The Best Slow Cooker Recipes of 2025 (1 Hour of Delicious Recipes) | Allrecipes

Before the new year, we're recapping the episodes that you watched most in 2025. You couldn't get enough of these slow cooker recipes this year. From five ingredient dinners for busy nights and cozy fall set it and forget it suppers, to high protein mains that actually satisfy. Simple, affordable, with plenty of grocery shortcuts, you can cook these budget friendly and weeknight ready recipes all year long. So grab your slow cooker and settle in for the best bites of the year. Thanks for cooking with me and have a great holiday. If you're tired of the same old slow cooker recipes, I've got five crock pot dinners with only five ingredients that are all family approved. Trust me. I'm starting with the slow cooker Italian beef sandwiches. I tried this one out on my family last week. And when I say devoured them, we devoured them. The five ingredients for this are simply a roast, beef broth, giardiniera, Italian dressing mix, and a good old loaf of crusty bread. And this is the ultimate dump and go. This one can withstand a long cook time. So this is the one you can make before you go to work and then it's ready when you get home. I'm using an eye of round roast. You could use a top round, bottom round, or a chuck roast for this. Basically, if it says roast on the package, that's what you want. They're cheaper than a steak per pound because they have a lot more fat and tough tissue running through them. So the slow cooking works well because it breaks that down through the process. In it goes. It does have a little fat cap on it. I'm just gonna leave that on and put it right in. Literally everything gets dumped in. Pantry stables do not count as ingredients. We've talked about this before, but your pantry better already be stocked. So I'm gonna season this with some salt and pepper. You want it to be seasoned throughout. And then you want a jar of giardiniera. You can use a half or up to a whole jar. Not only am I using the whole jar, but I got a bigger jar than I used last time. I'm using the pickled kind because that's what I used. I know in the classic Chicago Italian beef sandwiches, I think they use the kind packed in oil, but this is kind of like that Mississippi pot roast effect. I like the pickled kind. So I'm dumping in a whole jar because I like extra for my topping. In goes the pack of Italian dressing. And then just about a cup of beef broth. This is what's gonna make the delicious jus at the end. Hey, guess what? That's all it is. This is a dinner you can prepare right before you head out the door for work. Locked and loaded. This one can go low for like eight-ish hours or high for about five hours. I know what you're thinking. Doesn't look like much now, but you can't smell or taste it right now. I feel like you trust me by now though, don't you? Have I steered you wrong yet? Okay, so you're gonna take the beef out, kind of shred it up and put it back in. I usually kind of try to slice it, but it just ends up falling apart. I mean, really, you could do this with a fork. Put it back in here. Get that crusty bread for this because there's a lot of juice. You don't wanna start with a soggy bread. It will never work for this. And we're gonna take our shredded beef. Tell me that don't look good. And then I like to get the veggies, but this is also when you could just get another jar. Still one ingredient, although I am using the marinated kind for the topping because I'm rich. All right, then you wanna spoon a little more juice over the top. Come on now. Italian beef sandwiches. My husband insisted on a little cup of the juice next to it. I also am gonna make another suggestion, which I know is not traditional, but it's also a sixth ingredient, so I couldn't bring it up. Add a little sliced provolone cheese to this. And thank me later. But you don't have to have it. The meat is so tender. It's so like, it's almost buttery, but then those veggies have a little bit of that brininess from the vinegar. So it cuts the richness, but it makes it like the perfect bite where you don't like have to have mayonnaise or mustard or anything on the sandwich. It's like, it's all in there. The juicy goodness, I mean, you know, sometimes on the crustier parts of the bread, you can give it a little another zhuzh in the dip. My family inhaled them, all five of us. And I know yours will too. You need to give this one a try. For my next trick, how does creamy chicken enchilada casserole sound? Yes, please. The five ingredients for this, chicken of course, some green salsa verde, or you can use green enchilada sauce, some sour cream, pepper jack cheese, and corn tortillas. This is a recipe where if you wanna add more than five ingredients, you totally can. A can of beans, some peppers, whatever. I'm trying to keep it on the simple side with only five. I've got a bone to pick when it comes to cooking chicken in the crock pot. Every recipe I see calls for way too much time. If you need more than four hours or you're gonna be gone for a while, then start with frozen chicken. It will turn out just as good and way better than if you overcook this. My rule of thumb, two hours tops on high and four hours tops on low. Those frozen chicken breasts will give you an extra couple hours. Start by just putting your chicken in the crock pot. I'm using about two pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I'm gonna of course season it up. I'm just using salt, pepper, a little garlic powder, and a little chili powder. And then you're just gonna pour over your tomatillo salsa or salsa verde. That's it. Lid goes on, two hours on high. Okay, it's been two hours since we put this chicken in. Okay, so I'm just gonna take a fork and shred this up because we're not quite done. Look at that, perfectly cooked. Now even though I have to cook it longer, it's not gonna dry it out because at this point we're making the casserole. Chicken is shredded. I like to leave it in kind of big shreds because this is our hearty dinner. And now we stir in the tortillas. Okay, obviously we know these are not authentic chicken enchiladas. This is a chicken enchilada casserole. Instead of rolling them up, we're just going to kind of stir in the tortillas. So I'm using corn tortillas and I'm gonna cut it into wedges. Gonna save about a quarter of them for the top. And then I'm gonna stir these in gently. You don't wanna break them up completely. They will kind of cook and kind of melt into this. And then I'm also stirring in the cheese and some sour cream. Okay, we're just gonna kind of fold all that gently together. I should have put the tortillas in last. Now I'm going to put in kind of the rest I like a little kind of crusty bits on the top. All right, and then the rest of the cheese. All right, and then we are going to cover it again and put it on high for about another 