Help me use my slowcooker

kahluakoala

Hey knotties - 

I bought a slow cooker not too long ago and I'm looking for some insight on good recipes and best ways to utilize it. Some info:

- Trying to eat healthy while also pleasing my crazy-metabolism SO
- Intention is to set it and then go to work, however, I often work for slightly variable amounts of time (8-10 hours), then go to the gym, then have dinner waiting for me, do you have recipes that can be cooked for indefinite amounts of time?
- Definitely skewing towards "full meals" - chicken dishes and stuff are great, but I'd hopefully like to do meat / veggie / starch or whatever all together

So send away - what are your favorite slow cooker creations?

Tyvm

TheKitchn's Chicken Tikka Masala is FANTASTIC. Especially if you make a ton of rice at the beginning of the week to reuse throughout the week...   http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-slow-cooker-chicken-tikka-masala-recipes-from-the-kitchn-211284    I've made it a bunch, delicious.

TheKitchn has lots of other slow cooker recipes. I like the site because there's lots of content, the commenters actually make the meals, and their recipes are fairly reliable:  http://http//www.thekitchn.com/categories/slow_cooker

OurWildKingdom

I make a pretty awesome vegetarian chili in the slow cooker, but I don't really work from recipes much. I'll try to type up something though.

madamerwin

@Tyvm - That Chicken Tikka Masala recipe looks amazing. I have to make that now.

scrunchythief

Tyvm said:

TheKitchn's Chicken Tikka Masala is FANTASTIC. Especially if you make a ton of rice at the beginning of the week to reuse throughout the week...   http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-slow-cooker-chicken-tikka-masala-recipes-from-the-kitchn-211284    I've made it a bunch, delicious.

TheKitchn has lots of other slow cooker recipes. I like the site because there's lots of content, the commenters actually make the meals, and their recipes are fairly reliable:  http://http//www.thekitchn.com/categories/slow_cooker

I make this a lot too, and it's one of my favorites:)  On par with the Indian food restaurant near us.

I like pulled pork/chicken too.  Slather in BBQ sauce, set on low for forever, the pull and put on buns.  I put a little Italian dressing in mine to keep in more moist.

Also, this recipe was way better than I expected for slow cooker ribs:  https://www.buzzfeed.com/emilyhorng/these-slow-cooker-ribs-literally-fall-right-off-the-bone-and?utm_term=.pnWMOzvK6#.jsRQZNqAx  Not the absolute best ribs I've ever, ever had, but on par with your normal restaurant, for half the price.

Pork tenderloins are also cook for slow cookers.  Could add some chopped potatoes and veggies pretty easily for a more complete meal.

CMGragain

Pacific Pork Roast

Combine 1/2 cup soy sauce and 1/2 cup cooking sherry.  Add pinch of thyme and pinch of ginger.  Pour over pork roast.  Cook it till it falls apart on a fork.

Drain the juice from a can of crushed pineapple.  Heat the juice in a sauce pan with 2T corn starch and 1/2 cup brown sugar.  I add a ladle of the pork juice, too.   Stir until thickened.  When it is thickened, stir in the pineapple.  Serve over the pork, or on the side if your home has a pineapple hater.

Hula skirts are optional.

AddieCake

Italian Beef is my favorite slow-cooker meal. 

ernursej

Taco soup
ground beef - brown and season ahead of time (omit for vegetarian)
can of corn
several cans of different beans
can of Heinz chilli beans (Sauce in can adds some flavour but you can omit)
can of sliced black olives
can of diced tomatoes
throw all into crock pot (drain cans if you want or include to make more soupy) and cook on low 8-10 hours
serve with sour cream, gauc and taco chips
you can add extra seasoning to the pot if you want. 

OurWildKingdom

Oh, I also make an excellent bread pudding in the slow cooker. It's sweet, but you could make it savory instead.

charlottesmom0626

I make pulled pork- pork shoulder or some other inexpensive pork loin, coated in paprika, with 1 can of rootbeer. When it's done cooking (on low, 8 hours is fine) shred with a fork and cover in BBQ sauce.

I also do a texas chili that my husband loves. I'm looking for summer recipes though, it's so much easier than actually cooking.

drunkenwitch

A chicken verde would be great. Take two pounds tomatillos and two hot peppers and boil those together until the tomatillos turn an army green (about 10 minutes). Take the seeds out of the peppers and puree the tomatillos, peppers, two white onions, cumin and salt (blender is best) throw that in the slow cooker with some boneless skinless chicken breast. You can serve that over some corn tortillas that have been sprayed lightly with cooking spray and crisped up in the oven, or some tortilla chips. Top with low fat mozarella.

