With just a few ingredients, this easy crock pot chicken soup recipe tastes like comfort food. It's the perfect bowl of soup to warm you up, get you back on track, and make you feel better. And this clean eating recipe is keto, paleo, Whole30, gluten-free, and dairy-free.
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This is comfort food, pure and simple. I've been fighting a winter cold, and this healthy crock pot chicken soup is just about the only thing I've cooked this week. With only a few ingredients—chicken, veggies, and herbs—this soup is a warm, satisfying meal.
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Easy slow cooker chicken soup
One of the things I love about this simple soup is that it is so quick and easy to put together. Just add everything to the crock pot and walk away. The slow cooker does all the work—it's perfect when you don't have the time (or the energy) to do anything else.
Using chicken thighs and chicken breasts with the bone in provide nourishing gelatin to the broth during the slow cooking. You can see this when the leftovers thicken up in the refrigerator. That's the magic of this simple slow cooker chicken soup.
Ingredients
This soup takes just a few healthy ingredients. Here's what you'll need.
- onion
- celery
- carrots
- bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts and thighs
- apple cider vinegar
- herbs de Provence (or a mix of herbs like thyme, parsley, rosemary, oregano or bay leaf)
- sea salt and black pepper
- water
How to make it
It couldn't be simpler to make this homemade chicken soup. It's basically a dump recipe, meaning you don't need to brown or pre-cook anything before it goes in the slow cooker.
- Start with your vegetables and just chop and drop the onion, celery, and carrots in the crock pot. Then stir in your herbs de Provence (see how to make my simple homemade version here) and a little apple cider vinegar.
- Then layer your chicken breast and thighs over the vegetables. Be sure to use bone-in, skin-on chicken for extra richness and flavor.
- Lastly, season with salt and pepper and add water. Then let the slow cooker work its magic.
- After it has slow-cooked, remove and shred the chicken and add the shredded chicken back into the soup.
This soup is chock full of chicken and has a light broth. If you want a richer broth, you can always substitute low sodium chicken broth or vegetable stock for some of the water.
And if you want to dress it up, serve it over cauliflower rice for an easy chicken and rice soup. Or add spiralized zucchini pasta before serving for a slow cooker chicken noodle soup. Either way, this classic chicken soup is a great winter meal.
This recipe is also great for meal prep. Store the finished soup in an airtight container in the fridge or freeze in single servings in freezer safe glass bowls or silicone freezer bags. (The reusable bags will freeze flat so they take up less room.)
So try this slow cooker chicken soup for an easy comforting meal (or an old-school cold remedy). I've even had it for breakfast with an almond flour biscuit and my favorite mint tea. Whenever you need a hug in a bowl, this soup will warm your heart and soul.
And for more healthy slow cooker recipes, check out these 30 paleo crock pot recipes.
Crock Pot Chicken Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 3 celery stalks diced
- 3 carrots diced
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon herbs de Provence or several sprigs fresh herbs
- 2 organic chicken breasts bone-in, skin-on
- 2 organic chicken thighs bone-in, skin-on
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 3-4 cups filtered water
Instructions
- Layer all ingredients in crock pot in order listed, making sure chicken is bone side down on top of vegetables. Add enough water to cover vegetables and come half way up chicken, between 3 and 4 cups.
- Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
- Remove chicken and let cool slightly. Remove skin and bones. Shred chicken meat and add back to soup in crock pot. Adjust seasonings, reheat, and serve.
Nutrition
More Easy Crock Pot Chicken Recipes
Jean Lynd
That's great. Never thought about leaving chicken on top to debone afterwards. Great idea. Thanks!
Lisa
Thanks Jean!
Laura Anna
I made this today and it's awesome! So simple and so good! Love, love, love it!
Lisa
Thank you - this is one of my favorites!
Mamapotamus
The apple cider vinegar surprised me and made me really want to try this!
Lisa
The apple cider vinegar adds a little acidity that enhances the flavor, and helps extract the minerals from the bones.
Laura Dembowski
I seriously can't wait to check out more of your recipes. I'm always looking for quick, easy, and healthy dinners, like this soup. SO comforting and nutritious.
Lisa
Thanks Laura!
SarahJ (@CCuisiniere)
This looks so clean and refreshing. I love that it's a crock pot recite! Excited to get to know you through our SITS Tribe!
Lisa
Me too Sarah! Thanks for visiting!
Tara
What are your thoughts on boneless chicken breasts instead of bone in breasts and thighs? I hate messing with chicken in general and am wondering if you think this will be a flavorful option? Thank you!
Lisa
Tara, the chicken bones definitely add flavor. If you use boneless chicken, try substituting chicken stock for all or part of the water in the recipe. Hope this helps. 🙂
Allyson
Thanks so much for posting such a delicious and easy-to-make recipe. I usually get overwhelmed trying to cook, but this is so simple it's now a staple in my home.
