Dinner
8856 recipes found
Slow Cooker Spaghetti and Meatballs
Using a mixture of uncased sausage and ground beef is the trick to achieving tender, flavorful meatballs without a lot of work or extra ingredients. These three-inch meatballs are oversize, so they can stay moist and tender after cooking for an extended period. This way, they also fit in the slow cooker in one layer, which helps them cook evenly. Choose any kind of turkey sausage you like best; sweet or hot Italian are both great choices. (Pork will work too, but will make the sauce a little oily.) Fear not, the spaghetti is cooked separately, so you can serve these meatballs over any long noodle for a traditional take, or spoon them over polenta or tuck them into hero rolls.
Pressure Cooker Bo Ssam
Bo ssam is a Korean dish featuring boiled pork belly or shoulder that’s slowly braised in an aromatic broth until incredibly tender. While the dish traditionally takes hours to prepare, a pressure cooker can turn it into a festive weeknight meal. For the best bite, wrap the rich pork in small bundles of napa cabbage leaves and dollop with ssamjang and other spicy condiments, like the piquant radish salad, which comes together quickly and lasts a week in the fridge, or serve this dish with store-bought kimchi, a tasty alternative and time saver. Leftover pork can be chopped up for a flavorful fried rice or tossed with pasta and grated Parm for a comforting meal.
Pressure Cooker Miso Chicken Ramen With Bok Choy
The pressure cooker brings this deeply flavored ramen within reach on a busy weeknight. The trick is to infuse the broth with as much flavor as possible using two powerful ingredients: miso and dried shiitake mushrooms. Use the best chicken broth you can get your hands on. Unsalted homemade broth is ideal, but a good, low-sodium store-bought chicken broth or bouillon works very well too. (Standard store-bought broth will make the soup too salty.) Water can also be a good base, but if you use it, be sure to use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs to give the soup some body. For a bonus boost of umami, drop a piece of dried kombu seaweed into the soup when you add the bok choy, and remove it before serving. Find the slow-cooker version of the recipe here.
Slow Cooker Shrimp in Purgatory
This recipe is inspired by eggs in purgatory, a Southern Italian dish in which eggs simmer in a spicy tomato sauce. Shrimp aren’t commonly thought of as slow cooker material, but here, the sauce simmers for several hours, and the quick-cooking shrimp is dropped in just a bit before you want to eat. (You can use frozen shrimp; just thaw them first.) Cooking the sauce on high allows the onion and garlic to tenderize and melt into the sauce. The tomatoes and roasted peppers caramelize slightly as they simmer, so when fully cooked, the sauce should be a shade darker than when you started. The sauce holds well on the warm setting. Serve the shrimp in shallow bowls on its own, or over orzo, couscous or polenta and with crusty bread. Find a skillet version of this dish here.
Slow Cooker Spinach-Artichoke Chicken Stew
This creamy braised chicken stew is inspired by spinach-artichoke dip. It is comfort food to be sure, but white wine, marinated artichokes and fresh dill keep it from veering too rich. Serve it with pita or tortilla chips if you’d like to keep with the theme. If you don’t have time to sauté the vegetables, skip to Step 2, and add the butter, onion, celery and garlic, directly to the slow cooker. You can also prepare a stovetop version of this recipe in just under one hour.
Slow-Cooker Chicken Stew With Spinach, Lemon and Feta
This meal-in-a-bowl is inspired by Greek-style vegetable dishes like lemony potatoes or garlicky spinach. Here, potatoes and chicken thighs slow cook in a punchy mix of lemon, garlic and herbs; add the spinach at the very end so that it retains its freshness. Russets can be substituted for Yukon golds, but their texture will be more grainy and less creamy. A bunch of mature spinach or frozen spinach works best here because of its mellow flavor, as opposed to baby spinach, which is more tannic. Add the amount of dill that sounds best to you, or if you don’t like it, swap in a few tablespoons of fresh parsley or mint.
