Slow Cooker Italian Chicken Soup

4.20 from 5 votes

A delicious, easy and comforting slow cooker Italian chicken soup with quinoa

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Keyword chicken soup, quinoa soup

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 8

Total Time 8 5

Servings (2-cup servings)

Calories 266kcal

Author The Seasoned Mom

2 lb. boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 cup uncooked quinoa rinsed well
24 oz jar of marinara sauce I like to use a brand that doesn’t include any added sugar in the ingredient list
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
2 red bell peppers seeded and chopped
3 large carrots peeled and sliced into rounds
1 medium yellow onion diced
1 14.5 ounce can petite-diced tomatoes, NOT drained
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a large slow cooker.
Cover, and cook on “low” for about 7-8 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours.
Remove the chicken from the slow cooker. Shred or dice the meat, return it to the pot, and season with salt and pepper.
Garnish with cheese and parsley and serve.

Want to Make it Vegetarian? Omit the chicken and replace the meat with 2 cans of drained and rinsed cannellini beans, garbanzo beans, or kidney beans. You can substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth, too!
Cooking for Just Two? You can easily cut the recipe in half, which will give you 4 servings of soup. It freezes nicely or keeps in the refrigerator for about a week, so you can enjoy the extra servings at a later date (with no grocery shopping or prep work necessary)!
Want to Prep Ahead? You can make this a slow cooker freezer meal by dumping all of the raw ingredients into a zip-top bag and freezing until ready to use. Before cooking, thaw the bag in the refrigerator overnight and then cook the next day as instructed. Alternatively, you can prepare a big batch of this soup over the weekend and store the extra cooked soup in your freezer for up to 3 months or in your refrigerator for about a week.