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.
It’s in the crock pot and can’t wait to try it! I put kale and some northern beans in with it plus lots of onions!
I hope you love it! 🙂
I am making this for supper tonight for the second time – we Loved it the first time around! Amazing flavour! Thank you so much for sharing. 🙂
So great to hear! I’m thrilled this was a hit. Thanks for the comment Jackie 🙂
Would the cooking time be the same without the chicken?
It will be a similar cooking time without the chicken for the quinoa to fully cook and the veggies to get soft.
Hi Chelsea! Thank you for posting this recipe, the flavor is quite delicious. I am not really a crock pot professional, so maybe you can help me out? I followed your recipe exactly, but I noticed that my chopped carrots and celery are still hard and crunchy after 5 hours of cooking in the crock pot. How long does it normally take for these vegetables to soften? Thank you again for a delicious recipe, I hope I can get it down perfectly next time!
Thanks so much for the comment Rhi! I’m glad you enjoyed the flavor, and I’d love to help troubleshoot the veggie tenderness. At 5 hours of cooking was the quinoa and chicken cooked through? You might have a cooler running crockpot so it’s possible this dish could take longer in your crockpot. And then how thinly did you slice the carrots and celery? If you try it again, I’d try to make sure they are both very thinly sliced. And lastly, make sure you don’t open the crockpot during the cooking if you can avoid it. It takes a long time for a crockpot to heat up again after being opened 🙂 Hope these tips help!
I’ve made this and it’s fantastic! question though: can I make it with frozen chicken breasts? I figured it would make the broth a little thinner but with the quinoa absorbing it I figured it could be okay? What do you think?
Thanks so much Kayla! I’ve never tried frozen chicken with this, but I would recommend thawing it first because I think the quinoa would be too mushy by the time the chicken cooked.
I’m a sucker for Italian chicken soup. My husband likes a heartier soup, so I’m cooking it for longer! If you want to make it even healthier, there’s a product called “Better Than Bouillon.” It’s a soup base, used a lot like bouillon (but tastes better in my opinion) and even has an organic option. 1 tsp = one bouillon cube.
Also, I’m planning on making your beef stew next! Love the recipes. 🙂
Thank you so much Grace! I’m so happy you’ve been enjoying some of my recipes 🙂 I hope you love the stew!
Since I have an instant pot now, I used the sauté function to cook the onions, celery, carrots and garlic for a bit before adding the rest of the ingredients and switching it over to the slow cook function. But even with that slight change, this soup was seriously amazing! Perfect for a chilly fall night, and healthy too. Thank you for the recipe, we will definitely be making it again!
Awe thank you Amanda! 🙂 So happy to hear it was a hit 🙂
This was my first time trying one of your recipes and after making this soup….I’m a Fan of yours!!! This soup was delicious!!! Both my husband and I loved it!! So yummy!!! Thanks for the great recipe! I look forward to making many more that you suggest!!
Oh I am so happy this was such a huge hit Shea! 🙂 Thank you so much for the comment!
This soup is fantastic!, no really- it’s amazingly easy and so warm and comforting. You literally dump all the ingredients into the crock pot and for us, 4 hours later it was done. We left the house, and when we opened the door it smelled like thanksgiving. We plunged into the soup and it was so satisfying and delicious. After dinner i sent this recipe to my daughter who is extremely busy with her career and my son who is senior in college studying to be a dietitian. After all my raving about easy and delicious they are both trying the recipe this weekend. Thanks so much!
Thank you so much for this sweet comment Sharlene! I’m so thrilled to hear it’s been a hit and you’ve passed along the recipe! Thank you for the review!
Hi. Could you please tell me what ‘Italian seasoning” is? I’m guessing it’s something like a blend of oregano/marjoram etc.. Or something like that. Gabrielle (from Australia)
Hey Gabrielle! Sure thing, Italian seasoning is a blend of a bunch of different herbs. To make your own, here is a recipe I like: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/34450/italian-seasoning-i/