Slow-Cooker Beef and Barley Soup
This recipe is inspired by the beef, leek and barley soup in “Home Cooking” (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2010), a memoir and cookbook by Laurie Colwin. It defies what you’re told you must do to make an exceptional soup: Brown your meat, add ingredients in layers, and taste as you go. Instead, just chop a few vegetables, put everything in a pot — or in this case, a slow cooker — then forget about it. This recipe builds satisfying, hearty flavors in a few key ways: The small quantity of dried mushrooms not only nods to mushroom-barley soup, but also creates an umami backdrop. Opt for chicken stock instead of beef, which is more consistently flavorful across brands. Use a collagen-rich cut of meat, like chuck or short ribs. And last, a long cook time allows flavors to deepen, without any babysitting.
Slow Cooker Spicy Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili
This nourishing, smoky vegan chili is perfect for cold weeknights. Mix everything in the slow cooker before the chaos of the day begins, then just toss in some frozen corn a few minutes before you’re ready to eat. As with any chili, toppings go far. Feel free to throw on what you have and what sounds good, like tortilla chips, cilantro or vegan cheese. The recipe calls for either coconut oil or vegetable oil. If you’d like a mild coconut flavor — which plays well with the orange juice in the chili — choose unrefined or virgin coconut oil. For a neutral flavor, choose refined coconut oil or any vegetable oil. Use one chipotle chile for a very mild chili, and four if you like yours very spicy. (Get the stovetop version of this recipe here.)
Slow Cooker Chicken With 20 Cloves of Garlic
This weeknight-friendly version of the French classic — chicken with 40 cloves of garlic — has half the amount of garlic, because a slow cooker doesn’t get quite hot enough to mellow out 40 whole cloves. This dish cooks on high for three hours, but you can lengthen the cook time to six hours using the low heat setting. In that case, cut the garlic further to 15 cloves, because it may taste a bit stronger when cooked at that lower temperature. The beans end up pleasantly soupy, in a sauce rich with chicken juices and wine. The herbs stirred in at the end impart a welcome freshness. This is best served in shallow bowls, with good bread on the side.
Slow-Cooker Dakdori Tang
Dakdori tang, sometimes called dakbokkeum-tang, is a homey Korean chicken stew that adapts beautifully to the slow cooker. Most traditional recipes combine the ingredients in a pot and let them bubble, with no sauté step — similar to a one-pot, slow-cooker braise. Here, the dish is cooked on high, and the heat caramelizes the gochujang, a fermented red chile paste. The use of skin-on chicken is customary, and results in a rich broth with a layer of very delicious spiced chicken fat. If you prefer a leaner broth, you can remove the skin from some or all of the chicken parts before starting.
Slow-Cooker Butter Chicken
Not every version of butter chicken uses butter. Coconut milk gives this slow-cooker chicken its creamy richness. This is a fast recipe for the cook: Just prep it earlier in the day, even during your morning routine, getting your onion and spices going on the stove while simultaneously making lunches for grumpy children, folding dish towels, feeding the dogs and wondering once again why no one else has done any of the above. If you're preparing pork or beef in the slow cooker, you'll want to brown the meat first, but that's not necessary with boneless cuts of chicken. The meat will be cooked within 4 1/2 or 5 hours, but if you need to let it sit a little longer — up to 7 hours total, on low heat — it will still be delicious, though the chicken may be very soft and shred a tad.
Slow-Cooker Kofte in Tomato-Lime Broth
While you’re at the beach, at work or doing anything at all, these bright, light, brothy meatballs can be stewing in the slow cooker. They are made in the style of kofte (from the Persian word meaning “grind”), in which ground meat is combined with lots of herbs and ground spices. Yogurt adds moisture and tang, but you don’t need another binder or to brown the meat first. As the meatballs slowly cook, their juices mingle with the tomatoes to create a rich but tart broth. Eat with grains (bulgur wheat, farro, rice), couscous, noodles or pita. For a stovetop version, see the Tip.
Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice
This slow cooker version of New Orleans-style red beans requires about 20 minutes to toss together in the morning and can be ready to eat when you walk in the door after work. Creamy and comforting, it is traditionally flavored with a leftover pork bone, so if you happen to have one, feel free to throw that in instead of a ham hock. And if you have a favorite Cajun or Creole spice mixture on hand, use 1 heaping tablespoon of it in place of the sage, cayenne, garlic, onion and paprika powders, and taste before adding any salt, as seasoning blends contain a varying amount of sodium. Adding hot sauce at the end is key: The best kind to use is a vinegary, cayenne-based, Louisiana-style sauce, like Crystal, Louisiana brand or Tabasco. (Here is a vegan version of this recipe.)
Slow Cooker Pork Puttanesca Ragù
This hearty ragù has all the punchy, briny flavors of traditional puttanesca (tomato, anchovies, capers, olives and red-pepper flakes), and introduces pork shoulder to the equation, making a particularly rich and meaty Sunday sauce. Deep flavor is built by starting the dish in a skillet, searing the pork and caramelizing the tomato paste until concentrated. The mixture might look dry as it gets transferred to the slow cooker, but as it cooks, the pork tenderizes and releases its juices. Before serving, add more tomato, along with lemon and parsley, to balance the deep, long-simmered flavors with fresh ones.
Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup With Horseradish Cream
Yellow or green split peas are consumed around the world because they are cheap, nonperishable and highly nutritious. Preparing them in a slow cooker makes for an affordable, delicious meal-in-a-bowl that requires nothing more than combining all of the ingredients, then simmering for several hours. Don't skip the horseradish cream swirled in at the end; it is the work of just a few minutes, and it makes this humble dish feel special. To make the soup vegetarian, use water instead of chicken stock, increase the smoked paprika to 1 teaspoon, omit the ham, and stir in a spoonful of white or yellow miso paste at the end, which will add savoriness. (You can also prepare this in a pressure cooker.)
Slow Cooker Guinness Beef Stew With Horseradish Cream
This is a thick, rich braise that makes good use of root vegetables. Pick whichever roots you like best; carrots and rutabaga work particularly well together; celery root and parsnips are very nice, too. This is not a toss-it-in-and-go kind of slow cooker recipe: It takes a little time to brown the beef and make a roux-thickened gravy, but those steps build flavor and ensure that you end up with a hearty stew rather than watery soup. Get everything going in the slow cooker — prepare the night before if you have the time — and the stew will be ready the moment you step in the door at suppertime. The horseradish sour cream comes together in minutes and makes a fresh, tangy topping for the mellow stew. (Here are pressure cooker and oven versions of the recipe.)
Slow Cooker Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup
Making creamy soups in the slow cooker can be tricky because it’s not possible to simmer them with the top off and reduce the liquid. One easy way to thicken without reducing is to use a roux, a mix of flour and butter. Heat the roux in the microwave, then whisk it into the stock in the slow cooker before adding the other ingredients. (If you don’t have a microwave, simply melt the butter in a small saucepan, stir in the flour, let it bubble, then proceed.) This soup is best prepared on the high setting for two reasons: First, when cooked on low, the wild rice becomes too soft before the mushrooms are tender. Second, the roux doesn’t thicken as effectively on low. If you need a longer cook time, omit the rice, put the soup on low for 8 hours, and turn the heat up to high before serving. Cook the rice separately according to package directions, then stir it in before serving. Find a pressure cooker version of this recipe here.
Slow Cooker Ribollita With Smoked Mozzarella Toasts
This classic Italian vegetable soup is a wonderful way to use up stale bread and leftover vegetables — and can be prepared in a pot, in a pressure cooker, or in a slow cooker. With the exception of sliced sandwich bread (which is too flimsy), any crusty bread will work here: sourdough, ciabatta, multigrain and so on. (Since you’re toasting it, it’s not necessary for the bread to be stale, but it certainly can be.) The olive-oil-rich sautéed vegetables melt into the soup as it simmers, but you can throw in other leftover cooked vegetables at the end, with the greens.
