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8665 recipes found
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.
Slow Cooker Chickpea, Red Pepper and Tomato Stew
This easy vegan stew is inspired by romesco, the Spanish sauce made from roasted red peppers, tomatoes, almonds, garlic, olive oil and vinegar. Here, those flavors come together in a stew that pulls from the pantry, with fast prep and little waste. Instead of stock, this stew relies on the thick liquid from the canned chickpeas, sometimes called aquafaba. And the marinating oil in jarred sun-dried tomatoes is often delicious, augmented with herbs and vinegar. Give yours a little taste to make sure you like it, and then throw that in, too. (If you don’t like it, make up the difference with regular olive oil.) The smoked almonds on top are key, adding necessary crunch and richness, so be generous with them. (If you would like to make this stew on the stovetop, just sauté the onion then add the remaining stew ingredients and simmer until the flavors are blended, about 30 minutes. If using a pressure cooker, you can use this pressure-cooker version of the recipe.)
Slow-Cooker Chicken Gumbo
Gumbo is a celebrated Cajun and Creole stew of many variations, often starring meat and seafood, all richly flavored with a toasty roux. The precise origins of the word gumbo are often debated, but it’s likely derived from West African, Central African and Choctaw languages. Okra and roux are fundamental to gumbo; filé powder, or ground sassafras leaves, is sometimes added to help thicken the stew. It is certainly not traditional to make gumbo in a slow cooker, but it works beautifully: Microwaving the roux and precooking the vegetables in a microwave-safe ceramic (check your manual, and never use metal) insert minimizes hands-on time and clean up without sacrificing that deep flavor. This recipe is highly customizable: Add sliced andouille sausage before cooking, or toss in raw shrimp 10 minutes before serving. Use bone-in, skin-on chicken if you prefer, and fresh okra instead of frozen.
Slow Cooker Pork Tacos With Hoisin and Ginger
This recipe uses a mixture of hoisin and fish sauces as braising liquid, and is a riff on an old Corinne Trang recipe for wok-fried rib tips. It results in a tangle of pulled pork that is best accompanied by a bright and crunchy slaw, and served on warm flour tortillas that recall the soft pliancy of Chinese bao. Cooking time will vary depending on the slow cooker you’re using, but generally the meat begins to fall apart nicely in the neighborhood of 5 to 7 hours. And of course you don't need a slow cooker. To make the dish in a covered dutch oven, cook in a 325-350 degree oven for 4 or 5 hours, or until the meat shreds easily from the bone.
Slow-Cooker Hot-Honey Chicken Sandwiches
These simple sandwiches are reminiscent of a lazy summer cookout — but doable on a weeknight. Though slow cookers are often associated with winter, they’re great in hot weather because they don’t heat up the kitchen like ovens do. For this recipe, there is no need to add liquid to the pot before cooking, because the chicken will release moisture as it cooks. If you have a lot of liquid remaining when the chicken is done, that’s absolutely fine; just incorporate it into the shredded chicken. But if you have a little extra time, before you shred the chicken or add the honey, remove the chicken to a bowl with tongs, pour the juices into a small saucepan, and simmer until the juices are reduced by half to intensify flavor and thicken the sauce. After that, simply pick the recipe back up at Step 3.
Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Soup With Lemon, Rice and Dill
This lightly creamy and incredibly comforting soup is all about the almost-austere interplay of chicken, broth, white rice and lemon. It's also a great way to use up leftover rice: Any variety will work. Tempering the yolks (slowly whisking hot broth into them) ensures that they will emulsify and thicken the soup, and not scramble. Use a half cup of lemon juice for an assertively tart soup, but, for a gentler effect, use the smaller amount. If you prefer, you can use an equivalent weight of chicken legs instead of thighs.
Slow Cooker Pot Roast
A hunk of beef slowly braised in red wine, herbs and garlic makes for a classic pot roast that’s also easily customizable: Add the root vegetables and herbs you like best. The tough chuck roast needs about eight (or more) hours in a slow cooker to become fork tender, but the vegetables are better with a shorter cook time, so add them about four hours after the start. (If this is impossible because you’ll be gone all day, you can add the vegetables in the morning; just make sure you cut them into large chunks and know that the vegetables will be quite soft.) Optional quick-pickled onions add welcome bright flavor and make this simple dish feel special.
Slow-Cooker Sunday Sauce
Whether it’s called red sauce, sugo or gravy, you’ll find a big pot of the rich tomato sauce simmering all Sunday long in many Italian-American households. Every family has their own version, but this recipe includes shreddy pork shoulder, sausage and meatballs. This slow-cooker version lets you simmer it overnight or while you’re not home, and without splatters and stirring (though you can also make it on a stovetop). Once the sauce is done, coat pasta in the sauce, spoon the meats on top and serve it with a green salad, crusty bread and red wine. Sauce can be kept refrigerated for up to one week and frozen for up to three months.
