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Sharing a cozy, warming recipe today, Slow Cooker Hearty Chicken Soup.
Say hello to the warmest, coziest most perfect home cooked bowl of chicken soup. It’s full of colorful veggies, good for us protein, and is sure to take care of just about any cold that winter throws your way.
You’ll LOVE it.
If you couldn’t tell, I am so exited about today’s recipe, and not just because it’s delicious, but also because it comes from a really cool cookbook, the Share Cookbook. If you guys remember, I’ve been teaming up with my friends over at The Little Market a lot this year (did you see my Valentine’s Day post?). The Little Market is one of my favorite nonprofit brands that’s helping to empower women. They carry home goods from female artisans around the world. They recently added a few new cookbooks to their list of gorgeous products and I cannot wait to tell you guys about them and help to spread the word.
The coolest talking point about these cookbooks is the fact that each cookbook helps to support a different cause. The Share Cookbook supports Women for Women International, The Immigrant Cookbook supports the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, and the Soup for Syria Cookbook helps fund food relief efforts through the United Nations Refugee Agency UNHCR. Pretty amazing, right?
Aside from the incredible causes these cookbooks help to support, they are also incredible in the fact that each book is filled to the brim with delicious recipes. It’s safe to say that I had a very hard time picking just one recipe to share with you guys. I went back and forth for days about what to make because so many of the recipes sounded so delicious, but in the end, the cold snowy weather got the best of me, and I went with a cozy bowl of chicken soup from the Share Cookbook. All I have to say is that is was a really good decision.
This soup is beyond good.
What caught my eye about this particular soup recipe was its use of vegetables and herbs. Unlike a lot of chicken soup recipes, this one is packed full of veggies, like onions, carrots, and parsnips, and it uses a wide mix of herbs that make the soup extra flavorful.
The original recipe is made for the stovetop, but I ended up adapting it for the slow cooker to make things a little simpler. Plus, I just love the idea of chicken soup slow cooking all day long. I mean, the smell alone is worth making this. Like most slow cooker recipes, you add all the ingredients to your slow cooker, forget about it, and come home to the best home cooked soup. Add farro and you’re done.
So easy, super healthy, and even more delicious.
The only way to make this soup better is with a side of crusty bread, which I highly recommend doing.
I ended up letting this slow cook all day on Sunday while filming new HBH cooking videos with my brother Malachi, who films and edits all of HBH’s videos that you see on the site. Kai has a bad cold and said the only thing that sounded good was chicken soup. So, I threw this into the slow cooker and by the time we finished filming for the day, the soup was ready. I served up a couple bowls and we both agreed that it’s truly the perfect chicken soup, we especially loved the fresh topping of cilantro at the end.
I had leftovers, so I packed them up and saved them for lunch the next day and I swear the soup got better as it sat. One tip if you do end up having leftovers, or plan to make this for meal prep, I recommend either removing the farro (you could also use pasta) from the soup before storing or just cooking the noodles separately and adding them to your bowl before serving. The hot broth will be enough to rewarm the farro. If you leave the farro in the soup, the farro will soak up a good amount of the broth.
Also? It’s not in these pictures, but I ended up topping my bowls of soup with stove popped popcorn. I know it sounds odd, but this is something my mom has always done with soup and it’s honestly the best soup topper ever.
You have to try it.
Slow Cooker Hearty Chicken Soup
Servings: 8 servings
Calories Per Serving: 382 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 6 cups low sodium chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 onions, chopped
- 4 carrots, chopped
- 2 parsnips, chopped
- 2 ribs celery, chopped
- 2 leeks, chopped
- 8 peppercorns
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2-3 pounds bone-in chicken breasts or thighs
- kosher salt and black pepper
- juice + zest of 1 lemon
- 3/4 cup dry farro
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro and or mixed herbs
Instructions
- 1. In the bowl of your crockpot, combine the chicken stock, butter, olive oil, onions, carrots, parsnips, celery, leeks, peppercorns, bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Add the chicken. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or high for 4-5 hours. 2. About 45 minutes before serving, remove the chicken from the soup. Remove the herbs and discard. Stir in the lemon juice and zest, plus the farro. Shred the chicken and stir it back into the soup and cook until the farro is tender.3. Divide the soup among bowls and top with herbs. Serve with a hunk of bread.
