Winter provides the ideal opportunity to embrace the warmth and convenience of hearty, slow-cooked meals. With colder temperatures and shorter daylight hours, there's nothing quite as comforting as returning home to the enticing aroma of a simmering slow cooker. The slow cooker, sometimes referred to as a Crock-Pot (one of the popular brand names), proves especially valuable during the winter months. This is because many classic winter comfort dishes, such as soups, stews, chili, pasta, and roasts, are exceptionally straightforward to prepare using this kitchen appliance.
To help you keep cozy and simplify your kitchen routines during winter evenings, we've put together a collection of 15 easy and delectable slow cooker recipes. Ranging from savory stews to tender roasts and beloved pasta dishes, these recipes are thoughtfully selected to streamline your cooking while indulging your desire for comforting, homemade meals.
Defeat the winter blues with these effortless slow-cooker recipes
1) Slow-Cooker Beef and Beer
While cooking with wine is a well-known practice, using beer can also enhance your recipes. This slow-cooker recipe draws inspiration from a timeless Belgian dish known for its beer-braised beef. By preparing your meat in the morning, you can look forward to savoring this comforting meal come dinnertime.
2) Crockpot Chilli
This chili is renowned for its rich flavor, featuring ingredients such as chuck roast, sirloin, tomatoes, onion, garlic, chili powder, and a bottle of IPA or stout beer. While it requires approximately five hours of cooking time to reach perfection, the final result is truly rewarding.
3) Slow Cooker Beef Goulash
Beef Goulash, originating from Eastern Europe, combines ground beef, macaroni noodles, cheddar cheese, tomato sauce, and vegetables such as peppers, carrots, and onions. This slow cooker recipe is ready in just two hours and pairs beautifully with your preferred side salad.
4) Slow-Cooked Turkey Cassoulet
Cassoulet is a traditional French stew typically prepared with pork, sausage, and goose. However, our recipe offers a unique twist by substituting these meats with turkey, providing a fresh take on the classic dish. This turkey cassoulet is enriched with a medley of seasonings, vegetables, and beans, ensuring it remains rich in flavor.
5) Slow Cooker Beef Ragu
Few things evoke the comforting coziness of winter like a hearty beef ragu dish. Indulge in this wintery delight by making use of your slow cooker. An interesting tip from this recipe is that while it requires beef stock, you can also incorporate leftover red wine to enhance the flavor!
6) Slow Cooker Italian Meatballs
Reheating frozen meatballs is a simple task, but this recipe elevates frozen Italian meatballs by combining them with tomatoes, stock, onion, and a medley of seasonings to create a flavorsome meatball and sauce dish. Furthermore, this slow cooker creation is freezer-friendly, making it an excellent choice for preparing in advance and enjoying as leftovers throughout the chilly winter season.
7) Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili
You can savor a satisfying bowl of high-protein chili without incorporating any meat. This vegetarian chili recipe is brimming with beans, corn, potato, assorted vegetables, and a generous array of seasonings, ensuring a flavorful experience. If you desire even more protein, you can still include chicken or ground beef as an option.
8) Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken noodle soup is a classic choice for the chilly months of the year, and research even supports its potential health benefits when used as a cold remedy. To relish this winter favorite, give our incredibly straightforward slow cooker recipe a try, requiring minimal effort.
9) Slow Cooker Chicken in Red Wine
While this slow-cooker chicken recipe demands a bit more initial effort compared to others on this list, the exquisite flavors it offers make the extra work entirely worthwhile. The key to this dish is the inclusion of red wine, and the best part is that you can achieve remarkable results even without a slow cooker.
10) Beef Stew in Red Wine
Let's keep this a secret from Julia Child, but this beef stew recipe is significantly simpler to assemble in the slow cooker! It unquestionably ranks among our top cozy slow-cooker recipes for the winter season.
11) Slow-Cooker Pork Carnitas Tacos
We featured our classic crock-pot chicken tacos earlier, but if pork is more of your thing, you'll love these pork carnitas tacos. The pork is cooked slowly for eight hours, creating juicy, flavorful meat that you'll want seconds and thirds of. Top with pickled onions, queso fresco, lime, and cilantro for a perfectly comforting meal.
12) Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli
This Beef and Broccoli recipe offers a convenient slow cooker adaptation of a beloved takeout favorite. It's both effortless and delectable, requiring only flank steak, broccoli, beef stock, and a handful of seasoning ingredients such as soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, and sriracha.
13) Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos
Planning a gathering with friends to combat the winter blues? Tacos like these slow cooker chicken tacos are fantastic for serving a crowd, and you'll only need five ingredients: chicken, chicken stock, onion, bell pepper, and onion.
14) Slow Cooker Jambalaya
Jambalaya, crafted with andouille sausage, shrimp, chicken, assorted vegetables, and Cajun seasoning, is a nearly flawless choice for relishing a flavorful and comforting winter meal. While the classic accompaniment is white rice, you have the flexibility to substitute it with quinoa or any other grain of your preference.
15) Slow Cooker Green Chile Pork Soup
This green chili recipe is a great way to utilize an assortment of fresh and canned vegetables from your pantry, including cannellini beans, diced green chiles, and poblano peppers!
16) Pumpkin Chicken Chili
17) Asian Beef Noodle Soup
Slow-cooking this soup produces tender chunks of beef and a flavorful broth infused with ginger and soy, creating a delightful combination.
18) Basque Chicken
This delectable slow-cooker recipe will envelop you in all the cozy vibes you crave during the winter season.
19) Short Ribs Braised in Guinness
Certainly, Guinness is a fine choice for drinking, but it reaches new heights of deliciousness when used to braise short ribs in your slow cooker.
20) French Pot Roast
Absolutely, preparing a French pot roast can be effortless with the assistance of a Crock-Pot!
21) Pulled Pork Sandwich
Pulled pork isn't limited to summer. With this Crock-Pot recipe, you can enjoy a succulent meal on your dinner table with minimal preparation!
22) Lamb Tagine
Abundantly seasoned with Moroccan spices, enhanced by the addition of golden raisins and fresh ginger, and slow-cooked in a savory broth until it reaches a tender consistency, this Lamb Tagine slow cooker recipe is an absolute must-try for the winter season.
23) Cuban Tomato and Black Bean Soup
This spicy tomato soup is a simple slow-cooker meal that puts your leftover ham and canned black beans to good use.
24) Maple-Balsamic Chicken and Vegetables
With its delightful blend of sweet and savory flavors, this maple balsamic chicken recipe is the perfect indulgence for those cold, wintry nights.
25) Slow Cooker Corned Beef
Corned beef may not suit everyone's taste, but for those who appreciate this salt-cured meat, this recipe is a fantastic option. Your dish will be ready in approximately four hours and is most enjoyable when served immediately. Pair it with vegetables for a well-rounded meal.