Slow Cooker Recipes: Winter Favourites

The slow cooker. Mine was a Christmas gift back in 2012 when Tom & I were living on one very minimal graduate salary in a shithole flatshare in E14. It was a lifesaver for making cheap food that neither of us had to put a lot of effort into between working, studying and a health hazard kitchen. My love for the slow cooker has stayed with me though and especially in the cooler months, it's such an easy way to cook. With that, here's a few of my favourite recipe. A lot of them are American (because they love their Crockpots over there) and Pinterest is a goldmine of slow cooker recipes if none of these grab your fancy!




Thai Chicken Soup (Foodiecrush)

Think Thai curry flavours in a soup, great for a working lunch. Because our slow cooker is small, I use half the ingredients would usually add noodles instead of rice. It also is lovely with spinach stirred through for some extra fresh and would work well with leftover roast chicken shredded through the soup based if you're keeping it economical.



Image: Foodiecrush

Mexican Mixed Bean Stew

This is one of my own from 2016, but one I've been making for a while. If you fancy a hit of extra protein, add chicken thighs to the bottom of your slow cooker and cook on low for 6-7 hours. I like to serve this over a baked sweet potato with a sprinkle of cheese over the top and plenty of diced peppers mixed through.



Korean Beef (The Recipe Critic)

This works equally as well for chicken but I love beef for something a bit different (I eat a lot of white meat & fish). My only edit to this recipe is that reduce the sugar content- I use 1/4 cup sugar and a tablespoon of honey instead of 3/4 cup sugar. Another top tip, because I loathe wasting plastic bags on coating meat- put the raw beef in the slow cooker dish first, sprinkle the cornflour over and mix well to coat.



Image: The Recipe Critic

Sweet Potato, Chicken & Quinoa Soup (Chelsea's Messy Apron)

This is a weight soup, but great for post-run food or a filling al-desko lunch. This recipe does appear to be designed for an industrial sized slow cooker though, so to scale down:

I  tend to use just the one standard UK can for the tinned ingredients (drained, that's usually around 250g, this recipe calls for over 400g tins), I use an empty can (about 400ml) to measure out the stock and add only 2.
1 large sweet potato should do it
2 chicken breasts should be plenty or 4 chicken thighs
I used approx 50g (dry weight) of Quinoa



Image: Chelsea's Messy Apron


Winter fought off in a bowl! Now, to find my favourite spring recipes in the hope that the sun will come out to play!