Slow Cooker Chili
A great chili should be richly spiced, with layers of deep, savory flavor. Here, that big flavor comes from the usual contenders, but also from the unexpected additions of unsweetened cocoa, soy sauce and Worcestershire, which provide complexity. This recipe makes a thick, comforting chili that can be prepared in a slow cooker or in a Dutch oven on the stovetop. Chili is perhaps the ideal slow-cooker dish because its flavor improves with a long, slow simmer. This makes a big batch, perfect for a cold-weather get-together, but if you’re making it for a smaller group, the leftovers freeze well.
Slow-Cooker Corn Chowder
The rich flavor of this lightly creamy chowder comes from slow-simmered corn cobs. After the kernels are removed, the cobs go into the slow cooker along with the potatoes and aromatics, where they infuse the broth as it slow-cooks. The corn kernels are added at the very end, so that they retain their fresh, poppy sweetness. Canned green chiles lend mild heat and tons of mellow, peppery flavor to go along with the sharper jalapeño. (If you come across fire-roasted canned green chiles, snap those up.) The miso adds a sweet-savory note that reinforces the corn flavor; but if you don’t have it on hand, add about two additional teaspoons of salt.
Slow Cooker Shortcut Chicken Pozole
Part of the joy of pozole is topping it generously and exactly as you like, and this take on the original dish is no exception. Traditional red pozole often requires toasting and then puréeing dried chiles for a flavorful broth, but this version relies on canned chipotles in adobo sauce. Adjust the chiles to your taste: more if you like it, less if you don’t. This brothy, smoky-spicy chicken soup is sensational with crunchy add-ons like crushed chips, shaved cabbage and red onion. The pressure-cooker version of this recipe is available here.
Slow-Cooker Chicken Ramen With Bok Choy and Miso
The slow cooker puts a weeknight ramen fix within reach; don't skimp on the toppings here, which you can customize to your liking. They make each bowl feel special. Miso soup is traditionally made with dashi, an umami-rich stock made from kombu seaweed and dried bonito, a kind of tuna. But this recipe takes a different path to those deep flavors, substituting chicken broth and optional dried shiitake mushrooms, found in the produce department or international aisle of many grocery stores. Finally, a quick kombu steep adds umami. The ingredient is available at more specialty grocers and online, but feel free to leave it out. The soup will still be delicious.
Slow-Cooker Chicken Tinga Tacos
Tinga is a Pueblan dish of braised chicken or pork in a chipotle, tomato and onion sauce, traditionally served on crisp tostadas and finished with toppings like crema, avocado and shredded lettuce. Some versions braise the meat directly in the sauce, while others call for chicken or pork that’s already been cooked to be warmed in the sauce. (Some variations include chorizo, too.) The dish is widely popular because it’s affordable and versatile, and tastes complex even though it is easy to make. For this slow-cooker adaptation, the bulk of the cook time is hands-off braising. Fresh corn is not traditional in tinga, but it’s delicious, adding pops of sweetness and a flavor that echoes the corn tortillas or tostadas. Add one chipotle for a mild spice level or three for a more intense result.
Slow-Cooker Mulligatawny Soup
This soup is the result of British colonizers’ encounters with rasam, a souplike dish from Tamil Nadu, a region in southern India, that’s often made with lentils. “Milagu tannir,” or pepper water, evolved into mulligatawny when the British made it thick, chunky and meaty. In her book “From Curries to Kabobs,” the author Madhur Jaffrey wrote that mulligatawny was “an essential part of my childhood,” as she ate it at the homes of Anglo-Indian friends and in hotels on vacation. Mulligatawny now bears no resemblance to rasam and has many variations; it is a dish that was invented and modified for colonizers’ palates, and thus it has few rules. Ms. Jaffrey noted that “some curry powder has to be included for a true East-West flavor,” as curry powder is more British than Indian. This slow-cooker version is thickened with masoor dal and coconut cream, and enriched with chicken thighs and tart apple.