Slow Cooker Veggie Chicken Soup is a great, no fuss weeknight meal. Throw most of the ingredients into the pot in the morning, come home, add a few things, dinner is served.
Slow Cooker Veggie Chicken Soup is another use up all the veggies in the refrigerator type recipes. I hate to let anything go to waste, so I use my slow cooker for soups and stews quite often.
I used to make a damn good chicken soup. Now I have to find ways to modify old favorites. Sometimes tofu just doesn’t cut it. This time I used Beyond Meat Grilled Chicken Free Strips. Chicken flavored seitan would work for this recipe too. You’ll notice I added quite a lot of fiery spices. It will be a running theme. Feel free to scale those back a bit if you’re not as enthusiastic as I am about heat.
I used Bob’s Red Mill Organic Farro, but you can add just about any grain into the mix. As for all the vegetables, pick your favorites. Just remember that some things take a lot longer to cook than others. You might want to pre-cook some of the veggies like potatoes or yams.
You can turn my Slow Cooker Veggie Chicken Soup into anything you want pretty much. Saute some mushrooms and add them near the end. Kale would be good too. Just cut out the thick stem and chop it up.
Slow Cooker Veggie Chicken Soup was pretty easy to prepare. It gave me time to get other things done. I didn’t have to stand over a hot stove, which is a plus. My Slow Cooker has a timer too, so I can set it to start an hour or so late, in case I’m going to be out all day
If a dish usually takes:
- 15 – 30 mins, cook it for 1 – 2 hours on High or 4 – 6 hours on Low
- 30 mins – 1 hour, cook it for 2 – 3 hours on High or 5 – 7 hours on Low
- 1 – 2 hours, cook it for 3 – 4 hours on High or 6 – 8 hours on Low
- 2 – 4 hours, cook it for 4 – 6 hours on High or 8 – 12 hours on Low
Root vegetables can take longer than meat and other vegetables so put these near the heat source, at the bottom of the pot/
Specific Crock Pot Cooking Tips
- For best results, ground meats must be cooked in a skillet and drained of all fat before cooking in the crockpot.
- Cayenne pepper and tabasco sauce tend to become bitter if cooked for long periods of time. Use small amounts of these ingredients and add toward the end of the cooking time.
- Add tender vegetables like tomatoes, mushrooms and zucchini during the last 45 minutes of cooking time so they don’t overcook. Canned tomatoes can be added with the rest of the ingredients at the beginning of cooking time.
- Dairy products should be added during the last 30 minutes of cooking time, unless the recipes states otherwise.
- Liquids do not boil away in the crockpot, so if you are making a recipe that wasn’t specifically developed for the crockpot, reduce the liquid by 1/3 to 1/2 unless you are cooking rice or making soup.
- Stir in spices for the last hour of cooking. They will lose flavor if cooked with the rest of the ingredients for the long cooking period.
A sprinkle of fresh herbs or squeeze of lemon juice at the end of simmering can brighten flavors and cut through the richness of long-cooked recipes. Other excellent finishing touches: hot sauce, citrus zest, grated Parmesan, good-quality olive oil or even sautéed garlic.
- 12 oz. pkg. Beyond Meat Chicken Free Strips - diced
- 1 large potato - baked - cut into cubes
- 1 cup Farro
- 1 can green chile ( I used Hatch Chiles)
- 1 can black beans - drained - rinsed
- ½ onion - diced
- 1 large carrot - thinly sliced (or ½ can pre-cooked carrots)
- 2 bell peppers ( I used 1 red & 1 green) chopped small
- 4 cups baby spinach
- 1 Tbsp. garlic - minced
- 1 container vegetable stock (about 6 cups)
- 1 Tbsp. lime juice
- 1 Tbsp. parsley - fresh - chopped
- 1 Tbsp. basil - fresh - chopped
- ¼ Tsp.- paprika
- ¼ Tsp. - whole mustard seeds - crushed
- ¼ Tsp.- ginger
- ¼ Tsp. - red pepper flakes
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- Bake potato then let cool
- Use a splash of olive oil in a hot skillet to cook the onions and garlic. 3 - 5 minutes. let cool
- Add all ingredients except spinach, basil, and parsley, and spiced to slow cooker
- Low setting = 8 hours/ Medium setting = 5 hours/ High setting = 3 hours
- minutes before end add spinach and stir in spices.
- Garnish bowls with basil & parsley

Tunes for cooking – The Birthday Party – Prayers On Fire
Tunes for writing – The Cramps – Bad Music For Bad People