Slow Cooker
204 recipes found
Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage
Corned beef — brisket cured in brine — is beloved for its big, salty, aromatic flavor. It needs to be braised or simmered for a long time to become tender and sliceable, making it an ideal slow cooker dish. Get a corned beef made from flat-cut brisket, if you can, as it will be easier to slice into neat, uniform slabs. (The point cut has more striations of fat and may fall apart when sliced.) Corned beef is often braised in beer, and you could certainly do that, but a slightly sweet wine, like a semi-dry Riesling, balances the beef’s saltiness. Finish with a simple honey-mustard glaze and a quick trip under the broiler. Serve this satisfying one-pot meal with mustard and enjoy with beer. (Here are pressure cooker and classic versions of corned beef and cabbage.)
Slow-Cooker Baked Beans With Chorizo and Lime
Beans stewed with pork, tomato and something sweet is a traditional side dish at potlucks. This easy slow-cooker version is uncommonly kicky and bright, flavored with spiced Mexican-style chorizo, cilantro and lots of lime juice. Use cooked, smoked or cured chorizo, but don’t use dry-cured Spanish-style chorizo, which is a different kind of sausage altogether. There’s flexibility built into this recipe: If you like slightly sweet baked beans, use the larger amount of sugar. If you prefer a result that’s barely sweet, use the smaller amount. Likewise, the lime juice can be assertive or gentle, so use the larger or smaller amount to your taste. You may be tempted to add more liquid to the slow cooker, but resist the urge. The onion and sausage release liquid when cooking, so if you add more you will end up with bean soup instead of baked beans.
Slow-Cooker Butter Beans With Pecorino and Pancetta
These luscious beans are inspired by pasta alla gricia, a classic Roman dish that is similar to pasta carbonara, but this recipe doesn’t require any egg yolks. The no-cream creaminess is created by vigorously stirring pecorino, sizzling pancetta and its fat into the warm, brothy beans, all of which emulsify into a spoon-coating peppery sauce. Serve the beans with bread to mop up the sauce. Try to use good pancetta, guanciale or thick-cut bacon — the kind of pork product is less important than its quality. (A similar stovetop recipe can be found here.) This dish is unlikely to need added salt if you are using salted broth; if you use low- or no-salt broth or stock, add salt to taste at the end.
Vegan Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice
This vegan version of New Orleans-style red beans and rice omits the sausage and ham hock, and instead adds smoked paprika, miso and soy sauce for a savory, rounded flavor. 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 powders and sweet paprika, and taste before adding any salt, as seasoning blends contain a varying amount of sodium. These vegan beans are not as creamy as the ones made with pork, so smash a few against the side of the pot before serving to thicken the liquid. Serve with hot sauce, preferably a vinegary, cayenne-based Louisiana-style sauce like Crystal, Louisiana brand or Tabasco.
Slow-Cooker Braised Pork With Prunes and Orange
This tart-sweet braise is inspired by porc aux pruneaux, a classic French dish, which usually involves soaking prunes in tawny port before adding them to a sauce for pork. Here, the prunes are soaked in a mix of vinegar and brown sugar, a less expensive way to amplify their mellow sweet-sour flavor. (But by all means, use tawny port instead of the vinegar-sugar combo if you like!) This slow-cooker version employs a quick microwave roux for just a bit of thickening power, and is fragrant with orange zest and tart from a generous amount of sherry vinegar to balance the richness of the pork and dried fruit. Serve pork and sauce over polenta or with seeded bread.
Pressure Cooker Pork With Citrus and Mint
In this recipe for a Thai-inspired salad, made for a 6- to 8-quart electric pressure cooker, crispy pork, flavored with fish sauce and lime, is paired with sweet and juicy pomelo (or use grapefruit) and heady fried garlic chips. If you’d rather make this in a slow cooker, you can; it'll take 5 to 7 hours on high. (You can also make it in a stovetop pressure cooker, by trimming a few minutes off the cooking time. The stovetop versions tend to operate at a slightly higher pressure, cooking food more quickly.)
Slow Cooker Chicken Tagine With Butternut Squash
Inspired by Moroccan tagines, which often pair sweet dried fruit with savory elements, this dish has deep layers of contrasting flavors: warmth and sweetness against acidity and spice. Taking the time to brown chicken skin, sauté onion and toast spices is definitely worth the 20-minute investment here, lending this stew a rich flavor. But if you're really pressed for time, you can skip it. Instead, layer the squash, dates, onion and chicken in the slow cooker, and season everything generously with salt and pepper. Whisk together the oil, ginger, garlic, spices and lemon juice, and pour it on top before cooking. Then finish the dish the same way the recipe directs: Season to taste with lemon and salt and finish with the parsley and scallions.
Slow Cooker BBQ Pork and Beans
Pork and beans are cooked together in a slow cooker for mutually beneficial results (If you don't have a slow cooker, you can do it in a pot in the oven.) As the pork shoulder and barbecue sauce braise in the oven, the sauce soaks up the pork juices while the pork tenderizes. Then, beans are added to soak up the deeply concentrated sauce. The recipe uses store-bought barbecue sauce enhanced with the smoky heat of canned chipotles in adobo and brown sugar, which helps glaze the pork. Because every barbecue sauce is different, taste and adjust yours as needed. (For a more acidic sauce, add apple cider vinegar with the beans, or you can increase the sweetness with added sugar.) To serve, slice the pork or shred it into pulled pork.
