These healthy soups and stews bring warmth to your table in just three steps or less. After a long day, there is nothing better than coming home to the aroma of a meal that practically cooked itself. Recipes like our Slow-Cooker Kale White Bean Stew and our Slow-Cooker Vegetable Soup are sure to make your kitchen the heart of comfort this winter.
Slow-Cooker Cauliflower & Chickpea Tikka Masala
Photographer: Fred Hardy, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Stylist: Lydia Purcell
This slow-cooker tikka masala is an ideal set-and-forget option for anyone craving veggies and warm, cozy spices. A combination of garam masala, curry powder and cumin adds to the complex flavor.
Slow-Cooker Marry Me Chicken with Barley
Photographer: Fred Hardy, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Stylist: Lydia Purcell
Fall in love with this easy version of Marry Me Chicken—a dish with chicken and julienned sun-dried tomatoes swimming in a creamy sauce. Our version adds cherry tomatoes and zucchini for an added boost of veggies, plus barley which soaks up the sauce and makes this dish a complete meal all in one pot.
Slow-Cooker Spinach & Artichoke Chicken Soup
Photographer: Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall, Prop Stylist: Shell Royster
If you love spinach and artichokes, this is the perfect soup for you. The creamy base is packed with veggies and shredded chicken, which soaks up the broth while adding a boost of protein.
Slow-Cooker Three-Bean Chili Mac
Photographer: Fred Hardy, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Stylist: Lydia Purcell
Chili meets mac and cheese in this fix-it-and-forget-it slow-cooker dinner. Hot tomato sauce, a Mexican canned tomato sauce that also includes spices and chiles for heat, kicks up the flavor.
Slow-Cooker Loaded Broccoli & Chicken Soup
Photographer: Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall, Prop Stylist: Shell Royster
This comforting soup is loaded with broccoli and chicken in a creamy, cheesy base and finished off with the classic toppings of bacon and scallions. Frozen onions and rice keep their integrity and add texture to the soup, but chopped fresh onions and cooked brown rice (not frozen) can be used in their place.
Crock Pot Chicken & Dumplings
Photographer: Fred Hardy, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Stylist: Shell Royster
This recipe uses store-bought biscuits for dumplings that are moist and tender once stirred into the savory mixture of creamy mushrooms, chicken and veggies.
Slow Cooker Chicken, Bacon & Potato Soup
Iain Bagwell; Styling: Heather Chadduck Hillegas
This chicken potato soup is perfect for soup season, hearty yet brothy and veggie-packed so it doesn’t feel too heavy.
Easy Slow-Cooker Potato-Leek Soup with Boursin
Photographer: Robby Lozano, Food Stylist: Margaret Dickey, Prop Stylist: Julia Bayless
This creamy slow-cooker leek soup showcases leeks’ mild onion flavor, enhanced by plenty of fresh and dried herbs and with potatoes adding texture and body.
Slow-Cooker Beef Curry
Photographer: Robby Lozano, Food Stylist: Torie Cox, Prop Stylist: Joshua Hoggle
Long, slow cooking periods mellow flavors while bold spices, in bold amounts, will hold their own over time. That’s just what happens here with big flavors from Thai curry paste and fish sauce finished with fresh touches of cilantro and lime juice that together, draw inspiration from Thai curry. Serve over a bed of brown rice or brown rice noodles to catch all the sauce.
Slow-Cooker Kale & Sausage Stew
Ali Redmond
Turkey sausage gets transformed in this rich stew made with hearty winter vegetables like carrots, kale and potatoes. Perfect for meal prep or family dinners, this stew comes together easily in the slow cooker.
Slow-Cooker Buffalo Chicken Chili
Jason Donnelly
If you like Buffalo wings, you’ll love the flavors in this warm, hearty chili that comes together easily in the slow cooker. Sour cream helps cut the heat, but you could also use plain strained yogurt.
Crock-Pot Pineapple Chicken
This slow-cooker chicken with pineapple has a hint of ginger and sesame and is made with simple ingredients you may already have in your pantry! Look for fresh pineapple that’s been peeled and cored already to make assembly even easier. Serve with brown rice to sop up the sweet and savory sauce.
Load-&-Go Slow-Cooker Soup with Mushrooms & Kielbasa
Photographer / Brie Passano Styling / Annie Probst / Holly Raibikis
The aromatic trio of garlic, cumin and thyme harmonize in this hearty soup that comes together quickly before the slow cooker does most of the work for you. Kielbasa adds protein and a deeply savory note to this dinner in a bowl.
Kale, Wild Rice & Chicken Stew
Chicken thighs get perfectly tender in just a few hours in the slow cooker. Plus, cooking everything together low and slow infuses all the flavors together for complexity in every bite.