45 minutes to an hour. It'll get all kind of melty. I like to go to where it's kind of like browned and crispy around the edge a little bit. Let me dish it up. Told you, this is an easy one. You're about to see these creamy chicken enchiladas. Look at this. It's like bubbly, creamy, cheesy perfection. Oh my God, it smells so good. Of course, it's delicious as is, just like this. You can top it with more cheese if you want. I'm adding in a little avocado and some pico de gallo. I mean, how good does that look? The only negative about making an enchilada casserole in a crock pot is you don't get those beautiful rolled pieces or slices, but you still get lots of perfect bites. The tortillas just kind of melt into there, making that filling really creamy. It tastes authentic, though, because of the corn tortillas. Mm. It's rich, but light at the same time, thanks to the toppings. You know, it kind of cuts that richness. I mean, the other creamy enchiladas I have are just filled with heavy cream. This is not that. The tortillas make it creamy. And then a little bit of sour cream, a good bit of cheese. It's perfection. This next one is what my friend's kids call their favorite dinner ever, ever, ever that their mom makes. This is a peach pork picante, and the ingredients are so simple. You're gonna have like a little sweet and spicy deliciousness. It really only takes four ingredients to make it, and then the fifth is what we're serving it over. Five ingredients are boneless pork, some salsa, some peach preserves, and taco seasoning, and then we'll serve it over some rice. The recipe calls for a pork loin. I'm using boneless pork chops because they were on sale and they just look better. It's basically the same thing. You can do whatever you want. She uses a pork loin. If you can find your pork chops with this darker color to them, that's gonna be a little more tender, a little more juicy. Just a little secret when you're in the store. So yeah, you could cube it up and then it might be easier to serve. I think this is just as good. I'm just adding in some taco seasoning, and then about a quarter cup of peach preserves. Kind of like doubling the sauce because I want extra sauce. And then about a cup of salsa. If you're not like me, talking between every single ingredient, you can put this dinner together in under a minute. This recipe was actually written as a one pan skillet dinner, but I have converted it to the crock pot. So we're just gonna cook this kind of like the chicken. You know, your pork is not like beef. This does not take that long to cook. So I'm going to do low for just about three hours. See that saucy goodness in there? Oh yeah. Okay, here's how we're gonna serve it. Rice. It's all about the sauce with this. Optional, fresh parsley. How good does that look? The main question is, can you cook pork chops in the crock pot and then still be tender and juicy? I'm gonna show you and prove to you, yes you can. Oh my gosh. So tender. So juicy. See all that juiciness? This is gonna be good. Mm. Okay, that is delicious. Mine's a little kicked up because my taco seasoning was like a spicier taco seasoning. Plus I used a medium salsa, but you could dial this down if you've got kids who don't like spiciness. But these are so juicy. What I love is that this sauce is so like, I know I've said juicy, but it is so juicy because you get those little bits of tomato and like from the peach preserves. It's like sweet yet spicy yet savory all in one. Perfect bite. A plus plus plus plus. Are you in the mood for some comfort food? I got you with this one. This is our crock pot beef stroganoff. Now this one I have not actually made, but in my research, I found that this is one of the Allrecipes top recipes in the slow cooker, and I love beef stroganoff. So this is the ultimate comfort food for me. Five ingredients here are beef stew meat, some egg noodles for serving them on, a little bit of cream cheese, some crema mushroom soup, and some onion soup mix. We start by making our sauce in the crock pot and then we add our meat in. In goes the crema mushroom and the soup mix, and then I'm gonna add some water into the can and then give that a mix. And then you just add in your beef. Recipe calls for a pound. I'm going with about a pound and a half just to feed my family. I'm gonna hit it with just a little bit of salt and pepper. There's a good bit of salt in those other ingredients. Trust the process, people. I know it's not the prettiest. That's it. This stew meat is like our roast, so it's going to take a long time to cook. So this one you can go low eight hours or high four to five hours. It's been about four hours on high. Oh yeah. Look how creamy. I mean, why take the time to do it the classic way when you can do it this easy way? Classic beef stroganoff, you usually finish it off with some sour cream. This one gets cream cheese. That's gonna kind of hold up to the hot temperatures a little bit better, but you could also do sour cream at this point. Four ounces of cream cheese that is softened. You don't want to put it in cold because it'll break. And once it's all melted, that's it. Now I think my kids might would rather have this one for dinner. So creamy. I like the buttery egg noodles for the base. Stew meat really does make life easier sometimes. I'm also gonna add in a little cracked pepper. I mean, y'all, that plate does not look like it took you five seconds to make. It only has five ingredients. Admit it. Look, creamy, creamy. We know it's creamy. Is it tender? I want to show you how tender this meat is. Literally fork tender. It's just perfect. I mean, beef stroganoff classic isn't hard to make, but it is when you compare it to this version. You're gonna want to make this one. Mm-hmm. For my final trick, I'm adapting an old favorite to a Crock-Pot version. The ever so viral Boursin pasta. We're gonna do it in the Crock-Pot. The five ingredients for this is, of course, boneless, skinless chicken, some baby spinach, orzo pasta, some basil, garlic, and oregano tomato, and then the star of the show, the Boursin cheese. Now, what I consider a pantry staple, a little chicken stock is going in there. Two pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast. These are gigantic, even though they tell me it's organic. Little salt and pep. I'm using the basil, garlic, and oregano diced tomatoes just to add extra flavor, because whenever you're trying to create recipes with very few ingredients, it's nice to find little flavor additions so you don't have to add. And then I'm adding in chicken broth. And I'm just going to cover this and cook it on high for a couple hours. It's been two hours on the Boursin chicken, and now we're gonna finish this recipe up. I'm gonna pull this one out and chop it up, but you can just shred it the same way we did the enchilada. So tender and juicy, not overcooked. Look at