10 Slow Cooker Meals That Make Autumn Even Easier

Every time September rolls around, that plug-in pot comes out of the cupboard and somehow finds its way back onto the kitchen countertop.

I’m no massive slow cooker fan. Stew isn’t really my favourite thing, and there’s only so much enthusiasm I can muster for a bowl of something brown that’s been bubbling away for eight hours. But I absolutely understand the appeal.

There is something ridiculously convenient about putting a load of ingredients into a pot before work, switching it on and coming home to a fully prepared dinner. No chopping at 7pm, no collection of pans waiting by the sink and no standing over the hob when you’re already hungry. It just works.

And then there’s the smell.

Walk through the door when something has been cooking slowly all afternoon and the house immediately feels more autumnal. Switch on a couple of lamps, light a few candles and serve up something warm and tasty — what’s more hygge than that?

The other thing I like about a slow cooker is that it doesn’t have to mean stew. Brisket, curries, pulled pork, pasta sauces, sticky chicken and even pie fillings all benefit from being left alone for a few hours. Cheaper cuts such as brisket, pork shoulder, lamb shoulder and chicken thighs are particularly well suited to long, slow cooking.

So, if the slow cooker is coming out of the cupboard this September, let’s make it earn its place on the worktop. These are ten slow cooker meals I’d actually want to eat.

Slow cookers vary, so cooking times are a guide and you should check your own appliance instructions. Meat and poultry should be fully defrosted before slow cooking and cooked thoroughly before serving.

1. Slow Cooker Beef Brisket with Onion Gravy

This is where the slow cooker really earns its keep. Brisket loves a long, slow cook, transforming from a relatively inexpensive joint into something so tender you barely need a knife.

The onions slowly collapse into the cooking juices, creating the beginnings of a proper gravy, and there’s very little to do when you get home beyond putting some potatoes on.

Ingredients

Serves 4–6

1.2kg beef brisket
2 onions, sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
400ml beef stock
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp tomato purée
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tbsp cornflour
Salt and black pepper

Method

Season the brisket generously and brown it in a hot frying pan if you have time. Put the onions and garlic into the slow cooker and sit the beef on top.

Mix together the stock, Worcestershire sauce, tomato purée and thyme and pour around the beef.

Cook on LOW for 8–9 hours, until the brisket is tender. Remove the beef and keep warm. Mix the cornflour with a little cold water, stir into the cooking juices and cook on HIGH for around 15 minutes until thickened.

Slice or pull apart the brisket and serve with buttery mash, greens and plenty of onion gravy.

2. Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala

If the thought of six months of casseroles makes you want to put the slow cooker straight back into the cupboard, make a curry instead.

Chicken thighs work brilliantly because they remain tender during the longer cooking time, while the spices, tomato and ginger develop into a rich sauce.

Ingredients

Serves 4

700g boneless, skinless chicken thighs, chopped
1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
3 tbsp tikka curry paste
400g chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato purée
150ml chicken stock
100ml double cream
Fresh coriander, to serve

Method

Put the chicken, onion, garlic and ginger into the slow cooker. Add the curry paste, chopped tomatoes, tomato purée and stock and stir well.

Cook on LOW for around 6 hours or HIGH for 3–4 hours, until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Stir through the cream for the final 15 minutes, then scatter with fresh coriander.

Serve with basmati rice, warm naan and perhaps a spoonful of yoghurt if you like.

3. Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Pulled pork requires almost embarrassingly little effort considering what comes out at the other end.

A pork shoulder, a few store-cupboard seasonings and a bottle of BBQ sauce will give you enough meat for dinner and, hopefully, leftovers for the following day.

Ingredients

Serves 6

1.2kg boneless pork shoulder
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp garlic granules
1 tbsp soft brown sugar
1 onion, sliced
150ml apple juice
200ml BBQ sauce
Salt and black pepper

Method

Mix together the paprika, garlic granules, brown sugar, salt and pepper and rub all over the pork.

