Upon seeing the title, you might have been expecting something a little brothier. But no, because this cooks low and slow, the rice absorbs seemingly as much liquid as you put into it and so this Slow Cooker Chicken Rice Soup has more of a congee or porridge consistency, which really just means that it’s as comforting as you could want it to be. When I’m feeling sick or run down, I prefer this to Chicken Noodle Soup any day – it’s more filling and feels more nourishing and is a snap to throw together when you’re not feeling your best. Just toss your ingredients in the slow cooker and turn it on – that’s it!

There is so much great stuff in here. For aromatics, you have onion, celery, carrot, garlic, thyme, parsley, and bay leaf and that flavor base is rounded out with chicken breasts and white rice. You just add all of that to the slow cooker along with a great deal of chicken broth, cover it, and let it do its thing until you’re ready to eat.

Then, you’ll remove the chicken and shred it before stirring it back into the mixture in the slow cooker. Easy, right? It’s delicious too – full of flavor from the veggies and herbs but so soothing and easy to digest.

But what if you don’t want this quite so thick? Good question. While you might think you should just add a bunch more broth from the get-go, that’s actually not the best plan. The rice will absorb so much more than you think it can, so if you’d like a thinner consistency it’s best to start with the six cups of broth and then thin it out at the end of the cooking time before you’re ready to serve.