Keep your oven off with these tasty summer slow cooker recipes. Skipping the comfort food for lighter, fresh and summery meals, many of which can be prepped ahead.
While you might think of your slow cooker as the perfect way to cook soups and stews, and traditionally ‘wintery’ foods, it’s also a really hands off way to cook summery foods. BONUS- keep your oven off and your house cool!
Summer slow cooker recipes
Winter or summer, the slow cooker is one of my favorite kitchen appliances because it makes dinner so dang hands off! Putting in the effort earlier in the day often means that dinner is as simple as serving it up or cooking a batch of rice.
One great way to get a lot of bang for your buck with summer slow cooker meals is to cook a big batch of protein and use it in multiple meals. This is perfect for days when you just can’t turn the oven on, and busy weeks when you want a head start on dinner.
Several of the recipes in this post are based around pre-cooking a big portion of protein or sweet potatoes.
Click to jump to:
- slow cooker chicken recipes
- slow cooker sweet potato recipes
- slow cooker pulled pork
- slow cooker beef recipes
- other slow cooker recipes
Slow cooker tips
- filling the slow cooker– a good general rule is to fill your slow cooker half full. This means you need to cook at least 2 lbs of chicken at a time in a standard 6 quart slow cooker. You may want to invest in a smaller 2.5 quart slow cooker, which is perfect to cook 1 lb of chicken.
- use the right herbs– a general rule is to add hardy herbs like rosemary and thyme at the start of cooking. Reserve soft herbs like cilantro and parsley to add just before serving
- add acid at the end– many recipes can benefit from a boost of acid (lemon juice, lime juice, balsamic vinegar etc) at the end of cooking. It really brightens up the flavor!
- taste for salt– always taste test before serving and stir in more salt if needed
- use the right cut of chicken– chicken breast cannot handle over 5 hours (on low!) in the slow cooker. If you need to cook for longer than that, consider boneless skinless chicken thighs. Bonus: brown the thighs first and they will hold together even better!
Continue reading:29 Summer Slow Cooker Recipes