Lots of protein, starch and veg with very little oil.

ETA, if you like spicy like I do, leave some seeds in. 

OurWildKingdom

@drunkenwitch, that sounds amazing! I may try that with seitan or Quorn.

OurWildKingdom

CMGragain said:

Pacific Pork Roast

Combine 1/2 cup soy sauce and 1/2 cup cooking sherry.  Add pinch of thyme and pinch of ginger.  Pour over pork roast.  Cook it till it falls apart on a fork.

Drain the juice from a can of crushed pineapple.  Heat the juice in a sauce pan with 2T corn starch and 1/2 cup brown sugar.  I add a ladle of the pork juice, too.   Stir until thickened.  When it is thickened, stir in the pineapple.  Serve over the pork, or on the side if your home has a pineapple hater.

Hula skirts are optional.

That recipe almost makes me want to start eating meat again, @CMGragain (without the sherry for me, though; I'd substitute grape juice or something similar).

drunkenwitch

OurWildKingdom said:

@drunkenwitch, that sounds amazing! I may try that with seitan or Quorn.

The verde sauce is super easy and delicious, been experimenting with quantities of each ingredient.  Lots of onion is the key because the sharp onion taste mellows out the longer you simmer it and leaves a great flavor. Rosted red peppers and corn with mozarella cheese makes for an amazing enchilada. 

lovesclimbing

A roast is super easy and a full meal. Throw the roast in, whatever spices you want and some potatoes and carrots around the edges and there you go.

drunkenwitch

drunkenwitch said:

A chicken verde would be great. Take two pounds tomatillos and two hot peppers and boil those together until the tomatillos turn an army green (about 10 minutes). Take the seeds out of the peppers and puree the tomatillos, peppers, two white onions, cumin and salt (blender is best) throw that in the slow cooker with some boneless skinless chicken breast. You can serve that over some corn tortillas that have been sprayed lightly with cooking spray and crisped up in the oven, or some tortilla chips. Top with low fat mozarella.

Lots of protein, starch and veg with very little oil.

ETA, if you like spicy like I do, leave some seeds in. 

And garlic! Don't forget the garlic.

OurWildKingdom

lovesclimbing said:

A roast is super easy and a full meal. Throw the roast in, whatever spices you want and some potatoes and carrots around the edges and there you go.

That's how my Grandma always made roasts.

I once made a brisket similarly to @charlotte989875's recipe above, and that came out pretty well, or so I was told.

OurWildKingdom

My bread pudding is similar to this, but I occasionally substitute brown sugar for white sugar and use half-and-half in place of some of the milk. I also leave out the raisins because FW doesn't like them.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/231469/bread-pudding-in-the-slow-cooker/

ETA: The recipe calls for plain white sandwich bread, but any bread would work. IMHO, it's best if you use a French or Italian bread.

lc07

Skinnytaste has some good ones! 

Regarding cooking time - does your crockpot have a "warm" setting? Mine cooks for the amount of time I program it to cook and then automatically shifts to "warm" so it doesn't matter how long I'm gone.

Tyvm

Campbell's has a cream of mushroom roast with potatoes and carrots I've heard of: http://www.campbellskitchen.com/recipes/slow-cooker-savory-pot-roast-27270

I've also done a corned beef, cabbage, carrots, potatoes in this general way: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/slow-cooker-corned-beef-and-cabbage-recipe.html Although corned beef tends to be rather high in sodium, so this is a once-in-awhile kinda dish.

I think it can be a little tricky to roast vegetables for 8+ hours. They have a tendency to just turn to mush...which might be fine? This is why you tend to add the vegetables in an hour before serving, or you serve over rice.

OurWildKingdom

Tyvm said:

Campbell's has a cream of mushroom roast with potatoes and carrots I've heard of: http://www.campbellskitchen.com/recipes/slow-cooker-savory-pot-roast-27270

I've also done a corned beef, cabbage, carrots, potatoes in this general way: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/slow-cooker-corned-beef-and-cabbage-recipe.html Although corned beef tends to be rather high in sodium, so this is a once-in-awhile kinda dish.

I think it can be a little tricky to roast vegetables for 8+ hours. They have a tendency to just turn to mush...which might be fine? This is why you tend to add the vegetables in an hour before serving, or you serve over rice.

I've done vegetable curries and stews in the slow cooker before, with mixed results. I think it depends on what kind of vegetables you use. (BTW, curries in the slow cooker are great because they make your house smell fantastic.)

Vegetable soups, on the other hand, usually work out well in the slow cooker. Just don't add too much rice or pasta in advance because it soaks up all the liquid.

ei34

These dishes sound amazing!  I might just have to buy a slow cooker!  Happy cooking @KahluaKoala

MairePoppy

eileenrob said:

These dishes sound amazing!  I might just have to buy a slow cooker!  Happy cooking @KahluaKoala

You can have mine. I've failed miserably at slow cookery. Anything I've ever made in one was tasteless and ugly.

glasgowtolondon

MairePoppy said:

eileenrob said:

These dishes sound amazing!  I might just have to buy a slow cooker!  Happy cooking @KahluaKoala

You can have mine. I've failed miserably at slow cookery. Anything I've ever made in one was tasteless and ugly.

Me too. My FMIL bought us one at christmas and I was unbelievably excited (clearly my life is one wild ride) but I just haven't been able to master it at all. The best thing we make is a chilli.....but I'm not even that big of a chilli fan, so I'm not that excited. Maybe its the amount of liquid I put in. Some of these recipes sound great though, maybe I'll have a little of the success you guys seem to have. I just want something with no effort that is both healthy and tastes amazing. Its not too much to ask!

scrunchythief

glasgowtolondon said:

MairePoppy said:

eileenrob said:

These dishes sound amazing!  I might just have to buy a slow cooker!  Happy cooking @KahluaKoala

You can have mine. I've failed miserably at slow cookery. Anything I've ever made in one was tasteless and ugly.

Me too. My FMIL bought us one at christmas and I was unbelievably excited (clearly my life is one wild ride) but I just haven't been able to master it at all. The best thing we make is a chilli.....but I'm not even that big of a chilli fan, so I'm not that excited. Maybe its the amount of liquid I put in. Some of these recipes sound great though, maybe I'll have a little of the success you guys seem to have. I just want something with no effort that is both healthy and tastes amazing. Its not too much to ask!

glasgowtolondon said:

MairePoppy said:

eileenrob said:

These dishes sound amazing!  I might just have to buy a slow cooker!  Happy cooking @KahluaKoala

You can have mine. I've failed miserably at slow cookery. Anything I've ever made in one was tasteless and ugly.

Me too. My FMIL bought us one at christmas and I was unbelievably excited (clearly my life is one wild ride) but I just haven't been able to master it at all. The best thing we make is a chilli.....but I'm not even that big of a chilli fan, so I'm not that excited. Maybe its the amount of liquid I put in. Some of these recipes sound great though, maybe I'll have a little of the success you guys seem to have. I just want something with no effort that is both healthy and tastes amazing. Its not too much to ask!

Seriously try the chicken tika masala recipe. It's so easy and so good.

bleve0821

SLOW COOKER LINERS.

kahluakoala

Thanks for the tips everyone!

I tried a recipe last night for like a hawaiin chicken (ingredients were crushed pineapples, soy sauce, and brown sugar with cubed chicken breast) and i twas very tasteless and dry. We ate it, but tonight I think I'm going to turn it into BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches or something like that.

I'm thinking curry (starting with the chicken tikka recipe) is the way to go!

CharmedPam

I love making chicken in mine.  Whenever I bake chicken, it's dry.  Slow cookers never do that.  My favorite recipe is from Weight Watchers (I think).  Frozen or fresh chicken breasts.  Can of salsa.  that's it.  I usually put it over some low carb noodles to make it a meal.  If you had ambition you could cut up green peppers I guess, but I usually lack the ambition.

kvruns

When I first got mine I used a blog that was Crockpot 365 (or some similar name) it had a lot of good recipes to try and you can sort by meat that you want to use.  

Tyvm

I tried a recipe last night for like a hawaiin chicken (ingredients were crushed pineapples, soy sauce, and brown sugar with cubed chicken breast) and i twas very tasteless and dry. We ate it, but tonight I think I'm going to turn it into BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches or something like that.

@KahluaKoala I wonder if that's because the recipe used cube chicken? The smaller chunks would be less likely to retain moisture (increased surface area). Thighs are usually better than breasts in a slow cooker, too. Any of your cheaper, fattier cuts usually come out well when slow cooked.

KeptInStitches

Chicken Taco Filling

Layer in a crock pot:
2 cans corn, drained
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 pound boneless chicken
2 packages Ortega taco seasoning
2 16oz jars Pace picante, mild (you could up this - it's a family recipe and we're wusses)

Cook on low 8 hours or high 4 hours. Remove chicken and shred with fork. Put back in crock pot and stir. Cook 30 minutes before eating. Add more or less salsa to make liquid.

Serve with soft shells, hard shells, over lettuce for taco salads, etc.