that. Two hours on high, four hours on low is ideal. You don't really want to dice it up beforehand, because then it could overcook. You wanna make sure you've got about three cups of liquid. We started with about two to two and a half cups of chicken broth and the juice from the tomatoes. So we might have to add a little more, but we'll see once we add the pasta. Chicken's back in, and now we're gonna add in our orzo and the Boursin cheese. If you wanted to save a little money here, you could also use an herb and garlic-flavored cream cheese, and that would work fine. Sometimes these are on sale at Costco, so that's why I always get double. That orzo is going to absorb this liquid, and it's gonna be so creamy and delicious. About 30 to 45 minutes later, here's what you got. Look at this. Divine. And then ingredient number five goes in. This is optional. You could always just do a salad on the side about five minutes before you're ready to eat. Just stir this in, it will all wilt in. I'm gonna season it with a little salt and pepper. It is perfection like this, but if you are an overachiever, just kidding, we know I'm not an overachiever, just a little squeeze of lemon. What it does, it's just pure magical, just to brighten everything up. And that's it. Going out with a bang with this one. Fresh, hearty, colorful, creamy, indulgent, so dang good. That cheese is a secret weapon that you need to keep in your kitchen arsenal. You didn't have to add any extra cream or anything to that. It did all this. And then when you cook the orzo in there, the starch from that makes it extra creamy. I mean, look at that. It's just so perfect. Did I save the best for last? Y'all are gonna have to let me know in the comments below. Of course, after you make all of them. These are definitely a step up from that classic beef stew or chili that you keep in your Crock-Pot. Try something new with one of these today and let me know what you think. Time to get cozy. Now that the weather's getting cooler, we want some comfort food, but we want it to be easy, so I've got you covered today with five easy fall Crock-Pot dinners. I'm gonna start off by ruffling some feathers. We're making swamp potatoes. Some of you tell me this is just called smothered green beans but it's got so many other things than just green beans. I feel like it's only right to call it a full meal. Whatever you call it, it's one of the most delicious things that I have made in a long time. Just cut up some potatoes in bite-sized pieces. They're going to absorb all this delicious juice that we get at the end of the cooking. And by the way, I didn't name the dish, okay? I just saw somebody else do it and I just thought it looked so good and I made it too. And an onion. I've seen many versions of this dish. When I made it, I used fresh green beans and they turned out beautifully. You want to use about a pound of them. This isn't quite a pound, so I'm also gonna throw in canned green beans because I've seen a lot of recipes using canned green beans. Jump it in. To me, this is probably the most comforting one of the day. Okay, so once this is in here, drizzle it with a little olive oil and then season with a little salt and pepper and kick it up with a little Cajun seasoning. I'm also just gonna go ahead and add in my canned green beans. Now, for more flavor, smoked sausage. This is your main protein of the dinner. I'm telling you, it makes this juice in here that is literal liquid gold. You may want to grab some crusty bread to serve with this. A sprinkling of onion soup mix, sprinkling of garlic powder, and a stick of butter. Dinner is done. This is one of those things that gets better with time, so this one can go low and slow all day while you're at work, or you can do high for three to four hours, up to you. Either way, your house is going to be smelling amazing. It is smothered indeed, smothered with flavor. That butter just ties this all together. And look, I mean, remember we added no juice, but look at that. Divine, divine, divine. You can't tell which one was the fresh green beans and which ones were the canned. Don't say you can, because you can't. This is cozy for fall, but it is really a year-round dish. Freshen it up with a little parsley. The ever-so-viral swamp potatoes and sausage and green beans. This dish was truly a gift to the internet. I don't know where it came from, but my gosh, it blows my mind. If you do nothing else, make this dish. This next one is the epitome of comfort food, Salisbury steak. It's gonna be smothered and delicious, and you can serve it over some mashed potatoes. This is like a Sunday supper. You just start with some ground beef. The onion soup mix is just a secret weapon. You need to have this in your pantry. It's cheap, and it's just a way to really boost that all-day, from-scratch flavor, but with minimal effort. Not sponsored. Gonna use that to flavor up our ground beef. Plus, this just happens to be a top-rated recipe at All Recipes, so I didn't wanna mess with it. About half a cup of Italian breadcrumbs, and some milk. Just about a quarter cup to help moisten those breadcrumbs. And then we just mix that together and form our little patties, our Salisbury steak patties. Really work that soup flavor in there. I know it has a good bit of salt in it, but I think I'm still gonna add just a little pinch of salt and pepper. After I just said I wasn't gonna mess with this recipe. It's just a lot of meat. No need to overmix it here. Just make sure it's evenly seasoned. And then you're just gonna shape it into eight patties. Now, this is one of the meals where you have to do a little searing before you put it in the Crock-Pot, but it's worth it. And you can do the searing part the day before if you wanna get it all in the Crock-Pot and then just set it in the morning. I also don't like them perfect. I like them to have a jagged edge. Get a skillet hot, add in a little oil. Now, you're just gonna give them the tiniest coating of flour, just to help brown it. It doesn't have to be fully coated. Flour's gonna give it a crust, but it's also going to help thicken the liquid later and make that super rich gravy. This is some country cooking. Smells good, like a slow-cooked cafeteria around here. In a good way. This is what you want, that crust, that flour just kinda made that bubbly crust, and that's what is reminiscent of Salisbury steak. So just a little browning on this side, and then I'm gonna put it back on here because we're cooking it again anyway. I'm gonna take this skillet while it's hot and go ahead and mix my gravy to pour over. Not in the recipe, but I love on my Salisbury steak, some mushrooms, so I'm gonna add these in here just to soak up any residual flavor. To that, I'm gonna add in some water and two cans of cream of chicken. Another shortcut, but you know, the title of the episode is Easy Fall Crock-Pot Dinners, so