Slow-Cooker Meals

The appeal of a slow-cooker is obvious: throw some ingredients into your pot in the morning and come home at night to a hot, ready-to-eat meal. How does it work?Slow-cookers employ a method known as moist heat cooking. Electric coils heat a metal insert at a low, steady temperature, and as the ingredients cook they release steam. The steam condenses on the lid and travels back down into the pot as liquid, keeping the dish moist throughout hours of cooking. What should I make?Our collection of slow cooker recipes lets you make on a weekday what would normally take an entire Sunday in the kitchen to prepare. There are classic comfort foods like Corned Beef with Cabbage, Carrots and Potatoes or Slow-Cooker Sunday Sauce with Spaghetti. How about a pot of beans? We mean an insanely creamy, flavorful, satisfying pot of beans—which is tough to perfect. The slow cooker is an easy way to avoid tough or mushy beans, so you can make that long-simmered chili or hearty chickpea stew without a Goya can in site. Of course this is modern slow cooker-ing (no bland green beans with cream of Mushroom soup here), and our collection also includes bold dishes like Berbere-spiced Ethiopian Chicken and Black Lentil Stew. Saving MoneySlow-cooker recipes are our go-to for times when we’re trying to save money. Inexpensive cuts of meat can remain tough and chewy when prepared using traditional cooking methods, but the long, slow braise in a slow cooker breaks down the connective tissues and tenderizes the meat. Choose cuts like brisket, which we use in our Slow-Cooker Spicy Brisket with Texas Caviar, or pork shoulder, which we cook until it’s fall-off-the-bone tender then pull into meaty threads. One shoulder can become a week’s worth of recipes. Try our spicy Slow-Cooker Pork Tacos or our Barbeque Pulled Pork sandwiches.—Carrie Mullins