A wonderfully tasty and healthy slow cooker soup that is good for almost any diet. Just follow the easy step by step photo instructions.
Editor Note: This recipe was first published on October 14, 2012. Honestly, it was not the best-written post, but it is a great recipe and deserved more. So it is rewritten and photos updated.
This super easy and tasty soup fits low calorie and low fat. So this soup has earned the term "healthy."
For the lower carb/keto diets, it is relatively low with most of the carbs from the corn which you can cut back or change if you want to green beans.
I will not try to calculate anything to do with Weight Watcher's points. They keep changing it, so I gave up.
Somewhat inspired by a food.com recipe with only a few minor changes. I cut what appeared to be some unnecessary butter and a few other minor changes.
My Rating
A very nice soup that is healthy enough to be a basic part of almost any diet and tasty enough even if you're not dieting.
Pro Tips: Recipe Notes for Crock Pot Chicken Vegetable Soup
What Chicken to Use
To make a healthier soup, the obvious choice is skinless boneless chicken breast. They vary a lot in size but is it soup, a little more or a little less is fine.
But these chicken breasts can be a bit low on taste due to the lack of skin, bones, and fat. I use a soup base to give it this that extra pop of chicken flavor. Decide at the end of cooking if you want the extra taste or not.
Sodium Note
The sodium can creep on soups, so use low sodium broth and do not add any salt until you are sure you need it.
Carbohydrate Note
For the low carb or keto diet people, this has 26 grams of carbohydrates and only three of that is fiber. This still fits well in lower-carb diets easily but not very low carb diets.
Most of the carbs are from the corn. You can change that out for green beans and save about 16 grams of net carbs per serving.
Final Notes
This is a fairly "brothy" soup. But I think most of you will be happy with that. You can cut the broth down be a can or up some of the veggies or the chicken.
The oregano went well with the extra sweetness of the white corn, but my wife thought a bay leaf might have been more to her taste.
While I have the thyme in the recipe, I consider it optional. It seems like thyme in a soup tends to dominate everything for me. If you love it fine, but I generally leave it out.
Check out my tops soups at Our Best Soups
Healthier Chili and Soup Recipes You Will Enjoy
Low Fat High Taste Crock Pot White Chicken Chili
Healthy Crockpot Italian Chicken Vegetable Soup
Healthy Southwest Chicken Chili
Crock Pot Pork Tenderloin Chili
Nice basic common ingredients.
Chop 2 peeled carrots, two ribs of celery, and one medium onion.
Trim and cut two medium skinless boneless chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes.
Add broth to the crock pot — 4-Quart size minimum for the full recipe.
Add veggies, four cloves minced garlic, 4 - 14 oz cans low-sodium chicken broth, 1 teaspoon oregano, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. If you like thyme, add 1/2 teaspoon of thyme. Salt to taste. 16 oz package of frozen white corn or green beans for low carb. Add chicken and mix well.
Cook for 8 hrs on low. With about one hour left in cooking, taste test. You can add a bit of salt if needed. If you want more "chicken taste," add some soup base or bouillon cubes.
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Healthy Crock Pot Chicken Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts - medium cut into 1 inch cubes
- 56 oz low-sodium chicken broth - 4 - 14 oz cans
- 1 pound frozen corn - green beans for low carb.
- 1 onion - medium diced
- 4 cloves garlic - minced
- 2 carrots - peeled and diced
- 2 ribs celery - chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme - Optional
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- salt to taste
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Chicken soup base - or 2 bouillon cubes (Optional)
Instructions
- Chop 2 peeled carrots, two ribs of celery, and one medium onion.
- Trim and cut two medium skinless boneless chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes.
- Add broth to the crock pot — 4-Quart size minimum for the full recipe.
- Add veggies, four cloves minced garlic, 4 - 14 oz cans low-sodium chicken broth, 1 teaspoon oregano, and 1/ 2 teaspoon pepper. If you like thyme, add 1/2 teaspoon of thyme. Salt to taste. 16 oz package of frozen white corn or green beans for low carb. Add chicken and mix well.
- Cook for 8 hrs on low. With about one hour left in cooking, taste test. You can add a bit of salt if needed. If you want more "chicken taste", add some soup base or bouillon cubes.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- This is low sodium as written, but also many will want to add a bit of salt at serving. I have not included that in the nutrition.
- The soup base or chicken bouillon cubes are at add extra chicken taste. It is optional, but I like it. You can wait to near the end of cooking to decide if you are adding it or not.
- Fill free to change up the veggies if you want.
- As written, this makes about 12 cups of soup, and I'm suggesting a 2 cup serving size since it is "brothy."
- The crock pot needs to be 4 quarts or bigger as written.
- It is an easy recipe to cut in half and would fit well in a smaller crock pot but not smaller than 2 quarts.
- If you want lower carb or keto, then using green beans instead of corn will decrease the net carbs by 16 per serving.
- This is good refrigerated for 3-4 days and frozen for 3-4 months.
Nutrition
Melinda Snyder
I make this all the time. It is the best as is. However, I change it up throughout the winter. I grow fresh oregano and thyme during the summer and use it all winter just for this soup. If I’m feeding a crew I add egg yolk noodles, peas, green beans and Lima beans. It is the shop favorite.
For home healthy I use better than bullion chicken flavor, and a lower sodium vegetable stock with the extra veggies and no noodle.
if I’m in a rush and I don’t have time to prep chicken I get a rotisserie, pull it, and throw it in the last 15 minutes. All around the recipe is amazing. I love the flavors, and you can mix it up to keep it from feeling like the same old thing in the house.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Melinda,
Welcome to the blog and sorry for the delayed response.
I love basic healthy recipes like this that you can just move a few things around in it and have a different soup.
Glad it is working so well for you and love your changes.
Thanks for the note and rating.
Dan
Andrea
Hi! I just made this over night last night... it smells delicious and I am very excited to eat it...however there is a lot floating around in there...looks curdled, but I know that it is not as there is no dairy in there. I still want to eat it...is it OK to eat, and is this supposed to happen? Thank you!
DrDan
That is coagulated protein from the chicken breasts cooking. It seems to happen more with older or previously frozen chicken. It looks ugly but it is harmless and has almost not effect on taste. Skim it or ignore it.
DrDan
Kara
Good recipe! It's simple yet very tasty. The one thing I didn't like was that the residue of the chicken floats all over the soup. I'm not sure how to handle that. Maybe browning chicken before putting it in crock pot could help.
DrDan
Hi Kara,
My understanding is that it is protein from the cooking so unless you put it in totally cooked, it will probably be present. And that is not a good plan... taking cooked chicken and cooking another 8 hours.
Thanks for the note.
DrDan
Priscilla
I always use roast chicken leftover from another meals and add towards end of cooking time. I love recipes that keep it simple and the taste of the basics.
Jean
I'm trying this one.....YUMMY!!!!
Mikki Bolt
I am excited about learning some new recipes.
DrDan
Welcome and enjoy yourself.
DrDan
TrinaT
Hi!! Im new very new at crockpot cooking! Would there be a way to add wild rice into this? Thanks!!
DrDan
I have no good answer. I have never had good luck with rice other than a Minute Rice type. I plan to work with them more this winter ( I already have the rice, just no time yet). At 8 hours of cooking, I don't think it would do well though
Dan
Lisa Rusczyk
This is now I make it too! Yum!
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I'm definitely making this. If you like a little sweetness, you might try parsnips sometime. I just discovered them recently. If you've ever had really good pho...they remind me of its sweetness. Thanks for what looks like a tasty easy recipe that's pretty healthy.