Put the sliced onion into the slow cooker and sit the pork on top. Pour the apple juice around the meat.

Cook on LOW for 8–9 hours, until the pork is completely cooked and pulls apart easily.

Remove any excess fat and shred the meat using two forks. Stir through the BBQ sauce and enough of the cooking juices to keep everything juicy.

Pile into brioche buns with crunchy coleslaw. Keep any leftovers for loaded fries, tacos or baked potatoes.

4. Slow Cooker Sausage & Caramelised Onion Casserole

All right, this one is definitely edging into traditional slow cooker territory, but sausages, onions, mustard and gravy are difficult to argue with when it’s miserable outside.

Browning the sausages first gives them a much better colour and only adds a few minutes to the preparation.

Ingredients

Serves 4

8 good-quality pork sausages
3 onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
400ml beef or chicken stock
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tbsp cornflour

Method

Brown the sausages in a hot frying pan, then transfer them to the slow cooker.

Add the onions and garlic. Mix the stock with the Worcestershire sauce, mustard and thyme and pour over.

Cook on LOW for 6–7 hours, until the sausages are thoroughly cooked and the onions are meltingly soft.

Mix the cornflour with a little cold water and stir it into the sauce for the final 15 minutes.

Serve with buttery mashed potatoes and peas. Nothing clever, just a very good autumn dinner.

5. Slow Cooker Chicken, Chorizo & Paprika

This has considerably more personality than the average slow cooker casserole.

Chorizo does most of the hard work for you, releasing its smoky paprika flavour into the tomatoes, chicken and peppers as everything cooks.

Ingredients

Serves 4

600g boneless chicken thighs, chopped
150g chorizo, sliced
1 onion, chopped
2 peppers, sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
400g chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato purée
2 tsp smoked paprika
100ml chicken stock
Fresh parsley
1 lemon

Method

Put the chicken, chorizo, onion, peppers and garlic into the slow cooker.

Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, smoked paprika and stock and stir everything together.

Cook on LOW for around 6 hours or HIGH for 3 hours, until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Taste, season if necessary and finish with chopped parsley and a good squeeze of lemon.

Serve with rice or plenty of crusty bread for scooping up the smoky tomato sauce.

6. Slow Cooker Beef Ragu

This might be one of my favourite reasons to get the slow cooker out.

Rather than using mince, chunks of braising beef slowly break down in the tomato and red wine sauce until you can shred them with a fork. The result is a much richer, chunkier ragu that tastes as though you’ve spent considerably more time making it than you actually have.

Ingredients

Serves 4–6

800g braising beef, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
400g chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato purée
150ml red wine
200ml beef stock
1 tsp dried oregano
Pappardelle or tagliatelle, to serve
Parmesan, to serve

Method

Put the beef, onion, carrots and garlic into the slow cooker.

Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, red wine, beef stock and oregano. Season with salt and black pepper and stir.

Cook on LOW for around 8 hours, until the beef is very tender.

Use two forks to shred the beef directly into the sauce. Toss through freshly cooked pappardelle or tagliatelle and finish with plenty of grated Parmesan.

This is also a very good one to make in a bigger batch and freeze.

7. Slow Cooker Honey, Garlic & Soy Chicken

Now we’re about as far away from brown stew as we can reasonably get.

This is sticky, sweet, salty and garlicky, and served over rice it makes a brilliant midweek dinner.

Ingredients

Serves 4

700g boneless, skinless chicken thighs
4 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp runny honey
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp cornflour
Spring onions, sliced
Sesame seeds

Method

Put the chicken into the slow cooker.

Mix together the garlic, soy sauce, honey, ginger and sesame oil and pour over the chicken.

Cook on LOW for 5–6 hours, until the chicken is thoroughly cooked and tender.

Remove the chicken and slice or shred it. Mix the cornflour with a splash of cold water, stir it into the sauce and cook on HIGH for another 10–15 minutes until glossy and thickened.

Return the chicken to the sauce and serve over steamed rice with sliced spring onions and sesame seeds.

