This is the creamiest Healthy Crockpot Chicken and Rice recipe. It’s so easy to make in the slow cooker with no soup can required!
Ingredients and substitutions
- Cooking spray – feel free to use butter or a neutral oil to grease your crockpot instead.
- Yellow onion – shallots or red onion will also work.
- Frozen vegetables – choose different blends of frozen vegetables or use fresh vegetables.
- Long grain white rice – use basmati or jasmine rice instead. If you want to use brown rice, you may need to add another cup of broth. I haven't tested this recipe using brown rice, so you may need to test this yourself.
- Dried thyme – you can leave this out, or use fresh thyme or Italian seasoning instead.
- Garlic – the fresh stuff is best, but the jarred kind will work. 1 tsp garlic powder will also work in a pinch.
- Dijon mustard – there isn't a great substitute for this. You can try leaving it out or using 2 tsp dry mustard instead.
- Chicken breasts – chicken thighs can be used if you prefer them.
- Chicken broth – add cream of mushroom soup or cream of chicken soup to the rice instead of or in addition to the broth.
- Sour cream – Greek yogurt will work here but the flavour will be different.
- Cheddar cheese – any type of cheese can be used, but I find cheddar gives the most kick
- Parsley – cilantro or lemon zest would also be good.
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How to make chicken and rice in the crockpot
Step 1: Prep your ingredients.
Step 2: Spray the crockpot with cooking spray.
Step 3: Add ingredients to the crockpot.
Add all ingredients except for sour cream, cheese and parsley in the order in which they are listed. Make sure to push rice down underneath liquid as much as possible.
Step 4: Cook on high or low.
Cook on high for 2 hours, or on low for 4 hours, stirring 2-3 times midway through cooking time.
Step 5: Stir in the remaining ingredients.
Stir in sour cream and cheese at the end of cook time, stirring well to combine.
Step 6: Serve and enjoy!
Serve garnished with fresh parsley, and enjoy!
Making it in the Instant Pot
Short on time? You can easily make this healthy crockpot chicken and rice recipe in the Instant Pot! Here are the step-by-step instructions:
- Add 1-2 tbsp canola or vegetable oil to the bottom of the Instant Pot.
- Add all ingredients except for sour cream, cheese and parsley in the order in which they are listed below (onions and frozen veggies first, followed by chicken, rice and broth).
- Make sure to push the rice down underneath the liquid as much as possible.
- Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes, then do a quick release of the pressure.
- Stir in sour cream and cheese, then garnish with parsley.
- Serve and enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
One of the best things about healthy crockpot chicken recipes is that there’s no pre-cooking required – you basically just dump everything in the pot then set it to cook. For this recipe, you’ll add the raw chicken right into the crockpot along with the onion, frozen vegetables, rice, dried thyme, salt and pepper, garlic, Dijon mustard and chicken broth.
For this healthy chicken and rice crockpot recipe, you don’t have to be too concerned about the chicken being covered in liquid, but you should try and push the rice down below the liquid as much as possible. You want to make sure the rice is covered by the broth so it soaks up the liquid and cooks properly.
When it comes to healthy chicken crock pot recipes, you can cook the chicken and rice either on high or low, depending on your preference and how much time you have. You can cook this recipe on high for 2 hours or on low for 4 hours.
Storing and reheating
Like most healthy crockpot chicken recipes, this dish is great for meal prep! It will last in the fridge for up to 5 days in airtight glass containers or meal prep bowls and makes great lunch leftovers. To reheat the dish, sprinkle some water over top to keep the rice from drying out then stick it in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes.
Freezing this recipe
This healthy chicken and rice crockpot recipe can be frozen for about a month, but it will likely lose some of its texture due to the sour cream. If you do freeze it, you can reheat is straight from frozen for 6 to 7 minutes in the microwave, stirring halfway through the cooking time. Don’t forget to sprinkle some water over top before reheating!
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- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on storing individual portions of the leftovers.
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Healthy Crockpot Chicken and Rice {So Easy!}
Ingredients
- cooking spray
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 lb chicken breasts, diced
- 2 cups frozen vegetables
- 1 cup basmati rice dry, not cooked
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
- Parsley, for garnish
Instructions
- Spray crockpot with cooking spray, then add all ingredients except for sour cream, cheese and parsley in the order in which they are listed. Make sure to push rice down underneath liquid as much as possible.
- Cook on high for 3 hours, or on low for 6 hours, stirring 2-3 times midway through cooking time.
- Stir in sour cream and cheese at the end of cook time, stirring well to combine.
- Serve garnished with fresh parsley, and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Comments & Reviews
Emily says
Can you use cream of chicken instead of sour cream?
Taylor Stinson says
I’ve never tried it but you are welcome to try it out!
Stephanie says
So so delicious. Comforting and creamy! It honestly tastes so creamy even without the cheese and sour cream. Even our toddler loved it. We used the instant pot method and it came out perfect. Will be added to our rotation of meal preps.
Taylor Stinson says
I’m so happy you enjoyed 🙂
Becca says
I love how easy this recipe is to make! I like to make crockpot meals on Sundays so I have dinner prepped for the week, and the less chopping of ingredients the better! Very tasty too 🙂
Alison says
Can you use frozen chicken?
Taylor Stinson says
Not with a crockpot unfortunately, it’s not safe to.
Laryssa says
I’m not exactly understanding what about a recipe that includes white rice, cheddar cheese and sour cream makes it “healthy”???
Taylor Stinson says
I’m not exactly understanding why you would waste your own time leaving such a pointless comment???
Jhynnifer says
It’s a reasonable question to ask as we’re raised to think cream cheese and cheese in general are always unhealthy.
But super professional response. 👍
Taylor Stinson says
Honestly I’m so sick of people on the internet thinking they can make rudely phrased comments, especially in this case when they are clearly not going to make the recipe, and then be shocked when they receive attitude in return🤷♀️ You see it as unprofessional, I see it as life is too short to take crap from people lol. It’s sort of freeing when you realize this.
Bee says
Why are there pictures of casserole dishes? Can this be made as a casserole?
Taylor Stinson says
You mean in the meal prep bowls? It’s just pictured to show the leftovers portioned out.
Tyson says
I’m about to try this tonight an hopefully use it as a meal plan so I’m wondering how much is exactly one serving of this ?
Taylor Stinson says
I don’t provide servings by weight/cup unfortunately! You will need to take the number of servings listed and divide into portions. Each portion is a serving.
Alicia Campbell says
I made this dish today and it was a hit with the kids and myself! Thank you
Taylor Stinson says
I’m so happy you enjoyed!
Anika says
Very tasty! I made this with brown rice because that’s all I had. I also just dumped a 16 oz bag of frozen veg into it, which is about two cups I think. I also used 230g of cooked chicken I put in at the end. I did not need any extra water for the brown rice (I think the frozen veg added enough). It was fine for me on 3-4 hours high heat. Also, for those asking, mine made 6.5 cups total.
Kirsten says
Hello, can you use fresh vegetables?
Taylor Stinson says
Hi Kirsten – you should be able to. I haven’t tried it before, but depending what you use, you should be able to add them raw at the beginning with the raw chicken and rice.