when you hear the word easy, you can expect some shortcuts and some au jus. So we have the oniony flavor in the steak patties, and then you get that good gravy flavor with this. Mix it all together, and this is what we'll pour on top. Plus, as the meat cooks, it will release some juices, so it'll blend in with this and make just the most delicious gravy. All right, so now we just layer in our meat patties. You just wanna place them in here. It's okay if they overlap, and they can stack up a little bit, and then we just pour our sauce over, just like grandma used to make. Just kidding. Grandma wouldn't have taken these shortcuts. All right, and that's it. All right, now this just goes on low for about four hours. Smells like my childhood. This is gonna be good. It's indulgent, but get ready. Plenty of gravy, because you know I'm serving this up with mashed potatoes. Top it off with a little cracked pepper, and I went ahead and did mashed potatoes and peas because remember that TV dinner? Whoa, that cut like butter with a fork. I really wasn't expecting it to be that tender. It was lean ground beef, so I thought it could even overcook, but obviously it didn't. Mm, that tastes like a big, huge hug from your southern grandmother. It literally melts in your mouth. There's so much flavor. This is like the ultimate Sunday supper, but easy enough that you can make it on a work night. I can see why it's a top-rated recipe. See, everything is not a soup or a stew when it comes to slow cookers. For my next trick, it is slow cooker teriyaki pork tenderloin. I've never made this one, but I chose it because it was a top-rated recipe for slow cookers at all recipes. I'm gonna start by just searing off my pork tenderloin with salt and pepper. This is not one that can go all day while you're at work. Pork, unless it's like a pork shoulder, you can't cook it all day. It doesn't have enough fat, but this is one you could throw in in the afternoon and it's ready for dinnertime. We're gonna have a couple shortcuts in this recipe, but also a couple fresh elements. So I'm gonna chop up a little onion and some red chilies. These are red Fresno peppers, so they're not like kill-ya-dead spicy. Add a nice little pungency, kind of like a jalapeno. I'll take the seeds out of two and kind of leave them partially in the third one. And then just a few garlic cloves. I'm just adding all this to the slow cooker. See, I love this dinner because when you think of fall dinners, you know, you think just butternut squash and pumpkin and, you know, really heavy things. This is like still comforting, but it's not so heavy. All right, the shortcut here is just a store-bought teriyaki sauce and then a little bit of chicken broth. Give that a stir. And I'm just gonna place the pork tenderloin in and they'll take on all that good flavor. You wanna treat this like you would chicken in the slow cooker and you know how I am about not overcooking that. So you can go low up to like four hours. I'm gonna give them a little toss in here and then throughout the cooking process, you can toss them, you know, a couple more times just to be sure they get all coated in that goodness. This is a good one. This teriyaki pork smells so good. Oh, all that deliciousness in there. It feels very tender. Yeah, I would say so. I mean, I'm barely even pushing my knife through. It is so tender. Let me just get a little sample. I'm gonna bathe this in that sauce. Get all in the inside. It's all on the outside. You can taste the flavor all around the outside. And then you can just serve this over like ready rice or just with some sauteed veggies. I'm gonna do a little of both. But whatever you do, you've got to have something to absorb all this sauce. That's delicious. I can already tell you. I mean, you really don't even need a knife. My gosh, that is tender. Oh, it's all about the juice. Pork is cooked perfectly. You will want to bathe in that sauce. This is sure to be a family favorite. You know, I can't give you a fall crock pot dinner episode without including some sort of chili, but this one is a white chicken chili, extra creamy, and it might be also called Widowmaker White Chicken Chili. But maybe the best chili recipe of the year that I'm also making up as I go. So I'm gonna add in a little onion to a slow cooker. To that, I'm adding in some cream of chicken, a jar of tomatillo salsa. This has a lot of stuff already in here, so it just kind of saves us a step in chopping and prepping. And then a little chili powder and cumin. A little bit of salt. And then the chicken is just gonna cook right in this. For my chicken, I'm doing a combination of chicken thighs and boneless, skinless chicken breasts. You can do one or the other or both. I really like the chicken thighs, but I know a lot of times in white chicken chili, you're expecting chicken breasts. I'm gonna do a little of both. This is just gonna cook on high for about two to two and a half hours or on low for about four hours. Chicken is cooked, smelling delicious. I'm just gonna take this chicken out, cut it up, and stir it back in. Just cuts like butter. Stir this back in. In goes two cans of white beans that I've drained, a block of cream cheese, and then about half a cup of water. That cheese will melt along with some Monterey Jack. Remember, I called it Widowmaker. Top goes on high for about 30 minutes or low for about another hour. The number one chili you should be making this fall is right here, Widowmaker style. Yum, yum. And now I'm gonna finish it off with a little more cheese, a little avocado, and a little sprinkle of cilantro. Also, don't mind to cut the richness with a little bright lime juice on there. Let's see how we did. Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm. The tomatillo salsa is what makes this because yes, it is rich and creamy, but you get a lot of tanginess from that and it's got a kick to it. Quite possibly the best white chicken chili I've ever made. Finishing it off with crock pot French dip sandwiches. That just sounds delicious. But we are starting at the stove, sear your roast. That's it, just sear it and then we put it in the crock pot. I do just a little bit of salt and pepper. You don't have to do this step at all. I just highly encourage it. Just gonna make it taste a little better. And then just a little sprinkle of garlic powder just because that's what I like. Then just get your skillet hot. Then you're gonna place your roast down and you're gonna leave it for at least four minutes or so until that crust develops. To the crock pot we go. Now, like I did earlier, I'm going to get some of that goodness off the bottom of the pan. With the French dip, it's all about the dip jus. And with another can. And then our friend is back, French onion soup mix. This takes a long time, so you can go low all day while you're at work or high for like four to five hours. It's