Notes
Stove-Top
 Heat the butter and olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the carrots, parsnips, celery, leeks, peppercorns, bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, chicken stock, and chicken. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 2 hours. Shred the chicken. Stir in the lemon juice and zest, add the Farro and cook 25-30 minutes. Serve as directed.Â
Instant Pot
Follow the slow cooker directions. Cover and cook on high pressure for 15 minutes and then use the quick release to release the steam. Shred the chicken, add the lemon and farro and cook on sauté until the farro are soft, about 15 minutes. Serve as directed.Â
 *Adapted from Share Cookbook.Â
Soup and a cozy Tuesday night. Yes.
I’ve been making this on repeat for the past few months using your stovetop method. It is amazing! I’ve been using a whole spatchcock chicken (Whole Foods makes it easy!) and doubling the amount of stock. I do a few quick pulses with the imersion blender after the farro is cooked (to trick my kids into eating more vegetables since they can’t pick them out as easily) and it is so good! Your recipes are beyond delicious!
Thank you so much Jaime!! I am so happy this turned out so amazing for you! xTieghan
This was so delicious! Cooked it in the instant pot and it came out great! Only changes made were that I substituted farro for pearled couscous (because I forgot to get farro, was still great) and I didn’t have any rosemary.Loved all the flavors and the use of the leek and parsnip which Ive never cooked with before! Would make again!
Hi Melissa! I am so happy this recipe turned out so amazing for you! Thank you so much for trying this one! xTieghan
Hi, if I use brown rice as can’t get farro, will this still freeze please also would I reduce liquid
Hi Tracey! Yes, this will still freeze. I would not reduce the liquid, brown rice require a lot of liquid and cooking time, so you can leave the recipe as is! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
Way too many onions that didn’t cook – on high for 6 hours. Would only use 1.
Thank you! I hope you enjoyed this one! xTieghan
Should we take skin off the chicken?
Hi there! You can leave the skin on or off, I prefer skin off, but pleas do what you will love most! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
I have been converted. My whole family and I came down with a nasty cold on the same day. Threw everything into the crockpot and took a nap. Not really a chicken fan ergo not a fan of chicken soup, but let me tell you this hands down the best I have ever had and I can wait to eat it again. Didn’t put in the pasta since we ate it with bread, and unfortunately didn’t have cilantro
Hi Kelly! I am so glad this turned out so well for you and your family! I hope you are all feeling better! xTieghan
What is the nutritional content?
Hi Rachel! I do not calculate the nutritional information for my recipes..I am sorry about that! I try to focus more on using whole and healthy foods! xTieghan
Wow – this soup is so delicious! I made it yesterday and my husband and I loved it. It was just the recipe I was looking for – a really flavorful chicken soup. The mix of herbs is great and the parsnips add a really nice depth of flavor. I noticed that the recipe did not have much salt, which I thought was fine. Everyone’s preference with regard to salt is different. I like recipes that don’t call for a lot of salt, that way I can add it to taste at the end. This recipe is definitely a keeper that I will make again and again. Thank you !
Thank you so much Mary! This comment was so amazing to read! xTieghan
How well does the farro reheat? Does it absorb a lot of liquid? If i make this a night ahead, does it reheat well?
Hi Carrie! The farro reheats nicely. It will absorb some of the liquid, but you can add a splash more broth of you would like to thin the soup the following day. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
Hi Tieghan,
for this recipe you call for bone-in chicken, can you use skinless boneless chicken thighs? Would it make any difference?
Thank you so much
Heather
P.S. I really love your recipes, books and instagram:):)
Hi Heather! Skinless thighs will be delicious!! No changes needed, they will work great! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
Very excited to try this! Is the portion correct tho – it only yields 4 servings?
Hi Claire! This will serve 6-8. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
Made this and it was great! Some of the reviews below say that it doesn’t have much flavor, and I found the same thing – but if you make the recipe as is – there’s not enough salt. For all the veggies and meat that are in this, using full sodium chicken stock is a better alternative, and you’ll still likely have to add salt to taste.
Thank you Angela! xTieghan
I made this soup for some friends and everyone love it. I want to know if this soup freezes well.
Hi Tim! Yes, it freezes well! I am so glad you loved this recipe! xTieghan
I was skeptical about the lemon and cilantro, but don’t skip it! It did such a fantastic job of enhancing the flavour of this soup! I will make it again for sure!
I am so glad you loved this Jenna! Thank you so much! xTieghan
Have had a go at this and it’s current simmering away in the slow cooker, however there is loads 😉 which is great, question is can I freeze it and reheat?
Hey Debbie! Yes, this soup freezes so well! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan ??