The slow cooker is a kitchen appliance workhorse. It melds flavors beautifully. It cooks meat until it is fork tender. It can cook a large amount to feed extra hungry tummies, or you can freeze the surplus for a future meal.
At its simplest, you dump ingredients into a pot. You set the cook time, and you come home to a meal. Minimal prep, minimal clean-up … and the meal is ready when you are.
Building flavor and complexity requires just a little bit of extra prep and often consists of searing the meat. This creates fond (kudos to the French and their ability to make everything sound sophisticated), also commonly known as … pan drippings. File that one away in your memory bank for a future trivia night.
To save yourself time, I highly recommend using a slow cooker with a stove-top safe insert. You can sear meat or prep vegetables without dirtying an extra pan. See slow cooker notes for additional tips.
Honey-Ginger Pork with Braised Kale
I love this recipe because it is simple to pull together, and the flavor is divine. Honey-Ginger Pork with Braised Kale by Williams Sonoma is a slow cooker recipe, and you can make it ‘fast & easy‘ by skipping the browning step.
Double the dinocato kale to make this beauty into a one-dish meal. It is equally delicious over fresh ramen noodles (check the refrigerated section of your grocery store) or rice.
You can make it your own with toppings. We love thinly sliced scallions, toasted sesame seeds, and gochuchang sauce. For a bit of crunch, try thinly sliced radish or onions and chunks of sweet pepper.
Burmese-Style Noodles with Chicken and Coconut
I come back to this warm, earthy dish by Williams and Sonoma constantly. Burmese-Style Noodles with Chicken and Coconut is a slow cooker recipe that requires minimal prep.
An extended cook time allows the flavor to develop and meld together. The lime zest lends a touch of sweetness and the lime juice brightens the entire flavor profile.
Add variety to leftovers by serving this dish over rice the next day. Top with a few peanuts or cashews and roasted broccoli or sauteed sweet peppers.
Gumbo is often cooked “low and slow,” which yields beautiful flavor complexity, but requires some attention throughout the duration of cooking. I love Williams Sonoma‘s Chicken and Sausage Gumbo, because it is modified for the slow cooker. Adding the okra at the end of cooking helps the vegetable retain an appealing al dente texture.
I suspect you could treat this as a dump-and-go, but the flavor profile would not be as rich, since you would lose some of the caramel flavors that browning produces.
Keep this dish simple and traditional by serving it on a bed of fluffy white rice.
I am in love with this vegan recipe by Williams Sonoma. I took very little license with the ingredients, except to add a few extra carrots. The dish is vegetable-forward and exudes earthy, rich flavors.
Rice or nann serves as a great addition to this dish. If you are limiting your carb intake, cook the lentils al al dente. They’ll add a toothy bite that replaces the sensory experience of rice.
Chicken with Lemon and Green Olives
I love this fresh take on tapenade by Williams Sonoma. The combination of olives and lemons create a briny and bright flavor that is beautifully showcased by the blank canvas chicken provides.
I added extra celery and a full onion, as well as substituting chicken thighs for the legs. Ensure that you buy chicken thighs with the skin if you plan to brown the chicken in advance.
We served the dish over quinoa with my own roasted beets recipe. I haven’t officially published the recipe, but here is a quick preview. Scrub beets. Cut beet greens close to top of beet (reserve for later use), and cut the root-end off to create flat bottom. Place on square of aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil. Bring corners of tin foil together and twist gently to create pouch. Roast at 400℉ until the beets are pierced easily with a paring knife (45-75 minutes depending on the size of the beet). When cool enough to handle, use aluminum foil to scrape off beet skin. Top with salt and a bit of butter.
Korean Beef and Kimchi Stew by Williams Sonoma is a must-try. The flavors are fantastic, and I love the fall-apart tender meat from the slow cooker.
Next time, I plan to try boneless short ribs, as I wanted just a little bit more meat in this stew.
Unsurprisingly, my other recommendation is to add additional carrots. The recipe calls for one, but I included at least six.