finally time to dip. Yeah, this is gonna, this is just gonna fall apart, which also means it will melt in your mouth. Obviously you could just eat this like this as a meal, but to turn it into the sandwiches, it's just the something different. The way it kind of caramelizes on top, that's because we seared it. Taste it. All right, for the jus, I'm gonna strain it because I don't want little like, like floaty chunks of onion and meat. That is good. I'm just gonna add in about a quarter cup of water because as it cooks, it kind of concentrates, so it is a little bit salty. So I've got a crusty French roll that I've toasted up. And traditionally, a French dip does not have cheese on it. However, it's just so dang good with some cheese, so we're gonna add a little provolone. Just gonna melt the cheese a little bit. Okay, bun down, hot jus. You could just keep the meat in the juice until you're ready to serve after you've shredded it, or you can just give it a little dunk before you put it on the roll. This is one of those things where it's like, the simplest things are the best. I mean, we had meat, we barely seasoned it. Just add it to a crock pot, and then you get this liquid gold perfection. Going for a swim. It's literally simply delicious. And see, everybody gets their own jus, so you can double, triple, or quadruple dip. Your family will love this little twist with your fall pot roast. Do it. From swamp potatoes to these French dip sandwiches, not one of these recipes lacks any flavor, and they were so easy. You can set it and forget it and get ready for the coziest dinners this fall. Let me know if you try them and which one's your favorite. Just one more dunk. Everyone's trying to meet their protein goals, and we're gonna get there slowly but surely with these five high-protein crock pot dinners. This is the perfect time of year to keep your kitchen cool by cranking up your crock pot. And also, as school gets back into season, nobody's got time to be cooking. These dinners are for you. Starting with the viral garlic butter steak bites. Chuck roast. And this is gonna make a lot of steak bites. So you're gonna cut it into one-inch cubes. A little extra flavor, I'm going in with some onion. On top of that, I'm going in with the au jus mix. This is going to help create a gravy at the end to serve over our steak bites. A lot of the recipes also have a pack of onion soup mix. Then y'all get all mad because there's too much sodium in it, so I'm just doing real onion. One pack of this. And then for the steak, just to make it kind of have that steak feel, I'm using some Montreal steak seasoning. And I'm gonna kind of coat that liberally. Right on in. And then we can't call it garlic butter steak bites without garlic and butter, and I'm going in with lots of garlic. I've seen this recipe and people only use like four cloves of garlic. Don't be scared. Go right on top. The garlic and the butter. Four tablespoons of butter. See, as that butter starts to melt on this and it's sitting right with the garlic, it's all gonna kind of infuse together and then go into the meat. And then just a little bit of beef broth. That's it. Locked and loaded. Now it's, you gotta put your hand over the steam. Why would you do that? Oh! The way this smells like garlic butter is amazing. It's like, it smells like garlic bread dipped in buttery steak. I always feel like when people are really trying to get in their protein, they're cutting their carbs a little bit. So, a little trick. Some mashed cauliflower. Now my kids can always tell the difference. So, I've got some mashed potatoes. And then you can stretch them by stirring in a little mashed cauliflower. Because steak and potatoes? Yes, please. Now see, I cooked these long enough to where it's gonna be tender, but not quite like a pot roast where it shreds, because you still wanna get that kind of bite like you would in steak. Finish it with some parsley. 10 cloves of garlic is the perfect amount. It's rich, it's buttery. You definitely get the garlic. You're gonna wanna serve this with something to sop up that juice, that's all I'm saying. I will have no problem hitting my protein dinner goal with this meal, just saying. Crock-pot carnitas. This happens to be one of my favorite things in the world. This is your taco Tuesday thing to do. It's not your normal taco. So, this starts with pork shoulder, pork butt. If you find this cubed up, you can. You can get boneless, bone-in. I got what was on sale, which is this bone-in, and this is also gonna make a ton of food. And then I'm just gonna cut it into kind of big chunks. Now, I'm saving this piece that's left that surrounds the bone, because if you know me, this is going in my sundae sauce. Now for the flavor. So, we are going to season well all the sides of this pork, in with some salt, lots of pepper, then a little bit of chili powder, then lots of cumin. This and some citrus is what gives carnitas its signature flavor. And then some oregano, also heavy on the oregano. Oh yeah, that smells so good. I'm gonna spread it on and then also kind of rub it in. All right, so once it's well-seasoned, just pop it in the crock-pot. To our pork, I'm just adding some onion, just some chopped onion, and lots of garlic as well. And then the secret ingredient. Onion. Orange juice, orange juice, fresh is the way to go. Oh my God, that's pretty. Oh my God, I need to make a cocktail with that juice. Oh my gosh, this is gonna be so good. This one's gonna take a while, so this is the one you can put on before you go to work. To up the protein, even though this whole crock-pot is full of protein, all it is is protein in here, you can find tortillas that have extra protein or low carbs too, and then grill them up a little bit and they're good to go. You would have thought they were in the oven, but they weren't. The sugar from the orange juice caramelizes on there. I mean, these are just literally melt. The pork's pretty rich, so things like pickled onions and lime juice are gonna cut through some of that richness in the most delightful way. I mean, I could probably eat 20 of these. Mm, mm, ridiculous. It's off the charts. It's so juicy and rich, but in the best way. That meat is so tender, and then when you put a little bit of brightness with the lime juice and the pickled onions, your Taco Tuesdays just got a lot better. That was so good. I have a feeling that this one might be my favorite one of the day. This one is high-protein crock-pot buffalo chicken mac and cheese. Need I say more? This is like a two-step cooking process because we're going to cook the chicken until it's shreddable, and then we stir everything else in and let it finish. And then we know buffalo chicken and ranch, so I am adding in a packet of ranch seasoning. Then the buffalo sauce. That's a lot of buffalo. And then, for my first added protein trick, I'm gonna use bone