Grilled or Oven-Roasted Santa Maria Tri-Tip
You might need to ask your butcher (assuming you have one) or even a store meat manager to order in a tri-tip roast. Two pounds is a good size, but if you come across a larger one, by all means grab it as the extra meat makes amazing sandwiches. The trick is to carve the tri-tip against the grain, which can change directions in this cut. So before you rub it and roast it, take a look at the raw meat and see which direction the long strands of muscle fiber are running on each part of the roast. After the roast has been cooked, and it has rested for 15 minutes or so, slice the roast in two at the place where the fibers change direction. Carve each piece separately.
Slow Cooker Honey-Soy Braised Pork With Lime and Ginger
Here to save your weeknight life: a slow-cooker main that’s truly “set-it-and-forget-it,” with results that taste like they required significantly more effort. This rich and flavorful pork takes about 5 minutes to throw together in the morning. Before dinner, just simmer the sauce — a sweet-salty mix of soy and honey — until it’s syrupy, shred the meat, add a flurry of fresh herbs and you’re done. The meat is a wonderfully simple anchor, and you can build a meal around it: Add lettuce cups and kimchi or serve it over rice, whole grains or even tortillas.
Slow-Cooker Lemony Chicken Soup
This lemony, herbal take on chicken soup highlights produce, but the basic technique is useful any time you want chicken soup with minimum effort. Slow-cooking chicken in stock creates a richly flavored, double-concentrated stock. Homemade stock is ideal, but you can also use your favorite store-bought stock or bouillon cubes. This recipe is flexible: If peas and asparagus aren’t available, substitute two cups of quick-cooking vegetables, like fresh or frozen corn, baby spinach or arugula, or thinly sliced zucchini. Instead of tortellini, you can add an equivalent amount of cooked pasta or grains.
Pollo Asado
Pollo asado, Mexican marinated and grilled chicken, uses pigmented annatto seeds to get its signature brick red color. Annatto seeds can be found in Latin supermarkets or online, but a cube of prepared achiote paste is a suitable sub. This recipe uses two types of dried chiles, for which there are no substitutes; however, if they’re hard to come by, swap them out for a can of seeded chipotles in adobo for a different, but still delicious, smoky vibe. The acidity from the citrus in the marinade helps tenderize the chicken legs, but a limit does exist; keep it under 12 hours. Serve the chicken alongside pickled onions and warm tortillas for quick tacos, or beans and rice.
BBQ Chicken
Barbecued chicken isn’t, really: It’s grilled rather than smoke-roasted at low temperature. But it requires a similar attention to technique. You’ll want to move the pieces around on the grill to keep them from burning, and flip them often as well. Cooking barbecued chicken benefits from a basting technique used by the chef and outdoor cooking maven Adam Perry Lang, who thins out his sauce with water, then paints it onto the meat he’s cooking coat after coat, allowing it to reduce and intensify rather than seize up and burn.
Slow-Cooker Steel-Cut Oats
This is a practically effortless way to have a hot breakfast ready to go the moment you wake up. The trick to cooking perfect steel-cut oats in the slow cooker is to make use of the auto-warm setting, which switches on when the set cook time is over. (The majority of modern slow cookers have this function, though some older ones may not.) Cooking the oatmeal on low for two hours, then on warm for up to six more ensures very creamy, risotto-like oats that have a pleasant chew. (You can also cook the oats on low for 4 hours, then immediately serve, but if you venture any longer than that, the oats may overcook.) Think of this as a whole-grain meal that you can take in any sweet or savory direction you like: Top with a pat of butter and a squeeze of honey, or a sprinkle of salt and a bit of hot sauce, or any of the topping suggestions below.
Gochujang Burger With Spicy Slaw
This may be the perfect all-purpose sauce — BBQ, marinade, dressing — for your summer cookouts. Tangy and sweet rice vinegar cuts through the spicy richness of gochujang, and toasted sesame seed oil amps up the smokiness you get from the grill. The sauce does double duty in this recipe: It’s used to flavor the pork bulgogi-inspired patties, and it’s used as a dressing for the cucumber, sprout and carrot slaw. These burgers can also be made indoors in a large cast-iron or heavy skillet over medium-high heat.
Slow-Cooker Goan Pork Vindaloo
In 1510, when the Portuguese invaded Goa, a region on the west coast of India, they brought with them a dish called carne de vinha d’alho, a sailors’ preserve of pork stored in wine vinegar and garlic. Goan cooks reimagined the dish with local ingredients, like cinnamon, black pepper and coconut palm vinegar, and it came to be called vindaloo. Chiles are always included, but the dish is not traditionally superhot. In this version, the pork benefits from slow cooking in the vinegar and spices, making marination unnecessary. The blender does double duty: It purées the aromatics and grinds the whole spices at the same time.