Lisa
Yay! I'm so glad - it's a staple in my home too. Thanks for letting me know! 🙂
brooke
I have this tasty dish in the crockpot right now! I went ahead and doubled the recipe since we just moved to the east coast. I'm sure having some homemade chicken soup in the freezer will be a lifesaver. If this serves 4-6 what sort of serving quantity (1 C, 2 C, etc) serving would that be?
PS this is Paleo and waistline friendly! I doubled the recipe and logged the ingredients into MyFitnessPal in the recipes sections, and based on a 10 person serving it's less than 300 cals! It's just I have no idea how much is in a serving.
Thanks for your help!
Lisa
Hi Brooke, my soup bowls (pictured above) hold about 1-1/2 cups so that's what I usually use as a serving. Hope you enjoy the soup!
Celeste
I made this soup today and I really enjoyed. I added frozen shiitake mushrooms at the beginning and fresh spinach at the end. I also like some spice ... So I added a small hot pepper (don't know the type of pepper ... Got it at the CSA). This is a new recipe for my repertoire.
Lisa
Your additions sound good, Celeste! One of the great things about this soup is you can make it so many different ways. I'll have to try it with the mushrooms. 🙂
cameronbolin
Can you cook it on high for 4-6 hours instead?
Lisa
The broth develops more flavor when it's cooked low and slow. If you need to cook it faster, you may want to try substituting pre-made chicken broth for all or part of the water.
klab
Excellent soup! Definitely don't substitute boneless skinless breasts. The bones add a nice rich flavor and are loaded with healthy minerals, vitamins and collagen. The skin also adds to the flavor. If you are worried about fat, after removing the chicken to cool and shred, place to soup in the fridge until it's cold. All the fat floats to the top and solidifies Si it can be easily removed 🙂
hannah
Definitely don't skim off the fat! This is a Paleo recipe, and the Paleo way of eating embraces good healthy fats as the energy you need on a lower-carb eating plan. This fat is good for you!
Jessica
As luck would have it, I'm terribly sick right now and could really use a cold remedy. So glad I found this!
Kaylor Little
It is so cold right now and this Texas girl is hating it. This is the perfect soup to warm me up! Pinning now. Thanks for sharing.
Lisa
Thanks Kaylor!
Camilla
This soup was absolutely amazing! I also can't believe how incredibly easy it was to make too, it practically makes itself!! Thank you for the recipe!!
Melissa Hughes
I just made this. I varied it a bit - I used spring onions (6) bc I didn't have a white or yellow onion and baby carrots. I then sautéed in ghee adding salt ans pepper until celery clear. I then added to crock pot and used 3 boneless, skinless chicken. After 4 hours on high, I took out chicken, shredded it and puréed most of the soup and then added back in the chicken plus 2 dashes of hot sauce and 2 tbsp of full fat coconut milk. It's delish!
Danielle Espinoza
I made this exactly as written and it was perfectly delicious! Thank you!
Lisa
Yay! I'm so glad you loved it, Danielle!
Dadberto
Just made this. DELICIOUS!! So clean and healthy. A love the collagen from the skin and bones. I put it a lot of chicken, so had to add two cups of organic broth to loosen it up. But excellent! Will for sure make it again. Adaptable enough to toss in elbow macaroni for my wife and daughter who aren't on Daddy's paleo train. Definitely a go-to recipe. Thank you!
Lisa
Yay! So glad you love it 🙂
beckandbulow
yum yum yummy
Tracy Reed
Cooking this now but used a whole
chicken...should I increase cooking time? Thank you so much! 😊
Abigail
How many calories per serving?
Lisa
The nutrition info listed in the recipe is per serving.
Janelle
I've made this several times. We love it. My husband just asked me to make it but my chicken is currently frozen. Have you ever made it with frozen chicken? I just use breasts because my daughter can't eat dark meat. So they are frozen breasts, on the bone with the skin on.
Jane
What makes the carb count 8 GMs? Is it the carrots? Wouldn't think it would be that high. Thanks!
Samantha
This is my second time making this. The first time I made it, I ate it every day until it was gone… it was so good. Today, I sampled it as soon as I walked in the door and the aroma hit me and right away, I knew something was off. I went back over the recipe and saw that I didn’t add the apple cider vinegar! What a difference that makes! It really pulls out the flavor of the herbs. Fantastic recipe! Thank you!
Heather
Thank you for the recipe. It came out great. I see the nutrition info which is a great bonus, I also see it makes “6-8 servings” but cannot fine the actual serving size that the nutrition info applies to. Thank you!
Rachel Moore
Hi! Can I add potatoes to this or would they get too mushy? Thanks !
Lisa
Hi Rachel, I haven't tested this recipe with potatoes. If you try it, let us know how it turns out!