We are approaching another school year. And for me, between homework and sports and the musical instruments and everything else, weeknights are particularly busy.
And that makes dinner times challenging sometimes.
So this year I really wanted to make better use of my crockpot.
I really do love my crock pot. But for me, a lot of recipes seem to be hit or miss. There have been many times I’ve tried something new, eagerly waited for dinner, only to find that everyone hates what I made.
So I put a call out on the Facebook page, asking for readers’ favorite, go-to, kid-approved crock pot recipes.
And they delivered!
I received so many awesome ideas, and I thought you’d like to have them too.
(I have copied and pasted most of the suggestions exactly as I received them, straight from moms across the country, so excuse any typos).
Before you get started, several people suggested crock pot liners (affiliate).
You can get them pretty much anywhere, or you can order them here:
Okay. Now for 50 mom tested and approved recipes!
CHICKEN
Pulled/Barbecue chicken:
Place boneless chicken breasts or thighs (or both) in crock pot. Season with favorite BBQ rub. I like McCormick Bourbon Brown Sugar. Cook on low 6 hours. Remove chicken and shred. Drain the liner and place back into the crock pot. Put chicken back into the crock pot. Pour favorite BBQ sauce over and gently stir. Cook another 20-30 minutes until sauce is warmed. Serve on your favorite buns. I make a broccoli slaw or rough chopped cabbage slaw to serve on top of the chicken.
Pulled buffalo chicken:
Boneless Chicken breasts- about 5-6 lbs
Your favorite bottle of buffalo sauce (we use Frank’s red hot)
1 packet of ranch dressing mix.
Spray crock pot with cooking spray.
Line bottom with chicken
Mix buffalo sauce and ranch dressing mix together and pour over chicken.
Cook on low 6-7 hours and pup chicken apart with fork.
We put on rolls and eat that night, then save the rest and use in quesadillas later that week.
Also good on salad!!
Healthy Mexican Chicken
2 chicken breasts
1 can corn
1 can black beans
1 can diced green chilies
1 packet taco seasoning mix
1 packet ranch dressing
Throw everything in the Crock Pot for 4 hours on low. Shred the chicken, stir it up, enjoy over white rice, in a tortilla with some cheese and sour cream, or in a bowl like tortilla soup.
This makes a ton but you can double the recipe or triple the recipe and it freezes great.
Barbecue Chicken
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 bottle barbecue sauce
1/2 cup Italian salad dressing.
1/4 c. Brown sugar
Cook low for 6 hours
Pull apart with forks
Serve on potato rolls.
Mexican chicken
3-4 chicken breasts
Glass of salsa
Can of beans
Can of corn
6 hours on low
Shred chicken 30 min before eating, and add some cream cheese if you like it a little creamier. Most of the time I don’t have cream cheese and it still tastes so good.
Chicken Tacos
4-6 chicken breasts
Sprinkle a pack of taco seasoning over them.
Pour a small jar of salsa over that.
Cook high 4 hours or low 6-8 hours.
Sometimes I add a can of corn before serving and shred with two forks right before serving.
Tacos/Enchiladas
6 quart crock pot, 6-7 chicken breasts, a large jar of salsa, pour the salsa over the chicken and cook on low 6 hours, shred the chicken and use it for nachos or tacos.
Cilantro lime shredded chicken
Dump chicken breast, jar of salsa, packet of taco seasoning, juice of a lime and cilantro in crock pot – set to low! AMAZING in tortillas, on bread, or in salad.
Shredded chicken for tacos
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, 2 cups of chicken broth, 1 packet of taco seasoning, 1 dry packet of ranch. Cook on low 5 hours, shred chicken, throw back in the crockpot for 30 minutes. Super easy and all 4 of my kids love it!
Cream Cheese Chicken
2 large whole breasts, sprinkle with a packet of dry Italian dressing mix, 1 can cream of mushroom or chicken soup, cook on medium 4 hours. Shred or chop chicken and return to crock pot, stir in one block cream cheese. Can use frozen chicken and adjust cooking time.
Glazed
Frozen grilled chicken strips, 1 jar chili sauce mixed with 1 jar apricot preserves. Pour over chicken. Cook for 3 hours. I serve it on rice. So good!
Roast Chicken
Quarter four onions and place in the bottom. Place whole chicken on top and sprinkle with your favourite seasonings. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.
Frozen Bone-in Turkey breast
1 packet of dry Hidden Valley Ranch
1 packet of dry Good Seasons dressing
Cook all day and shred before serving
The kids even like it! Woop woo!!!!
Pork
BBQ pulled pork:
2-lb pork loin plus 12-oz bottle of root beer. Pour root beer over pork in slow cooker and cook about 6 hours on low. Remove pork, drain, shred, mix in your favorite BBQ sauce, and serve on rolls. Two ingredients! No prep in advance! 5 minutes once it’s cooked! Can’t get easier than that.
Pulled pork 1:
place pork loin in cooker and cover with water. Cook on low 8 hours. Dispose of water, shred cooked meat. Dump in however much BBQ sauce you like. Stir, cover and cook long enough to heat through. Serve on buns with slaw or beans.
Pulled Pork 2:
Pork Loin 1
3-4 lb pork loin — bone-in or boneless — your choice.
1 packet onion soup mix
1 can cranberry sauce
Place pork in slow cooker.
Cover with dry onion soup packet
Break apart with a fork the cranberry sauce over the top.
Cook on low 6-8 hours.
Take pork roast out.
Whisk in 2 tbsp dijon mustard.
Serve over garlic mashed potatoes.
Pork Loin 2
5-6 lb pork loin. 1 can chicken broth. I cup green tomatillo salsa. 1/4 c lime juice.
Sprinkle roast with fajita seasoning. Put in crock pot with the rest of the ingredients.
One hour on high. Overnight or all day on low. Before mealtime shred the meat with 2 forks, while still hot. Serve on corn tortillas with grated cheese.
Yummy!
Pork Stew
This is a huge hit in my house!
1-1/2 lbs boneless pork cut into cubes
4 potatoes cut up
2 or 3 carrots cut up
1 jar pork gravy
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 tsp Rosemary leaves
1/4 tsp pepper
1 sm bag frozen green beans
1/4 cup 1/2 & 1/2
– mix all ingredients except green Beans & 1/2 & 1/2
– cook on low 8 hrs
– add green beans
– cover & cook 20 or 30 min til beans done
– stir in 1/2 & 1/2, cook uncovered 5 min
Pork Chops
Boneless pork chops on the bottom, salt, pepper, then 1 can cream of mushroom and apple juice to just cover pork chops. Cook all day on low, serve over egg noodles (it makes and awesome gravy)
Pork Butt
Dry ranch & a stick of butter on top. 1/4 cup water. 8 hours on low!!
Chili
Easiest chili ever
Despite trying others, my family’s fave. Layer: two pounds of ground beef, two cans of Pinto beans, two cans of diced tomatoes, two packets of Chili-O seasoning. Cook on low 8 hours. Break up meat with wooden spoon and stir well. Serve on hot dogs, chips or in a bowl with cheese. Done and done.
Meatballs
Meatballs 1
I make up batches of meatballs and freeze them (or you could buy them frozen). Then I dump them in frozen with either cream of mushroom soup and brown gravy, mushrooms and onion (and serve over noodles) OR simply a jar of spaghetti sauce. I usually cook on low for 8+ hours.
Meatballs 2
Frozen meatballs – 1 bag
Grape jelly – 1 jar
BBQ sauce – 1 bottle
Dump in the meatballs, cover in jelly & BBQ and cook all day.
Beef
Super easy Swiss steak:
Put a frozen round steak in slow cooker. Dump two cans diced tomatoes on top, then sprinkle a package brown gravy mix over. Cook on low until meat falls apart, break meat up with side of spoon. My kids love it with mashed potatoes and corn.
