49 Crock Pot Recipes That Keep It Slow, Low and Delicious

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Hello and welcome to this thing we’re doing where we help you figure out what you’re gonna put in your mouth this week. Some of these are recipes we’ve tried, some of these are recipes we’re looking forward to trying, all of them are fucking delicious. Tell us what you want to put in your piehole or suggest your own recipes, and we’ll talk about which things we made, which things we loved, and which things have changed us irreversibly as people. Last week, we ate tomatoes.

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It’s September! Some of us are headed back to school. Some of us are in charge of miniature humans who are going back to school. Some of us are both. Some of us just have grownup jobs and have to slog to and from work on grey wet days and then face the prospect of spending an hour cooking when we’re already starving or ordering soggy pizza again. It’s a rough life.

UNLESS — cue the shift from infomercial grayscale to full color — you just use a slow cooker instead. Hot, delicious meals ready and waiting for you, with very little of the effort of, you know, cooking food. Are you ready? You are. Let us begin.

1. Slow Cooker Pulled Pork: Island Style

2. Salsa Verde Turkey Chili

3. Vietnamese Slow Cooker Pho Beef

4. Slow Cooker Cheesy Southern Grits

5. Overnight Crockpot Banana Bread Oatmeal

6. Crock Pot Coconut Chicken Curry

7. Crockpot Herbed Baby Potatoes

8. Rosemary Asiago Cheese in the Crockpot

WHAT IS THIS SORCERY. I have yet to venture into the territory of making bread in the crockpot, so if you try this or have tried it in the past PLEASE REPORT BACK.

9. BBQ Ribs Recipe for the Oven & Slow Cooker

10. Slow Cooker Black Bean Ragout

This is my favorite recipe for black beans ever, which is really saying something because I love black beans and have cooked them a LOT of ways. The seasoning somehow only serves to make the beans beanier, which is my only wish. Perfect in tacos, over rice, in a burrito bowl, or just off a spoon.

11. Hot Holiday Cider

12. Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Wild Rice Soup

13. Restaurant Style Refried Beans

14. Crock Pot Spaghetti Bolognese

15. Slow Cooker Chocolate Chicken Mole

16. Crock Pot Sausage Black Beans and Rice

I am going to make a version of this with soyrizo and no one can stop me.

17. Crock Pot Jambalaya

18. Miso Split Pea Soup

19. Crock-Pot Corn Chowder with Parmesan Rind and Pancetta

20. Spicy Black Bean Soup

21. Crockpot Enchilada Stuffed Peppers

22. Crockpot Hot Chocolate Brownies

23. Hawaiian Luau Meatballs

24. Spiced Crock-pot Pearsauce

25. Slow Cooker Zuppa Toscana

26. Slow Cooker Tomato Basil Soup

27. Slow Cooker Gingerbread Steel Cut Oats

28. Slow Cooker Pearl Couscous Soup

29. Slow Cooker Mushroom Farrotto with Gremolata

I made this and served it to a bunch of foodie meat-eaters and they LOVED IT. I felt like the king of the world. The gremolata isn’t technically required but it will make this 500% more amazing than it already is, and also the rest of the ‘cooking’ involved in this dish is so lowkey that you can spend five minutes grating some stuff and it’s just not a big deal.

30. Crock Pot Whole Chicken & Thanksgiving Menu

31. Slow Cooker Barley and Chickpea Risotto

32. Slow Cooker Maple Glazed Walnuts

These (and other spiced nuts) are the perfect last-minute Christmas gift because they seem way harder to make than they actually are. When you’re unexpectedly invited to a holiday event with your partner’s entire extended family and have to come up with panic gifts, this will come through for you in the clutch. Not that that’s happened to me.

33. Slow Cooker Thanksgiving Stuffing

34. Crock Pot Blackberry Jam Naturally Thickened

35. Slow Cooker Kale and Ham Hocks

36. Crockpot Sweet Potato Lentils

37. Slow Cooker Thai Chicken and Rice

38. Crock Pot Japanese Onion Soup

39. Amazing 3 Bean Sweet Potato Chili

40. Slow Cooker Baked Beans

41. Slow Cooker Black Bean Burritos

42. Slow Cooker Mexican Casserole

43. Crock Pot Baked Ziti

44. Crock Pot Indian Food Chana Masala

45. Slow Cooker French Onion Soup

46. Butternut Squash Chickpea Coconut Curry

47. Slow Cooked Vegan Lentil Curry

48. Summer Slow Cooker Lasagna

49. Slow Cooker Red Lentil Curry

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Rachel

Originally from Boston, MA, Rachel now lives in the Midwest. Topics dear to her heart include bisexuality, The X-Files and tacos. Her favorite Ciara video is probably "Ride," but if you're only going to watch one, she recommends "Like A Boy." You can follow her on twitter and instagram.

Rachel has written 1142 articles for us.

30 Comments

  3. So like, I’ve been sick and off my meds for a while and just generally having no spoons for weeks and surviving off of pizza and this is everything i was looking for. little effort, lots of leftovers, delicious meals. thanks autostraddle how do you always know what i need???

    Reply to This Comment

  4. Wow, some really wonderful looking dishes…it actually makes me wish I ate better, but since I don’t, and being that I am too lazy to even go to the store to pick up the ingredients for any of these dishes, I will just stay on first name basis with the delivery boy from the deli across the way.

    Good article though!

    Come to think of it, I use my crock pot to mix the wax mixture for my line of waxed canvas bags. Boy I suck!

    Reply to This Comment

  9. I use my crockpot more than I use my microwave, but admittedly, I use it to make the same things over and over (my specialties are chicken tacos, spaghetti meatballs, apple crisp, and various brothy soups).

    This whole post is like a checklist of new things. Challenge accepted!

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  15. Slow cooker garbage stock! It’s the easiest thing ever.

    1) Put a gallon ziplock bag in your freezer.
    2) Put the cuttings from the vegetables you use in other recipes in
    3) If you eat meat, put the bones in (especially if they have a little bit of meat still attached)
    4) When the bag is full, dump it in the crock pot. Put some more garlic in. Cover 2/3 of the way with water. Leave overnight.
    5) Strain. Use broth in EVERYTHING. It makes rice more delicious, soups and braises amazing (and you can do those in the crock pot too!), etc.

    It does make it a two-step process. First for the broth, then for the things you want to put in the broth. Like split pea and country-style rib soup last night (NOM!)

    Reply to This Comment

  16. All of this looks SO delicious but I got distracted halfway through… Am I the only one who noticed the fork finger-fucking the olive in the background of 26?

    So, now I know what to do with my time while I’m waiting for deliciousness to slowly cook in my crock pot… I’ll have a good appetite.

    Reply to This Comment

  19. Never doubt the power of the crock pot, after Katrina it was one of the few things my family could use to make meals. There’s only so far a microwave will take you and it’s gotta rain sometime.
    And! A crock pot is what my grandmother uses to make red sauce and red gravy for serious stuff like manicottis. If an old world taught person like her can trust one of them so can you.

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  22. I can put GRITS in my crock pot?!?! Why have I never been informed of this?? I feel so sheltered–what else haven’t I been told?!

    Also, I definitely wrote that asiago bread recipe down. I will report back when I’m digesting it. ;]

    Reply to This Comment

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