30 Easy Crockpot Recipes (2024)

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1. FYI – you have Betty Crocker cheesy italian tortellini in there twice. LOL!!

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   1. Haha.. It’s just that good 🙂 Thanks for catching that!

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2. With four very active kids (currently juggling one kid in high school football, one playing football in two separate leagues, one playing football AND soccer, and another “just” playing soccer, a full time job, and a husband) needles to say, I’m very busy! I love LOVE my crock pot! I have recently discovered freezer meals. (Another wonderful time saver!) But even better is freezing meals for the crock pot. Have you tried making any of these recipes ahead of time and popping them in the freezer until your ready for them? I have one week left before school starts and I go back to work. I’m trying to make up as many meals as I can this week to make my life so much simpler and avoid not having an answer for the dreaded “what’s for supper?” question.

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   1. When I was a single mom and my children still lived at home and I worked ten hour days, I named my crock pot ‘wife’. I did my shopping and prep work on one day kept everything in rubbermaid or baggies put my meals together, and put my frozen things in the pot in the morning, came home added fresh garnishes and voila…supper. I loved my wife…

      Now alone in my home, I make soup, or ribs, or something else I don’t mind eating all week, we’ve grown old and matured together… plus it’s great for parties or when my grandkids come over… put something in before we go to the beach! woo hoo

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      1. Thank you Jeanine for these awesome tips from the trenches. You’re an inspiration!

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      2. I’d like a good recipe for ribs in a crock pot, do you have one?

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         1. I do!
            https://www.familyfreshmeals.com/2012/02/slow-cooker-barbecue-ribs.html

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            1. Mairnate Ribs over night and put in crockpot with no liquid. When done take them out and apply Jack Daniels BBQ Sauce on them they will fall off the bone.

         2. Thank you Janine!! I think I need to get “my wife” outta the cupboard …. lol
            This will make my life soooo much easier …. thank you!!

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      3. I also work 9-10 hour days, but I have never made chicken in my crockpot. Most of the recipes say cook for 6 hours, but I certainly won’t be home by then. If I leave the chicken for 9 hours on low, will it overcook too far?

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         1. No it comes out super tender. I work 10 hours or more put the frozen chicken with whatever else i want in it set it to cook 10 hours and by the time I get home it’s on warm and dinners ready

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         2. I put my chicken in frozen (after I buy it, I open the package, take out the giblets, etc and then wrap and freeze) and it cooks up perfectly. I do the same thing with stew meat, pot roast, etc…

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         3. I am a busy working mom and commute 30 miles for work. I have found that outlet timers work great for the meals that only need to be in the crockpot for 6-8 hours. I throw in the ingredients- usually frozen crockpot meals or semi thawed at 7 before I leave for work, and set the timer to have the crockpot turn on accordingly! Has worked wonders for our family meals!

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            1. OMG I never thought of that, thank you so much Tara, this is utter genius!!!

            2. Hi Tara I had the same problem and came up with the same solution. Plug Crock pot into the wall outlet timer and set to go. Dinner comes on about 1 in the afternoon and is ready to serve at 6-7 pm. I usually let it go longer after dinner time to keep seconds hot and allow for being late home. Works a treat and the timers are cheap.

   2. Back in the 1980’s, I would make freezer meals for my boys. I had trays that looked like the TV dinner trays. I didn’t have a microwave, so making meals was more time consuming. I was a single mom who worked late a lot. The boys are grown now with families of their own. They tell their wives they need to make freezer meals. They had no clue as to what that was till I told them. It’s nice to read some one else was doing the same thing.

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3. Some of these recipes look really delicious (and easy – win!). My only question is that a lot of them say cook for low 4-5hrs (ish). Could it stay on warm all day? I work all day and aren’t able to turn it off after 4 hours. How will it turn out if it kept in there longer?

