Crockpot Chicken and Rice
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For an easy wholesome meal, make this crockpot chicken and rice recipe. It’s a comforting healthy chicken casserole with no condensed soup, and everyone loves it!
When you want a healthy dinner that actually tastes good, but don’t have time to babysit the stove, then this easy chicken and rice recipe is the solution!
Unlike chicken casserole recipes that are high in fat and full of highly processed ingredients, this recipe uses simple, healthy, unprocessed ingredients.
Best of all, it’s full of lean protein, grains, and vegetables, and tastes just like the classic casserole you probably grew up eating!
This slow cooker chicken and rice recipe is a hands-off method for making a healthy casserole that even picky eaters will like.
Tender chunks of chicken are cooked with long grain rice, onion, garlic, veggies, chicken broth and fresh thyme, then finished with a creamy swirl of greek yogurt and salty parmesan cheese.
Liz’s Tips for Making Chicken and Rice
- Avoid cooking on high power. Set the slow cooker to low power for 3 to 3.5 hours. Using high power will overcook the rice, turning it to a mushy mess.
- Start checking for doneness after 2.5 hours. This dish cooks quickly for a crockpot recipe. It usually takes just over 3 hours, but start checking it after 2.5 hours. When it’s ready to serve, the rice will be tender and there should be very little (if any) liquid left in the crockpot.
- Try not to check too often. Stir the chicken and rice a couple of times during cooking. keep in mind, every time the lid is removed, the temperature inside the slow cooker drops.
- Layer the ingredients exactly as listed in the recipe. It’s important that the rice be placed on the bottom so that it can absorb the liquids properly.
Ingredients
For this best chicken and rice recipe you’ll need:
- long grain white rice – this is the only rice we tested this recipe with. If you swap the rice, it might affect the recipe
- chicken breast – chicken thighs also work.
- salt, pepper
- onion, garlic, celery
- frozen peas & carrots mix – you could also use a mix with frozen corn & green beans!
- fresh thyme – using fresh really makes a difference here!
- chicken broth- I like to use low/no salt chicken broth
- greek yogurt- this is what makes the dish creamy, without being super high in fat or using condensed soup!
- parmesan cheese – freshly grated parmesan cheese is SO much better than preshredded!
- milk – use regular or non dairy milk!
Substitutions
Olive Oil: You can substitute avocado oil, butter, or ghee.
Chicken Breasts: You can substitute boneless skinless chicken thighs or chicken tenders for boneless skinless breasts. I haven’t tried making it with turkey but it might work! Checkout this Crockpot Turkey Breast recipe if you have turkey you’d like to cook in the crockpot.
Other Veggies: Broccoli or asparagus would be great additions or substitutions to this recipe. You could also use frozen peas/corn/carrot/green bean mix.
Broth: Broth and stock are essentially the same thing! You can use any broth or stock interchangeably: Beef Broth, Chicken Broth, or vegetable broth all work. I always use low or no salt broth.
Rice: This recipe calls for long grain white rice. Brown rice will require different liquid amounts and a longer cooking time. We haven’t tested brown rice, but I think it will need an additional hour of cooking time and at least 1 cup more broth. Try it at your own risk!
Yogurt: Feel free to use low fat sour cream instead. We haven’t tested the recipe using dairy free yogurt.
Creamier: If you’d like it more creamy, add another splash of milk and a dollop of yogurt.
How to make Crockpot Chicken and Rice
This is just a summary of the steps involved in making the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe card for the full instructions, or click on the Jump to Recipe button, below.
- Layer rinsed rice in the bottom of a greased slow cooker pot.
- Add the cubed chicken on top.
- Place the onion, celery, peas and carrots, garlic, and thyme on top of the chicken.
- Add the broth and push the veggies down into the broth. Cover and place the slow cooker on low for 3 to 3.5 hours.
- Start checking for doneness at 2.5 hours, until rice is cooked through and the broth is soaked up. Once the rice is cooked, stir together the yogurt, parmesan cheese, and milk in a small bowl.
- Stir the yogurt/milk/cheese mixture into the rice and chicken gently with a large fork to fluff the rice.
Why is my rice still hard, or too mushy?
Slow cooker models are all different and you may need to adjust the time or liquid measurements slightly to suit your slow cooker. If your rice is cooked through, but there’s still excess broth in the slow cooker, simply ladle some out. Keep in mind that more liquid will be absorbed as it cools.
Crockpot Chicken and Rice FAQs
Yes, you can put raw chicken in a slow cooker. Usually, chicken has to slow cook for at least 4 hours on low. To determine doneness a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature. Never put frozen raw chicken in the crockpot.