This stew was delicious. I find preparing butternut squash to be a chore, so I wouldn’t call it easy, but it’s definitely simple. Be sure to cut the vegetables to a similar size to promote even cooking.
Swap vegetable stock for the chicken stock to make it fully vegetarian. I added chickpeas for extra protein.
The dish called for watercress, but it wasn’t available at the grocery store, so I substituted pea shoots. They added a fresh crunch, but I think the spice of watercress might have been a nice contrast to the sweet of the butternut squash. Next time I might try arugula and add a bit of crunch with a toasted almond or pistachio. I served this with Israeli couscous, but it would also be delicious with a slice of toasted, rustic bread or rice.
Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala
Nonna first introduced us to this gem, and my mouth waters thinking of the memory of this dish from Cooking Light.
We made two minor changes to the recipe. First, we substituted standard coconut milk for the light coconut milk.
Second, we added peas to the rice. I like the brightness the peas add to the velvety flavors of this dish. If you’d like to do this, add frozen peas to the pot 1-2 minutes before the rice has finished cooking.
This recipe comes together in a pinch (note, overnight marination is required) and yielded at least two dinners and one lunch for our family of four.
The meat is super versatile … bowls, tacos, buns, arepas, salads galore.
The first night I made bowls (I love love love a good bowl.) Our base was rice and the toppings included pea shoots, corn, radish, avocado, red onion, and tomato. The next night we made tacos topped with cilantro, thinly sliced onion and radish … plus a drizzle of crème fraiche.
Cranberry beans are not a standard item in the grocery store. Thank goodness nearly anything can be found online.
This recipe does call for a bit of pancetta, which lends a subtle smokey element to the dish. While I followed the recipe here, next time I’ll make it vegetarian (in my quest for heaarty meatless dishes) by eliminating the pancetta and adding a healthy pinch of smoked paprika. I might also try a parmesan rind.
Aside from soaking the beans overnight, this is a dump-and-go crock pot recipe … super easy prep. We topped the dish with pea shoots for added nutrients and a bit of fresh crunch.
I am in love. This EASY recipe yields delicious ramen in the comfort of your own home with the convenience of a slow cooker. This dish pleases even the pickiest of eaters, because guests can customize their toppings.
I highly recommend fresh ramen noodles, often found in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. We topped our bowl with sliced scallions, toasted corn and butter, and sauteed mushrooms. The second time we made this dish we included parboiled bean sprouts.
The soft-boiled eggs add a luscious texture to the broth. Fill a pot with an inch of water. Bring the water to a simmer and gently add the egg. Cover and simmer for 6 minutes. At 6 minutes, use cold water to cool the eggs and stop the cooking. Peel with a gentle touch.
Looking for a kick? Your answer is GOCHUCHANG sauce!
Butternut Squash and Chickpea Curry with Roasted Tomatoes
Over the years, many of our favorite recipes have been sourced from Williams-Sonoma.
Husband, who does not prefer chickpeas, loves this recipe from Quick Slow Cooking. I recommend reducing the number of garlic cloves to 2.
For a pop of complementary flavor, try Simply Roasted Tomatoes.
I served this dish with jasmine rice and added frozen peas a few minutes before the rice was finished cooking.
TIP To freeze the main dish, cool it in the fridge before placing in the freezer. This process is more gentle and improves the quality when thawed.
See slow cooker notes for additional tips.
Carnitas (Slow-Cooked Pork) + Basic Tamales
Unfortunately, I’ve only hit dead ends when trying to find online copies of these recipes. Luckily there seem to be an unending number of alternatives. Both recipes we prepared are featured in Food & Wine’s Best of the Best Vol 16, courtesy of Roberto Santibanez.
This was our first attempt at tamales, and they are a time-consuming endeavor. (Husband made these on Super Bowl Sunday … perhaps it was an elaborate ruse to be able to watch the pre-game commentary.)
