thumb|300px|The Yellow Medicine River in [[Wood Lake Township, Minnesota|Wood Lake Township in 2007]]
The Yellow Medicine River is a tributary of the Minnesota River, long, in southwestern Minnesota in the United States. Via the Minnesota River, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of in an agricultural region.
The Yellow Medicine River issues from Lake Shaokatan in Shaokatan Township in western Lincoln County, approximately southwest of Ivanhoe, on the Coteau des Prairies, a morainic plateau dividing the Mississippi and Missouri River watersheds. It flows initially northeastwardly as an intermittent stream, past Ivanhoe. The stream flows off the Coteau in northeastern Lincoln County, dropping in , and turns east-northeastwardly, following a generally treeless course on till plains through northern Lyon County and eastern Yellow Medicine County, past Hanley Falls. It flows into the Minnesota River in Upper Sioux Agency State Park in Sioux Agency Township, approximately southeast of Granite Falls, after dropping in its final in the Minnesota River valley.
The Yellow Medicine River's largest tributaries are the North Branch Yellow Medicine River and the South Branch Yellow Medicine River, both of which flow for most of their lengths on the Coteau. The North Branch, long, flows northeastwardly through northern Lincoln County, briefly entering Yellow Medicine County and passing through Porter. The South Branch, long, flows northeastwardly through Lincoln County into northwestern Lyon County, past Minneota. Other tributaries of the Yellow Medicine include Spring Creek, long, which flows eastwardly through Yellow Medicine County; and Mud Creek, long, which flows eastwardly through western Yellow Medicine County into northwestern Lyon County.