broth instead of chicken stock. This has eight grams per serving, so this has 32 grams of protein just in this. And then that's it. This is going to cook on high for about two, two and a half hours, just until the chicken is ready to be shredded. You can also do it on low for about four hours. All right, now it is time to add even more protein to our already protein-packed buffalo mac and cheese. First, I'm going to take out the chicken and chop it up a little bit. I love that smell. This has been just over two hours. You can shred it if you want to. I'm just kind of cutting it into small pieces. I mean, you can cut this with a butter knife, really. Mm, back in the crock pot. A lot of flavor that's gonna be absorbed into the pasta. Okay, speaking of the pasta, I'm using the protein pasta. Whole box, uncooked, going in. I'm gonna add a little cream cheese, but instead of just all cream cheese, like you would in your buffalo chicken dip, I'm going to do some cottage cheese because it's packed with protein, we know. Trust the process, and trust me, I know you do. All right, and then I'm gonna go in with about 2 1⁄3 of the cheese, just cheddar cheese. And then we're gonna cover this back up, turn it on high for about a half hour or so until the liquid has absorbed into the pasta, and it will make the pasta tender. All right, so everything is cooked perfectly. I'm gonna add in some more cheese, let it tighten up. Now, this one will firm up a little bit as it sits and cools slightly, but we're digging right in. I'm gonna top it with just some simple green onions. You could also add in some crumbled blue cheese if you like that with your buffalo chicken, just a thought. Oh my gosh, it smells good. I wouldn't be mad if you just wanted to drizzle with just like a tiny bit more sauce. Give me all the protein dinners that also include carbs. That's what I'm talking about, mm. A plus, plus, plus, plus. The chicken cooked to perfection. The noodles are perfect. Sauce is super creamy. The cottage cheese just blended right in. You don't even see it. Crock-Pot buffalo chicken mac and cheese. You're gonna wanna make this one. Mm, and for my next trick, easier than ordering takeout, I'm making beef bulgogi. This is gonna be the easiest one of the day. So I'm starting off with pre-sliced beef that you can get in the meat section. The recipe suggests marinating, so you could prep this the night before and then throw it in your Crock-Pot in the morning. I have a feeling it's going to be just as delicious without that step. More garlic. One of my favorite shortcuts in the kitchen is buying pre-peeled garlic. So I'm just gonna smash and rough chop two or three cloves. So I'm gonna start with soy sauce and then sesame oil. So it's just soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil. Just wanna make sure everything is well coated. Doesn't get much easier than that. I'm gonna go low and slow for about, I don't know, four to six hours or until I tell you it's ready. After about two hours, our bulgogi is just kicking. And I'm gonna go in with some fresh green beans. I just bought some pre-trimmed ones, giving them a little chop and throwing them right in. And then we'll go another couple hours. Oh, it smells so good. Now all we have to do is cook up a little rice. Our bulgogi and green beans. Oh, it smells so good. You can really smell that sesame in there. Just a little salt for those green beans. All right, and then finish it off with a little bit of green onion and sesame seed. This right here is the meal your whole family will love. Perfect bite. The meat is tender and it still has a little bit of chew like the steak does. So it kind of reminds you of a steak dinner. There's nothing not to like here. It's basically a two-ingredient dinner packed with flavor and protein. It's a win-win. This is slow cooker Belgian bouilla. Talk about protein. Has both chicken thighs, boneless, skinless chicken thighs, as well as beef stew meat. So this is classic to include both. I'm just gonna chop up a little celery and onion. I'm just gonna start dumping. Also like it doesn't require any like browning of the meat or anything beforehand. Okay, also a little bit of green bell pepper. Everything but the kitchen sink kind of meal. We know boneless, skinless chicken thighs or just chicken thighs in general are a good budget friendly option. But also when it comes to the slow cooker, cooking chicken thighs is really the way to go. You don't really run the risk of overcooking them. Did find a pretty pack of stew meat for this one. So it's already cut up. I'm just going straight in. So you want about half as much of the beef as you have the chicken. Okay, still adding stuff. Carrots, corn, and green beans. All right, and because we have beef and chicken in here, we're also gonna use beef broth and chicken broth. Ah, the potatoes, forgot the potatoes. All right, red potatoes. I know we talked about like a lot of times when you do high protein, people do low carb, but give me all the carbs too. It's the heartiest pot of vegetable beef or chicken stew I've ever made. Final veggie to cut, a little bit of cabbage. Kind of like short shreds. All right, now time to season it up and bring it together. Going in with a can of diced tomatoes. Salt, a little oregano, basil, and celery salt. The biggest challenge of this meal is stirring it up and getting it all incorporated. Feel like I'm about to get in here with my hands. And then as it cooks, it's gonna shrink down a little bit. So you'll be able to stir it better in a little while. Let's go kill some time because we got lots of it. Booyah. I couldn't not do it. Okay, a pot full of protein in the form of booyah. It does make you wanna say booyah. Those potatoes have kind of broken down and it's made this a creamy kind of stew situation. Mm, the heartiest vegetable soup I've ever made. Of course, gotta brighten it up. Parsley and a little crack of pep. My first bowl of booyah, mm. This just makes you feel good inside. I don't have to add any other salt or anything right now. It is perfectly seasoned. That's a perfect 10 out of 10. And it makes you feel healthy eating it. I love the way some of the potatoes have broken down in here. It's something different, but it is the perfect protein-packed meal to end a long day. Mm, it's so good. If you've been looking for something different, give these recipes a try. You can now go beyond the grilled chicken and steak to pack your dinners with protein, and that's one less scoop of protein powder you can take. I think we nailed it. The slow cooker is the solution to keeping your kitchen cool in the summertime. I've got five easy slow cooker meals that are perfect for summertime. No chili, no pot roast, nothing like that. You're gonna love these. Starting out with some barbecue because every summer needs barbecue. So I have the easiest three-ingredient pulled