Make sure you have the proper cookware to steam the tamales, or else plan for the cook time (about 45-75 minutes each). We had to use a kitchen hack for the steamer and noticed the tamales were not cooked through, so we elected to finish the tamales in the oven at 400℉ for 10 minutes flipping halfway through.
We stuffed the tamales with carnitas, and this particular recipe was delicious. I would have preferred just a touch more moisture, so we recommend adding extra soda – perhaps 2.5 cups in total.
We topped the tamales with creme fraiche, guacamole and salsa. Aside from the amount of work, we were very happy with the results.
Dump-and-Go Honey Garlic Chicken and Green Beans
This recipe is featured in Rustic Farmhouse Slow Cooker. Dump-and-Go is a fitting name for this recipe – literally dump the ingredients into the crock pot and walk away.
I mom-ed the recipe by adding a cup of peas to the last two minutes of the rice cook time.
Next time, I plan to make a few changes. I’m going to substitute bone-in chicken thighs (skin removed) to add some heft to the sauce and yield a moister meat.
For variety, you could add hot sauce, a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds, or green onion as a topping.
Onion and Thyme French Dip Sandwiches
Unfortunately, this recipe is only available via the cookbook, and I had zero luck finding anything even remotely similar online. However, I daresay that this recipe makes buying this cookbook worth it. It is easy. It is delicious.
Most importantly – this recipe saves you time. You can use the meat in other dishes so you’re set for a few meals. In our house, we made tacos and bowls.
Choose thyme sprigs with tender green stalks so you can eat the entire sprig.
If you’re looking for a delicious sloppy joe recipe, look no further. Little crushed two of these sandwiches in one sitting.
I add an extra red bell pepper and double the celery. I also temper the heat by halving the chipotle in adobo and sauce.
Bread and butter pickles add a tart sweetness and crunch – these are our favorites.
This recipe feeds a large group, freezes well and makes a great protein in a bowl.
Easy Cassoulet with Sausage, Bacon, and Riesling
Traditional cassoulet is easily a full-day commitment. Arguably, it is worth the investment, but really … who has the time. I love this simple, hearty recipe from Williams-Sonoma in Quick Slow Cooking (it is hard to go wrong with this cookbook).
I add plenty of extra carrots (try a full bunch), and the rich flavors are complemented by a salad with a tangy vinaigrette and a crusty bread.
Don’t overdue the cloves, as they can overwhelm the flavors of the dish and leave a bit of a bitter aftertaste.
Notes & Recommendations
I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
I am not paid for these reviews and am simply sharing these products because I love them.
Slow Cooker
Admittedly, the All-Clad Stainless Steel Slow Cooker with Aluminum Insert, 7 quart slow cooker is not rated highly by consumers. But, it is recommended by experts and a staple in my kitchen. I have no complaints about the results.
I recommend using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon when mixing ingredients. I also recommend hand washing the insert and laying it on a towel on your counter to dry. I noticed it scratches easily.
TIP Ensure you buy the version that is safe for use on your stove top. Browning ingredients, such as meat, improves flavor and the single pot reduces clean-up.
Slow Cooker Cookbook
If you are in the market for a new cookbook, check-out Williams-Sonoma Quick Slow Cooking (Author: Kim Laidlaw, Publisher: Weldon Owen).
My copy is tattered, complete with dog ears, food splatters, and notes. But all of those scars simply represent love.
Most of the recipes require some amount of pre-cooking to build flavor, so I don’t know if I’d describe the process as “quick,” but we have loved nearly all of the recipes.
Rustic Farmhouse Slow Cooker
Rustic Farmhouse Slow Cooker, by Alli Kelley (Publisher: Page Street Publishing Co.) is a new cookbook and another find from my mom. So far, she has been a cookbook whisperer!
My first impression? The images exude rustic farmhouse style. I immediately imagined sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with loved ones around a rough-hewn table set with a hearty, delicious meal.
Upon initial inspection of the recipes themselves, most appear to require very little prep. You sacrifice a bit of the flavor complexity if you forego browning the meat, but I love the low fuss, minimal clean-up of the “dump-and-go” approach.
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