Mongolian Beef (all our family loves it, hope yours do too.)
1 ½ pounds Flank Steak
¼ cups cornstarch
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
½ teaspoons mince Garlic, Cloves
¾ cups Soy Sauce
¾ cups Water
¾ cups Brown Sugar
1 cup grated Carrots
green onions, for garnish
Instructions
Cut flank steak into thin strips. In a ziplock bag add flank steak pieces and cornstarch. Shake to coat.
Add olive oil, minced garlic, soy sauce, water, brown sugar and carrots to slow cooker. Stir ingredients. Add coated flank steak and stir again until coated in the sauce.
Cook for high 2-3 hours or on low 4-5 hours until cooked throughout and tender. Can serve over rice and garnish with green onions.
Pot Roast
Brown roast in skillet, mix ranch dressing packet, brown gravy packet and Italian dressing packet. Cover roast with mixture. Put carrots&onions in crock, place roast on top add 14 1/2 oz beef broth and cook low 8-10 hrs or 4-6 on high. Just made it today but I used the pressure cooker…same recipe! It’s a big hit. You can add potatoes too if you like.
Flank Steak
Easiest, yummiest (seriously we eat it about once every other week)- 2-4 lbs of flank steak. Place in crockpot with enough Allegro steak marinade to almost cover the flank steak. Cook on low for 8 hours for 2 lbs, 9-10 for 4 lbs.
Chuck Roast
Sausage
Italian Sausage 1
Italian sausage
Bag of Frozen peppers
Sliced large onion
Jar of tomato sauce
Add all four to the slow cooker, plus 1/2 jar of water. Low for 8 hours. Served with your favorite side dish or rolls for sandwiches.
Italian Sausage 2 (or chicken)
Put sausage in crock pot with a can or two of diced tomatoes, rice, frozen pearl onions, and a packet of Italian dressing mix.
Pasta
Mac and Cheese:
2 hrs max … 3 cups whole milk 1 pound cooked (a little crunchy though) elbow Mac…. 1/2 a block of velveta cut in chunks 2 bags of ur choice of cheese… a little butter. DELICIOUS
I have been making lasagna in the crock pot also. I make it the same as always but use the no boil noodles and break them to fit in the crock pot. Cooked on low for 6 hours makes the noodles nice and soft.
Other
3 tablespoons butter (or olive oil), melted
salt and pepper
optional: 1 tablespoon of brown sugar and 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar
DIRECTIONS:Add onions to the bowl of your slow cooker. Drizzle the melted butter evenly over the top of them, then toss with a spoon (or with your hands) until the onions are evenly coated in the butter.
Cook on low for 8-10 hours, stirring once or twice if desired, until the onions are a rich golden brown and caramelized. Season with salt and pepper (and brown sugar and/or balsamic, if desired), and stir to combine.
If your onions are really juicy at this point, set the lid an inch or so ajar. If they are not, leave the lid on regularly to seal in the moisture. Then continue cooking the onions for an additional 3-4 hours until most of the extra liquid has evaporated and the onions are a deep golden brown, and thick and “jammy”.
Serve the onions immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Or freeze for up to 3 months
Totally addicting. Totally wonderful. Everyone gobbles it up here!!
I make this one at work all the time and it sells out every time. I season the chicken really well before adding the other ingredients and we use the mexican velveeta because they like things spicy at work. SO easy! One Dish Queso Chicken Bake {Easy Dinner Recipe}
There you go! A serious list of slow cooker recipes that should help your weeknights run a little more smoothly!
Thank you so much to everyone who contributed. Bon Appetit!!!
Thanks for including my Crock Pot Cowboy Casserole! My husband and kids LOVE that recipe. I’m checking out some of the other ones you’ve listed, too. Fall is a busy season for my slow cooker!!
Thank you
You’re welcome!