoes. Pour the chicken stock over top, trying to avoid pouring directly over the seasoned chicken breasts so you don't wash off the seasoning. Cover and set slow cooker to low for 6-8 hours.
- In the last 30 minutes of cooking, remove the chicken breasts to a cutting board. They should shred easily with 2 forks. Shred the chicken and return it to the slow cooker.
- Using a heat safe measuring cup, remove 1-2 cups of liquid from the slow cooker (it's okay if you get some veggies too). Add 1/2 a can of drained cannellini beans to the liquid and blend with an immersion blender. Return the blended mixture to the slow cooker along with the remaining cannellini beans and baby spinach. Continue cooking on low for 20-30 minutes or until the beans are heated through.
- Serve with a dollop of sour cream and fresh chopped dill.
Tips & Tricks
Nutrition Information
