Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice Stew is what the doctor ordered. Comforting, very easy and full of healthy ingredients; the patient will feel better in no time.
This recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice Stew came about when little man was sick last week. The poor thing was just pitiful!! He is usually full of energy and imagination, but he was just sitting around with this sad look on his face 🙁
He starting running a fever and so the next day I took him to the walk-in clinic. Yep, he had strep throat. It is going around like crazy right now!! It infuriates me that parents send their children to school sick!! They pump them full of tylenol or motrin so they aren’t running a “fever” and then they aren’t sick. But they are still contagious, spreading these bugs and making other kids sick. I stayed home from work for two days to keep him home from school. That let the antibiotics do their job and we did not send him back to school until the doctor said it was okay to.
Ok, I will get off of my soap box and back to the stew. When we were at the walk-in clinic, they advised us to keep his diet pretty bland for a couple of days because he was experiencing a bit of nausea. She suggested chicken noodle or chicken and rice soup and it struck a chord for me. We haven’t had that before (to the best of my knowledge) or at least it has been quite a while…
I thought that I could we could try this Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice Stew for an easy dinner that we all could enjoy!!
So this was supposed to be a soup and not a stew dish. I misread the recipe that I used as the basis for this dish. I found this Slow Cooker Cream of Chicken Soup by Skinny MS after a quick Pinterest search. It calls for 1/2 a cup of long grain brown rice and just one potato. I ended up doubling the rice (that one was an honest mistake…I thought the recipe called for 1 cup) and as for the potato, we had two on hand that needed to be used so I threw both in.
I love the lovely creaminess of this dish comes from the starchy potatoes and brown rice that cook down since the stew slow cooks during the day. You do add a bit of reduced-fat milk at the end, but no cream or cream of anything soup (that stuff just creeps me out…it’s like a glob of yuckiness…you know what I mean).
Here is the recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice Stew:
- 1 large sweet yellow onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
- 1 cup carrots, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 2 white potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup long grain brown rice (you want the kind that takes 45 minutes to cook)
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme, stem removed
- 1 tsp. sea salt, more or less to taste
- ½ tsp. fresh ground black pepper, more or less to taste
- ½ tsp. crushed red pepper, more or less to taste
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup 1% reduced-fat milk
- 1 tbsp. cornstarch
- Place a slow cooker liner in the bowl of your slow cooker or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- Add all ingredients (in the order listed) in the slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 7-8 hours or until the chicken is cooked through and shreds easily and carrots are tender.
- Right before you are ready to eat, mix the cornstarch into the milk and add to the stew, stirring to combine. Cook for 10 minutes to thicken the stew.
- Enjoy hot with whole grain bread or crackers.
This is the perfect meal to throw in the crock pot and forget about it – looks delicious!
This looks so comforting and hearty. I love a good crock-pot recipe! Pinning!
Thanks Kristen!! Definitely comforting and hearty…but still healthy 🙂
what a terrific hearty soup! alas, still very much soup weather here in Boston!
this looks great and I love slow cooker meals thanks for sharing
Thanks Christine!! I love slow cooker meals too 🙂
I love using a slow cooker for pretty much everything! Buzzfeed did a post on different ways you can use a slow cooker and I’ve been hooked ever since! This looks so delicious! 🙂
OOOOH this looks delicious! I am all about my slow cooker, thanks for sharing!!
Thanks Erin!! I’m totally into my slow cooker too 🙂
Wow, this recipe looks amazing! I LOVE stews and slow cooker recipes, so I am pinning this for next week to try! Thank you!
Awesome Chelsie!! Thanks for stopping by and let me know how it goes 🙂
This looks amazing. I don’t know if it’s your excellent photography or just my general constant craving for comfort food and carbs, but this is what I want for dinner tonight. I’m going to have to give it a try.
Thank you for the kind words Lou!! I think it’s the comfort food…especially this time of year 😉
Yummy! 😀 :D! I love slow cooker recipes, and this looks like the ultimate comfort food! :]!
This is definitely something my family would love. A must-try on these cold winter nights.
I love slow cooker soups! This one is perfect for a chilly day!
This looks yummy! I love a good crockpot recipe and hearty soup/stew is perfect for the yucky snowy weather going on right now! This is definitely going on my ‘to-make’ list! Thanks for sharing and hope your little guy is feeling better!
Thanks Vicky! I hope you do give it a try and then let me know how it goes 🙂 And yes, thank you, he is much better 🙂
I am so going to make this! It sounds delicious. I don’t have a slow-cooker but I’m sure a slow simmer in a pot will be close enough–and all of these ingredients are actually ones I can get in China (an unfortunately rare occurrence…)
Thanks Rachel! I’m sure it would work beautifully slow simmered in a pot. Glad you can get all the ingredients! Let me know how it goes for you 🙂
G’day Love this dish Becky and so reminds me of childhood!
Cheers! Joanne
I made the Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice recipe on Sunday. Albeit, with a few tweaks. I doubled the garlic, used approx 3lbs of chicken breast, and at the end I stirred in some Tamari for depth of flavor and some homemade ranch dressing mix.
The dish was tasty yet mild in flavor. The texture was really nice.
Last night I re-vamped the whole thing by mixing in some grated cheddar and dividing into two 8×8 baking pans, sprinkled some breadcrumb and more cheese on top before putting it in a 375° oven for 45 minutes.
yummy.
Thanks so much, Shari! I love the tweaks that you made 🙂