Crockpot Chicken Quinoa Soup is loaded with quinoa, shredded chicken, lots of veggies, and Italian-inspired herbs. It’s hearty and perfect for a cozy meal.
Pair this soup with some crusty bread or homemade Dinner Rolls and an easy Cucumber Salad.
Crockpot Chicken Quinoa Soup
This delicious and hearty soup is so easy to assemble! With less than 30 minutes of prep time, everything can be in the slow cooker, ready to cook. Just a few hours later, a delicious and fragrant soup will be ready to eat!
Top individual bowls with plenty of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and make sure you’ve got some crusty bread to serve alongside the soup!
How To Make Crockpot Chicken Quinoa Soup
- Sauté Veggies: Sauté diced onion, carrot, and celery to add flavor and avoid crunchy veggies.
- Seasonings: Add Italian spices and tomato paste to the mirepoix for better flavor.
- Cook: Put the mix in a slow cooker. Add chicken, bay leaves, quinoa, diced tomatoes, and chicken stock. Stir, cover, and cook on high for 3-5 hours.
- Finish: Shred the chicken, stir it back in, and season to taste. Add spinach or kale if you like. Serve and enjoy!
Crockpot Chicken Quinoa Soup Notes
- The longer this soup cooks, the more liquid the quinoa absorbs. For a heartier soup, that’s great, but if you want it to remain more broth-y, stop cooking as soon as the quinoa has “popped.”
- Each slow cooker is a little different, so the cooking time varies. Look for chicken that shreds easily, quinoa fully cooked through, and tender veggies.
- Use a large-enough cooker: I recommend a 6-quart Crock-pot. Crock-pot is actually the brand name of a specific line of slow cookers, but most people use it as a generic term for any slow cooker.
Quick Tip
Rinse quinoa before cooking to remove its bitter coating. Check the package—if it’s not rinsed, rinse under cold water until the water runs clear.
More Soup Recipes
- Healthy Minestrone Soup with quinoa
- Quinoa Chili with sweet potatoes
- Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup a fun twist on chicken noodle soup
- The BEST Vegetable Soup with pesto
- Creamy Vegetable Soup reader favorite recipe
Crockpot Chicken Quinoa Soup
Crockpot Chicken Quinoa Soup is loaded with quinoa, shredded chicken, lots of veggies, and Italian-inspired herbs. It’s hearty and perfect for a cozy meal.
Equipment
- 6 quart slow cooker
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup EACH: diced yellow onion, diced celery, diced carrots
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning blend
- 2 teaspoons EACH: dried oregano, dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
- Salt and pepper to taste preference
- 2 small (~12 ounces or 3/4ths a pound) small boneless skinless chicken breasts, each breast cut into 3-5 pieces
- 2 cans (14.5 ounces EACH) undrained fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa (See Note 1)
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- Optional: 2 cups coarsely chopped baby spinach
- For serving: fresh basil, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, crusty bread
Instructions
- MIREPOIX: In a cast-iron pot or skillet, heat the 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add in the 1 cup diced onion, 1 cup diced carrots, and 1 cup diced celery. Cook and stir for 7-9 minutes. Add in the 2 teaspoons minced garlic, 1/4 cup tomato paste, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, 2 teaspoons dried oregano, 2 teaspoons dried basil, 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, and 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes if using. Season with salt and pepper. Stir until fragrant and combined, another 1-3 minutes. Transfer all of this mixture to a 6-quart slow cooker.
- SLOW COOKER: Remove any fat from the chicken breasts, and cut into chunks -- about 3-5 per breast. (This ensures it will cook in the same amount of time.) Place in the slow cooker along with the 2 cans of undrained fire-roasted diced tomatoes, 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa (See Note 1), 2 bay leaves, and 6 cups chicken stock. Stir together.
- COOK: Cover and cook on high for 3-5 hours or until quinoa has "popped" and chicken shreds easily. I don't recommend cooking on low (See Note 2). Once chicken shreds easily, remove from the slow cooker into a separate bowl or plate and shred with two forks. Return to the soup and stir. Remove bay leaves and discard. If desired, add in 2 cups coarsely chopped baby spinach and stir gently to wilt. Taste soup and season with any additional salt or pepper as needed.