8. Slow Cooker Garlic & Rosemary Lamb

Lamb shoulder was practically designed for slow cooking.

Garlic, rosemary and lamb need very little interference from us, and after several hours the meat should be tender enough to pull into pieces.

You could absolutely serve this as a traditional roast dinner, but I rather like going in a different direction.

Ingredients

Serves 6

1.5kg lamb shoulder
5 garlic cloves, sliced
2 onions, quartered
3 rosemary sprigs
300ml lamb or chicken stock
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and black pepper

Method

Make small cuts across the lamb and push slices of garlic into them. Rub with olive oil and season generously.

Put the onions and rosemary into the bottom of the slow cooker and sit the lamb on top. Pour the stock around the meat.

Cook on LOW for 8–9 hours, until the lamb is completely cooked and very tender.

Allow it to rest briefly before pulling into generous chunks.

Serve with roast potatoes and vegetables, or pile into warm flatbreads with yoghurt, salad, fresh herbs and pickled red onions.

9. Slow Cooker Mac & Cheese

Yes, you can make mac and cheese in a slow cooker, although this isn’t one to put on before leaving for work at eight in the morning.

It’s a shorter slow-cooker recipe for those evenings when you want comfort food without constantly checking a saucepan.

Ingredients

Serves 4

300g macaroni
500ml whole milk
200ml evaporated milk
250g mature Cheddar, grated
50g Parmesan, grated
1 tsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp garlic powder
25g butter
Salt and black pepper

Method

Put the macaroni, whole milk, evaporated milk, mustard, garlic powder and butter into the slow cooker and stir.

Cook on LOW for around 1½–2 hours, stirring occasionally if you can, until the pasta is just tender. Different slow cookers vary considerably here, so start checking before the end of the cooking time.

Stir in the Cheddar and Parmesan and cook for another 10 minutes, just until melted and creamy.

Serve immediately with plenty of black pepper.

If, like me, you think the crispy top is one of the best bits of mac and cheese, transfer it to an ovenproof dish, add a little more cheese and breadcrumbs and put it under the grill until golden.

10. Slow Cooker Creamy Tuscan Chicken

Creamy garlic chicken with sun-dried tomatoes, spinach and Parmesan feels properly comforting without becoming another casserole. It’s also one of those dishes that looks as good as it tastes.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

700g boneless, skinless chicken thighs
3 garlic cloves, crushed
100g sun-dried tomatoes, drained and sliced
200ml chicken stock
150ml double cream
60g Parmesan, finely grated
1 tsp dried Italian herbs
100g baby spinach
Salt and black pepper
Fresh basil, to serve

Method:

Season the chicken and put it into the slow cooker with the garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, chicken stock and Italian herbs.

Cook on LOW for 5–6 hours or HIGH for around 3 hours, until the chicken is thoroughly cooked and tender.

Stir in the cream and Parmesan and add the spinach. Cook on HIGH for another 10–15 minutes, until the spinach has wilted and the sauce is creamy.

Finish with plenty of black pepper and fresh basil.

Serve with tagliatelle, mashed potatoes or crusty bread for mopping up the sauce.

This is a much better #10 — and the finished image will give us golden chicken + creamy sauce + red sun-dried tomatoes + bright green spinach, so the carousel won’t end on another brown dish.

So, Is It Time to Get the Slow Cooker Out?

I’m probably never going to become one of those people who evangelises about their slow cooker. There are plenty of dinners I’d rather cook in a frying pan, roasting tin or on the barbecue.

But that’s not really the point of owning one.

The slow cooker comes into its own on the days when cooking isn’t going to be the highlight. You put everything in before the day gets away from you, forget about it and several hours later dinner has effectively made itself.

And there is something undeniably lovely about coming home when it’s already getting dark outside and being greeted by the smell of dinner.

Put the lamps on, light a couple of candles, pour a glass of wine and suddenly September doesn’t seem quite so bad.

I’ll admit it. That plug-in pot can stay on the countertop for a while.

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