These slow cooker recipes and ideas build upon the genius of the simple household appliance that has caused quite a change.
The versatile appliance is great for cooking conventional food, but it can also work with a number of other recipes and cooking styles.
Let’s look at some interesting ideas to see how it all works.
Slow Cooker Recipes And Culinary Inspiration To Try
1. Slow Cooker Za’atar Chicken Thighs
Chicken thighs cooked with the famous and versatile Za’atar spice is just the kind of thing you’d want your slow cooker to work on. The recipe is easy enough, with the slow cooker doing most of the work, while you put the ingredients together and let the cooker work its magic.
While the recipe is good for weeknights, do keep in mind that the slow cooker is going to take its time. If you set it on high, the recipe can take 2-3 hours, while the conventional slow cooking can take up to 6 hours.
2. Lemon Chicken In Slow Cooker
Here’s another famous recipe made a little more special by the magic of slow cooking. One of the benefits of letting the recipe take its time is that the dish is delightfully juicy and flavorful.
The tender chicken breasts work very well with the spices, herbs, and garlic. But most of all, it’s the fresh zesty aroma of lemons and the flavor they bring to this recipe, which steals the show.
3. Pork Loin Roast
Here’s a recipe that’s all kinds of delicious and looks like something that’s made in a gourmet style. It would be fair to assume that a lot of hard work went into making this pork loin roast.
And that’s a good thing, because making this dish is fairly easy! You spend a few minutes of prep and then put everything into the slow cooker and let it work its magic. Amazing flavor, little effort!
4. Slow-cook Country-Style Ribs
When we hear of country-style food, we expect some rusticity to be the hallmark of authenticity of the recipe. Truth be told, that’s something of a stereotype and not a helpful one at that. Refined taste and appearance is as much a hallmark of country-style cooking, as any other.
Just look at these slow-cooked ribs. The amazing flavors and the fork-tender texture are the stuff of legends.
5. Slow Cook Spiral Ham
Ham with a honey mustard glaze looks and tastes just right for a celebration. The recipe even suggests that this spiral ham could be as good a dish for Thanksgiving as turkey, if you prefer not to have the traditional bird on the table.
The look and style of the dish does lend itself well to celebration. However, it’s as good a meal for any occasion, or just a nice dinner with the family!
6. Vegan Chili Sin Carne
While meat-based recipes are often at the heart of slow-cooking goodness, veggies should not be ignored or forgotten either. And this nice vegan recipe shows us exactly why.
The vegan recipe makes excellent use of canned tomatoes to get that wonderful color, texture, and a bit of that umami touch. Other veggies like corn, beans, onions, carrots, and more lend themselves very well to this slow-cooked meal that brings deliciousness and vibrant colors to the table.
7. Slow Cooked Italian Beef Stew
Simplicity is often the hallmark of slow-cooked recipes. You put the ingredients in the cooker, then enjoy the meal once the slow cooker is done working its magic. Of course, some recipes do require some prep and there’s often a big list of ingredients.
But this Italian beef stew has no such pretensions. It uses just six ingredients to deliver a wonderfully textured and delicious meal. The ingredient list includes beef, onion, garlic sauce, and wine, along with some chunky tomatoes and basil.
The recipe doesn’t quite count the use of herbs, seasonings, or even salt and pepper. So, if we’re really going by the book, the ingredient list is a bit longer than what’s claimed.
8. Pasta E Fagioli Soup
It is childish, but I find myself on the brink of snickering every time I mention fagioli soup. Making weird allusions to the name aside, the pasta e fagioli soup is an excellent delicacy that shines through rather well when prepared in a slow cooker.
The recipe recommends use of small pasta like ditalini or elbow pasta. The other ingredients include ground beef, onions, carrots, celery, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, beef broth, kidney beans, and several other ingredients to get the right flavor and texture.
The soup is versatile, so you have some room in deciding on the ingredients you would use for this recipe.
9. Slow Cooker Chicken Curry
Did someone suggest a flavorful round of chicken curry for the slow cooker? Because that sounds and looks absolutely delicious. The famous and beloved Indian recipe lends itself well to the slow cooker, where the chicken breasts work with the herbs and spices, with the flavors permeating throughout the recipe.
One thing I like is that the recipe uses conventional ingredients to get a more authentic feel and style for the curry. Of course, you could always take a shortcut and use commercial curry powder as a substitute, but it might be better to stick to the original recipe.
10. Chicken and Rice Casserole
Does the oven count as a slow cooker? Opinions can be sharply divided on this topic, with many believing that ovens can count as slow cookers, while others reserve the slow-cooker name to the specific appliance only. Others might say that if it cooks slowly, it’s a slow cooker!
In any case, this interesting recipe makes use of an oven as a slow cooker. The chicken and rice take centerstage, but several other ingredients show up in the recipe, including parmesan cheese. Then, there’s slow cooking in the oven for about two hours to get the recipe ready.
11. Take-out Style Beef Broccoli
This recipe is worth loving. It combines beef and broccoli with ingredients like beef broth, soy sauce, hoisin, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, and a few others. All ingredients go into the slow cooker, which is then set to work for about six hours.
The long cooking time ensures that the beef is tender and the flavors are rich and spread throughout the meal. It might take time to cook in the slow cooker, but the recipe itself is quite simple and a breeze to prepare.