pork you're gonna make. When it comes to the slow cooker, you wanna cook tough meats that will thrive in a low and slow environment. I'm using a bone-in pork shoulder because I love the flavor that it gives. Next goes a whole bottle of barbecue sauce and a bottle of root beer. You're gonna have that sweet kind of warm spice from the root beer, and then the tangy kick from the barbecue sauce. I chose a barbecue sauce that's not too sweet since the root beer is gonna be sweet. When we do pulled pork on a smoker or something, we usually keep a aluminum pan that has like Coca-Cola on the bottom, but the root beer is just like a new little twist on that. So go hang out on the boat all day and this'll be ready when you come back in. Oh yeah. I mean, look at this. The bone already popping out. You know this is gonna be so tender. I can't even move it without it falling apart. So you know what that means? It's gonna melt in your mouth. You can't not do this. Oh good. I'm gonna shred it up, get it to all soak up that sauce and serve it up. What I would really do is kind of skim off the fat first and then toss the meat back in. For time's sake, I'll do that part later. We still have four more to go. You wanna put it back in the sauce because that's the good stuff. That's the liquid gold. Grab whatever sides you want from the deli or have your friends bring them to the potluck. You did the main thing and you didn't have to stand over a hot smoker all day nor did you have to heat up your kitchen. Then I gotta have pickles. Spoon over a little more juice. Barbecue sandwiches. That was a three-ingredient recipe. Oh, this is gonna be good. Mm. I'm telling you, the sauce is what makes it so you're gonna wanna serve this with a cup on the side. One down, four to go. This next one to me is the perfect meal to bring if you're at the beach. Slow cooker jambalaya. This one's gonna have chicken and sausage and then you're gonna go to the seafood market while you're down there and get some fresh shrimp and add it in at the end. I never thought I'd be the person that brings the slow cooker to the beach. If your rental does not have one, bring it because it is the perfect thing. You can get going in the morning, go out to the beach all day and you come in because we love to cook at the beach. We don't always love to go out. It's too expensive but mainly because the crowds are just too much. The reason why the crock pot is so good in the summertime is because it gets hot. When you've got your oven and stove on all day, it's just too much so the slow cooker doesn't put out any heat in your kitchen. This is not a authentic jambalaya, I do realize that but it happens to be one of the all recipes, top rated recipes and this is the one I'm using today. It gives you the jambalaya experience without standing over the stove. So it does start with the holy trinity which is onions, bell pepper and celery. I will say this recipe does not call for the rice to be cooked in with it. That can get finicky and the rice can get a little like gummy and sticky. So the recipe suggests just to serve it over rice but I have a little trick up my sleeve to pull in at the end. I like to include the leaves if they're on your celery stalks. So that's where all the really good celery flavor is. If you are looking, however, for the perfect jambalaya recipe, that would be mine, available at allrecipes.com. That's when I got my really fancy pot and I made the best jambalaya I've ever made. Also adding in garlic which is not in the recipe but it is always in my Cajun cooking. I now love having a slow cooker on vacation too because it really works for breakfast too. We do like these big batch breakfast burritos that you can actually start the night before and then you wake up to perfectly cooked sausage egg. Goodness. Besides a little chopping, that's all the prep you have to do. You don't have to pre-cook any of the meats or anything like that. Everything now is just getting dumped right into the slow cooker. Recipe calls for boneless, skinless chicken breast. I'm gonna use that this time. Normally I would probably just put in the thighs which you could totally do. Will be a little cheaper. And andouille sausage. The sausage is gonna really give it that authentic kind of Cajun flavor. Recipe calls for diced tomatoes also. I like the flavor that this gives especially that we're adding shrimp too. That's when I sometimes use tomato but typically you don't really put tomatoes in jambalaya. And because I like to make recipes my own, sometimes I'm adding in a little fresh thyme instead of dried because I love this flavor. Cajun seasoning, whatever kind you like. A little pinch of oregano too. I think you get enough heat from the Cajun seasoning so I'm gonna cut back on the cayenne a little bit. And then chicken stock, about a cup. Give this a stir and then it goes low and slow for about six to eight hours or high for three to four hours. And everything's gonna release a lot more liquid so it doesn't look like a lot of liquid at this point but it'll get there. All right, here we go. This jambalaya is smelling heavenly. Smells like summer down on the bayou. We are now going to add in that shrimp and some rice. Now for the rice, I'm gonna do these pre-cooked packets because they're mostly cooked. These two things will be done about the same time. And then you've got your rice that has kind of absorbed some of that juice because that's what we want. I don't wanna just put it over plain white rice. Know what I mean? All right, lid back on. I'm keeping it on high for just about 15 minutes. While I know this is not traditional, it still looks daggone delicious right here. Smells even better. Shrimp cooked perfectly. I'm gonna top it with some green onion, maybe a little hot sauce. Mm, 10 out of 10 on that flavor. This is delicious. That chicken, it's so tender, not one bit dried out. Sausage gives it so much flavor. Shrimp, because we're at the beach. This is a genius move on your next vacation. Now you know I can't give you a week's worth of slow cooker meals without including one for Taco Tuesday. So this is slow cooker cilantro lime chicken tacos. This one calls for chicken thighs. And to me, that's the perfect chicken to cook in the crock pot. It's harder to mess up and dry out. But you don't get that stringy kind of dry chicken. It's fine in the jambalaya because we have a lot of other things going on. But when chicken's the main thing, just choose the thighs. Not only are they gonna taste better, but you're gonna save some money. This is also good for meal prep. Meal starts with three pounds of chicken. Cook it once, eat it twice. Even if you have leftover, it freezes great after it's cooked. But if you're not doing it just for tacos like I'm doing, then you can also just make burrito bowls out of it or put it in like some chicken enchiladas or casserole. All