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   1. Some crockpots have a timer that will switch to warm once it is done cooking. I hope that helps Sharon 🙂

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      1. Hi Sharon, if I can add some ideas I work 12-hr shifts 2-3 weeks of the month so have the same problem. My slow cooker has an auto setting that cooks on high for 4 hours then goes to warm, but sometimes that’s still too overcooked. First, the ideal is to use stew and soup recipes with a lot of liquid, and if you really can’t stand overcooked veg to add tiny minced pieces when you get home then wait another half hour, or sauté them seperately in a pan. Another idea is to cook in quantity over the weekend–I like setting up the slow cooker and then doing the shopping to come home for dinner ready and waiting, then package up the rest to eat later. I have also been known to freeze ingredients in advance, then dump and turn on the slow cooker before running out the door. But sometimes that’s still too fast. So I started using an timer plug attachment like what one uses to turn on the lamp every evening when you’re on vacation: I set it for two hours and put in frozen ingredients but my crock pot insulates really well and 120mins later a lot is still frozen, so I could make that longer. So far I have just used that over the weekend when I’m at home since I haven’t totally got the hang of when everything thaws to room temp, and I don’t want to court food poisoning. FWIW I’m vegetarian so I don’t make anything with raw or frozen raw meat in it–and notably most veggie dishes cook faster than omnivore ones. The solutions are out there, but stay safe!

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   2. I’m away at work all day myself and my crockpot is not programmable so I use a timer on mine (the kind you use for your Christmas lights). It works great! It allows me to program when I want my crockpot to turn on and off that way your food is not overcooked when you get home:) Hope this helps:

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      1. Unbelievably brilliant!

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      2. Wow, that is so freaking easy and so smart! My crock pot it a hand me down from my Grannie so it is not programmable! I am heading to the hardware store this weekend and I am gonna cook away. Thank you, THANK you for this tip!!!

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         See Also

         Cilantro Lime Chicken Recipe

      3. That IS brilliant. Woohoo!

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   3. Actually, I have cooked meat all night in a crock on just the “Keep Warm” setting and it is fully cooked. So YES you can use a lowest setting possible if you are going to be gone all day.

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   4. I use a light timer to turn my crock pot on at a certain time. That way a breakfast meal can start cooking at midnight or 2 am and an evening meal can start cooking at 10 am or noon. We do a lot of slow cooking when we are camping and this works perfectly. We get back from riding our horses, just need to put the finishing touches on our meal and it is ready to eat.

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      1. A timer! That is the greatest idea! I can’t believe I never thought of that. Thanks for sharing.

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   5. I use a timer switch. So the slow cooker comes on at lunchtime (or however long it needs to) so its ready for dinner time. So if something needs 6 hours in the slow cooker and I eat at 6pm, I set it to come on at 12 midday. My slow cooker doesn’t have a timer switch, so this is a cheaper way of doing the job 🙂

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4. These all look really good, going to have to break out the crockpot and give them a go. Thanks =]

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5. My crock pot does not have a timer to switch to keep warm..would I be able to have the setting on keep warm all day? I am in school until 8 pm and my husband works all day too. Thanks ahead of time!

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   1. Hi Nicole, I’m not Corey but I put a few ideas in another reply if those help 🙂

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6. These will come very handy thank so much these all look delish!

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7. Are there good substitutes for all the cream of chicken/mushroom soups? Whole ingredients?

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   1. Yes Rachel. My friend Laura over at MOMables has a Cream of Soup substitution recipe! See it here: http://bit.ly/diycreamofsoup

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      1. That’s awesome. Thank you!

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      2. Rachel, I’ve used a recipe for ‘cream of anything soup’ from Once a Month Meals, which is actually how I found Corey’s amazing crockpot lasagne soup–always served about twice a month chez nous.

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8. Thank you Corey for this awesome roundup! Our family is yours ‘in reverse’: I’m veg and husband is not. I can make everything here, including the chicken recipes (although they won’t shred) with Quron chick’n pieces. I buy in bulk frozen so they can even be added at the same time as you add raw chick’n. And I am going to figure out how to veg that beef stew too! 🙂 Am so psyched… I have American family and friends visiting this week and was wondering what I was going to make, especially since I have kind of forgotten what we eat a lot in America. Thanks to you Corey–problem solved!

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   1. Awesome Katharine! Can you get the veggie beef by you? There is a brand I use called Gardein and they make vegetarian friendly “beef-less beef tips”.

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9. I was wondering if these meals could be made, and then frozen for quick reheat on busy week night?

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10. Awesome post will definitely be trying these this fall… you also have honey balsamic pork roast in there twice also.

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