Slow-Cooker Lasagna
This easy slow-cooker lasagna is satisfying in all the ways that matter: Rich ricotta-Parmesan-spinach layers alternate with tender noodles, melted mozzarella and tomato. (A slow cooker will not give the crispiness that an oven does, but you may not even miss it.) It’s also petite compared to many other lasagnas, perfect for feeding a family, not a crowd. If you’ve ever had a one-pot pasta, the texture of the noodles will be familiar to you: They are tender and starchy. Don’t use no-boil or fresh noodles, as they will overcook. If you like, brown some loose Italian sausage in a skillet, pour off the fat and add it with the tomato sauce layers.
Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup
While the origins of tortilla soup (also known as sopa Azteca or sopa de tortilla) can be traced to central Mexico, it has many variations, often characterized by a brothy chicken base flavored with puréed roasted tomatoes, chiles and garlic, and topped with fried leftover tortillas and other garnishes. In this nontraditional slow-cooker version, tomatoes, onion, garlic and chile are charred under the broiler (on a foil-lined sheet pan, for easy clean-up), then go straight into the slow cooker, where they add savory depth to the chicken soup. (No slow-cooker? Use the stovetop version of this recipe.)
Slow Cooker Lentil Soup With Sausage and Greens
The seasonings in Italian sausage — fennel, red pepper, garlic — pair beautifully with lentils, and here, they make for a punchy take on lentil soup. The sausage's flavors are reinforced by adding more garlic and pepper to the soup itself, for pops of flavor. Pleasantly firm but creamy on the inside, Beluga lentils (also known as black lentils) are worth seeking out for this hearty soup because they hold their shape when cooked, adding a lovely texture. But you can absolutely use regular green or brown lentils instead. Just know that they will fall apart, making the soup smoother. This recipe freezes well and is better after it rests in the refrigerator, so make a big batch to eat for days.
Christina Tosi’s Crockpot Cake
Christina Tosi, the pastry chef and an owner of Momofuku Milk Bar, sits near the beating heart of David Chang’s eclectic and innovative Momofuku restaurant empire. Off the clock, though, her cooking runs to inspired simplicity, as in this simple, tangy, slightly-caramelized at the edges slow-cooker cake, a version of which appears in her cookbook from Clarkson Potter, “Milk Bar Life.” Slow-cooker recipes invariably tell you to make something at night and enjoy them in the morning, or to make them in the morning and eat them after work. That only works if you don’t sleep much, or have a part-time job. This is a recipe for a weekend afternoon, or for cooking from the moment you get home until the very near end of a dinner party. It is a four-to-six hour affair.
Slow Cooker Lentil Soup With Sausage and Apples
This simple slow cooker lentil soup is flavored with tart apple and hearty smoked sausage, and finished with a little sour cream and mustard. If you don’t have time to sauté the onions and apples, you can skip that step, going straight to Step 2 and putting the ingredients directly into the slow cooker. Small green lentils (also called French lentils or lentils du Puy) have a peppery flavor and keep their shape when cooked instead of falling apart, giving the soup an appealing texture. However, you could also use black lentils or easier-to-find brown lentils, but keep in mind that brown lentils will fall apart as they cook, creating a thicker stew. (Here is the stovetop version of this soup.)
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.
Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce With Port and Orange
This classic, sweet and tangy cranberry sauce tastes complex but is quite easy to make. The slow cooker method saves in-demand stovetop space for other Thanksgiving dishes, and the sauce keeps well in the refrigerator for at least one week.
Slow Cooker Sticky Toffee Pudding
Sticky toffee pudding isn't so much a pudding in the American sense, but an extremely moist baked or steamed British date cake topped with a glossy sauce of brown sugar and cream. Steamed cakes — a genre unto themselves in Britain — are easily made in the slow cooker. This adaptation uses espresso powder in the cake and sauce to balance the honeyed taste of the dates and brown sugar: Nevertheless, it is still quite sweet, as it should be. This recipe can also be made more quickly in the oven, and the resulting cake’s texture will be different than the steamed version — sliceable, like a moist quick bread.
Slow Cooker Mashed Red Potatoes With Parmesan
When there’s no space on the stovetop to boil and mash potatoes, braise and mash them in a slow cooker — an easy and forgiving one-pot method. This rustic version has big flavors, thanks to the garlic that's cooked and smashed with the potatoes. The five garlic cloves lends a fairly assertive flavor, so decrease it to 2 or 3 cloves if you want a more subtle effect. You can leave the dish on warm for up to 3 hours after you mash the potatoes, just stir in the Parmesan and parsley right before serving.
Slow-Cooker Mulled Cider
A slow cooker is an ideal way to make and serve a warm cocktail for a party: Throw the ingredients into the cooker several hours before guests arrive and the cider will bubble away, making the whole house smell wonderful. Reduce the heat before adding the rye whiskey so it maintains its kick. The toasted spices make the flavors so vibrant that the drink is delicious even without the whiskey. No slow cooker? This recipe is your stovetop option.
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 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 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 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 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 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.