right, straight into the crock pot. Because we're on vacation and we don't have all our spices, we bring out the package. Or you could just put in your own stuff. Taco seasoning in and also a jar of salsa. Cilantro lime chicken. So I'm adding cilantro and lime. I'm adding in probably this whole bunch. And then the lime. And that's a wrap. Chicken thighs are also safer to go longer than chicken breasts. So if you are going to work, don't put chicken breasts in there. Like they will be rubber when you get home. Cilantro lime tacos, anyone? Smells so good. Chicken's ready. It just falls apart. See, that's what you want. Not dried out chicken. So this recipe makes a lot. Like I said, it's perfect for meal prep. I'm gonna show you two ways I like to serve it up on a Taco Tuesday. This is also good to put out for a party too because the chicken can just stay warm in the crock pot and the guests can serve themselves and you can just set up a little taco bar. Look at this. See how good this looks? And what's the key here? Let's see if you remember, kids. Chicken thighs. All right, here are my two favorite ways to serve it up. Tostada. I love a tostada shell. They just taste so crunchy. I like a little refried bean on the bottom followed by that delicious chicken. I could literally eat this every day. Little cheese, cilantro, pico. You get the idea. I like a tostada, something crunchy, and one on a soft shell. So that's what I'm gonna do. Extra lettuce on my tacos. That's the way we like them. Let me just taste it and make sure it's not poisonous. Mm, that is good. Chicken's delicious. I know there are a million recipes out there for like salsa chicken, but this is the one you need to make. So good. This next one is the hearty meal you wanna make when you have a lot of mouths to feed or just really hungry mouths to feed. This is the crockpot cowboy casserole. This might be the one you wanna serve on a Sunday, put it in in the morning, have it as an early supper. You do have to do a little bit of prep on the stove just to brown the ground beef. Then it's just a dump, dump, stir situation. So I'm cutting one small onion and I'm gonna brown that up. All right, you're just gonna brown your ground beef and onion and then I'm gonna season it up with a little salt and pepper, some chili powder, a little cumin, and some garlic powder. Whenever you hear something cowboy, you think of like those kind of smoky flavors with maybe a little kick. And so I'm also gonna deglaze all of this with some fire roasted tomatoes to resemble the campfire. The tomato will just lift the flavor off the bottom of the pan and I like to rinse out the can with just like a quarter cup of water because there's a lot of flavor left in the bottom right there. See, that's how you clean your skillet. It is new. Another addition to this casserole that's like typical in all are beans and potatoes because that's gonna really fill you up and be hearty. So I'm adding in a can of baked beans and a can of kidney beans. I'm gonna add it to this meat mixture so I can layer it in in the crock pot. Promised you no chili. This is not chili. Might look like it now, but it's not. Okay, so I'm gonna put half of this mixture down into the crock pot and then I'm going in with some potato. Grab you a couple small potatoes or one big one. I've already washed it. I'm gonna leave the peel on. Keep this really rustic. I'm gonna cut it in half and then just make really thin slices and then just kind of layer them in between. See, it's like we really stretched one pound of ground beef to like a super hearty meal. The other ingredients are really affordable and you could also do this with ground turkey to make it even cheaper. Truthfully, you don't have to layer it. I just think it's gonna be good like this. I'm also gonna layer in slices of jalapeno. Give it a kick. And to this layer, a can of cream of onion. You could also do cream of chicken or cream of mushroom. Just kind of adds another little texture to our casserole. Spread it out over the potatoes and then top it with the remaining beef and bean mixture. And that's it. I'm going to cover this, cook it on high for about three or four hours or low for six to seven hours. But right before it's done, I'm gonna top it with a little bit of cheese. All right, this is almost done. For the final step, I'm gonna top it with cheese and let it go until it all melts. The weather might be hot outside but we can all still use a warm hug. And this is that. That just looks so good. Even though this is cowboy casserole, I feel inclined to top it like I would my chili or like a loaded baked potato. Sour cream, a little cilantro. You could also do some green onion here to keep up with the cowboy theme. How about some chopped jalapeno? That's just stupid. It's so good. I might've topped everything. It's everything that you do love in a loaded baked potato but it's like creamy. That little creamy surprise in the middle is like what's tying this all together and giving you that warm, tight hug. And for my final trick, this one is no surprise but have you made it in a while? Crock-Pot Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches. So it starts out just like how we make buffalo chicken dip but you can set it and forget it. When you come back inside or home from work, just shred it up, serve it up on rolls, add a little ranch dressing and call it a day. So straight into the crock-pot with your chicken. Packet of ranch seasoning and a good bit of wing sauce. A whole bottle but this is a big bottle so not quite this whole bottle. Then let it go. All right, chicken is cooked. These are chicken breasts so they definitely don't take as long. To me, this is your perfect Friday night meal. You know, it's indulgent but instead of going out to the sports bar or something, do it right at home. Let's not forget that it took about 25 seconds to prepare this. I'm turning this into buffalo chicken sandwiches. This meal, however, for dinner, you could do the lettuce wraps if you wanna keep something light for dinner or tacos or turn it into a dip but we're here for dinner, right? So I'm doing buffalo chicken sandwiches because I feel like it's a Friday thing. So I'm putting a little ranch down because my kids love ranch with their buffalo and then down with our chicken. And now you could put on some cheddar cheese. I'm gonna do a little blue cheese because to me, that's just the perfect pairing. Just some crumbles. And I like crunchy lettuce on my sandwiches so it's kind of like instead of the celery with your buffalo wings. Buffalo chicken sandwiches for dinner. This is like 12 out of 10. It's a whole different way to buffalo chicken. You know, it's not the fried, dipped in the buffalo sauce. It still somewhat feels light but packed with flavor. I love a kick. The crunchy lettuce on top, pro move. Mm, that's delicious. We went out with a bang.