All hail the slow cooker, the ultimate kitchen kit for budget-friendly, low-effort, healthy meals. The beauty of slow-cooking is you can use leaner, cheaper cuts of meat and fish, leaving the slow cooker to do the hard work of bringing out their fantastic flavour, so you don’t have to. From pulled pork and fish stew to tagines and soups, these recipes will help you put yours to the best use.
Pulled Pork
Few things work better in a slow cooker than pulled pork. This recipe from Slow Cooked shows you how to transform a joint of meat by imbuing it with masses of flavour. Perfect Sunday cooking that’ll leave you plenty of leftovers for the week ahead.
From the book
Slow Cooked
Affordable, no-fuss recipes for your slow cooker
Simple, creative ideas for everyday cooking
Mouthwatering dishes to feed a crowd
Eat Well For Less Slow-Cooked Beef with Root Veg Mash
Brisket, one of the cheaper cuts of beef, is perfect for the slow cooker, breaking down into tender, melt-in-the-mouth strands as it cooks. Here it’s served with a simple root veg mash for a hearty and substantial weekend dinner.
Double Bean Roasted Pepper Chilli
Slow cookers aren’t just for tenderising meat. This double bean chilli is a warming vegetarian slow cooker dish that is not only packed with nutrition but layered with flavour. Keep the leftovers to eat piled onto toast or a jacket potato the next day.
Pot-roast Beef with French Onion Gravy
Also from the Good Food Eat Well cookbook is this pot-roasted beef, served with a rich French onion gravy. Use a cheaper and leaner cut of meat, such as silverside or topside, which is not only well-suited to slow cooking but makes for a healthier take on a Sunday roast.
Butternut Squash and Chorizo Soup
With starchy butternut squash flavoured with smoky chorizo, this warming and filling soup is a great choice on a cold autumn or winter’s day. Plus, with only fifteen minutes of prep time (before the slow cooker does the rest), you can leave it bubbling away while you get on with your day.
Cauliflower, Olive and Lentil Tagine
Another enticing vegetarian option, this tagine-inspired slow cooker dish is packed with tender vegetables, bulked up with lentils, and flavoured with olives and plenty of spice.
Italian Fish Stew with Pancetta and Garlic
A testament to the versatility of slow cookers, this Italian-style fish is yet another dish you can make in one. With plenty of garlic and pancetta, the sauce is complex and flavoursome, while the fish and seafood emerge perfectly cooked. Slow cooker magic.
Moroccan Chicken One-pot
Super simple to make, this one-pot recipe makes the most of chicken breasts and seasonal squash livened up with Moroccan inspired spiced. Just throw it all in the slow cooker and serve topped with feta, mint and lemon.
Chicken and Tarragon Casserole
A nutritious one-pot from Amelia Freer, this chicken and tarragon casserole is a wonderful way to get the most out of a whole chicken. Flavoured with lemon, tarragon, and a dash of white wine, it’s a warming and fresh-tasting alternative to a traditional Sunday roast.
Slow-Cooker Pinenut, Fennel and Parmesan Risotto
Traditional risotto recipes tend to be pretty hands-on, but this slow cooker version requires next to no effort – just toss in the ingredients and wait. Better yet, you can easily adapt the recipe to include whatever vegetables happen to be in season.
Cherry Bakewell Pudding
Slow cookers don’t just work wonders on savoury foods – they also take the hassle out of desserts and sweet things, like this incredibly light and fluffy cherry Bakewell pudding.
