Winter is here, and the holidays are coming, and we want comfort food to feed a crowd. Best way to do that? The slow cooker!! Here are 10 recipes from our archives for easy, delicious, cold-weather food. Most of these recipes will handily feed a dinner crowd, or give you leftovers to freeze. And most use the most frugal cuts of meat, so they form the holy menu trinity of cheap, easy, and yummy.
You'll probably notice that this list is heavy on meat. Personally, I consider my slow cooker to be a glorified meat-cooker/braiser. Yes, you can make chili, soup, and beans in the slow cooker too, but I just tend to use mine when I need to cook something (like a pork shoulder) low and slow all day or night.
TOP ROW
• 1 Slow-Cooked Hoisin and Ginger Pork Wraps with Peanut Slaw
• 2 Slow-Cooked Bolognese Sauce
• 3 Slow-Cooker Lemon Garlic Chicken
• 4 Curried Vegetable and Chickpea Stew
• 5 Rich and Meaty Lamb Ragù
BOTTOM ROW
• 6 Heatwave Carnitas
• 7 Slow-Cooker Black Bean Enchiladas
• 8 Friday Night Slow-Cooked Brisket and Onions
• 9 Ultimate Cheater Pulled Pork from The Splendid Table
• 10 Slow Cooker Coconut and Green Curry Pork
Got any good recipes for the slow cooker to share? We'd love to broaden our repertoire!
A Few More Slow Cooker Ideas
• Recipe Review: Canal House Cooking's Serious Ragù
• Recipe Basics: How to Cook Beans in the Slow Cooker
• How To Convert Dutch Oven Recipes to Your Slow-Cooker
(Images: See linked recipes for full image credits.)
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I made the Hoisin and Ginger Pork wraps with the peanut slaw for a dinner party and it was unbelievably simple and tasty. Perfect thing for a low key get together and It makes a ton of food. And the dressing for the peanut slaw is now my favorite thing to put on anything. Shredded carrots. A spoon. Whatever. So good.
Yum slow cooked meals perfect for winter. So comforting :)
We like these Hearty Italian Sandwiches made with yellow and red peppers and topped with provolone cheese and dill pickle:
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Hearty-Italian-Sandwiches
what a coincidence, i have a vegetarian thai curry inspired dish cooking up in my crock pot as we speak!
Too much pork! Not that I don't love you guys. I was just more excited when I clicked the link than when I was done reading. I do love that veggie curry recipe- always a winner!
Can't wait to try the ginger pork wraps! I on the other hand like all the pork recipes! It seems to be a meat that gets overshadowed and gets a bad rap...
Oh one more thing- I think it would be perfect with chinese pancakes!
I just made that Hoisin Pork on Sunday! It was so delicious that I e-mailed the recipe to my mom and posted it on Facebook.
Can we have some slow cooked ideas that are NOT Pork based???
Agree, there's a lot of pork in this post. The chickpea curry sounds great, though.
I have a slightly off-topic question. I have a slow cooker but haven't been using it because I am afraid to leave it on during the day...not so much because of the fear of something drying out or overcooking, but because I have two big dogs who could get into it if they wanted to (one of them already knows how to open the cabinet drawers and help herself to snacks). Has anyone had experience with a dog getting the lid off a hot Crock Pot?
@Sally305 - Not sure about the dogs and crockpot lids, but I recently saw an ad for a crockpot that has clamps for keeping the lid on during travel. It might be worth looking into. Maybe you can clamp the lid on during cooking, as well?
I am always worried about my dogs getting into the slow cooker, too. I've considered just putting it in another room that I can close the door (bedroom?), but somehow cooking food in the bedroom seems strange.