Chicago-Style Hot Dogs
Often described as “dragged through the garden” — referring to all of the vegetable toppings — this hot dog is a joy to eat in honor of the Windy City. A proper Chicago dog is an all-beef frankfurter (such as Vienna Beef) in a poppy seed bun, topped with yellow mustard, neon-green sweet pickle relish, chopped white onion, tomato slices, a dill pickle spear, pickled sport peppers and celery salt. This stovetop recipe is very forgiving, and there are ways to adapt: No poppy seed buns? Just sprinkle a pinch of loose poppy seeds over regular hot dog buns slathered in melted butter. No neon-green sweet relish? Stir a drop or two of green food coloring into regular sweet relish. If you can’t find Chicago-style sport peppers, then sliced pepperoncini works in a pinch. Don’t skip the celery salt; its herbal lightness makes these dogs shine.
Charred Eggplant With Burrata and Fried Capers
When summer cooking feels like too much, the simple formula of grilled vegetables served with an herby dressing and a ball of burrata will get you through the season. Here, grilled or seared eggplant is bathed in an herbaceous, lemony caper-infused olive oil for a light dinner or side dish. Salt-packed capers work best, as they are generally larger and have a petal-like shape that opens up when fried, resulting in a crisp shell that is crunchy and salty (but, brined capers work, too). Make sure to dry the capers well before frying to prevent aggressive spitting when they hit hot oil. Fried capers are highly snackable, so consider making a double batch. Serve with bread, flatbread or, for something heartier, pasta.
Grilled Seafood Burgers With Old Bay Mayonnaise
Tender cod and sweet shrimp transform into juicy seafood burgers that are perfect for easy summer grilling. The shrimp do double duty here: They act as a natural binder, eliminating the need for bread crumbs and eggs and giving the burgers a pure seafood essence. They also lend a snappy, firm texture to the patties. A quick cook on the grill imparts great smoky notes that complement the fish, and an Old Bay mayo sauce highlights the seafood flavors even further.
Sheet-Pan Chicken Chilaquiles
Chilaquiles are a traditional Mexican breakfast dish of fried corn tortillas simmered in a red (roja) or green (verde) sauce and often topped with cheese and fried eggs. The green sauce features tomatillos, while the red version uses tomatoes. Here, the quick salsa roja gets a flavor boost from charring the components under a broiler, resulting in a sauce that is pleasantly spicy, bright and smoky. While this dish is usually made in a skillet, this version is cooked on a sheet pan, making it a breeze to feed four people in just one batch. Guajillo chiles have medium heat and an earthy sweetness; for a milder sauce, New Mexico chiles are an excellent choice.
Sheet-Pan Shrimp Gratin
The best part of a gratin is the crispy crust, and, here in this shallow sheet-pan version, there’s more of it. Flaky panko bread crumbs — with a sprinkling of mozzarella and Gruyère — form a crisp, almost chiplike topping that tastes not unlike the edges of garlicky, cheesy Texas toast. In fact, the topping comes off in large, snackable pieces. As this bakes (for just 10 minutes!), the spice blend perfumes the kitchen, thanks to herbes de Provence. The shiitakes add earthy heft and incredible umami, but for a more delicately flavored gratin, you can leave them out. Serve this with a big green salad or eat it straight out of the pan.
Grilled Za’atar Chicken With Garlic Yogurt and Cilantro
This garlicky, herby chicken is full-flavored and very tender, thanks to its piquant yogurt marinade. It’s flexible, too — marinate the meat for as little as a couple of hours, or as long as overnight. And the chicken is just as good cooked under the broiler as it is on the grill (see Tip). You can serve this dish with almost anything, but it’s especially nice with pita or other flatbread and a big cucumber and tomato salad. And if you’re looking to substitute chicken breasts for the thighs, you can. Just watch them carefully; they’re likely to cook faster than the dark meat.
Spicy Citrus Skirt Steak
You don’t need a meat thermometer to grill a great skirt steak: When cooked over high heat, the inside will be medium rare once the steak is bronzed on the outside. For seasoning, counter the cut’s big buttery flavor with something salty, spicy or fresh. In this recipe, the grilled steak rests in a tart sauce of tangerine, soy sauce, ginger and vinegar that is reminiscent of ponzu, with hints of citrusy bitterness similar to the dried tangerine peel used in Sichuan and Hunan cooking. Here, that bittersweet edge comes from charring the fruit and peel. Serve with rice or a grilled green vegetable like Chinese broccoli or asparagus.