Yes, you can use brown rice instead of white rice. In general, brown rice requires more cooking liquid than white rice. Although the recipe hasn’t been tested with brown rice, I think it will need an extra hour of cooking time and 1 additional cup of broth. Try it at your own risk!
storing Leftovers
Refrigerator: This will keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container.
Freezing: You can freeze this dish for up to 3 months. We like these containers for freezing. For other freezer friendly recipes, check out our Fill Your Freezer Ebook, with 22 easy freezer meals!
Reheating: Reheat this meal in the microwave, a toaster oven, conventional oven, or in a skillet on the stove.
Other healthy dinner recipes:
Looking for other easy meals like this chicken peas and rice? Check out these 40+ Healthy Dinner Ideas. Click here to grab our free healthy 30 minute dinners cookbook.
Crockpot Chicken and Rice
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs, trimmed and cubed
- 1 ½ cup Jasmine rice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup white onion diced small – 1/2 a large onion
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup chopped celery 3 large celery ribs
- 2 cups frozen peas and carrots mix 16 oz
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 3 cups low sodium chicken broth or stock
- ½ cup non fat greek yogurt unflavored
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ¼ cup milk any type
Instructions
- Rinse rice in a fine mesh strainer under hot running water until water runs clear, about 3 minutes.
- Spray the slow cooker with olive oil or nonstick spray, or use a crockpot liner to prevent food from sticking.
- Layer the rice in the bottom of the pot, followed by the chicken. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the onion, celery, peas and carrots, garlic and thyme. Add 2 ½ cups of chicken broth and push the veggies down to make sure they are covered.
- Cover and place the slow cooker on low for 2 ½ – 3 hours, stirring every 30-40 minutes. Keep in mind that every time you lift the lid, you add about 15 minutes to the cooking time.
- Start checking for doneness at 2.5 hours, and continue cooking until rice is tender and broth has been soaked up.
- Once the rice is cooked to your liking (around 3 hours on low setting), in a small bowl stir together the remaining ½ cup of chicken broth, greek yogurt, parmesan cheese, and milk.
- Gently stir the mixture into the casserole with a spatula and continue cooking on low setting for 20 to 30 minutes, until the rice is fluffed and creamy. Taste and adjust seasoning to taste, serve immediately, garnished with fresh parsley if desired.
Notes
- Layer the ingredients exactly as listed in the recipe. It’s important that the rice be placed on the bottom so that it can absorb the liquids properly.
- Avoid cooking on high power. Set the slow cooker to low power for 3 to 3.5 hours. Using high power will overcook the rice, turning it to a mushy mess.
- Start checking for doneness at 2.5 hours. If additional time is needed, continue to cook until the rice is tender and has absorbed most of the liquid. Try not to check too much, because every time you remove the lid, heat will escape from the slow cooker.
- Why is my rice still hard, or too mushy? Slow cooker models are all different and you may need to adjust the time or liquid measurements slightly to suit your slow cooker. If your rice is cooked through, but there’s still excess broth in the slow cooker, simply ladle some out. Keep in mind that more liquid will be absorbed as it cools.
Believe the reviews. This recipe took much longer to cook and once the rice was finally cooked, it was mushy and gross. Was optimistic for this recipe, but ended up disappointed.
Sorry you felt this way. I’m wondeing if you used the correct type of rice?
I was concerned initially. I bought all the ingredients before I read the reviews. I followed the instructions to a T – however, left in crock pot for probably an additional hour because we just weren’t ready to eat. I was really fantastic. Fluffy rice, good flavor. I will be making again soon. Great comfort food.
I wish I read the reviews. I didn’t open it until almost 4 hours because I could see so much liquid. I didn’t open because I was afraid of overcooking and the rice is no where near ready. This meal was specifically planned today because of a busy evening and now we have to make other plans. With so many reviews saying the cook time is wrong, please consider changing the recipe so others know in the future.
Please, DO NOT COOK THIS MEAL. To the chef: TAKE THIS RECIPE DOWN.
I wish we had read the reviews. The cook time was off, some rice was cooked, some rice was hard/undercooked. It took the chicken broth SEVEN HOURS ON LOW to cook off. And no, nothing is wrong with our crockpot, we use it for a bunch of other meals and they all work wrong.
We followed this recipe exactly. Cook time was off, it tasted terrible. A horrible waste of time and money/ingredients. TAKE DOWN THIS RECIPE PLEASE! And Venmo some of the folks for their replacement dinners while you’re at it too!