- SERVE: Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with fresh basil and lots of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Enjoy with a side of crusty bread.
- STORAGE: When stored, note that the quinoa will continue to absorb liquid. This soup does not freeze and thaw well.
Recipe Notes
Note 1: Rinsing quinoa: Quinoa has a naturally occurring coating called saponin, which is bitter. It needs to be rinsed before adding to the soup. Many quinoas are pre-rinsed, so check the package to see if the quinoa has been rinsed. If not, add quinoa to a fine-mesh sieve and rinse it under cold water until the water beneath the sieve runs clear.
Note 2: Soup thickness: When cooked on low, the quinoa finishes a lot quicker than the chicken and veggies. The longer this soup sits or cooks, the more broth that gets absorbed into the quinoa. This makes it heartier and also less broth-y. If you want a more broth-y soup, watch carefully and turn the heat off the slow cooker when it is your desired consistency. Alternatively, add more broth as desired.
Nutrition
Serving: 8servings | Calories: 176kcal | Carbohydrates: 20.6g | Protein: 7.1g | Fat: 7.7g | Cholesterol: 7.9mg | Sodium: 260.6mg | Fiber: 3.6g | Sugar: 5.3g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Great recipe – I have made it several times
and we always sit down and sink into YUM.
Delicious on a cold wintery day. Making it
for dinner tonight, leftovers are great. Thanks for sharing!
I am so happy to hear this! Thanks so much Doni! 🙂
Hi Chelsea, I’d like to make this today, however I do not have 4 hours or more. I was wondering if I can make this in either an instantpot or a stock pot?
Can this soup be cooked on the stove top?
Sure!
I want to make a chicken stew but cannot seem to find a recipe where I can add all sorts of veggies, mushrooms, peppers, courgettes, carrots, parsnips, spinach cauliflower, new potatoes, sweet potatoes all in proportion of course, and also perhaps add some red lentils and or quiona. My worry is whether I add all the vegetables at the beginning or in stages as some cook quicker than others. I am not too sure how long quinoa or red lentils take to cook so don’t know whether to add this at the beginning or towards the end of cooking time. What are your thoughts on this please. Thank you.
It was good the night I made it, but the second day it was amazing! The flavors all marinated more and it was just great. Plus it was so incredibly easy to make.
So happy to hear that! Thanks 🙂
This soup is absolutely fantastic, very filling, very flavorful (I added a total of 3 tsp of minced garlic) and super easy! For those on WW, I measured out 6 servings @ 1 1/2 cup = 2 SmartPoints. I used O Organics Quinoa and low sodium chicken broth and did not have a problem with it being thick, cooked it for 4 hrs on high, I have a All-Clad 7 qt Slow Cooker from Williams Sonoma.
https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/all-clad-gourmet-slow-cooker-with-all-in-one-browning/?pkey=s%7Call%20clad%20slow%20cooker%7C11. Thank you for sharing Chelsea!!
So happy you enjoyed it!! Thanks for the comment Stacy 🙂
I like this recipe, very easy but I cooked it over the stove which is faster. I used chicken stock and water to cook the soup with the ingredients except quinoa. When the soup is boiling and the vegetables looking soft especially the tomatoes, then I add in the quinoa to cook for another 15 mins before I off and leaving it to become fluffy. Thanks for sharing and I will definitely cook this again.
To avoid the quinoa soaking up all the liquid, do you think I could add a 28 oz can of tomatoes, rather than the 14 oz? Or would that throw off the balance of flavours? Thanks! Want to make this tonight:)
I think that would be great! 🙂
I cooked this and ate some before I went to bed. Delicious. Turned off crock pot to let cool before refrigerated and quinoa soak up almost all the broth and a lot of the spices flavor. Just wondering if there is a way to add liquid to present soup and some extra spice. Thanks.
You can always add in some more stock/broth and a few more of the seasonings if needed 🙂
Made this for dinner tonight; other than using plain quinoa (couldn’t find any flavored), followed the recipe exactly. It was delicious!
So happy to hear that! 🙂 Thanks for the comment Mechele! 🙂