Hi- I’m so sorry you had this experience. We just made this recipe a couple of weeks ago because of the other reviews that we’ve gotten, and we couldn’t replicate the issue of it being undercooked. Mine cooked for 3.5 hours, and it was slightly overcooked if anything (I forgot to check it at 2.5 hours.) There is only 3 cups of chicken broth in this.. I don’t know how at 7 hours there could’ve still been broth that would’ve been absorbed. We will try it again. I’m curious what rice you used?
Kroger brand long grain white rice. We have a Hamilton Beach slow cooker. Has worked great for every other recipe we’ve ever done.
This recipe looked promising for a simple and easy meal. Unfortunately like many others, the cook time did work out for me. I think I ended up cooking this for about 5-5.5 hours total. Somehow my rice ended up both gluey and undercooked. This recipe could probably use a bit more testing. I used a 4 qt slow cooker.
I’m sorry it didn’t work well for you Suzanne! I’m not sure what went wrong here.
This recipe did not work for me. I followed directions exactly and after 3.5 hours the rice was still undercooked and crunchy. I had to stir it in and continue on high for another hour. It was frustrating that it wasn’t ready in time. The rice seemed like it would never cook.
Hi Holly- Did you lift the lid off the crockpot while cooking? Per the recipe – “Keep in mind that every time you lift the lid, you add about 15 minutes to the cook time.” I’m wondering if that had something to do with it? After 3.5 hours the rice should not have been crunchy.
Ugh I really wanted to like this. Flavor was good but the cook time is very far off. My crockpot took well over the recommended time so it threw off dinner plans lol. No big deal but just a heads up this recipe takes longer than stated.
I’m sorry to hear that this happened. Did you make any substitutions or use a different type of rice?
I thought this was a pretty terrible recipe. I followed the directions to a T . had the cooker on low and after about three hours, the celery was not cooked. The onions were not cooked and the rice was not nearly done.I had to take the whole thing out and dump it in a big pot and cook it on the stove. There’s too many onions that overpower the flavor and the onions and celery should’ve been sautéed first. It’s bland and had to add more salt.. all in all a disappointment.
I’m really sorry to hear that you were disappointed by this recipe. There is only a 1/2 cup of onion and over 10 cups of food in this recipe, so I’m wondering if you got a bad onion? The whole allure of the recipe is to be able to just dump it all in your crockpot without sauteing, but you of course could’ve sauteed the veggies if that’s what you wanted to do!
I have had this in my crockpot on low for five hours now and the rice is still crunchy. Maybe this should be cooked on high? I cranked up my crockpot to high just now – hoping it will finish the cook.
I’m sorry to hear this. After 5 hours it should be cooked. Did you adjust it to higher?
Followed recipe, measured all correctly. It’s been in slow cooker for 4 1/2 hours and rice is still not cooked!!
Are you sure you measured correctly, and used this type of rice? There is simply no way that this cooked for 4.5 hours and the rice was uncooked unless there is something wrong with your crockpot.
I can’t wait to try this! Do you think I could also add cauliflower rice along with the white rice? Or would it get too mushy? And do you think it would freeze well?
If you want to add cauliflower rice, I would add it at the very end just to warm it through. I wouldn’t cook it for more than an hour total and I probably wouldn’t add more than 2 cups. I haven’t tried it but I think it will work! As for freezing we have a note about that in the storage section. Pasting it here – You can freeze this recipe for up to 3 months.
This was so easy and absolutely delicious! It’s a perfect easy meal for weekday cooking!!
Wow! Wow! Wow! Here is another keeper!
Have you ever had frozen Stouffers frozen Grandmas Chicken & Rice Bake? Hubby calls it comfort food. This new dish we made tonight tastes very very much the same only it’s yummier & healthier! Let’s compare ingredients and nutrition! Ours tonight has real trimmed chicken breast with no fat or skin, rice, real veggies, some spices & herbs, chicken broth and a little milk with half the fat and sugar, lots less sodium, more potassium, fiber, and a ton more protein. Plus it’s YUMMY!
FYI we cooked it on High and it was a little gloopy, not fluffy like the picture, but turned out very yummy! Also I had frozen peas but the store did not have frozen peas and carrots so we chopped up bite size carrots and they cooked just fine.
Can you cook it on high for a quicker cook time? :/ I started it too late haha
I haven’t tried that so I can’t be sure – sorry!
Could this work in an insta pot??
No, this is a slow cooker only recipe! Sorry!
I prefer brown rice. Can I replace the white rice with brown?
All of our blog posts have a green substitutions box where we list the answer to questions like this 🙂 Pasting what we wrote there! Rice: This recipe was developed using long grain white rice. Brown rice will require different liquid amounts and cooking time. We haven’t tested brown rice, but I think it would need another hour of cooking time and 1 cup more broth. Try it at your own risk!